Christmas in Gardner — Part II

Friday — December 25

Days start early at Aunt L’s. Christmas Day was no exception. We had a nice breakfast, which included homemade scones that Aunt L had baked and Amish friendship bread that Mui had baked. (Here’s the story and recipe for the Amish bread; our thanks to Jen B. for introducing us to this very tasty treat.) After the dishes were washed and put away, we sat down to exchange gifts … many thanks to our two Santas for the thoughtful and fun presents.

Merry Christmas from Gardner!

The rest of the day was spent at home — more reminiscing, more conversation, more laughter. A quiet holiday celebration — just the way we like it.

Saturday — December 26

Another early morning found us at the breakfast table to start the day out. To yesterday’s treats, mom added a fresh-baked breakfast strata (think French toast casserole topped with maple syrup) — very yummy. Then it was off to do a bit of shopping before we headed north to Maine.

There was light traffic en route — nothing to hinder us from arriving in Kennebunkport in time for lunch. A light snowfall, with big fat flakes, added to the holiday ambiance of the charming town. Unlike the summer months, finding parking was easy and soon we were walking to Alison’s. Our timing was perfect. No sooner were we seated at a table overlooking Dock Square that the place filled up with diners. Of course, there was no doubt that whatever meal we ordered would include lobster in some shape or form. For Mui, that was lobster cobb salad; for mom and me, petite lobster rolls. Mom enjoyed her sandwich with a cup of clam chowder and I had a delicious French onion soup that was perfect on a cold winter day. Dessert for the two of us was a concoction called "Maine Black Bear" — black raspberry swirl with chocolate raspberry mini-melts in vanilla ice cream. Totally delish! Mui ordered the blueberry pie a la mode and deemed it excellent.

After lunch, we started out on a stroll around town, but the weather had chilled quite a bit. So we scratched that idea and went for a drive along the coast to see if our 41st President and Mrs Bush were home for the holidays!

Merry Christmas from Kennebunkport!

Sunday — December 27

All things must come to an end! And so has our Christmas trip. It was lots of fun! Thanks for hosting us Aunt L.

We left Gardner at 7:00a. The light drizzle that accompanied us on Route 2 changed to pouring rain as we approached the I-91 junction. By the time we reached Hartford at 8:30a, however, there was no sign of any wet stuff and the overcast was replaced by brilliant sunshine and blue skies for the rest of the drive. In fact, the day’s high was 54F (12C) — not bad at all for late December.

We had an itinerary mapped out, but we changed it on a whim, taking all kinds of scenic secondary roads instead. After our experience with the Tappan Zee Bridge on the 23rd, we took a more northerly route to avoid the traffic and crossed the Hudson River via the Bear Mountain Bridge.

Bear Mountain Bridge

An overlook near Bear Mountain Bridge provides a break from driving.

We reached Parsippany, New Jersey around 1:00p — time for a lunch break. We decided to take advantage of the nice day and have an al fresco meal. As luck would have it, we chanced upon the Veterans Memorial Park just off Route 46. After taking a few minutes to fix some of the stick flags that had been planted into the ground around the memorial, we sat on a bench and ate the ham & cheese sandwiches mom had made for us. Some Amish friendship bread and date balls for desert rounded out our simple picnic.

Parsippany Veterans Memorial

The rest of our drive home went smoothly except for two bad patches of traffic. First, when we were leaving Parsippany — structural damage to a bridge; later, when we turned off Route 15 onto I-270. The latter was frustrating, but expected. All in all though, it wasn’t a bad day’s drive and we pulled into our garage at 6:00p, ready for a quiet evening at home.

Mom, thanks for the “3-in-1 Softie.”

Happy 2010 everyone! May it be filled with love, laughter, happiness, and health.

Christmas in Gardner — Part I

23-24 December

With mom visiting from overseas, a family Christmas celebration was in order this year. That meant a road trip to Aunt L’s house in Gardner, Massachusetts. Figuring that the shorter I-95 route had an increased potential for congested holiday traffic, we picked a longer route that we hoped would minimize travel headaches. This is the story of our road trip.

“Two to Travel” goes to Gardner for Christmas.

Wednesday — December 23

We didn’t quite make it to Aunt L’s tonight, but then we weren’t planning to do so anyway. Our intent all along was to stop when/if the holiday traffic got bad or Mui’s eyes needed a rest (recent PRK procedure), whichever came first.

We left the house at 5:00a. There was very little traffic and we had no problems getting out of the DC area. Any concerns we might have had about road conditions following the previous weekend’s snowstorm were quickly allayed. Not only were the roads clear of snow and slush, there was no hint of any icing either.

We made very good time, arriving in Lancaster, Pennsylvania around 8:00a. Time for a break! We found ourselves a nice little coffee shop — Prince St Café — and hurried inside to get out of the chill. (The temp was around 20F (-6C), down from the 30F (-1C) we had started out at when we backed out of our garage.) A simple breakfast was all we needed. Before long, we were back on the road again.

A yummy hot chocolate and a simple breakfast for our morning break.

Our next stop was at Cabela’s in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. I won’t tell you why we stopped at the “world’s foremost outfitter” — that would give away our “adventure vacation” plans for next year. (Suffice it to say, we’re not going hunting!) Unfortunately, we didn’t find what we were looking for. It looks like a springtime visit is going to be in order to outfit ourselves for August 2010.

Cabela’s bills itself as the “world’s foremost outfitter.”

Can you find Mui?

One of the many exhibits throughout the store in Hamburg.

10:30a found us on the road once again. Except for a few rest breaks, we drove through Pennsylvania and New Jersey without any more stops. Then we hit the Tappan Zee Bridge to cross into New York and everything skidded to a halt. OK, OK. We didn’t come to a full stop, but I wouldn’t consider inching along the freeway for miles on end making much headway. Things improved when we finally made our way onto the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut. We still had plenty of traffic to keep us company, but at least it was flowing.

At this point, we started thinking about calling it a day. I took out the cell phone and dialed the Four Points by Sheraton in Meriden for a reservation. A full 12 hours after leaving home, we were unpacking our overnight bag.

The Four Points provides a comfortable room for our overnight stay.

Although the hotel has a pub/sports bar, we opted to have dinner at Lido’s, an Italian place offering all kinds of “pastabilities.” We split a calamari appetizer, a Caesar salad, and a shrimp scampi served on linguine. Great food — especially the calamari — but the portions were gigantic; we could have easily fed one more person, maybe even two. Luckily, the cannoli Mui had his heart set on was small — that was the only part of the meal that did not have any leftovers.

All in all, it was a good travel day — except for the two hours wasted with traffic delays. It could have been worse, however, so no complaints. We don’t have far to drive tomorrow — only about 107 miles (~170 km). Considering the potential for Christmas Eve holiday traffic, especially as the day wears on, another early departure will be in order.

Thursday — December 24

Our Highlander was one of few cars traveling on I-91 when we left the Four Points at 6:00a to continue our way north. Taking advantage of the lack of holiday traffic, we used some of the more scenic secondary roads to complete our drive. Two hours after leaving Meriden, we were taking the exit to Gardner, “the furniture capital of New England.”

There’s one place I like to visit whenever we hit town — the “biggest chair in the world.” Knowing this, Mui drove directly to this iconic symbol of “Chair City.” I was tempted to climb the chair, but the temperature was hovering around 23F (-5C) and I wasn’t dressed in enough layers to dally outside for long.

That’s what I call a big chair!

Since Mui had given into my whim to visit a spot from my childhood, I agreed to his request to check out the local Big Lots store before heading over to Aunt L’s. I was surprised to find the store all but deserted on Christmas Eve. We wandered around at leisure, picking up a couple of things that caught our eye, including a sofa table to fill a spot that’s been standing empty in my office at work.

We pulled into Aunt L’s at 9:30a. The rest of the day passed in a blur of reminiscence and conversation. My cousin and his family joined us for a delightful Christmas Eve dinner complete with bacon wrapped shrimp, spinach turnovers, baked ham, scalloped potatoes, and a dish my grandmother used to make for Christmas — tourtière (a meat pie originating from Quebec). Dessert was a selection of lime-pear jello mold, pina colada cheesecake, gingerbread cookies, date balls, and Mui’s contribution — chocolate chip cookies. Everything was quite yummy and not a single person left Aunt L’s table hungry.

The evening concluded with a partial gift exchange (more to come tomorrow morning) and an ice cream cake to celebrate my cousin’s birthday (December 23) and my mother’s birthday (December 24). We also sent a virtual birthday wish to my sister, who shares a birthday with mom.

A joint after-dinner clean-up effort had everything restored to normal in record time. Before long, we were all in our respective beds, dreaming of sugar plums and dancing reindeer.

Next Up: Christmas in Gardner — Part II

Happy Holidays 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Blizzard of 2009

20 December

Snowzilla ... Snownami ... Capital Crippler ... Snowmageddon ... Shopper Stopper ... Goreaster ... Snobama ... no matter what the name, the Blizzard of 2009 was a doozy that dumped many inches of snow in a 24-hour period. In our neighborhood, we topped off at 19 inches (~47½ cm).

According to the weather guys, we beat out the 1932 record for most snowfall in December - 11½ inches (~29 cm). What's even more noteworthy is that the 1932 accumulation was for the entire month of December. We got all of ours in one day.

For me, the record to beat was January 1996. During that blizzard, we got 17.3 inches (~43 cm). As Mui was out of the country for that one, I had to do all the shoveling. This time — he was here to do the work ... with the help of a snowblower! Not fair I say!

The snow is now over and everyone in the neighborhood is shoveling-out driveways. Mui took care of clearing the overnight accumulation earlier this morning. The sun is out; the sky is blue. Although it's tempting to go out and find some scenic spots to photograph, we're going to stay home and let the snowplows do their job of clearing the roads around the area. Besides, all those people who were planning to do their Christmas shopping or start their Christmas road trips yesterday are probably already out there. No need to add to the congestion.

Here's our story:

The snow started around 9:00pm on the 18th. Twelve hours and 8 inches (~20 cm) later this is what the deck looked like.

At 9:00a on the 19th, this was the view from my home office.

By 1:30p, my 12-inch (~30 cm) ruler was just barely peeking out; Mui put in a longer ruler.

At 2:00p; snow still falling. Mui’s morning shoveling of the driveway was in vain. Bundled up in our winter gear, we decided to brave the elements and go for a walk.

At 4:15p, we're at 15½ inches (~39 cm); snow still falling steadily.

At 4:30p, Mui decided it was time to go out for a second round of snow clearing.

Our thanks to whoever invented the snowblower!

At 5:00p, Mui was still hard at work.

At 8:00p, the 18-inch ruler was topped out. Mui put out the yardstick to find out that there was 18½ inches (~46 cm) of accumulation.

A new day has dawned. There’s a bit of drift against the yardstick, but at 9:00a on the 20th, I’m calling the snow over, kaput, finished with 19 inches (~47.5 cm) of accumulation.

A 19-inch (~47.5 cm) wall of snow blocks our way to the deck.

View from my home office. Quite a change from this time yesterday.

I’m glad that’s not our car!!!

Mui makes one last run with the snowblower.

We have blacktop success!

Sssssh! Don't wake him. Mui deserves a snooze.

Virtual Cruise on Celebrity Mercury

The photo galleries for our December 2009 Caribbean Cruise are online.

For individual galleries:

Mercury — This gallery contains photographs of CC 1200, our concierge class cabin on the Sky Deck, and some of the public areas where we spent time during the cruise. Also included here are photographs of Mercury docked in the various ports we called on during the cruise.

Pre-Cruise in Baltimore — This gallery contains photographs from our weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, our embarkation port.

At Sea and In the Ports — This gallery contains photographs from our 12-night cruise.

You can use the "style" button to select your favorite mode of viewing ... be it slideshow or journal.

Enjoy your virtual cruise!

Back Home from the Cruise

Saturday — December 12

The cruise is over and we’re home. We’ve been busy since pulling into the driveway — our bags are unpacked, things are put away. I’ve already started a load of laundry and there’s another pile to go. Mui's gone grocery shopping. In other words, the post-cruise routine is well underway.

It was still pitch dark when we woke up this morning. Very few people were out and about when we went down to the Palm Springs Café for breakfast. We watched the lights on shore go by as we ate our meal. Slowly, people started to stream in; everyone was dressed for the cold winter day. All too soon the Cruise Maryland terminal was in sight and it was time to vacate CC1200, our home away from home for the past 12 days.

When we returned to the cabin to collect our carry-on bags, we stepped out on the veranda to see just how much snow there was on the ground. None! Great; we wouldn’t have to dig the car out in order to drive home. On the dock, the pace was already picking up — the covered gangway was being swung in place; luggage was being off-loaded from the ship; pallet upon pallet of provisions were being placed at the ready for the next cruise.

Rank — in this case, being Captain’s Club Select members — has its privileges. One of those privileges is early debarkation. The letter we had received from Celebrity called for us to be in the Celebrity Theater at 7:45a. It turns out that there was quite a bit of delay and our group wasn’t called to the gangway until 8:30a. No biggie; I read my book while Mui chatted with some fellow passengers. The time certainly passed quickly.

Once the announcement was made that we could disembark, things moved quickly. We made our way through Immigration without too much delay; found our bags in the right pile in the claim area; handed our customs form to the agent near the exit; and hauled everything off to the car. By 9:00a, we were on the freeway; by 10:00a, we were home.

Celebrity Mercury is visible from the freeway in Baltimore.
(photo courtesy of CruiseCritic poster, Radio)

Winter cruising out of Baltimore is an incredible convenience for us, especially since we don’t mind if there’s some cold weather at the beginning and the end of the cruise. We had a very nice break from the winter blahs and we’re tempted to book the same cruise for next year. That said, we’ll have to wait and see if we can fit it into our 2010 vacation schedule.

From Hot to Cold — Three Days at Sea

Friday — December 11

Our bags are packed, tagged “Red 4,” and placed outside the cabin door. Today’s cold temps — it was 47F (8C) at noon — served as an incentive to get this end-of-the-cruise chore out of the way early in the day. Now, I have a bit of time before dinner to catch up on the blog.

Though the brisk wind made it way too cold to sit on the veranda today, that wasn’t the case the past two days. The weather was hot the first day out from Sint Maarten; balmy the second day. It wasn’t until late afternoon yesterday that the temperature started to dip and the ship’s motion became far more evident than it had been at any other time during the cruise.

Our first two days at sea after our last port call followed the same pattern as our last two days at sea before our first port call. We were up around 6:30a; did our laps on the jogging trail on the Sky Deck; ate a leisurely breakfast; spent pretty much the rest of the day on the veranda. Plenty of reading; some embroidery; some blogging; a few crossword puzzles — the days flew by.

First my feet, then me.

Mui takes advantage of the hot temps to take a dip in the pool.

We woke up to overcast skies this morning, but the clouds glowed as the sun rose to the aft of the ship. The pink glow didn’t last long. I didn’t need to step out on the veranda to gauge the temperature — the day just looked cold and dismal. And so it has been.

After breakfast, we bundled into our layers and went for a walk on the Promenade Deck. It wasn’t easy to do. Not only is the bow off-limits on this ship, but to go around the aft, you have to go up a set of stairs from deck 6 to deck 7 and then go back down again on the other side; a “u” instead of a full circle. To make things even more difficult, the staircase back down to deck 6 was cordoned off to swab one side of the Promenade Deck with soapy water. Oh well; we walked a bit and then found a couple of chairs from which to enjoy the seascape. We had the entire Promenade Deck to ourselves. I’m sure the few people who stepped out for a few seconds thought we were crazy. But sheltered from the wind, we were actually very comfortable.

After lunch, which was a cross between having our main course in the dining room and our dessert in the Palm Springs Café, we finished our packing before going to the cinema to catch the matinee show. Today’s feature film was Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise as Von Stauffenberg, the Wehrmacht colonel who was one of the key players in a plot to assassinate Hitler. Spending the afternoon at the movies was a perfect pastime on a cold winter day at sea — all we were missing was the popcorn!

More later …

... Later — 10:00p

When we left the islands behind, we also left our al fresco dinners on the veranda behind and went back to eating in the dining room. We even dressed up last night and went to the formal night dinner instead of taking advantage of the casual dining venue in the Palm Springs Café. Tonight we ate our last meal in the Manhattan Restaurant — at least for this cruise —and said our goodbyes to Cesar and Gunowry.

Menus for our last three dinners in the Manhattan Restaurant.

We brought our evening to a close with a walk around the ship. It was pretty quiet in the lounges and the shops. There were a lot of bags out in the hallways, waiting to be whisked away to the bowels of the ship. All signs of our impending debarkation tomorrow. I guess all good things must come to an end; a cruise is no exception. The weather forecasts these past few days have mentioned snow in the Mid-Atlantic region. Let’s hope we don’t have to dig our car out at the cruise terminal tomorrow.

Next Up: Back Home from the Cruise

Dock in Sint Maarten; Play in Saint Martin

Tuesday— December 8

I’ve been chased off the veranda by the crew that is power-washing the Sunrise Deck above us. With three days at sea ahead of us, I guess it’s time to get rid of all the sand that’s been tracked in off the islands. Since I can’t enjoy being outside, I might as well put this time to good use and write about our day visiting Sint Maarten / Saint Martin, the world’s smallest landmass owned by two countries.

Google Earth image of the island nation that lives peacefully under two flags.

We were already on the open deck above the bridge when Mercury came into Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of the island — Sint Maarten. For once, we weren’t first in port; we docked behind “Mein Schiff” (my ship). The paint scheme screamed “party ship,” but there were enough clues to easily identify it as a former Celebrity ship — the Galaxy — sister ship to Mercury, which we sailed out of Baltimore in 2003 ... great memories.

P&O’s Artemis (left) and TUI's Mein Schiff in Sint Maarten.

We’re told that they are dredging the bay so that Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas can call on Sint Maarten.

Our first time in Sint Maarten was in 2003 when we visited the island at the end of a TransAtlantic cruise on Celebrity’s Millennium. Mom was with us on that trip. We wandered around downtown Philipsburg; went on a private tour that included the French side of the island; trekked up 90-steps to Fort Louis; and had lunch at Kakao Beach (Orient Bay). It was a very busy day.

A “mom and I visited Fort Louis” photo op.
(flashback to our 2003 port call on Celebrity’s Millennium)

We had different plans for today. They didn’t work out exactly as expected, but we had a great day nonetheless.

We’d reserved a rental car, but decided at the last moment that we weren’t in the mood to tackle either the island’s narrow, curvy roads or the work-day traffic. Instead, we walked into downtown Philipsburg to get the day rolling.

It was nice to see all the infrastructure improvements since 2003. Back then, we’d walked along a trash-strewn road leading out from the port and somehow found our way downtown via Great Bay Beach. If there was a boardwalk, we didn’t notice it. This time, we followed a sidewalk leading from the port towards downtown and cut through a quaint shopping village that brought us to the waterfront boardwalk next to the beach. Very nice indeed.

Scene from the Boardwalk in Philipsburg.

Great Bay Beach fronts the Boardwalk.

Once we reached downtown proper, we took a cab to Grand Case in Saint Martin, the French side of the island. Our plan was to spend the day at the beach and grab a bite to eat at a LoLo (locally owned/locally operated seafood shack). That plan failed miserably. The cabbie either played dumb — not sure what he got out of it, if that was the case — or was just plain clueless. The Grand Case beach he took us to was not a place where we would have wanted to spend the day. The entire town seemed deserted and left us feeling a bit uncomfortable, so we went to Plan B and asked the cabbie to drive us to Orient Bay — a safe bet for sure. Soon we were walking on a beautiful, white-sand beach with the surf washing our feet.

A beautiful day in Orient Bay.

We strolled first in one direction and then in the opposite direction, trying to pick a beach bar/restaurant for our day of fun in the sun and surf. In the end, we decided on Kakao Beach — yes, the same one we visited in 2003.

Welcome back to Kakao Beach.

As the hour was early we had no problems finding a pair of front row chaise lounges. Heeding the proprietor’s warning to leave the umbrella angled the way he had set it up so that it wouldn't blow away, we arranged our chairs and settled down to enjoy the beach. The surf was strong, the breeze constant, the scenery beautiful.

A picture perfect day at Orient Bay.

We relaxed; we laughed; we chatted. We watched people strolling up and down the length of the beach, some in bathing suits, others in their birthday suits!!! (We weren’t bothered by the topless women who strolled by occasionally, nor by the men who flaunted their cheeks and sometimes a bit more!!!) We watched the kite-surfers perform their acrobatics, amazed by their agility and daring. We played in the surf (can’t call it swimming) when the mood struck us. When the noon hour came around, we sated our growling tummies with grilled shrimp and a couple of paninis (turned out to be so big that we could have easily shared one!!!) served on the beach by our waiter from Australia; and we washed it all down with ice cold local brews. A perfect beach day, wouldn't you agree?

As usual, there were vendors hawking their wares. We said a polite no thank you whenever they approached us and they moved on quickly. If the hawking got out of hand — as it did in one instance when two vendors got into a catfight a few chairs down from where we were seated — the proprietor quickly took care of the problem.

Around 2:00p, we called it a day. As luck would have it, there was another couple going back to the ship, so we shared a taxi with them, paying only $7/person for the return fare. After a quick peek in the duty-free store and a few minutes watching a costumed group dancing in the courtyard, we embarked the ship. No need to tell you where we spent the afternoon! Some wine; some snacks — before we knew it our scheduled departure time was at hand.

We watch as fuel is bunkered for the return leg of our cruise.

Although Mercury was scheduled to depart first, we were nearly 30 minutes late in casting off our lines. In fact, we’ve been a bit late leaving each port; not that we're complaining. Yesterday, we were delayed because we were waiting on late-arriving passengers (maybe crew or entertainment staff). It turns out that today we were waiting on an ambulance to transport an ailing passenger. The patient was ambulatory; we hope it wasn’t a serious ailment.

Eventually, we left Sint Maarten behind and sailed into the sunset.

Another beautiful sunset sees us off from our last port call.

Today was our first completely rain free day in port since we left St Thomas five days ago. We have 1,496 nautical miles (~1,721 miles/2,771 km) and three blissful days at sea before we reach Baltimore. I wonder what kind of weather is ahead of us? Cold temps eventually, but hopefully we won’t have any wet stuff — rain or otherwise.

Next Up: From Hot to Cold — Three Days at Sea

Sint Maarten / Saint Martin

Philipsburg, St Maarten — from Celebrity Today

The island of Sint Maarten or Saint Martin – only 37 square miles [~96 sq km] in size – is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two different nations. It is owned by both France and the Netherlands Antilles, thanks to a treaty signed over 350 years ago.

With the Concordia Agreement (1648), the Dutch and the French agreed that residents of either side of the island can be commercially active on the other side without any red tape or border difficulties. This contract of peaceful coexistence turns out to be the oldest active, undisputed treaty on our planet. The friendly partition of Sint Maarten/St Martin remains to this day and the separate life-styles – charming vignettes of their respective homelands – coexist in complete contrast but perfect harmony.

The southern half (actually slightly less than half: 16 square miles [~41 sq km]) is Sint Maarten (sint mare-ten), ruled by the Dutch, and the northern 21-square mile [~54 sq km] area is Saint Martin (san mar-tan), the French side. The main towns are Philipsburg (Dutch side) and Marigot (French side). The island has a total resident population of approximately 85,000. The official population on the Dutch side is about 50,000 while on the French side it is roughly 35,000.

The French territory covers about two thirds of the island and is technically a part of Europe and the European Community. The Dutch side is a member island of the Netherlands Antilles and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not considered European territory. There is no real border, just modest monuments and signs.

Though Dutch is the official language of Sint Maarten, and French of St Martin, English is widely spoken throughout the island, but more prevalently on the Dutch side. The oft-heard Caribbean patois is Papiamento, a mixture of Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, English, and native Indian. It is spoken primarily on the south side.

Next Up: What We Did in Sint Maarten/Saint Martin

Great Bird Island — Eco-Tour and Snorkeling in Antigua

Monday — December 7

We had a very pleasant dinner on the veranda a bit earlier — I’m really going to miss dining al fresco when we begin return final leg of the cruise to Baltimore and the nights grow chilly once again.

The ship’s daily bulletin promised a “stunningly visual and intensely daring acrobatic performance” tonight, so Mui’s gone to check out “Duo Velikovi” in the Celebrity Theater. No need to ask my whereabouts, of course. I’m getting my nightly veranda fix as I write about our day in Antigua, one of the two islands that makes up the nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

As you can tell from the name of the island, we didn’t visit a “saint” today. No worries; we’re only about 91 nautical miles (~105 miles/169 km) from the one we’ll be visiting tomorrow.

This Google Earth map shows where we docked in St John’s and where we played at Great Bird Island.

Our day started with a beautiful sunrise that made the clouds look like they were on fire. We grabbed some food from the Palm Springs Café and settled on the veranda for breakfast. We were still enjoying our morning meal when the colorful houses that dot the Antiguan coastline came into view. A couple of raindrops fell while we were watching the passing scenery, but there wasn’t enough liquid sunshine to warrant going inside. An added bonus from the brief shower (if you can call it that) — a complete rainbow that spanned the entrance to the harbor. I’m afraid we didn’t find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but this time I had my camera handy!

From a beautiful sunrise to a colorful rainbow.

Our first visit to Antigua was on Celebrity’s Infinity in 2002. Back then, we wandered around St John’s and did an off-road jeep safari that concluded at one of the 365 beaches the island lays claim to. I suppose we could have just gone to another one of those beaches today, but instead we went on an eco-tour with snorkeling as a bonus.

We disembarked Mercury around 8:45a and used the spare hour before we had to meet our tour operator to photograph Mercury and our companion from yesterday — Ocean Village — which had docked right on our heels. By the time we found our way to a perfect vantage point, a third ship was pulling in — Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas.

Left to Right: Mercury, Explorer of the Seas, and Ocean Village.

The slight breeze that was keeping the waterfront temps comfortable was non-existent just a few steps inland. Giving up on the idea of wandering around downtown, we headed to the designated meeting spot on the Redcliffe Quay. As it turns out, that was a good thing. The Adventure Antigua crew arrived at the dock about 20 minutes early and we were able to get a head start on our water adventure.

Our catamaran transport is dwarfed by Mercury.

We were joined on the power-cat by just one other couple from our ship and soon we were off to pick up guests from nearby resorts. The couple at the first resort did not show; two couples and three young Jamaican women boarded at Sandals. With so few people aboard, we had ample space on the 52-foot (~16 m) power-cat — nice for us, but not so good for the tour operator. Four people opted for the front deck, leaving the rest of us to spread out around the covered portion of the boat where we had plenty of protection from the hot Caribbean sun. The extra space was especially handy when we encountered a few squalls along the way. Rather than try and outrun the brief showers, the skipper slowed down each time and let the squall pass us. None of us minded the occasional sprinkles as they had a nice cooling effect.

That’s a lot of boat for just 11 passengers.

The ride out was quite bumpy but thanks to the protection of the barrier reef, it didn’t get too rough. By the time we reached Long Island, where we stopped for a few minutes to check out the luxury houses lining the shoreline, we were in calm waters.

Long Island, Jumby Bay Resort — way too rich for our wallet!

En route to our destination, we made a couple of stops where the skipper and his mate explained a bit about the ecology of the area. The channel of red mangrove we sailed into was especially interesting. Here the mangroves had filtered the water to amazing clarity and it was possible to see the bottom without difficulty.

When we reached Great Bird Island, we collected our water shoes from the mate (no shoes allowed while on the boat) and used the steps at the bow to disembark into ankle-deep water. Following a narrow trail, we went on a nature walk that culminated on top of the island. I have to admit to a bit of disappointment here — there were no birds to see whatsoever; apparently we hit the island at the wrong time of the year. (Glad I didn’t tote my long lens on this adventure.) Mui did see the “Antiguan Racer,” a harmless snake that can only be seen in the wild on this island. Not sorry I missed that encounter — snakes give me the willies, harmless or otherwise

On the upside, we had beautiful views to enjoy from the summit.

The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.

And we were able to catch a glimpse of what would be our second island stop of the day, Hell’s Gate.

This Google Earth image shows Hell’s Gate in relation to Great Bird Island.

After our short trek, we returned to the catamaran for a swim break, followed by lunch onboard — pasta salad, green salad, barbecue chicken, plantains, and banana bread (for dessert). All very fresh and yummy.

Mui never says no to a dip in the warm Caribbean waters.

Then we were was off to Hell’s Gate Island for snorkeling and a look-see at the portal carved out of the cliff. Had the skipper been able to pull closer to shore, I probably would have done the short trek on the island, but we were a bit too far offshore for my comfort. So, I stayed aboard, sitting on the aft ramp to dangle my feet in the water while I enjoyed the scenery. Mui swam over to take a peek at the rock portal and then went off to do some snorkeling.

Mui heads over to Hell’s Gate Island.

Mother Nature has the power to carve a portal out of solid rock.

After a while, we moved onto the second snorkel spot where the proximity to the barrier reef provided calmer conditions for the snorkelers. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case at a lot of snorkeling sites around the Caribbean, a great deal of the coral at both spots was dead, although Mui did see indications of a comeback and there were some colorful fish to enjoy. His rating (compared against Sapphire Beach on St Thomas) — “C” — on par with Buck Island in St Croix, but not as good as Trunk Bay in St John on this cruise.

The second snorkeling stop was cut short by a fast moving squall. By then, however, it was time to head back to St John’s anyway, so no one missed out on their time in the water by much. The skipper slowed down to let the squall pass us, and once we were in the clear, we enjoyed a nice cruise back to St John’s.

We were back aboard Mercury by 4:15p, well before the 5:00p sail away. As it turns out, it was rush hour for cruise ships — not that three ships cause too much of a traffic jam, but the narrow entrance to the bay did mean that we had to wait our turn to maneuver away from the dock.

The ships left in reverse order of this morning’s arrival, putting Mercury in last place. The passengers on Ocean Village were all out on the open decks again, waving British flags provided by the ship’s staff. With their sail away party in full swing, they gave Explorer of the Seas a royal send off. Then, as Ocean Village started to maneuver away, the passengers did the “wave” to wish us bon voyage. Quite a sight it was — a “wave” the length of the ship! I’m afraid the response from Mercury was pretty lackluster, but the few of us who were on the open deck above the bridge did our best to reciprocate by waving our goodbyes.

Then, it was our turn to leave Antigua behind. With three toots of the ship’s horn, Mercury maneuvered out of the harbor and turned towards our last port call.

Next Up: Sint Maarten / Saint Martin