Antigua--Monday September 22 2014

Today we are visiting the historic Island of St. Johns, Antigua.  Antiguans boast that they have 365 beaches, one for each day of the year.

Antigua was first occupied by the peaceful Arawak Indians around 200 BC.  They stayed until the arrival of the Caribs, an Amazonian tribe.  The island was known as Wadadli until 1492 when Columbus, who never actually made landfall sailed by and named the island in honor of Maria de la Antigua, the saint he worshipped in Seville.  Eventually the English gained control and retained it until just 25 years ago when Antigua gained independence.

The island was an important colonial base of the Royal Navy with English Harbor serving as its headquarters.  If you have never visited before, I recommend going to Nelson’s Dockyard and the grounds of Shirley Heights which reveals remnants of a working Georgian Harbor, old forts and officer’s quarters as well as sugar mills from the days when sugar plantations ruled the island.

Antigua has basically abandoned its agricultural heritage and now relies on the tourist economy.

We started our day by arriving into Antigua around 6 a.m. (just when the sun was rising for the day).  It was a beautiful morning with just a few scattered clouds.  However, Captain John said we should expect thunderstorms in the afternoon.

All clear to go ashore was at 7:30 a.m.  Today we do not have an excursion planned and are just going to go into town later in the morning once everything opens up.

After breakfast, I run into my favorite Princess Sofia and stop to get a picture!

We wander off the ship around 9:45 a.m. and get entertained by the local bongo player

Then we ran into the local Antiguan dressed up as…..well, we aren't sure……but he was dressed up.  The Disney Magic is in the background.

Michael and I ran into Scott and Lynn and we decided to go to Cheers, one of the places on main street that offered free Internet.

After spending time there, Scott and Lynn had told me about a Belgian Waffle place that I just had to go to.  Of course, for those following my travel blog in Europe this summer, it is all about finding Belgium Waffles and Gelato.  Well at least I might get a Belgium Waffle here!  We find Fred’s Belgium Waffles.

I have a waffle with cookies and cream ice cream and chocolate sauce.  Michael has one with coconut ice cream and chocolate sauce.  The waffle was very good, but if you ask me so far where my favorite is, that would be my Belgium Waffle with Strawberries, Ice Cream and Whipped Cream in Mykonos, Greece.  In any case, I will keep trying them (if I must) to compare for everyone following my blog!

After the waffle, we decide to head back to the Disney Magic and I capture a beautiful picture of the ship in port.

We decide to go hang out at the adult pool for the afternoon, and as Captain John promised, the thunderstorms arrive late in the afternoon and we move to a table under cover and play cards for awhile.

All aboard is 4:45 p.m.  and I get some pictures as we are leaving port for our next destination of St. Lucia.

Then it is time to get ready for our 6 p.m. dinner reservation at Palo.  Sunset is at 6:04 p.m., so I take a couple of pictures as we head into dinner.

We are in the Private Dining Room tonight and Jane is our server.  She does an excellent job taking care of all of our needs.  Dinner, as always, is first class, and we all eat way too much.  Chef Silvio fixes me Salmon for dinner.  He makes me a wonderful entrée. 

Of course for dessert we had Chocolate Souffle.  Delicious!

We finish just in time to go see the 8:45 p.m. show of Walt Disney, The Dream Goes On.  I just love this show.  

After the show, we are off to Fathom’s for Disco Night.  First we see the adult show with Juggler Thomas John.  Thomas was pretty good.  He was a finalist in season 5, I think, in America’s Got Talent.  He did a lot of jokes along with his juggling.  

Michael was picked to be the Kung Fu Fighter for 70’s Disco Night.

After dancing the time away in the club, I decided to head down to the stateroom to call it a night.  Tomorrow we have an 8:15 a.m. excursion in St. Lucia.  

It was another great day.  Goodnight from the Disney Magic!