Antigua

Antigua is best suited for a beach day or perhaps a kayaking adventure. The sites-to-see listed in tourist books name the working dockyards.

Adventurous Ideas:

- Sail aboard a catamaran and take in a few hours of
breathtaking scenery.

- Discover some of Antigua's most beautiful secret spots and small, uninhabited islands by kayak. You'll make a stop for a swim, and if you are quiet, you may spot the sea turtles, frigate birds, whistling ducks, endangered fallow deer and flying fish that inhabit the area.

There are 365 beaches on Antigua, one for each day of the year. The great majority rest inside the calm, protected waters of the island's Caribbean side. All are open to the public.

Antigua is almost completely surrounded by lush coral reefs with steep walls, and a myriad of shipwrecks. The southern and eastern coasts of Antigua surrounded by shelfs, providing perfect conditions for extraordinary shallow diving and snorkeling. There is very little current in most places in Antigua. The visibility in the waters of Antigua ranges from 65 to 155 feet, and tropical marine plants and animals are diverse and plentiful.


Northwest Coast
Dickenson Bay and Runaway Bay, located along the island's developed northwestern coast, are the place to go for those who want the fully-loaded resort beach experience. The beaches most convenient to St. John's are Fort James, a locally-popular public beach, and Deep Bay. Galley Bay attracts surfers during the winter months and a joggers during the evening. The series of four crescent beaches at Hawksbill are also highly regarded, one of which is nudist.


Southwest and South Coast
The beaches of the hilly southwest corner of Antigua are generally less developed than those around St. John's further north. On the road that winds along this coast are Fryes Bay, Darkwood Beach, and the beaches around Johnsons Point. Rendezvous Bay and especially Doigs Beach, both located on the central southern coast at Rendezvous Bay, are especially quiet beaches worth the rough travel necessary to reach them. Pigeon Point, near English Harbour Town, is a convenient balm after a day at Nelson's Dockyard.


East Coast
On the southeast corner of the island is Half Moon Bay, now a National Park and a good choice for a family outing. Long Bay, on the easternmost point of the island, is another good choice for families, as it is completely protected by its reef.

Interesting tidbit:
The importation and wearing of camouflage clothing is prohibited in Antigua and Barbuda. Visitors should leave such items at home to avoid confiscation.

Loterie Farm - St. Martin

Well I got in touch with Lorterie farm to find out about pricing for the ropes course. Here is what they responded with:

"Loterie Farm is a private nature reserve of 154 acres with a beautiful secondary humid forest. We have several hiking trails on our property. You can either take the self guided tour which costs €5.00 per person or guided tour, we require a minimum party of 6 persons and the fee is €25.00 per person. Also, we recommend making prior arrangements for this so we have a guide here for you.

"We also have our, "Fly Zone" which is our treetop canopy tour for those of you who need an adrenaline kick as well as a good workout. The Fly Zone cost €35.00 per person and no reservation is possible for this activity, basically it's a first come, first serve basis. We recommend people to come either in the afternoon or in the weekend as we often have large groups from the cruise ships in the morning. If you are traveling on a cruise ship, we recommend that you book this on board your ship if it is offered. If we have many groups from the cruise ships, we sometimes are unable to take any walk up customers.

"Since December 2007 we also offer Fly Zone Extreme which is our new elite zip line. This zip line is not for the weak hearted and if you require an adrenaline shot, this one is for you. For the Fly Zone Extreme, you can just walk up here and we will sign you up and transport you up the mountain of Pic Paradis. The price for the Fly Zone Extreme is €55.00 per person.

"We are closed every Monday. Currently our exchange rate is Euro 1 = USD 1.29 and we follow the international exchange rates which changes daily. We recommend wearing sport shoes or sneakers. You can not wear sandals or flip-flops."

So there you go. The price through the cruise ship is a little bit more, however it guarantees a spot. Let me know what people think and I'll find out more information if needed.

THINGS TO DO IN ST. LUCIA

1.  SNORKEL:

We may consider snorkeling.  Here is a snorkeling site that shows up in several web pages:  

"For the best snorkeling on St. Lucia, head to the waters in front of Anse Chastanet beach.  The Anse Chastanet Reef is the perfect haven for snorkelers because it is buoyed off for snorkeling safety, so no boats are allowed in the area.  There is a plateau on the reef that reaches from 5 to 25 feet deep, and at its end, falls away from 20 to 140 feet into a coral wall full of amazing sea life. Photographers favor the reef as one of the most picturesque sites in St. Lucia."

I will post some pictures of Anse Chastanet beach.  As I understand it, one of the best features of the beach is the view of the Pitons.

2. Sailing:

[I will add my findings on this option.]

3.  Exploring:

St. Lucia, like Dominica, is a natural wonderland--a sort of Garden of Eden.  It includes beautiful rain forests, waterfalls, and trails throughout.  [I will add my findings on this option as well.]

St. Maarten

Well here are some things I've found so far on St. Maarten. First off there are two sides to the island, a Dutch and French side, as you can see in the map below. We dock on the Dutch side in Great Bay.

Sites of the Island-

Loterie Farm - a 154-acre private nature preserve. Here they offer an adventure course. Mostly made up of many zip lines through the trees. It does also have some swings (not your typical playground swings...) and rope bridges. I'm not fully sure what the price is direct but from the cruise ship it is $84 a person. However I am going to e-mail them and see how much they charge. Here are a couple of pictures:

Fun Fun!!!

Islands to Reseach

So here they are... the islands to research!

St. Maarten

Nate and Luisa plus Buckley and Jeralyn
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Antigua

Josh and Brooke

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St. Lucia

Mom and Dad

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Barbados

Jake and Kate plus Max

. . . And Barbados looks pretty nice as well!!! I know that I am jumping the gun, in terms of research [not a very organized approach], but I just had to post a few pictures of a couple of our destinations.

. . . I like the idea of each researching an area and then sharing with each other what we have learned. What do you think of that approach?

So this is St. Lucia!!!

Get excited everybody because this is it, on the 15th of November Seranade Of The Seas sets sail!

Because of that, we have here our own little blog to compile all of our great findings about each of our exotic desitnations. For those that don't quite know which days are which they are as follows:

15-Nov depart San Juan, Puerto Rico at 10:00 PM

16-Nov: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

17-Nov: Philipsburg, St. Maarten

18-Nov: St. John's, Antigua

19-Nov: Castries, St. Lucia

20-Nov: Bridgetown, Barbados

21-Nov: At sea

22-Nov: Return to San Juan at 7:00 AM