Nathan's Insights

Wednesday 01 January 2025
Highlights: Beautiful Antigua, Magnificent views from Shirley Heights, Exploring historic UNESCO Nelson’s Dockyard, Scouting the Antiqua coastline, the incredible and almost unbelievable acrobatic skills displayed during the Duo Quintessence show

A new day and a new island after last night’s New Year’s celebrations. Antigua is known for its beauty and I couldn’t wait to get ashore. 

Once on shore my booked Antigua Land and Sea tour started with the land excursion. We learnt about the history of the island and some of its legends including Viv Richards as we drove past the old international cricket ground and the new (since 2007) Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

We made a major stop at an old fort which had great views of the coast.

The next stop, Shirley Heights, had even better views of English Harbour. Such a beautiful paradise.

We then visited Nelson’s Dockyard, the only operating Georgian dockyard in the world built in 1725. Some of the buildings and trees were over 300 years old.

We then drove through Antigua’s lush rainforest including Fig Tree Drive which has a large number of banana trees (what localling is known a Fig Trees). 

We then boarded a catamaran to explore the Antigua coastline. The crew on this cruise had an energetic crew and the rum flowed freely for the next two hours.

I enjoyed a lovely lunch, baked chicken, macaroni cheese pie, and garlic bread. Paired with an open bar we were a happy group and we sat back and enjoyed the sights.

It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time in Antigua. Such a beautiful island with a lot of happy locals cheering us on wherever we went.

Back on the ship I skipped the Main Dining Room booking and instead went the the Windjammer Buffet so I could catch the early 7 pm Showtime performance: Duo Quintessence. I wanted an early night if possible today after staying up for NYE last night.

Duo Quintessence is a spectacular 45 minute acrobatic show performed by husband and wife Megan and Andy Parrish.

It was a breathtaking show and they moved their bodies in ways that seemed to be impossible. 

Easily the best show of the cruise so far.