Eterno Dia PhotographyNavigating The Packed Streets Of Phuket
Posted on March 8, 2019
The Thailand adventure continues. I left you last as were were checking into our hotel in Phuket after a long, exhausting journey from Edmonton, Alberta to Phuket, Thailand.
An amazing Pad Thai
After a brief rest, water and some rifling through suitcases to find shorts and tank tops, the next priority was food. We didn’t waste a lot of time in deciding that literally the closest option was going to be just fine. We walked across the street from the hotel to a “sports bar”. Nearly empty in the late afternoon heat, we were ushered in and given the royal treatment. I ordered a Pad See Ew. I had no idea what it was and I was so hungry I didn’t really care at that point, but luckily it was an amazing stir fry with extra thick rice noodles that I’ll never stop thinking about. The beer was the coldest, most delicious I’d ever tasted. We ate, had a few drinks, took in the beautiful tropical surroundings and reveled in the first few moments of our most adventurous vacation before moving on.
We followed the signs directing us to the beach and walked about 8 blocks from our hotel down a few well traveled back alleys. We arrived at a the busy and very touristy Patong beach near sunset. There were food vendors everywhere; meat on a stick, to-go Pad Thai, ice cream, fresh coconut drinks and fruit smoothies were just the beginning of the choices available. We walked along the beach, took in the sights and enjoyed the sunset before heading back for an early night. Despite my exhaustion, sleep was a challenge. Jet lag is the worst. We went to bed early but by 3:00 am Phuket time, I was awake and ready to go. This ended up being fine, as on our first full day in Thailand, we were booked for a two dive Scuba excursion.
Patong Beach at sunset
Yes, it sounded crazy to me too. Early in the planning of our trip we had decided to book a tour for our first week in Thailand. We knew that this trip would be a whole new level for us and thought a tour would be a great way to learn about the country, food and customs with someone experienced assist us for the first leg of our trip. With the help of a travel agent, we booked an “Island Hopper” tour that would start in Phuket, go to Krabi and Phi Phi Island before heading back to Phuket. I knew early on that if we were going to Thailand, I had to do a dive. I’d only been once before in Antigua and was assured by many that Thailand diving was not to be missed. Once we had our itinerary for the tour, I realized how tight our schedule was going to be and wasn’t sure we’d get the chance to dive during the tour or right after when we were booked to fly to Bangkok. I talked it over with Shawn and we decided to book the dive early in the trip so we wouldn’t be disappointed if we missed our window later. So, in what seemed like lunacy, we booked our dive from home for our first day in Thailand. I’ll give you all of the dive details in an upcoming post, but rest assured, it was simply amazing.
A sign posted in the lobby of our hotel that ended up being in nearly every hotel
We arrived back from our dive trip with enough time to shower and clean up before beginning the tour. We met with the group and tour leader for dinner at the hotel and we were admittedly out of our element. We were definitely the oldest in the group; older than the group leader as well. There were about 40 of us in total. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the group, but being that most of them were in their late teens and early twenties, there was a definite party vibe.
Sights walking through the streets of Patong
After dinner, we joined the group who had voted to go to a bar or club in the area. We felt awkward and out of place amongst the young people in our group, and the jet lag and exhaustion from our dive was sinking in. We meandered through the bustling streets of Patong with our group leader guiding the way; shop keepers and restaurant staff strongly urging us to come into their establishments. The sales pressure wasn’t any worse than anything I’ve experienced in Cancun or Playa Del Carmen in Mexico, or in Jamaica, but the huge crowds of people and jet lag made me feel overwhelmed.
The heat, even at night was oppressive. The roads and sidewalks were noisy and crowded and the smells ranged from delightful barbecued street food on one corner to sewer on another. We kept our wallets and purses tucked away and closely monitored on the advice of our tour leader, as pick-pocketing is common here. The streets were dirty; there was a lot of garbage on the road. The sidewalks were cracked and a definite tripping hazard. Many were wet in places, and I tried not to think about what the liquids might be as I stepped in a few puddles I couldn’t avoid in my sandals. Cockroaches scuttled about narrowly missing being squashed by throngs of tourist feet. We walked past large plastic totes and buckets on the sidewalks outside of restaurants that contained fish and all manner of sea life available to pick for one’s supper. While I enjoy seafood, the displays were a bit off-putting based on my own cultural and ethical lens. There were fruit and vegetable stands on every corner with food I didn’t even recognize and there were 7-Elevens on every other corner.
Fresh fruit stand
Our tour group ended up at Bangla Road, the epicenter of party life in Patong. It made Las Vegas seem cute. On each side of the wide road where tourists mingled and bar staff shouted offers of cheap drinks and discount cover fees, there were pubs, clubs, Go Go bars, ping pong shows (offering far more outrageous entertainment than anything available back home), cabaret shows (aka Ladyboy shows) and every form of fun or debauchery one could ever find. We went with the group to a bar where a Thai cover band was doing live versions of western top 40 songs; they were surprisingly good and were fun to watch. The bar had a two drink minimum and even after the tour leader negotiated with bar staff to get our whole group in, the drink prices were insanely inflated. But hey, when in Thailand…
Thai cover band
A popular nasal inhaler sold in local shops, used for congestion or to feel refreshed
After a long day of diving and meeting the group, we were exhausted and excused ourselves at an unreasonably early hour and began navigating our way back through the crowded, dirty streets and pushy vendors back to the hotel. The next day, we decided to take it easy. In the morning we lounged at the hotel’s surprisingly beautiful and quiet pool and found amazing Thai food and drinks throughout the day.
Poolside lounging
Ixora aka West Indian Jasmine
Pineapple Cashew stir fry. Delicious!
Fresh Coconut!
We joined the tour group that evening for discount shopping and some welcome air conditioning at Junceylon Shopping Center and dinner at Baan Saan market. Our guide taught us about some of the food court style areas here where you pay for a pre-loaded food card to use at any establishment in the area and then get a refund on whatever you don’t spend, after your meal. This experience came in handy, as this is a common way of getting food in malls or large markets around Thailand. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to re-pack and get some rest before starting the next part of our tour; heading to Krabi in the morning!
Food court at Baan Saan Market
As always, thank you for stopping by to read. Stay tuned for the next part of the adventure. Feel free to ask questions or leave comments. Until next time, safe and happy travels.
Staycation Alberta: The Canmore Grassi Lakes Hike
Posted on August 25, 2018
In June, Shawn and I had a four day stretch off together and decided to go to Canmore, located in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. Canmore is a lovely place for a getaway. A four hour’s drive from Edmonton and one hour west of Calgary, it isn’t quite within the boundaries of Banff National Park, so you don’t have to pay the daily National Park fee if you stay here. There is so much to find in Canmore with the Three Sisters mountains resting gracefully as your backdrop; great shopping, fantastic restaurants and breweries, a museum, gemstone and caving tours, hiking, biking, rafting and more. Eating and accommodations can be as casual or upscale as you like; camping to five star hotels and anything in between. You can keep it as laid back or as classy as you like.
On this trip Shawn convinced me to hike. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs you’ll know that hiking is a bit of an issue for me; you can read all about that in this article. I have a thing about bears that makes me a pretty anxious hiker. Shawn wanted to try the Grassi Lakes hike, a very popular one, which was fine with me; potentially more people I can outrun. 
We arrived at the trail head around nine in the morning, after a fairly easy drive up the Three Sisters Parkway Road. When we arrived I was shocked to discover that ours was one of only three other cars in the parking lot. I quickly came to the conclusion that meant that we would be fairly alone on the hike up. This made me very nervous, and I expressed that in no uncertain terms. After a bit of whining, I was convinced that we should still go; after all, I had my trusty bear spray, so no problem.
No one around….
Why am I doing this?!
Mount Rundle
Each step we got further from the car, I got more anxious; hearing noises off in the bushes, smelling “a musty smell” I was convinced was a bear looming around the next corner, waiting to devour me. I remembered that we needed to make noise when in bear country, so I begged Shawn to tell me stories. I picked two “killing rocks” which I started to clack together to make more noise. When that didn’t work, I asked him to play some music on his phone.
Ha Ling Peak
View back to Canmore
The music and storytelling began to calm me, and as we climbed higher and the stunning vistas and views became more grand, I became more distracted by all the beauty. We took the “easy” trail up; a wide, well maintained, access road, and it was a good, steady incline that took us about an hour. It was a gorgeous, warm day and we stopped a few times for water breaks and to remove jackets and scarves. As we crested the final hill to our destination, we found quite a number of hikers already at the lakes. Some had taken the more difficult trail route up but some had come earlier and just stayed a while, and I could see why.
The two lakes at the top that surround the east end of Mount Rundle are simply gorgeous; clear, turquoise ponds that were as still as glass. I could see every detail under the water, right down to the bottom. Mount Ha Ling and Mount Rundle still towered above us. We took our time walking slowly around the first lake and soaking in the tranquility.
Grassi Lake
Grassi Lake
Grassi Lake
Grassi Lake
Crystal clear water
Grassi Lake
Up to the left of where we were at the lakes there was a giant, silver, man-made pipe. This is a pipe so large you can see from the main highway down at the town site and I’d always wondered what it was whenever we’d driven through the area. We had no idea what it was and hiked a few hundred yards further up to explore it. As it turns out, the town of Canmore gets part of its water supply from the Spray Lakes Reservoir in the the Spray Valley Provincial Park high above the town of Canmore. The tube we found is part of the Three Sisters Hydroelectric Plant that controls the reservoir and helps to move water from the Spray Lakes above to Whitemans Pond and then down to the Quarry Lake reservoir down below.
We carried on to further explore when we began to hear rumors from other hikers that there was a nesting owl nearby. I’ve never seen an owl outside of a zoo before and I’d been waiting for years to see a wild one. In addition to being a bit of a birder, my grandma was mad about owls. She had owl trinkets, owl jewelry, china, clothing, figurines, paintings; you name it. She was obsessed. Ever since her passing, I’d been hoping to see an owl one day; a real, wild owl. When we heard about the owl, I was so excited, I couldn’t hold my camera steady; my hands were shaking so hard I had to get out my tripod. I was so worried she’d be in a tree and fly away before I’d get a chance to see the owl I’d waited so long for. We rushed to the a spot where we could see the cave it was pointed out that she was nesting in high on the very east end of Mount Rundle, and there she was, posed like a proud statue. I was so overcome with emotion that I burst into tears, much to the shock of the hikers around me. Here was the owl I’d been waiting to see; napping in her cave at the edge of the cliff. Through the tears, I managed to get my telephoto lens on my camera, found some level ground and started photographing.
Great Horned Owl in her cave on Rundle Mountain
I probably spent an hour just taking photos of the owl and pointing her out to other hikers. At one point, a fuzzy, grey blob waddled out beside her; one of her owlets (we were told by others that there was more than one baby) came out to gaze sleepily about and then retired as quickly as he came. After some length of time, Shawn implored me to continue to explore the rest of the area. Along the upper edge we found group of climbers scaling the side of Mount Rundle. We hiked back down to the first lake and I pointed out to every hiker we passed how to find the owl as they went up.
Great Horned Owl
Great Horned Owl
Preening
Happened to catch a swallow zooming passed
Well, hello!
Seems unimpressed by his audience
Those eyes though…
We decided to take the “difficult” route back down. The difficult path was significantly more taxing than the way up. It had steep steps, sharp cutbacks, slippery spots, but also stunning views looking down on the town of Canmore. A fellow hiker whom I’d talked with about the owl told me where to find lady slipper orchids on the way back down.
Whitemans Pond and the parking lot below
Ha Ling Peak behind the waterfall
Whitemans Pond – The reservoir for water collected from the Spray Lakes above.
We made it safely down, with no bear encounters, but some absolutely amazing views, and a thrilling encounter with a truly stunning owl, who has apparently nested there for the past several years. Grassi Lakes was definitely a gem of a hike. Easy enough for the inexperienced hiker but as challenging as you’d like it to be. Don’t miss this delightful hike, and remember to look up on the side of Rundle Mountain as you reach the upper lake, to spot this lovely owl and maybe and owlet or two.
Lady Slipper Orchids! I didn’t even know there were orchids in Alberta!
Have you done this hike? What other hikes in the Canmore area do you recommend? As always, feel free to share, comment and ask questions. Until next time, happy traveling!
A successful hike. So gorgeous!
A well earned beverage at one of Canmore’s fine pubs post-hike.
Breathing Under Water: Scuba Diving In Antigua
Posted on February 13, 2018
So I’m currently trying to convince you all to go to Antigua. You can find my first article about this incredible paradise here. But now, I’m just going to give further evidence on why Antigua should be very high on your bucket list.
Scuba diving in Antigua with a Blue Chromis
When we were planning this trip, I was in the middle of taking swimming lessons. You can read that blog here. Adult swimming lessons. Long story short, I never learned to swim as a kid. I tried but the fear was way too much for me to overcome at the time. Fast forward to my adulthood and ironically it turned out that I LOVE the ocean. I love the beach, palm trees, sand between my toes, the salty smell of the ocean breeze; everything about it. I love being on the water, and in the water, and I love sea creatures. What a horrible dichotomy to love something so much but to be so scared that the thing you love may kill you. I’d been snorkeling and boating on previous vacations, but there was always so much fear that really took away a lot the joy of the experience. Days of anxiety before a snorkel trip, holding onto the rails on boats extra hard knowing that if I went overboard, it wouldn’t be good. Even with a life jacket on, the fear was still almost too much. When I was 35 I finally had enough of the fear and decided to take control. I took adult swim lessons at a local rec center for 2 years. I pushed through the panic, I went even when I would have rather done literally ANYTHING else; I learned how to float, how to blow bubbles, and a bunch of different strokes. I learned that I’m way more buoyant than I thought and I learned how to acknowledge my panic but not let it take over my mind and body. When we booked our trip to Antigua I told my husband that I really wanted to keep pushing myself in the water and that I wanted a challenge. I don’t think he was expecting me to say I wanted to try scuba diving. And I don’t think he was really all that excited at the time.
Swimming lessons
I knew I wouldn’t be comfortable jumping in the ocean never having tried diving, so I booked an introduction to SCUBA class through a local dive shop. It was a three hour evening class that let you experience the basics of scuba; the feeling of breathing through a regulator, the weight of the tank and belts, and went through basic safety and hand signal. It’s the same course you would take as a first time diver on vacation, but in the safety of a local swimming pool. It wasn’t a pass/fail class, but I failed. Hard. I was hyperventilating, flailing and panicking. I was so discouraged. 
So you know what I did? I signed up and took the class again. And guess what? It went way better! I stayed much calmer, I could breathe with the regulator. I controlled my buoyancy, learned how to retrieve my emergency regulator, practiced buddy breathing, clearing my mask and hand signals.
As soon we arrived in Antigua and settled in at the hotel we booked our dive. I was anxious on the day, but also really excited. I knew there was potential for me to panic, but I also knew I wanted to see what was under all that turquoise water. I wanted to see the fish, corals, stingrays, and whatever else was down there, intimately and close up. I wanted to be in their world. The morning of the dive was spent in the pool, doing the same things we learned in the intro class I’d taken at home; breathing, learning how to regulate buoyancy, emergency procedures and communications. I did pretty well and was starting to get more excited than scared. Then, we headed out on the boat. Looking at the vast, choppy ocean, the reality that this was not the safety of a pool was starting to sink in. This was real life. We geared up and I was starting to wonder if I should do this; if I could do this… I was shaking, my heart was racing.
Heading out to dive
I think the worst was that we had to sit on the edge of the boat and fall backwards into the ocean. During swimming lessons we’d done flips into the pool as practice for a disoriented fall; how to right yourself and not panic if you accidentally fall into water. I knew it was going to suck. And it did. I was instantly panicky when I hit the water. The instructor could tell and she came to help me. She reassured me that I could breathe and I had to take a few moments bobbing at the surface of the rough water, telling myself to just breathe: in – out – in – out – in – out. My breathing felt forced. It felt like I had to think of each breath to make sure it would happen. I was consciously having to convince myself that I was fine. Once I felt slightly calmer, we began the descent, which was also terrifying. We had to follow a rope down to the ocean floor and every foot I descended was more terrifying than the last, but if I could just get down…. breathe: in – out – in – out – in – out….
Descent
Suddenly, on the bottom, I started to become aware of things besides my terror. The water was calmer; not choppy like the surface. I noticed the ripples on the sand that I was standing on. I noticed the slight pressure in my ears, one they told me to expect and how to clear. I saw that slightly ahead of us was a pile of rocks… a reef! The instructor checked that we were OK and ready to proceed and then motioned us to follow her. As we swam towards the reef, it was almost like a curtain was slowly pulled back and I started to notice more: bits of seaweed, a branch of coral.
Reef with coral
A FISH! A school of fish! More schools of fish! A coral that looked like a brain! More fish! Yellow! A stripped one! A red one! Suddenly, I realized I was breathing, and not having to focus on every breath in and out. I was breathing UNDER WATER! As the dive continued from there, anxiety and fear began to melt away and was replaced with pure exhilaration and wonder. I could see into caves and nooks. I could see fish and lobsters schooling and darting around and going about their aquatic lives. I noticed corals swaying in the current. A landscape was laying out before me like nothing I’d ever seen. And the colors! Brilliant. Red, orange, purple, blue; a rainbow of life, hidden from view save for those of us brave enough to dive.
Reef with French Grunt
Incredibly colored corals with a sergeant major fish in the back right corner
There are plenty of places in the world that are renowned for diving; Cozumel, Belize, Thailand, and Hawaii, just to name a few. Antigua, while amazing in so many ways, is not sought out for its diving. Because I’d never been diving before, I had nothing to compare to, so I wasn’t really concerned, and I’d kind of set myself up to be less than impressed knowing that it wasn’t a diving haven. That being said, the things I saw in the waters off the coast of Antigua were the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. If you’ve ever wanted to try diving before, there is no reason to not do it while you’re here. The water is relatively shallow in the good dive spots and there is just so much to see.
Coral reef
Longspine Squirrelfish school and Blackbar Soldierfish
When I was helped out of the water and nearly collapsed back onto the boat at the end of the dive, I was wasted. My adrenaline had used up all my reserves. I was overcome by pure exhaustion but also a thrilling exhilaration. I met my fear head on, succeeded, and was rewarded with some of the most amazing sights I’d ever seen. I did what I would have thought impossible only a few years earlier. And I did it in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. For the rest of the day I was filled with the most euphoric feeling. I’m so pleased that I pushed myself to do this and as it turns out, my husband also loved it.
Black Bar Soldierfish
A wrasse of some sort in the center of a coral. Perhaps a clown wrasse or a slippery dick wrasse
A Southern Stingray glided past us and then disappeared into the blue
“Everything is fine”
My scuba photos aren’t the highest quality, as my underwater camera isn’t a professional camera, and most of the photos are screen captures from the videos I took. That doesn’t matter. The photos captured moments of a truly incredible day. The reason I named my site Eterno Dia: Eternal Day; a day that I will remember for many, many years to come. Please enjoy the photos of one of the most epic days of our life and consider Antigua’s insane beauty for your next vacation.
Scuba selfie
School of blue chromis fish
Safely back on the water
Accomplishment
Don’t think I’m done trying to convince you all either. There will be more. As usual, feel free to share, comment or ask questions. Until next time, happy travels!
FYI: We booked our scuba trip with Indigo Divers Antigua. While the trip was a few years ago, I would highly recommend them. They get a 4.5 star review on TripAdvisor currently and you can find them here: https://indigo-divers.com/
Winter Blues: Experience The Teal, Azure, Turquoise and Indigo of Antigua
Posted on February 4, 2018
View from the water at the Jolly Beach Resort
When I think about Antigua, I think of the color blue. The shallow water surrounding the island is a florescent turquoise like nothing else I’ve ever seen before. It’s so blue that even the seagull’s bellies look turquoise from underneath as they soar over the water. The teal of the slightly deeper waters where we saw starfish below the surface and swam with stingrays was everything you’ve imagined seeing in a travel brochure to paradise.
Jolly Beach Resort
The deep, choppy, indigo waters on the Atlantic side of the island are mysterious and exhilarating. I was recently chatting with a co-worker and fellow travel enthusiast about a trip to Antigua we took a few years back. While bragging, I went to show her some of the photos I have online and realized that I’ve hardly posted any photos of my trip, which is a real injustice to Antigua and all of you. So its time for me to tell you why you need to go here and experience the rainbow of blues you’ll find in Antigua.
Seagulls at the beach
Sunset at the Shirley Heights lookout point party
Husband and I were looking for something a bit more special when we booked this one. We’d been to Mexico a few times. Cuba and Jamaica were beautiful representations of the Caribbean, but for this trip, we wanted something a bit more unique; a bit less popular. We had it narrowed down to Barbados and Antigua. Antigua came up for a few reasons. It’s not that hard to get to. Lots of smaller, less popular destinations have poor connections and require lots of additional transfers to get to. Antigua has direct flights from Toronto at just over 4.5 hours long. While Antigua is tropical, its in a weird zone in the West Indies that makes it a bit less humid and more dry than a lot of other islands in the Caribbean. It opens up travel dates a bit more with less of a rainy season. For that reason, its also a bit different geographically and definitely has a dry season where things look desert-like and brown. Antigua boasts a slogan of “365 beaches; one for each day of the year”. That combined with a glass of wine and searching photos of the sunsets and husband and I had our minds made up.
Looking west: Endless sky
The mysterious indigo of the Atlantic side of the island
Antigua did not disappoint and I’m ashamed I have not shared more photos of this truly special island. The Caribbean has a certain charm that is unlike anywhere else. It really is a thing; time moves slower, interactions are more friendly, life seems to be lived more fully and authentically. Here, in Antigua, it was still something more than that; the people were so warm and relaxed, the geography was so interesting, the wildlife was abundant and beautiful, and the ocean and beaches; simply stunning.
Swimming with stingrays
We went in June, which is during Antigua’s low tourist season. That only meant that tours ran on a less frequent schedule, were smaller and more intimate and the resort was slightly less busy. Antigua isn’t bustling though no matter when you go, not the same way as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta or Havana. It’s less touristy and more simple. Some very picky people might say it’s a bit run down in spots, but that’s the true Caribbean; chipped paint from the salty, humid air, and a more relaxed way of living.
Exploring caves on Barbuda
We were worried upon booking Antigua that we wouldn’t have enough to do during our week there. We love the beach but we also love to explore when we’re visiting a new place. Antigua is one of two very small islands in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. I wrote about Barbuda (the smaller of the two islands) previously due to the direct hit the island took by hurricane Irma during the summer storm season of 2017. You can find that article here. Barbuda has a population of about 2000 people and will likely take years to rebuild after the damage caused by Irma. Besides the hurricane, Barbuda previously made news because the late Princess Diana used to vacation here with Harry and Will. Antigua, the bigger of the two, is also a tiny island. With an area of only 281 kilometers and a population of 80,000, it’s just quaint. However, Antigua has so much to do; it’s steeped in history.
As a former British colony, there is history galore, both good and bad, from a political view. Shirley Heights, an old British military lookout is where the tall sailing ships of the late 1700s and early 1800s used to dock. You can actually picture them floating there in the harbor in your mind’s eye. The capital of St. Johns is a livelier place than a lot of the other spots on the island and is where the cruise ships dock. There is just so much to do here: shopping, snorkeling at one of the countless reefs, relaxing on one of the numerous white sand beaches, swimming with sting rays, speedboat tours of the island, and these are only just a handful of the adventure you can find here. Tours that we went on all included lots of information about the history of the islands.
SCUBA diving
The food is as fresh as you can get; seafood, fruit, root vegetables, and there are so many places to eat, the trouble is deciding were to go. Antigua is a paradise, a natural wonder and one of the most special places you might ever visit. The wildlife is stunning: just the sheer variety of birds alone is remarkable, but then when you get in the ocean, there is still more to see; stingrays, fish, jellyfish, nurse sharks, and turtles. This is a wildlife paradise.
snorkeling near Nelson’s Dockyard
The Pillars of Hercules
I’ll break down my Antigua trip into a few different blog posts over the next few weeks as it wouldn’t be fair to anyone to just do one post. There is just so much beauty on these two little islands. Please check back to see more. If you have questions or comments, feel free to get in touch. If you are considering curing your winter blues with a trip south this winter, I highly recommend Antigua and Barbuda to you.
Jumby Bay
An secluded beach on Barbuda
Paradise
Barbuda: The Uncut Jewel Of The Caribbean
Posted on September 7, 2017
View from the Two Foot Bay caves.
Most of you probably never heard of Barbuda before this week. Thanks to Hurricane Irma, many of you probably have now. I have known of Barbuda for a few years now and had the privilege of visiting Barbuda and sister Island Antigua in 2015. My husband and I love the Caribbean; white sand beaches, palm trees and a laid back atmosphere. We’d been to Jamaica for our honeymoon, Cuba, and Mexico a handful of times (though it’s not actually the Caribbean). For this trip we were looking for something more special; a place not a lot of people we knew had already been to. In the end we chose Antigua and Barbuda (pronounced An-TEE-ga and bar-BEW-da). Some of you have heard of Antigua, the larger and more populated of the two sister islands. They’re located in the Leeward islands, part of the lesser Antilles and nearly as far east as you can go before you hit Africa. Antigua has a population of about 80,000 but it’s sister, about 40 miles north-ish only has about 1650 residents.
Antigua- Jolly beach
Antigua is stunning. White sand beaches (365: one for each day of the year), calm, turquoise water that’s nearly fluorescent, rolling hills, thick forests, and an abundance of flora and fauna that knocked my socks off. Anyone who knows me personally is sick to death of the stories of the amazing hummingbirds, scuba diving and steel drums bands playing during dinner that made me cry because everything was “just so perfect”.
We had so many amazing adventures in Antigua that I’ll definitely get into in future blogs (the lookout at Shirley Heights, Stingray City, A circumnavigation of the entire island – all of which I HIGHLY recommend) and one that I’ll never forget is the trip to the sister isle of Barbuda. We found it in the list of available tours and myself, my husband and another couple wanted to go. The resort tour rep gave us a few options on how to get to the tiny island, and we all unanimously agreed to take the ferry that the locals take. He implored us to take the luxurious catamaran or sailboat instead, warning us that it may not be the best option, but we all wanted to take the journey authentically, and see things from a local perspective.
The ferry to Barbuda.
The ferry ride was 1.5 hours each way, and admittedly not the smoothest ride. I was glad to have anti-nausea medication (of which I always bring a lot to share) because even some of the locals were seasick. I loved every minute of it. The ferry was loaded up with boxes and care packages for friends and family members on Barbuda that were simply labeled with first names, because everyone on Barbuda knows everyone. Passengers included a group of Antiguan school children and their teachers going for a field trip, some Barbudans going back after a visit to the main island and some Antiguans going to see relatives who live on Barbuda. There was even the most small town scene of someone trying to get a package of something “illegal” to Barbuda that was nearly comical in its casualness.
Once on Barbuda, six of us (we were nearly the only tourists on the island with it being off season) were whisked around to see the sand mine (yes, they send sand to places that don’t have any), the village of Codrington, and then to the Codrington Lagoon to see the largest frigate bird sanctuary in the Western Hemisphere.
Young frigate birds
We spent part of the morning boating around the quiet lagoon with a tour guide, taking photos of the birds and marveling at the upside down jellyfish. We were then driven up to Barbuda’s “highlands”, the caves at Two Foot Bay, a very short drive from Codrington. We had time to explore these magnificent limestone caves, and climb to Barbuda’s highest point (which is only 38 meters, as Barbuda is very flat) and see the stunning lookout views. This is also where you can find the remains of Codrington House, the ruins of a family estate dating to the 1700’s. The Codgrinton brothers who leased land from the UK ran sugar plantations, had ties to piracy and the slave trade.
From there we were taken to the pink sand beach (again only a short drive away) for an amazing lunch at a beach side restaurant and then time on a basically deserted beach. We sunbathed, swam and explored. We didn’t see the pink sand that you may have heard Barbuda is famous for (it’s seasonal) but that didn’t matter at all. It was stunning.
We explored the nearby River Martello Tower, an old military fort built in 1745, one of many of these types of fort around the islands. We met a local there who was walking around the area while waiting to catch the ferry back to Antigua. He gave us his take on the history of the area and showed us “sea grapes”, a small, edible fruit that grows on vines right on the beach.
The River Fort Martello tower dating to 1745
We finally had to drag ourselves from the beach to catch the ferry for the choppy ride back to Antigua. More seasickness, some people slept, others chatted and gossiped, I stuck my head out the window to catch the breeze and splashes of the sea in my face while 80’s pop hits played on the speakers (including Don’t Rock The Boat, which I found cute and ironic).
Heading back to Antigua
I really didn’t know quite what to expect on our day trip to Barbuda, but I was hoping for an adventure and boy did it deliver, especially based on it’s size and population. Barbuda isn’t shiny and sparkly like the larger island of Antigua and some of the other more well known Caribbean islands. It’s largely undeveloped and has a very small town feel. It’s definitely not modern. Everyone knows everyone and life seems relatively quiet. Barbuda has very little tourism development and hardly any large resorts. That’s what’s so unique and charming about it. It’s unspoiled and pure. Innocent. That’s also what makes me so sad when I think about the devastation Irma has caused her.
The stunning beach and clear waters
The island was without any contact from the outside world for nearly 24 hours after being hit directly by category 5 Irma dozens of times larger than the island. How frightening it must have been for those poor souls to be hunkered down in the dead of night with their homes coming apart around them? To be stranded for so long, not knowing how long until help arrived? Who will come to her aid with 90% or more of her infrastructure obliterated? Barbuda is not comprised of wealthy people. Most houses are simple. Most of the ways of life are simple. It won’t be simple for them any longer. I can only hope that Barbuda (and St. Maarten and many other Caribbean nations affected by this hurricane) will get the help that they desperately need to rebuild and maintain their way of life in the wake of this devastation. If you have even $10 to spare, I hope you will donate to a relief organization who can help them. No amount is too small. And I hope that you will be lucky enough to visit the unassuming little jem that is Barbuda, at least once in your life.
Eterno Dia Photography 