04-25-2013, 07:52 PM
<P>Thursday April 18.<P>We awoke at 7am. I called Jason (Terry's trusted driver in Antigua). We arranged for him to pick us up at 8:15am. We had plans to meet the Captain in English Harbor to see about getting on a boat.<P>We arrived at On Deck and told the owners we were waiting for him. We waited till 9am but he never showed. I was a little bummed but I asked the woman owner if she knew him. She said she did and she called him. He apologized profusely and said he was busy with an incident on his boat. He talked to the owner and she said they'd get us set up to go sailing. It was $120usd each to go sailing the next day, Friday. We are to be back there at 8:30. The boat leaves at 9am to watch the start of the Classic Regatta.<P>Jason took us back to the hotel. We arranged with him to pick us up at 10am to take us to Grand Pineapple.<P>Jason arrived on time and it was $35usd to get to Grand Pineapple. When we arrived at the gate, the lady guard asked if we were checking in. I told her that we were and I had called the day before to make arrangements. She scolded me and said that "we were not checking in, we were just there on a day pass". I was still happy and smiling at her but she wasn't having any of that. She told matt to roll down his window. She stared at him then Jason rolled the windows back up. The lady was on a power trip. We waited for about 10 minutes before she lifted the gate for us. Jason was appalled at her behavior and said she was the rudest lady he's met. She was Jamaican and Jason said there is a little bit of a clash between some J'cans that move to Antigua and the Antiguans. Not sure about the politics on that one but I'm sure I'll figure it out if we visit more.<P>Once inside the gates, it was really nice. Reception was nice. It was $60 usd for each of us for 10:30-5pm. The beach was nice. Soft white sand, calm blue water. We found some beach loungers and went for a swim.<P>After swimming we walked up a trail to a lookout point where there was a "shack". BBQ food and beer in coolers were out for the guests. There were only 6 of us up there.<P>We saw lots of mongoose and 2 cats. The lady rang the dinner bell and the cats AND mongoose came running. They knew it was lunch time too!<P>We went to the buffet lunch. It was nice, the food was good but bland. When you are feeding the masses, you have to please everyone. All of the workers were really nice.<P>After lunch we had some more cocktails and went to the pool. It was too cold so back to the beach. Then we had some more drinks, then to the snack shack and had a hamburger, nachos, fries and more drinks. We met some people from England. They were very nice and we enjoyed the conversation.<P>The AI was nice for a day. It was relaxing to veg out and not worry about food/drinks or what to do. We did decide that it is not for us for more than one day. You see the same things, same people, same food, same drinks all day long.<P>While at the resort, we met another nice lady from Jamaica. She is the wedding planner. We talked about Jamaica for a good 20 minutes with her.<P>We left the resort right at 5pm. Jason was supposed to pick us up right at 5 but due to a plane coming in late, he was late too. We hung out at the guard shack with a nice guy. I jokingly asked him if he's let me ask the next car for license and registration. He said he would but other workers would rat him out and he'd get fired. He did let me lift the weighted gate but it got stuck down and Matt had to lift it back up for me. Luckily we got it fixed just as the Security Nazi walked up.<P>She looked us up and down and asked what we were still doing there. We told her that our driver was running late and she made us call him to confirm he was on his way. I tried making small talk with her but she wouldn't answer anything I asked. She just stared at me. I was pretty pissed off at the way she was acting so we walked down the lane and waited at the end of the road.<P>Jason showed up a few minutes later and we were on our way. We told him the adventure of our day and the other run in with the lady guard. He said we should write a review because she was so rude. He said you can still be security without being a b!tch.<P>We had Jason drop us at Bailey's supermarket. We picked up some smokes and walked back to the hotel. FYI for smokers...cigarettes in Antigua cost about $2.50-3.00 a pack. Really cheap.<P>Notes about The Catamaran Hotel:<P>It's nice and quite here. We are only 2 of about 10 guests staying here. It is a 14 room hotel. We have a great view of the harbor and the beautiful sailboats.<P>The security here is great. They are always around but in the shadows. We rarely see them but I was told they see everything. It felt very safe.<P>It was 9:30 and there was a good downpour. Went to bed.<P>Sign for the Antigua Yacht Club<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2781_zps7a1a013f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2781_zps7a1a013f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2781_zps7a1a013f.jpg"/></a><P>The view of Falmouth Harbour<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2782_zpsd6cbdfbe.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2782_zpsd6cbdfbe.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2782_zpsd6cbdfbe.jpg"/></a><P>Land Rover and Akula. Akula is for sale for 10.9 million.<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2783_zps442a6ccb.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2783_zps442a6ccb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2783_zps442a6ccb.jpg"/></a><P>Beach seller at Grand Pineapple peddling aloe. He told me "baby, it's good for your skin". He also offered to sell Matt a "Bob Marley".<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2788_zps87eb9ef8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2788_zps87eb9ef8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2788_zps87eb9ef8.jpg"/></a><P>View of the rooms<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2791_zpsd85e83fe.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2791_zpsd85e83fe.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2791_zpsd85e83fe.jpg"/></a><P>View of Long Bay from the lookout at Grand Pineapple<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2793_zpsf2bc29bb.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2793_zpsf2bc29bb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2793_zpsf2bc29bb.jpg"/></a><P>The Shack on the hill at GP<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2796_zpscbef1ce0.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2796_zpscbef1ce0.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2796_zpscbef1ce0.jpg"/></a><P>View from "The Shack".<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2795_zps62f39fb2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2795_zps62f39fb2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2795_zps62f39fb2.jpg"/></a><P>Cat<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2797_zpsf2312b0f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2797_zpsf2312b0f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2797_zpsf2312b0f.jpg"/></a><P>Mongoose<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2802_zpsde7d761c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2802_zpsde7d761c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2802_zpsde7d761c.jpg"/></a><P>Dining room<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2803_zpsd8e97958.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2803_zpsd8e97958.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2803_zpsd8e97958.jpg"/></a><P>Lunch<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2805_zps6f298e65.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2805_zps6f298e65.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2805_zps6f298e65.jpg"/></a><P>Beach<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2806_zpsa0d49525.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2806_zpsa0d49525.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2806_zpsa0d49525.jpg"/></a><P>Red Footed Tortoise at the resort<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2811_zps7a6de4c7.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2811_zps7a6de4c7.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2811_zps7a6de4c7.jpg"/></a><P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2810_zpsdbdd670c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2810_zpsdbdd670c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2810_zpsdbdd670c.jpg"/></a><P>Sunset on the drive home<P><a href="http://s194.photobucket.com/user/jeannie_brim/media/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2813_zpse3162494.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z97/jeannie_brim/Montserrat%20and%20Antigua/IMG_2813_zpse3162494.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_2813_zpse3162494.jpg"/></a>