friends - a day with the landeckers in antigua

13.02.07
a pleasant surprise came when gary landecker emailed to alert me his family was on a boat cruise, would be passing through & would like to connect with us for a visit.

i picked them up from downtown antigua at the quay, returning them to our abode for a visit with lois & willow. i discovered that willow may have a loose, unofficial fan club from her web presence. certainly, jennifer was quite prepared, bearing a wonderful gift of a book & ample hugs for baby willow. the greeting was mutual as willow was happy to meet the landeckers. ché missed out, since he was in school. but the very generous gifts were well received when he got home.

we passed through my fave part of the island: fig tree drive. picture: small mountains, lush tropical flora, deep gorges, fruit trees on all sides & above, as you drive on this winding road. in the middle is the antigua rainforest zip line. we missed seeing visitors zip on cables over 200 ft gorges. but standing on the platform in a tree looking down, was enough to take one's breath away.

up the coast we passed through little towns, postcard beaches, along the curving road. darkwood beach is one of the most beautiful but we couldn't stop. when the boat leaves, its gone.

our return to st john's was a nice finale. as we pulled into town, traffic slowed to a crawl. we took in the local people as they finished their day & head for home. it was a fun tour for all. we said our goodbyes, i dropped them off & head for home, myself. it was a pleasure.

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after a nice visit in our home, the landeckers piled into my subaru & we were off to see the island.

our first stop was devil's bridge, which resides at the far eastern/atlantic side of the island. a beautiful, rugged location which is perpetually pounded by the ocean. on this particular day the swells were certainly not as ferocious as can be, but impressive nonetheless. it is called devil's bridge due to a rock formation which actually extends over the surf & rejoins the land. it is made of jagged rock which is very slippery from the spray of crashing waves all around. only dare devils cross it (see grant & liz's honeymoon as grant risks his life). it is said, a very long time ago, slaves who escaped the harsh sugar cane plantations would hurl themselves off the bridge to a most assured demise. hard to imagine which fate was worse.

the colour of the ocean is a stunning aqua. the coves are gorgeous & off in the distance is a small resort, (see above).

our next stop was beautiful falmouth harbour at the southern end of the island. falmouth harbour is a sailor's dream. its very well protected. the landeckers & i grabbed a quick bite on a pier overlooking this breathtaking harbour. it is surrounded by many small mountains. easily in our view: $100 million worth of recreational seagoing vessels.

pigeon point faces falmouth harbour, where we parked ourselves & cooled off on the immaculate beach. so far, i've found it to be the calmest waters on the island; perfect for the kiddles.

on the road again, we proceeded up the west coast back to st john's, antigua's capital & the port for cruise ships. (i gotta say, i've seen 4 cruiseliners parked at the quay. it is pretty impressive cuz these boats are huge. its like pulling up 4 very large 10-15 storey high buildings.)