The Adventures of Podge & Tubbs

This was our seventh visit to Antigua and have previously taken numerous excursions to see what the island had to offer (it has a lot) but it had been over 10 years since we’d visited Nelson’s Dockyard so we felt it was time to return and explore Antigua’s English Harbour and take time to discover the charm of Nelson’s Dockyard. I can say with confidence that after a break of 10+ years, Nelson’s Dockyard still manages to impress.

Now, please don’t ask how but whenever we go an excursion in the Caribbean, we always, but always, end up in the back of the minibus.

One should always try to avoid the back seats of a minibus in the Caribbean.

Being at the back of a Minibus in Antigua highlighted just about every bump (potholes or whatever) in the roads so much that we renamed our minibus as the bone shaker: It’s quite possible of course that the bus’s suspension was questionable. Still, mustn’t grumble, we could of course have been on the UK bone shaking roads 😂

After our return, we went directly to our favourite bar, passing the Boardwalk Casino, only to find it was all closed up. Can’t help if the revamped casino and closed bar are linked 🤔. Whatever the reason we decided to return to the mother ship as the port town was rammed full of grockles from the 5-cruise ships in town.  

We sat on our balcony, gazing across at Aida Diva, and listening to the loudest music ever. Initially, we thought the music was coming from the Aida but it was actually coming from a bar in the port off the back our ship. They also played ‘Where the F*** is Alice’ but had to deploy special effects to mask F***: there were, after all, children around!

Come the time to sail away, we went up to the top deck for a sail-away party hosted by senior officers where many canapés and a variety of cocktails were in full flow. The idea of the sail away is to enjoy the ‘sail away’ in the company of fellow travellers and of course ships officers. Naturally, Podge and Tubbs missed the sail away altogether as we were engrossed in conversation with some new friends and enjoying the numerous cocktails. Needless to say, come the end of the sail-away, we needed a lie down in a dark corner. For a change, dinner was missed on account of the large number of canapés and cocktails, and so His Podgeness and Her Tubbsness had an early night going to bed the same day we got up. Poor Podge🥺: Poor Tubbs🥺.

Step Count: – 9581 🥴