It is Sunday, so we had decided in advance, we would go to church. We knew that St. John's Anglican was the Cathedral in town, named for the town of St John's, Antigua. Online I had discovered church was at 11 am.
As soon as we disembarked, we went to an information kiosk just off the pier and we discovered the church was under renovation. Undeterred, we said we still wanted to walk to the cathedral to take a picture and confirm there was no service happening. Many a taxi driver offered us a ride and also advised us the cathedral was being renovated. We could see the cathedral on a hill in the town so we set our sights on it and walked. We did arrive at the cathedral and discovered it looked like the renovation had been going on for some time and indeed there was no sign of life!
We followed well dressed people to a nearby Salvation Army Church and asked if there was a Catholic Church in town. They gave us the best directions they could and we walked further to find a large parkade structure abandoned mid build and no church. We decided to head back to the ship and drop all thoughts of attending church and change entirely into beach clothes.
We chose George to be our taxi driver and he drove us to Valley Church Beach for $25. That must have been the church God intended us to visit today! What a beautiful beach! Azure blue water, white sand beach and a lounge chair to rent for $5! If we were starving we could have got something to drink or eat from "The Nest" a beach shack. The occasional vendor would ask us to buy a shell or jewellery but nothing too high pressure! We swam and collected shells and pieces of coral. Water was very silty so no good for snorkelling.
Caught a ride back with taxi driver Joyce and she would have done for $6 apiece ($24) but I paid her $30.
Once near the ship, the kids liked shopping at Cariloha, a store that sells products are if bamboo. Kids each bought a Tshirt and a set of super comfy sheets for their beds. I paid for half the sheets to make them a bit more affordable!
We all returned to the ship where kids stayed, then J and I turned around and went back out in search of a fruit stand selling mango. No luck but I did buy a fresh coconut to drink.
J returned to ship for third and final time while I found a bar called the Beehive I believe. For $6 I bought a very big tasty Virgin Piña Coloda and was able to post today's blog update!
Photo 1: JG & P at Bert Church Beach
Photo 2: J sitting in the water
Photo 3: P, JG and J in front of the Emerald Princess docked at St John's, Antigua
Photo 4: St. John's Anglican cathedral
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