Hotel Antigua

An elegant waterfront view at a place called Paparazzi, our table is a jumble of various menu selections: arancini, zuppetta, insalata di polipo, a margarita pizza, Sicilian wine, then the owner stops by and the conversation in Italian goes into high gear, but we're not in Italy, we're in English Harbor. There is a bit of trickery going on here, but the Caribbean is like that, just when you think it's all T-shirts and plastic flip-flops you step around a corner to find you're surrounded by white tablecloths and crystal. It's part of the subtle seduction of this island, she's always tempting you to linger a bit longer.

It's been a week now…oh wait, maybe two? No, not quite two..umm…not really sure actually. The malaise has set in, we've passed the threshold, we are all fully Caribbeanized, and just as in the 1977 Eagles hit, the Siren of paradise has us all trapped in her gentle embrace. We would like to leave, there have been some maintenance issues to overcome, and yes, we would all like very much to leave, but somehow, day by day, we remain. We can't seem to get to the point where we pull away from the lovely Siren.

Don't get me wrong, we're all having a lovely time, but it's become something of a routine, perhaps a bit too comfortable. Giamma and Carmen have been enjoying evenings with friends, afternoons on the beach and weekends spent kite surfing, Andrea has his "woman appointments", while Art and I have been out catching up with our cruiser buddies and meeting new ones: shout out to the 200 foot tall ship Lord Nelson, her crew and Captain Barbara- thanks so much for the tour! We hope to see you again in another part of the globe. Also to Dawn and Jonathan of the fast-cat "Escapade" cheers! From Lanzarote, to Mindelo, to Antigua- where shall we meet again? Who knows, but the first round's on us.

So where were we? Ah yes, well as I was saying, Hotel Antigua caters to all age groups, and for the young crew working the numerous charter yachts based here, this place is a perennial Spring Break, a serious party town, where on any given night no less than a dozen clubs will be fully packed with scantily dressed youth, throbbing and undulating to loosely interpreted covers performed by local bands of questionable talent, but nobody cares, they're not really here for the music…oh paradise, oh land of lust and love and unintended pregnancies…

Meanwhile over at the adult's table, the cruiser crowd have loads to do. There's Shirley Heights of course, can't miss that, then there's the fish BBQ and live band every Friday over at the Dock Yards; must put that on the schedule. There's "Quiz Night" over at Club Sushi, where if you answer enough trivia questions correctly you can win your bar tab. There's the daily gatherings at the Seabreeze where we all sit around drinking beers and talking about when we plan to leave. Then sunset over at Pigeon Beach with Piña Coladas at Bumpkins, then back to the Skulldugary Cafe for another live band and grown-ups dancing badly…uh..we do plan to leave right? Yes, yes, absolutely…well, maybe next week…