Antigua 2/5/18 - 2/10/18

The next morning we flew to the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua. She was spared in the two devastating hurricanes that passed through earlier.

Upon arrival we took a cab ride with a driver who knew the shortcuts to avoid rush hour traffic. It was enlightening to pass though the areas where the people of Antigua live. Very colorful, if not very poor.

Our destination for five days is Jolly Beach Resort. This reasonable all-inclusive resort sits on acres of manicured grass and one of the most gorgeous beaches in the Caribbean. The water is a soft turquoise blue and the sand is like sugar.

The Jolly Beach resort gets mixed to poor reviews and I was reticent to book it. A new company has purchased it recently and they are making improvements. We found our room to be very nice. The grounds were awesome - very spacious with the big, beautiful beach. We were pleased with our choice.

Actually, we picked this resort because our good friends, Tom and Pat Wands from our St. Martin Tradewinds cruise, were staying at Jolly Beach. We decided to surprise them, which was very fun. After scouring the beach and resort grounds for Pat and Tom, we took a table in the dining patio and waited for them to appear. What fun when we saw them come in!

Then next four days were spent lazing on the beautiful beach, enjoying the resort shows and having meals together. We were so glad that we made the move to Jolly Beach. We had been confirmed previously at Halcyon Cove, a similar resort on another beach. It was damaged in the hurricane, so we made the change. A good one!