{"id":91515,"date":"2025-10-02T04:20:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=91515"},"modified":"2025-10-03T06:32:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T13:32:57","slug":"day-6-st-johns-antigua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=91515","title":{"rendered":"Day 6 – St. John’s, Antigua"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We arrived at 6:30 am and spent the day touring the island with our own private tour bus courtesy of the kids.<\/p>\n

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Antigua is an island roughly 14 miles long and 11 miles wide, covering an area of approximately 108 square miles (281 square kilometers).<\/p><\/div>\n

St. John’s is the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, a vibrant port renowned for its historical significance, including a rich pirate past, a large public market, and nearby historic forts such as Fort Barrington.\u00a0 The city has experienced multiple damaging events, including earthquakes, a fire, and a hurricane.\u00a0 Still, the city has been rebuilt to become a popular tourist destination filled with colorful buildings and lively festivals, such as the island’s annual Carnival.<\/p>\n

We finally arose at 7:00 am, struggling to open the door and heat the room.\u00a0 The thermostat was stuck at -30 degrees F!\u00a0 Another beautiful day in paradise.<\/p>\n

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The dock was almost a mile inland!<\/p><\/div>\n

We found a bus and the kids hired it for the day.\u00a0 Our driver, born and raised on the island, knew everyone.<\/p>\n

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St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Liberta, Antigua, is a historic landmark known for its striking exterior made of local green-hued stone.\u00a0 Originally built as a chapel school between the 1820s and 1840s, it became the parish church after an earthquake in 1843 destroyed the nearby church in Falmouth.\u00a0 The church features colonial-era gravestones in its overgrown churchyard and was extended in 1989 to accommodate its growing congregation while maintaining its original architecture.<\/p>\n

Key Trivia Points<\/p>\n

Unique Green Stone: The church’s most distinctive feature is its construction from local “Antigua green stone,” quarried nearby, which gives it a unique color and appearance.<\/p>\n

Original Purpose: It was initially built as a chapel school.
\nPost-Earthquake Conversion: Following the 1843 earthquake that devastated the nearby mother church in Falmouth, St. Barnabas was converted into the parish church.<\/p>\n

Historical Significance: The churchyard contains colonial-era gravestones, including one for Charles Pitt, the brother of Prime Minister William Pitt.<\/p>\n

Modern Expansion: In 1989, an extension was added to the church, carefully designed to match the existing Italianate architectural style.<\/p>\n

Sister Church: It serves as a sister church to St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Falmouth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The original stonework was impressive.<\/p><\/div>\n

The church was expanded thirty years ago, and they used more green rocks for the foundation.<\/p>\n

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We went on a walking tour at Nelson’s Dockyard.\u00a0 After the English colonized Antigua in 1632, the Royal Navy began using English Harbour as a safe haven.\u00a0 The harbour’s position on the south side of Antigua island facilitated the monitoring of neighbouring islands, and the harbour was naturally well-suited to protect ships and cargo from hurricanes.\u00a0 Fortification of the harbor began in the 18th century.<\/p>\n

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The building was unique and designed to repair the masts of ships that required assistance.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nelson’s Dockyard trivia includes facts about Admiral Horatio Nelson’s time there (1784-1787), his unpopularity due to enforcing trade laws, a famous quote calling English Harbour an “infernal hellhole,” and the daily saltwater ablutions Nelson allegedly underwent.\u00a0 The dockyard was built in the 1740s and was a vital British naval base, making it the world’s only continuously operating Georgian-era dockyard, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.<\/p>\n

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The museum was quite interesting, and we found ourselves wondering what life was like 400 years ago!<\/p><\/div>\n

Much of the facility was undergoing restoration, but we found a bar (Duh!)<\/p>\n

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Since Mary is no longer allowed to carry a black marker (remember the happy face), we did NOT sign the ceiling, but it was interesting to read previous entries.<\/p>\n

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We were the only people outside, but in the shaded area of the bar.<\/p><\/div>\n

We walked back to the via via the path that took us next to the moorings.<\/p>\n

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There was only one boat on our side of the bay!<\/p><\/div>\n

The people who owned the boat were smart; they had solar cells to charge the batteries.<\/p>\n

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There were a lot of fish next to the dock.<\/p><\/div>\n

We were hungry, so our driver took us to a beachside restaurant where we had a great meal.\u00a0 I had a lobster sub sandwich and some local rum drinks!<\/p>\n

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The beach was immaculate!<\/p><\/div>\n

We invite our driver to join us, but he was not allowed by law to imbibe, so, being the great guy I am, I drank for him, hic!!<\/p>\n

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We all had a wonderful time swapping stories about those things that never really happened.<\/p><\/div>\n

The ship was adjacent to the shopping center as expected.<\/p>\n

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Earlier in the day, we stopped, and I got some sunglasses as mine were misplaced.<\/p><\/div>\n

The air conditioning felt good, so we went to the Schooner Bar and ran into a friend we had met a few days ago.\u00a0 The three of us sat there for an hour, soaking in the cool air.<\/p>\n

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We took a brief nap and then heard the ship’s horn blast out its departing sound.<\/p>\n

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Off we go, heading to Barbatos.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tonight was “White Night”.\u00a0 \u00a0I thought it was “White Knight”.\u00a0 I was brave and wore all white save for the suspenders.<\/p>\n

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It’s White Night, so Mary found a dress on shore for this evening.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tonight is Italian at Giovioni’s.\u00a0 The meals were outstanding, and the champagne and wine flowed freely.<\/p>\n

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We arrived at the Italian restaurant early and got to choose where we wanted to sit.<\/p><\/div>\n

The ladies were ready to eat, but decisions had to be made first!<\/p>\n

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Looking good!<\/p><\/div>\n

Traveling with Mark and Jon is a hoot; I never had to carry a bag, and they were always by my side as I traversed the stairs or got in and out of the vehicles.<\/p>\n

I got a big kick out of telling new friends that Mary and I were traveling with our grandson.\u00a0 \u00a0We pointed out our grandson, and they laughed; they were thinking an eight-year-old!<\/p>\n

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Yes, that’s me on the end… the little guy!<\/p><\/div>\n

Decision time.\u00a0 What shall we try??<\/p>\n

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This was quite an ordeal!<\/p><\/div>\n

I went all out and ordered three flavors of Italian ice cream!\u00a0 My bathroom scale may never talk to me again!<\/p>\n

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Dessert was served.<\/p><\/div>\n

We headed to the Schooner Bar so we could dance.<\/p>\n

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Did we dance?\u00a0 Duh!!<\/p><\/div>\n

After a couple of hours of sampling different drinks, we headed to the VIP lounge, and there was Barbara.<\/p>\n

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We met up with Barbara, our next-door neighbor, and had drinks with her, her husband, Jon, and Sarah.<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally, around 11:00 pm, we opted to hit the sack.\u00a0 We were tired, and I found out why!<\/p>\n

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Tomorrow, Brbatos, where the kids got married!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We arrived at 6:30 am and spent the day touring the island with our own private tour bus courtesy of the kids. St. John’s is the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, a vibrant port renowned for its historical significance, including … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-family","category-friends","category-fun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91515"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91567,"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91515\/revisions\/91567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}