Colin and Cecile Travels

The island of Antigua (pronounced by the locals as Antika) is one of the islands in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, the two main islands are accompanied by a number of small islands many uninhabited.  They are still trying to recover from Hurricane Marie that hit in 2017, and no sooner did they start to make some strides forward Covid hit.  It has severely affected this country.  We were the first to pull in, but were shortly followed by the Norwegian Gem.  By the time we got back from our tour the Emerald Princess had pulled into the between us. The Catholic Church is Bright Pink Many of the churches, like this one are built of Ballast Stones that were on the old sailing ships.  When the ship was empty they would fill the hold with ballast stones for stability, but when they had a load to take back to Europe, they would dump the stones and fill the hold. View from one of the many forts on the island The Guardhouse and Lookout These cactuses grew along the wa...

The island of Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic). The island changed hands several times during the 7 Years war between the British and the French. This island had some of the strictest Covid protocols of any place we visited.  When Covid first hit they had a few cases that were intercepted at the airport and did not spread throughout the island.  It was not until 5 months ago when some people illegally entered the island by boat from the neighboring island of Guadeloupe that they had an outbreak.  According to our guide they have only had 11 deaths.  The city looks old, but if someone buys a home they have to maintain the original architectural style and materials.  The people were lovely and they still have respect and manners.  Very refreshing. Welcome to Dominica Very narrow streets Caterpillar of the Giant Hawk Moth  Inside "The Bamboo House" traditionally where couples come for their first Kiss. Especially the "Convent Gi...

  For something different today we took a trip on the Atlantis Submarine. Lots of fish although the photos don't do them justice. down at about 150 feet under the water is a shipwreck. Another group went down when we came up so got a few shots of it submerging with the new group. They shuttled us out to the Submarine by boat LOts of fish, but the camera could not capture the color in the depths Shipwreck was actually a old cargo barge that had been sunk here to start an artificial reef.  Coral will attach to the hulls of metal ships and start growing.   The big structure above the fish is actually a Barrel Sponge The sponge in the center of the picture was actually orange Abandoned Lobster or Carb trap, but the fish swan in and out.  The white ones are Puffer fish Submarine Submerging