Saturday, January 2, 2016

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2003. Mattie was visiting Los Angeles and he LOVED being outside and picking fruit off my parent's trees. It wasn't only the picking part that intrigued him but the sorting and stacking of the different types of fruits! You can just see the joy on Mattie's face! 


Quote of the day: For last year's words belong to last year's language 
And next year's words await another voice. ~  T.S. Eliot

After three days at sea, we landed in Antigua today! It was very nice to see land and walk on solid ground for a few hours. This is the view of Antigua as we pulled into port. 

Antigua is formed by volcanoes and it is the largest of the Leeward Islands. It is 108 square miles, 14 miles long and 11 miles wide. Its population is around 100,000. 

Antigua is known to have 365 beaches, one for each day of the year. Its main industries are tourism and agriculture. In 1632, the British colonized the island and Sir Christopher Codrington's arrival in 1684 heralded the development of its large-scale sugar cultivation. In the 18th century, the British Royal Navy chose Antigua as its base (ultimately to protect the sugar manufactured on the island), making a deep and lasting mark on the island's maritime development. 

This outcrop of land, that looks like a finger headed into the water is where Eric Clapton has an enormous house and compound on Antigua. 

In addition, not far from his home is Crossroads, a drug rehabilitation center that Clapton financed on Antigua. This is what Clapton says about the facility:

"As a recovering addict and alcoholic, many people over the years spoke with me about the problems associated with drug and alcohol abuse on the island. Subsequently, around 1993, I began to speak with more and more people about the possibility of founding a Centre on the island for the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. There was certainly a need, and so the dream and the vision were born.

My vision was to create a Centre of the highest caliber to treat people of the Caribbean and throughout the world. The Centre would be staffed with experienced and internationally recognized professionals. The cost of treatment would be held to the lowest possible level, ensuring affordability and accessibility. And most importantly, this non-profit Centre would provide treatment scholarships for people of the Caribbean region and around the world."

Shirley Heights, which is where we were standing to take this photo, was originally built as a signal station to alert troops of approaching ships. 

At Dow's Hill we saw an interpretative video that traces Antiguan heritage and the grounds contain the remains of a 1780's house, gun platform, and observation area overlooking what is in this photo (Nelson's Dockyard National Park). 

Glorious bougainvillea at Dow's Hill. 

My mom and I at Nelson's Dockyard. When Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed into Antigua in 1784, he had little reason to believe that the port would develop into one of the Great Britain's most important military bases in the Caribbean, but it did. This 19th century dockyard that once served as the headquarters of the British naval fleet of the Leeward Islands has been converted into a museum and national park. 

Peter posed in front of the Royal Princess (left) and P&O Cruises' Azura (right). The Royal Princess is 1,083 feet long, with 19 floors! It feels like a sky scrapper and walking from one end of the ship to the other is exercise!