A boat of sugar people

Today was a great day in Antigua. We docked early this morning and got right on to a 52 foot power cat boat, along with 20 Europeans (English and Germans) Now if you've read my previous posts you'll know how we knew they were European...Thats right, the SPEEDOS. Oh and also, the unshaven legs. (and that was just the women!). Our boat excursion today took us to various shore landmarks and snorkeling spots around the island. One of our first stops was at Hell's Gate, which is a rock formation that makes a natural bridge in the middle of the ocean. It's formations also make up some natural "hot tubs". No vacation seems to be complete without me getting injured by a wave and today was no exception. While Jim and I were exploring the sharp rock formations, a large wave came in and pummeled me. My natural reaction was to reach my hands out to stop myself and in doing so, I drove one of the sharp rock formations right into my hand. Once we had pried my hand off the rock wall, we realized I'd need to have it stitched up. But we are in Antigua. In the middle of the ocean. Hours from any real hospital or ER. So, the next best thing? Superglue and steri-strips! As of right now, however, we are still looking for those too, to maintain the cut. It's looking like I'll have a nice scar as my souvenir from Antigua. After that little adventure, we continued on to a cove where we could either hike or swim and snorkel. Of course we were the only ones to choose a swim. While we were swimming, the skies opened up and we experienced some of that heavy warm Caribbean rain. And that's when we saw the rest of our group, (in their tiny little speedos, yikes) running as fast as their unshaven legs could carry them. They ran for cover in the boat because Germans are made of sugar? It was fun to watch. The boat crew fed us a delicious lunch (including plantains and passion fruit juice, yummmm) and we then set off for more snorkeling. They divided us into groups and Jim and I went to the advanced snorkel group. Today we saw jellyfish (so cute!), stingrays (so cute!), sea snails and conch (so cute!), dozens of different fish types (so cute!) and sea urchins (not cute, ouchy). What we enjoyed almost more than the fish and creatures were the huge sea fans and living coral formations. I had forgotten how very big and colorful they are here. We finally were returned to our big ship a few minutes before we sailed away. Now we are on our way to the island of St. Lucia. Tonight we plan on enjoying dinner on our balcony and an early bed time because we are pooped. Below, you'll see pictures of our boat trip today and of the cruise ships that were docked. So until tomorrow, sweet dreams! (And try not to dream of speedos and hairy legs!)