After missing a day's sailing due to bad weather and helicopter evacuations, the captain managed to get us here to be docked by 9.40 am and just a couple of hours late.
For us, it was a lie in, after getting up every morning at 7.30. Today, we surfaced a little after 9, and that was only because we needed to make sure we got breakfast as The Grill closes at 10.
It was a lovely warm day, and our plan was simply to have a walk. Peter had a look at Maps.me and spotted some paths up the hills behind Sante Cruz, and we thought we'd check them out. Now, we've been here loads of times, often walking along the sea front to the Opera House and beyond where there has always been plenty to interest us. This time we walked through the city heading out to a hill, and came across a wonderful little park that we'd never seen before. Parque Garcia Sanabria was delightful, with fountains, butterflies, birds and flowers. We really liked it there.
We explored for a bit before continuing on our way to the northern edge of the city. The path Peter had found turned out to be an old road which snaked up the side of a little peak called La Meseta. There used to be houses and little farmed terraces each side of the broken tarmac, but not anymore. A couple of the buildings were lived in, but they were ramshackle, repaired with bits of board, railings and corrugated metal. Others were completely derelict, surrounded by piles of fly tipped rubbish and rubble. Then there were patches of flowers and cacti, little lizards running across the road and a kestrel hovered. A steep sided gorge in the landscape was full of caves - some of these seemed to be lived in too.
All of this kept us interested. The climb wasn't too steep and the weather wasn't too warm, so we kept going up. There is a satellite tower at the top, but to be honest, our aim was to reach a point where we could enjoy the views across the city, port and mountains nearby.
Which is exactly what we did.
Walking down was of course much faster than walking up, and we got back to the ship with a couple of hours to spare. We took advantage of the self-service whipped ice-cream machine first, before indulging in drinks, peanuts and crisps in the Brittania Lounge.
A good day. (11 000 step target well exceeded). The walk was much needed after 4 days on board.
Now it'll be 6 days of good food, warm sun and gentle waves before the port of St John, Antigua. As Peter sez, "Bring it on....."
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