Where have I been lately
Pineapple Beach Club, Antigua - Part 4
As promised, this week we’ll talk about where we’ve been off-resort.
There are many trips and tours available to book, both through the resort, and through the airlines’ vacation packages. There’s also “Marvelous Marvin” on the beach, a local guy who has relationships with all the tour providers and is very popular at PBC.
In the 6 visits we’ve made to PBC, we’ve only left the resort twice. The first time was a few years ago when we booked a trip to Antigua’s Stingray City. (very similar to Stingray City Grand Cayman) One of the advantages to this trip is that the boat picks you up right on the beach and takes you to the sandbar where the stingrays are.
http://www.stingraycityantigua.com/tours.html
The staff are very good at making sure you know and understand how to avoid being stung, how to hold the stingray, and how to feed them. Snorkeling with them is so much fun too!
Our most recent trip was this year. I saw a message on Facebook in the PBC group by a woman from Colorado who was looking for people to share a helicopter trip. I got in touch with her and she had found a company on the island called Calvin Air, who offer helicopter tours over Antigua, and also to the island of Montserrat. Since we’ve always wanted to ride in a helicopter, we were sold!
What’s exciting about the Montserrat tour is outlined below:
“Experience this 45-minute, pilot-narrated, aerial adventure over the sparkling Caribbean waters to the island of Montserrat. Here, at the centre of the ‘Exclusion Zone’, an area where access is strictly managed, is the active and explosive Soufrière Hills Volcano. Rising to an impressive 3,000 feet and dominating the island, the volcano towers above the Tar River Gorge and Delta.
In 1997, the volcano erupted, making two-thirds of the island uninhabitable. This tour allows you to experience the massive destruction as you fly over a collection of evacuated villages, the previous location of the WH Bramble Airport, and the charred remains of the former capital, Plymouth, which is now partially buried under 40 feet of ash.”
So we booked it ($335 USD per person) and met our new friends at the terminal, just outside of the Capital of St. John’s. After a group safety briefing, we were brought to our ride, and off we went. (you can find more pics by clicking on the ones at the right…..)
The pilot obtained his license in British Columbia, and knew a lot about Canada. We felt really safe with him, and the scenery was amazing. Flying in a helicopter is a feeling like nothing else, and I’m so glad we had the experience. Here are some of the pics I took of the trip, including a video at the end. The cool thing about flying over the volcano is that you can smell the sulphur. Seeing the buildings that are covered in ash was really sad, and the pilot told us what each of them had been.
Although we were up and down within an hour, we think it was worth it! Hope you enjoy the pics and the video!
While there are many other sightseeing tours and experiences off-resort to be had, we have yet to be inspired to see anything else. Maybe on another visit……
Next week we’ll talk about our experiences leaving PBC and the island itself.
Happy Travels!!