Jeep 4x4 #2545

The Jeep rolled around the dock in St. Thomas before rolling back onto the ship.

Once the home port for notorious pirates Captain Kidd and Bluebeard, St. Thomas became the shopping center of the Virgin Islands early on…it was rich in loot stolen by the pirates of the Caribbean in their attacks on galleons laden with treasures from the New World.

St. Thomas has been controlled at one time or another by Spain, England, France, Holland and Denmark. The islands have experienced over 400 years of hostile European takeovers, wars, lootings, pirates, slave trade, revolutions and liberations. In 1755 the Danes made St. Thomas a free port, and in 1917 the US purchased St. Thomas (and St Croix and St. John) for $25 million. Even though English is the official language and the currency used is the US dollar, the islands are an unincorporated territory of the US so the residents are not protected by the US Constitution, do not vote in presidential elections, and have no vote in Congress.

We took the Travel Bugs on an underwater adventure excursion (it was sort of like riding a moped underwater, while wearing an astronaut’s helmet which allowed us to breathe underwater). The snorkeling was awesome, too…we swam with turtles, rays, countless brightly colored fish, and we marveled at the beautiful underwater plant life.

The Jeep drove across Devil's Bridge in Antigua and decided to keep on driving.

It is said that there are 365 beaches in Antigua…one for each day of the year. Many are inaccessible, but most are popular sugar-white beaches wrapped around aquamarine coves, ideal for swimming, snorkeling and diving. Antigua (pronounced An-tee-ga, not An-tee-gwa) is quite small (16 x 12 miles), and about a third of the population lives in the capital city of St. John’s.

Nelson’s Dockyard and English Harbour Town is on the southern tip of the island. The British Navy used it from 1707-1900, and it is now completely restored. It reminded me of a small British version of Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg. We hired a cab (a minivan, really) along with 5 others to take us to visit the Dockyard, and we stopped to take a few pictures along the way. Some of the most beautiful views on the island are near the “Fort Berkely” cache site!

On the way back to the ship we drove on a winding road through Antigua’s rain forest. There were farmlands filled with banana, mango, and pineapple groves, but even though it’s called “Fig Drive” there wasn’t a fig in sight. It turns out that “fig” is the Antiguan word for banana, and there were plenty of those!

We still had some time left before we had to board the ship, so we hired a cab to take us out to Devil’s Bridge. We were the only ones there, and the views were awesome. Devil’s Bridge is a natural bridge carved into the stone and coral reef by eons of water crashing into it. Back in the days of slave trading here, many jumped to there deaths from Devil’s Bridge rather than be forced into a life of slavery.

We took the Jeep traveling around the West Indies and stopped in Barbados.

The west coast of the island is lined with over 10 miles of white-sand beaches with perfectly clear water. This paradise has enjoyed peace for its 350 years of civilization. English is the primary language spoken.

Barbados is 21 miles long by 14 miles wide. Its capital, Bridgetown, is filled with shops and eateries in both modern and Victorian/colonial buildings. There’s one spot called Trafalgar Square, which like its counterpart in London, features a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson—which actually predates the London statue by two decades.

We took the travel bugs on what was one of the most fun excursions of our vacation. We hopped aboard a catamaran along with about 20 other tourists and a five-man crew and headed out for a snorkeling adventure. Onboard the boat we were served plenty of beverages (rum flows freely in the Caribbean!) and a fabulous lunch (baked flying fish, teriyaki chicken, rice, fresh tropical fruit, etc.). The highlight was snorkeling in the pristine water, surrounded by beautiful, colorful fish and several really big sea turtles.

In the afternoon we hired a cab to take us on a short jaunt to the neat little Barbados Museum. It turned out to be bigger than it looked like from the front, and we really enjoyed our visit.

I think the next time we go to the Caribbean we’ll spend the whole time in Barbados!

We rescued this TB from a cache that any Jeep lover would love! We'll move him along soon!