We woke up to a rainbow over the sea!

More interestingly, however, we found out that the sounds we attributed to birds in the evening (and, it turns out, all night) were actually tree frogs and crickets, making a mostly melodious chorus for our enjoyment.

After breakfast, we found out that our plans for tomorrow (Friday) were cancelled due to high wind and seas. We had booked an all day tour of Barbuda, which would have included snorkeling, viewing mangroves and frigate birds and all kinds of other activities. Oh well.

So, we went for a 1.5 mile walk south along the beach (as far as we could go, to an estuary) enjoying the tiny waves and varieties of birds. A lovely morning!

A pelican at the estuary. See the one diving for a fish?

Pelican flying.

A phone booth at the sea? Where’s Superman?

In the afternoon, we went swimming in the Caribbean Sea!

A restaurant adjacent to our room, which we have reserved for Monday night.

Brian with the small peninsula (made of sedimentary rock!) behind him.

Our hotel (with a tiny Clare head in the water), viewed from where Brian was swimming.

Clare on the sand in front of our room.

A tiny crab running away. Tough to get pictures of these crabs as they skitter away when your shadow approaches.

From a distance, this reminded us of the cage of bones on one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but it was actually made of plastic. But what is it for? Small table and benches inside. These were at the adjacent Sandals resort.

The first thing we noticed when getting off the plane in Antigua was the humidity. It hit us like a brick, even before we could see anything besides the inside of the airport. The taxi ride to our hotel/resort was calmer than the one getting us to DIA on Tuesday night. The Denver driver had little regard for speed limits or other traffic laws.

Here, they drive on the wrong side, by which I mean not the right side of the road. Even people walking tend to move to the left when passing opposing pedestrians, which makes for some interesting dance steps for the jet lagged.

Flowers are everywhere! Hibiscus, oleander, bougainvillea and a ton of ferns and flowers that I could not possibly name. This will be a nice spot to get over jet lag.

A huge variety of birds grace this island with interesting songs, the smaller ones merrily canvassing the resort area for tiny treats. The first we saw was a huge white egret, along the road on the way to the hotel. Others we identified by type – warblers, finches, doves, gulls: one was making noises like a bunch of squeaky windmills.

We walked along the beach, got our bearings and waited for the dinner to start. The clouds came in just after sunset, followed by a tropical downpour. What a great travel day!

Brian and Clare will be posting at least occasionally while traveling in the Lesser Antilles. This map shows the islands that we will be visiting.