Hey everyone!
Time for another installment in our series chronicling our recent trip to Antigua to celebrate Larissa’s birthday.
You know the trip.
The one we went on.
In March.
Early March.
And it’s late May now.
I am KILLING this blog thing.
But I mean, I have excuses. Work’s been taking up a lot of my time. Plus we have been planning our next trip. Which is a trip to Ireland. Which is top o’ the mornin to ya.
Plus, we just got back from moving Myles home for the summer.
Super nice having the whole family under one roof for at least a little while.
Not super nice? The Celtics in the playoffs.
Celtics? More like “The Cel-TICKS me off.”
On account of bad basketball playing.
Let’s get on with it, huh?
Our March 2023 Antigua trip to celebrate Larissa: Day 6
So Day 6.
It began early.
For Nickie and Larissa.
On account of they got up early to get another sunrise in.
I mean, at least I think they did. These are the only two pics I have from their experience.
And like, the sun? It’s already rosen.
Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to sleep in. I rose from my slumber at about 8AM or so and walked over to the main house with a mission.
You see, Nickie and I were on deck to make some breakfast. Our initial plan was to make avocado toast for the crew but it turned out all our avocados? They were avocad-Nos.
They went bad. Is what I am saying to you now.
But we DID have bagels. Sooooo….we made everyone breakfast sandwiches.
And not to toot our own horn or anything but I mean.
Toot toot.
These things were good.
And I mean, these sandwiches had bacon on them. So obviously this dude came to visit.
Ohai Bacon.
That dude was one cool cat.
It was a nice morning. All of us got to just sort of hang around and enjoy our breakfast. Good food. Good conversation. All that.
Plus, the day was pretty stellar.
And look at that view, huh?
Rawr ladies.
At around 10AM, it was time for our first activity of the day.
What was our first activity of the day? How about we play a game to find out? I’ll give you a hint and then you’ll have to guess what the activity was.
It’s gonna be a tough one. Ready?
OK, here we go…
Now I know it’s hard.
Take your time.
It’s not like immediately evident from that clu….hm? Oh. Yah. You figured it out.
Jet skis. We jet skied.
Man, you guys are good.
Tony ordered us jet skis, you guys. Tony = best. He ordered two of them for us to use and tool around with and pretend we were busting drug deals with.
And yeah, get ready. Because I really do try to squeeze in ALL the jet ski references.
To start off with, we all got some practice in taking some spins around the inlet. Check me out.
Check check me out.
I might be biased but I think I can say pretty confidently I’m the coolest. I felt like that dude from Baywatch? Ugh what was that dude’s name?
You: David Hasselhoff?
Me: Nope, not him.
You: Jeremy Jackson?
Me: Hobie? Pfft. No.
You: Pamela Anderson?
Me: Maybe? Oh wait no. I meant Hulk Hogan.
But I wasn’t the only one out there tearing shizz up. Tony ended up joining me and we went a little further out.
Also, Nikki went out there. Oh you don’t believe me? Well. Here are some shots of Nikki out there being all Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
And here are some shots of Nickie and I out here being all Grand Theft Auto: Nice…Faces.
I know you’re all like, “wait Wayne. It’s been a few hours since you’ve been up and I haven’t seen one drop of alcohol. What’s the deal? Are you ok?”
To which I would reply, “Wow. That’s some seriously problematic questioning over there. Enable much? It’s people like you that are responsible for the collective drinking problem going on in this country right now. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Also I would say, “pfft I had already had a couple Red Stripes at this point. Yes, count me among the victims of your incessant peer pressure.”
As I was furthering and fostering my alcohol issues, Chris came out to join Nikki on the water.
When they returned, Larissa said she was looking for someone to go out a little further and faster and what not.
Open seas?
Danger?
Adventure?
…
Ehhh…nah.
But no one else would go so I offered to join her.
Heh, kidding. I was excited to really get out there and see how fast this thing could go. And guys. It could go fast. Larissa and I were all kinds of Charlie’s Angels out there.
Full throttle. We were full throttle.
Our adventure took us all the way down the island to St. John’s Bay and the Royalton Antigua, where Tony and Larissa stayed the first couple days before we got there. You can see it back there behind us here.
And we could see all the cruise ships down there as well.
We tooled around St. John’s a little bit before we started to head back. And again, we had these things going full speed and we hit some pretty great waves. I got air multiple times.
Hm. What other jet ski references can I throw in here?
Oh. Doy. We were like Miami Vice out there.
I was obviously Tubbs.
On our way back, we hit a snag. Literally.
You see as we were speeding back, my jet ski all of a sudden seemed to slow out in open water. It was still moving somewhat but it started kind of puttering along. And just as mine was starting to slow, so was Larissa’s. At this point, we were approaching our little harbor but hadn’t quite reached it. So it was feeling like we were just going to be lost at sea.
But thankfully, Larissa had her phone on her so she called in and let the crew know about our troubles. The dudes that brought the jet skis were still there so they said to just keep coming in, at our slower pace, and we should make it.
And we did. Make it.
When we got in, the jet ski guys said we got some seaweed caught up in the um….camshaft?
Muffler?
Regina Phyllangie?
I dunno. I’m not mechaniacal.
But there was seaweed and the dude said this was a common problem these days. Like, seaweed in Antigua be like
In fact, later on in the day when Larissa went out with Chris, it happened again and Larissa dove down under the jet ski to do some underwater repairs. Which is obvs squad baller.
While we were all out there on the water pretending to be in the video for Mariah Carey’s “Honey”…
What? Weren’t we all doing that?
But yeah, while we were out doing the whole jet ski thing, Sira (our chef) showed up at the house and made lunch for us.
Which was very nice of her.
So at around 1PM, we all made our way to the dining room table.
Look at Tony. I like imagining “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” is playing in his head in that very moment.
But I really can’t blame him. Because Sira made probably what ended up being her stand-out dish of the week – Paella!
Oh MAN was this good. Rice. Shrimp. Chicken wings. Crunchy bits. Drool central.
Seriously, this was a really good lunch.
And being that this was Sira, OF COURSE there was dessert. She served this baked sugared pear in chocolate sauce with whipped cream.
I love vacations where all meals come with dessert. Those are my favorite vacations. I mean, the family and friends and memories and all that are nice too. But dessert with ALL meals. That’s hard to beat.
After lunch was finished, we still had some jet ski time left so Nickie and Larissa went back out for a spin.
And then Larissa and Chris went out for that other seaweedus interruptus trip I mentioned earlier.
So. Much. Jet ski.
But eventually, this all came to an end. And we spent some time just kicking it at the pool.
Do kids still say that? Just kicking it? Or is that whack?
We probably spent about an hour or so at our little pool party. And I mean, of course we had cocktails. I mean, is a pool party without cocktails even a pool party? What am I supposed to just sit there and be wet without a cocktail? I’ve worked too hard for such nonsense.
But yeah, we only spent like an hour hanging out because we had dinner reservations tonight a little bit of a drive from the villa. So we had to get ready and what not. And get ready we did.
We looked GOOD. And yeah, I was rockin another co-ord.
It’s crazy we are just regular people and not celebrities. Because we shine like the sun.
As I mentioned, this place was a little bit of a drive out of our little Jolly Harbour bubble. Not too bad – like 15-20 minutes or so – but enough so that none of us wanted to be making the drive back at night, especially after a few drinks. So we had a car service pick us up at around 4:45 or so.
Because we are responsible.
And drunk.
Dinner tonight was at a place called Sheer Rocks, which is a pretty well-known place on the island. Mainly people know it for the spectacular views it offers because of it being perched on top of this cliff.
Now I should note a few people we talked to during our time in Antigua told us Sheer Rocks was a little overhyped. While it offered great views, we heard, the food was not worth the money they were charging there. But I mean, we wanted to have a nice night out so we decided to take our chances.
And yeah, look how beautiful….
Breathtaking.
After we checked in, we of course asked our hostess to take a few quick pictures of us. Because we really love ourselves.
Then she asked us to follow her back to our table. Which took us past A LOT of wow.
And then we got to our table. Which, guys. This view.
We started off with some drinks (doy).
I ordered a Pink Gin (Rose Gin, Indian Tonic, Strawberry Syrup, Strawberry Ice, Dehydrated Strawberry).
Which was a really REALLY good drink. And I mean. Look how pretty.
Nickie started off with a white wine.
And here is a picture of Nikki’s Mojito Royale (Champagne, Gold Rum, Muddled Brown Sugar & Lime, Mint, Sugar Cane Stick) and Chris’s Watermelon Martini (Tito’s, Watermelon, Sugar Syrup, Mint, Lime).
And looking at this picture, it looks like Larissa also got a Mojito Royale while Tony went for a Margarita on the rocks.
The food part of the meal started with some yumtown black sea salt bread and butter.
And we ordered some Pata Negra Jamon Iberico de Bellota 5J (with Foccacia and Tomato Cristal).
So like…fancy ham.
And like…it was good. But looking back at the menu, this thing was $165 ECD, which converts to about $65 USD. And I mean.
It was fancy ham.
The drinks though. These drinks were great. And our table gave us an incredible view of the sun doing its thang.
It really was a beautiful location. And we really were beautiful people.
But a seriously pretty restaurant. Look at this spot just outside the dining area.
Now at Sheer Rocks, you have the option of doing the tasting menu or ordering a la carte. Most of us, except Nickie, opted to do the tasting menu with the wine pairing.
Our menu started off with a canape made up of um…
Sorry guys, its been a while. I think it was crabmeat maybe?
Next up were the Local Oyster Mushrooms (with Tabouleh, Crispy Tofu, Muhammara, and Walnuts).
I remember digging this dish. The mushroom flavor came through without being too overpowering and the crispy tofu gave it some good texture.
Heads up I am not gonna really be talking about the wine all that much. There ended up being a bunch of substitutions there compared to what was listed on the tasting menu because they were out of some of the bottles.
I will say I remember none of the wines really stood out and I ended up preferring the bottle of Decoy we ordered to most of what we had with our pairing.
The next plate was the Crispy Baby Octopus (with Marinated Tomatoes, Baby Potatoes, Lemon Aioli, and Tomato Foam).
These were…ok. I remember thinking the octopus just sort of tasted like…burnt. Just not a lot of flavor there. I remember liking the baby potatoes though. Those were probably the best part of this dish.
As I mentioned, Nickie ordered a la carte and got the Chicken Croquettes.
Off the kids’ menu.
She’s the cutest.
These though? Really good. I mean, of course I tried one. I’m a professional.
Our next dish on the tasting menu was the Smoked Beef Brisket Ballotine (with Foie Gras, Carrot Puree, and Fine Herbs).
This one was sort of a mixed bag. Obviously, it was presented beautifully. And the brisket itself was very good. Tender. Lots of flavor.
The foie gras though. So ok, first off, I know. Foie gras is a bit of a controversial dish regardless. But even putting that aside, If I am going to eat it, I want it to be rich AF. And this was just not that great. I just remember not being that impressed with it.
Our next dish was the Pan-Roasted Grouper (with New Potatoes, Capers, Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, Wilted Bok Choy, and Saffron Cream).
I honestly remember nothing about this course. Sorry. I’m legit the worst. At the blogging.
The next dish though? The next one was the star of the tasting menu. This was the Grilled Lamb Rack (Shank Croquette, Pickled Carrot, Mint, Buttered Lamb Jus).
This was definitely the best thing I ate tonight. Not only did it look incredible but it had a robust lamb flavor without being overly gamey. Real good stuff.
With dessert coming up, we figured it would be a good idea to get some coffee drinks going. A few people went in for espresso martinis but I opted to go for a straight cappuccino.
Which was lovely.
For dessert, our menu had the choice of an Artisan Cheese Plate or a Bitter Chocolate Souffle. But there was also an additional special dessert offered, which was some sort of pineapple deal.
Yup, some sort of pineapple deal. I legit deserve an award for my blogging prowess.
Anyways tho. Larissa went in for the pineapple…deal.
Which she said was good, but honestly I think she was having some FOMOD.
Fear Of Missing Out On Dessert.
On account of most of us got the souffle. And guys.
Served with chocolate sauce and espresso ice cream, this thing was GOOOOD. I mean, yeah, the lamb was probably the best thing I ate tonight but this was a very, very close second. So good.
Also, since it was Larissa’s birthday, we got some extra desserts in the form of chocolates with fire coming out of them.
Fire! Fire!
And that was it. That was the dinner at Sheer Rocks. What did I think of it? I’d say it was a roller-coaster of a night. Lots of ups and downs. There were definitely some standout dishes – like the lamb and the souffle – and obviously the location and view were incredible. Plus I really loved that Pink Gin drink. But I left thinking maybe we should have listened to all the advice we got from people who said we should have gone during the day for a drink and an app.
Again, it was good. I just think we misused it.
After we were done, we went outside to meet up with our driver and headed back to the villa.
When we got back to the villa, we all grabbed a cocktail and hung out by the pool. I poured myself a little Woodford Reserve on the rocks.
We were out there for like a half hour or so, mainly talking politics. Which is always a good idea. Said no one ever.
And then, I mean…bed.
Yeah, that was our last night in Antigua you guys. Pretty sweet stuff, right?
And guess what? We ain’t done here. Because we are going right into Day 7.
Our March 2023 Antigua trip to celebrate Larissa: Day 7
I mean yeah – this post is technically a two-for-one but Day 7, being our last day, it’s gonna be kind of a quick one.
Nickie and I woke up, got showered and packed, and met everyone else in the main house at around 10AM. The plan was to go out with everyone to grab breakfast and then we had a driver meeting us at the house at around 11AM to take us to the airport.
Breakfast today was at Petal’s Café, a place we visited back on Day 5.
Today was a little busier at Petal’s so we ended up sitting out at a picnic table, which was kind of out in the open sun but thankfully our awesome waiter brought over an umbrella for us.
I ended up ordering the same thing I ordered on Day 5 – the Brit (an English Back Bacon & Egg Sandwich).
Which was a bit of alright, yeah. Pip pip. Cheerio.
And then it was back to the villa to grab our bags and meet up with our driver.
Which meant, unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye to everyone. We were intensely bummed this vacation was coming to an end and we had SUCH a good time with Tony, Larissa, Nikki, and Chris. It’s really something special to find people you can spend a whole week with and never get bored and still be so sad to leave them.
These were my people.
But we had to leave of course. So off we went. To the airport. Womptown.
We were through security and what not and in the airport proper at around noon. Our flight was scheduled to take off at around 2PM. So that left us with plenty of time to get some lunch.
Right?
We found a little spot in the corner of the airport that looked our speed.
Get it? Speed? Because its racing themed. For some reason.
We grabbed a seat at the bar and I ordered up a Wadadli.
Which apparently is the official beer of Antigua.
And yet this was my first one.
Strange times, my friend.
It was pretty good stuff. It was less like a Bud or Bud Light and more like reminiscent of a Heineken.
Nickie got herself a Presidente.
Which is a Dominican beer. Still though. Islands, right? I mean we were drinking Red Stripes all week. So.
We also weren’t completely starving so we ordered a chicken tenders and fries to split. Figured it would be a quick meal we could eat before we got on the plane.
We ordered it at around 12:30.
He said for no reason whatsoever.
While we were enjoying our beers, I couldn’t stop watching the music videos playing on the TV over the bar. There was SO MUCH 90s R&B happening up there, it was like some sort of wonderful dream.
“Always Be My Baby” is like top 5 Mariah. Easy.
Oh what ARE the top 5 Mariah songs? I’m glad you asked. In no particular order:
- Always Be My Baby
- Hero
- Fantasy (the version with Ol’ Dirty Bastard)
- One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men)
- Heartbreaker (with Jay-Z)
- Honey
- Anytime You Need a Friend
- Dreamlover
- Emotions
- Shake it Off
- Vision of Love
- We Belong Together
- All I Want for Christmas is You
Yup, Mariah has 13 songs in her top 5.
Because she’s Mariah.
Also while we were sitting there? A nice couple sat down next to us and we started talking. They were regular visitors to Antigua so we talked to them about how much they loved the island. And they then talked to us about how much they loved the nudist communities in Antigua.
So now I’m all like…
Anyways.
Remember when I, for no reason whatsoever, told you the time when we ordered the chicken tenders and fries? Well turns out there was a reason.
Because at around 1:20, after almost an hour and definitely a couple beers had passed, our order came out.
Which was unfortunate, since our flight was in about a half hour. So we grabbed our chicken, paid our bill, and brought it over to get in line for the plane. We ended up eating it while we were waiting to board.
Pretty good stuff. The fries were actually a little better than the chicken but I mean, both halves of the meal sufficed.
We boarded at around 1:40ish.
Man, we scarfed that chicken DOWN.
But yeah, we boarded at around 1:40ish. And look guys. Sports!
We boarded and our plane took off on time.
And like, according to these pictures, I didn’t get alcohol on this flight?
Was I ok?
Somebody should check past me for a fever.
But yeah, just this picture of a Pepsi Zero Sugar.
Pepsi?
Man, times were tough.
When they came around with snacks, they asked if I would like cookies or Cheez-Itz. And apparently my answer was, “yes.”
Oh wait, I found another drink picture from the flight. OK, here we go. I probably got a drink later on in the fli…
Coffee? COFFEEE?
And a book?
What a nerd.
We had a connecting flight today in NYC, so at around 5:45, we started our descent into the Big Apple.
Gotham.
The City that Never Sleeps.
The place where Joey and Chandler live.
New York. Is what I’m saying to you now.
After we got off the plane, we had to go through the whole luggage/customs/security situation since we were coming in from another country which took a total of probably 45 minutes or so. Which was fine since we had planned on that and our flight was still not for a couple hours.
Which left us plenty of time to drink get dinner.
Now, as you might recall from Day 1, we stopped in at a place called 5ive Steak for breakfast. And despite having one of the dumbest names I’ve ever seen for a restaurant and less-than-stellar service, it did serve pretty good food.
So back to Five-ive Steak we went.
This time, we grabbed a seat at the bar. And as we were getting seated, the bartender and a patron at the bar were in the middle of a conversation. The dude had apparently ordered a soda and the bartender was informing him he couldn’t sit at the bar if he wasn’t going to order alcohol.
And like, is that a thing? Can a bar kick you out for not ordering alcohol? Like, I get it if you order nothing but forcing patrons to order alcohol seems like some sort of fascism. Or totalitarianism.
An ism for sure.
I did not agree with it.
I also immediately ordered a Bud Light.
What? I didn’t wanna lose my seat.
Nickie and I perused the menu.
And I think we both ended up ordering the same thing. Which is too cute for words.
We got the Grilled Chicken BLT Club (Chicken, Thick Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, BBQ Mayo on Sourdough Bread) with a side of fries.
It was a good sandwich. Nothing like mind-blowing, but good. A good sandwich.
Guys. It was good.
Jeesh, lay off.
It was nice having a couple hours to spare. Nickie and I hung out at the bar, talked about Antigua, talked about upcoming vacations, how happy we were to get home to see the boys and the dogs. It was a nice little extra couple hours of vacation.
Eventually, at around 9PM, we did board our flight. And when we got to our seats, we were greeted with this.
Which caused us to look around at the plane and kind of everything seemed it was put together with tape and prayers. This plane had seen better days is what I am trying to get across here.
And this made us make these faces.
But, thankfully, we made it home in one piece. We landed at around 10:45, grabbed our luggage, ordered up an Uber, and were back home by midnight.
And that’s it you guys. That was our Antigua trip. Hope you enjoyed it.
And thanks so much to all of you for joining along. Of course, as I do at the end of most trips, I have to thank so many people, including all of you. Thank you so much to my mom, Joanne, and in-laws, Sharon and Alan, for staying at our house and taking such good care of the boys and the dogs. You guys are the best and we really appreciate everything you do for us.
And thank you to Nikki and Chris for being such fun travel companions. We would go away with you guys anytime.
Of course, thank you to my incredible and incredibly hawt wife, Nickie for making every laugh that much more joyful, every minute that much more blessed, and every memory that much more special. I love you and I love going away with you. Xoxo.
And a very special thank you to Tony and Larissa. You guys. This was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. Thank you for including us in your beautiful life. We are so lucky to have friends like you both. And Tony – really great job putting this all together. We will never forget this trip. Love you guys and Happy Birthday Larissa!!
Alright yeah – so that’s it you guys.
But legit don’t worry. There will be new content on the blog soon. We have our Ireland trip coming up and then our Disney Cruise / Walt Disney World trip later in the summer. So lots of good stuff and lots of waiting just way too long for posts on you guys’ part.
Peace.
Last post – Day 5
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