The point of this vacation was, in a way, to learn how to have a relaxing beach vacation. Beach vacations, where you just go and sit on the beach everyday, are not something that I have ever done. Maybe one day out of two weeks of some adventure might involve running up to a beach and taking a picture of my toes in the water then leaving. No vacation I have ever been on has just been about the beach.
So here I am, on day three, standing on Darkwood Beach, Antigua. This is my kind of beach, as there was not another soul on it besides my friend Natasha and the people who supplied the cold beverages, food and beach chair rental. Off-season rules. This beach brought the frosty beverages directly to you in your beach chair or the ocean, depending on where you standing at the moment.
After a morning that consisted of getting a Aveda Spa full body and sensory massage – it was really tough to just chill on the beach and enjoy the sunshine. Wait, no just kidding, it was amazing. The sun was hot, the water cool, beautifully blue and the sand soft between my toes. It was heaven, we only had to worry about when to reapply our sunscreen to ensure we didn’t burn into a lobster shade of red.
There was also the matter of hydration, but they just keep bringing you coconut water fresh, right from the coconut.
And there was a matter of lunch, but that was covered too. I had goat curry to sample the other fine offerings the island has besides lobster.
It was so nice, we just wanted to stay until sunset, but as the hours ticked by and we applied more sunscreen our skin was still turning red in places so we eventually had to leave.
Back at the resort we cleaned up and decided to make reservations at Carmichael’s and try on the fancy restaurant at the top of the ridge for the evening. The restaurant technically has the same view as my apartment but, it is about 5 more stories/flights of stairs directly up. We walked them for good measure and exercise.
Before dinner we were treated to the most amazing of sunsets and views of Jolly Harbour.
I’m not as sunburned as I appear in this photo, I was sitting under a red light, as red lights allegedly do not attract mosquitoes.
Here is the view in the other direction. It literally feels like the restaurant is hovering in the sky and that you could drop your cell phone over the edge of the world while dining.
I ordered the special – the lobster risotto. Which proved that “fine dining” here means putting food into interesting shapes. But my rice and lobster pile was quite tasty, I’m not sure if it was risotto but I enjoyed the lobster, the texture, and the flavor. We completed the meal with dessert drinks, cherry cheesecake and creme brule. Everything was tasty but the view was the best part.
