After a long day in St. Lucia, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing, eating appetizers, eating entrees, eating desserts – you get the idea. By day four on the cruise, healthy intentions were still there, but they were being tested consistently. While I will say I made good choices in the quality and type of food I ate, the same can’t be said for quantity.

We returned to our room after an evening of gluttony, to be greeted with a letter from the Shore Excursions Desk, notifying us that our tour for the next day was canceled. I was beyond bummed. Not only was this the excursion I was most looking forward to (an eco-hike through the rainforest to a secluded beach!), but it also meant that we now had nothing planned for the next day!

I pouted for a bit, while Casey waited patiently for me to get over it (sometimes a girl just needs five minutes, you know?). We re-grouped and decided we’d just do the day on our own, and welcome the opportunity to save some money. Which bring us to…

Day Five: Antigua!

We took our time at breakfast, since we didn’t have to rush to meet a shore group that day. We figured we’d spend the morning shopping and exploring the town, and when we were done we’d catch a taxi to the beach for the afternoon. We headed into town…

…only to discover that it consisted of about five blocks – so small! There were a few markets to explore, but we aren’t really the souvenir types. We looked around for 20 minutes or so before deciding to just make it a full day at the beach. So we headed back to the ship to change, get our books and towels, and figure out where the heck to go.

Dealing with heckling taxi drivers who speak broken English was not one of my favorite honeymoon activities. Everyone wants you to go with them and not the other guy, so they will say just about anything to get you into their cab. We wanted to make sure that we were actually being taken to a decent beach, so we hooked up with another group from Royal Caribbean who seemed to know what they were doing.

A nice 30 minute drive through the countryside of Antigua – which was very rural – brought us here…

…Turner’s Beach! It was absolutely breathtaking – some of the most crystal clear water I’ve ever seen. There was a cute beach bar and restaurant, and cheap chair rental, so we were set for the day. We rented our chairs, laid out our towels, and didn’t do much else for about four hours.

Notice that the “sugar-free desserts” that I was justifying left and right as healthy dining options have started to take effect. Dessert at breakfast? Why not – it’s sugar free…!

The sun there was hot as hell, and no matter how much sunscreen I applied, it was one of those days where I just knew I was burning. But visions of blistering skin and peeling scalps were not enough to deter me, and I continued to lay there and sizzle. Eventually we decided enough was enough, and we took a short walk up and down the beach. Clearly needing nourishment after an exhausting day of doing absolutely nothing, I stopped by the beach bar for a fresh, ripe mango – delicious!

Our friendly taxi man came back for us (also a concern – how do we get home?) around 3pm, and we headed back into town. We considered having lunch in a local spot, but none of the menus impressed us enough to not just take the easy option – free food on the cruise ship! We headed back to the Princess, and spent the rest of the day doing the usual – reading, hot tub, trip to the fitness center, followed by endless meals and too many desserts. We set sail out of Antigua as the sun set over the island…

…and YES – i woke up the next day with a horrendous sunburn! All worth it for a beautiful day at a glorious beach.