The Sugar Club

Eddie and I pride ourselves on being able to take pretty exotic vacations for next to nothing. One way we do that is by buying food in the grocery and cook it ourselves. We have been in Antigua for 11 days and have eaten out only twice now.

By recommendation, we heard that a restaurant called The Sugar Club across the way from Jolly Beach has two for one steak dinners on Wednesday nights. So we asked ourselves, "How good can a two for one steak really be?" We decided to make a go of it and find out.

Upon arriving at Sugar Club, we were absolutely amazed. The property is beautiful...very tastefully done. White marble floors in the entrance, dark wood floors in the restaurant, and trim to match. The building itself is a plantation style with big doors all around that open to allow the trade winds to blow through.  One side overlooks some of Jolly Harbour Beach and the other side of the building overlooks the intimate pool. We were impressed upon arrival.

We went for it...purchasing the two for one steaks. Two 10 oz steaks New York Strip steaks, cut Manhattan style for $27. The food and drink manager explained to us that the Manhattan style cut of meat is much thicker and maintains its juiciness very well. The steaks were served with garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus spears, fried onion garnishes all topped with a red wine reduction sauce. Fancy!

Everything on my plate was delicious and well worth the money we paid. We even splurged on a bottle of Australian red wine.

The evening was awesome. Thanks to Eddie for taking me out to dinner...it was a memorable part of our Antiguan Vacation!

Here is a picture of us after dinner...

Life's A Beach II

The last few days here in Antigua have been absolutely fabulous. Apart from dropping a pair of tweezers on the top of my foot and bruising my third and fourth toes, I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Sunday, we just relaxed. We were both achy and sore from dancing the night away on Saturday night. Yes, it's ok to say we're approaching middle age. But, hey, it was fun anyway. We took a stroll over to the Jolly Harbour shopping center and found there are more real estate offices than anything else. There's a Greek style building over in that area as well that used to be a casino and sports bar. It's closed down now, but it looks like they are working on it, so hopefully it will be opened up soon. I have no doubt that business makes Jolly Harbour a hoppin' spot to be.

Monday, of course, was the 4th of July. Kind of strange to be on an English Colony on the 4th of July. Needless to say, there were no fireworks for the American guests on the island, but we did get a "We'd like to wish our American guests a Happy 4th of July today...cheers!"  Eddie and I spent the entire day on the beach Monday. The sun was out, the water was great and we were either on the sand or in the water. I'm still in the middle of a love affair with the beach here in Antigua. I usually prefer the pool to the beach, but not here. The beach is to die for.

Beginning the first week in July, the owner's of Tranquility Bay Resort have a complimentary cocktail party out in the grassy area near the beach. Eddie and I went, and they were serving Rum Punch, Fruit Punch, and red or white wine. I went for the red wine as did Eddie. We met a fabulous family from England...they are from a town about 40 miles west of London and work in technology. Richard and Carol are the mom and dad...kids are Rhianna and Steve and Steve's girlfriend is along as well....Nez. They have been coming to Tranquility Bay for 6 years, every year, sometimes more than once, so they know most of the staff and all the good places to eat. It was nice talking to them for sure.

After the cocktail party, we headed down the beach for the bonfire/dance show. The show lasted about 20 minutes and there were about 12 dancers total. They were dressed in native outfits and the dancing was nice. One of the dancers, Elroy, (who was our water aerobics instructor last Thursday) breaths fire. He uses gasoline and blows it onto a fire torch, making sure he is blowing it in the same direction the wind is blowing. I had the chance to talk to him about how he learned to breath fire last night at the 'disco.' He is 17 years old and learned by just watching he said...very impressive to me.

Tuesday, we bought drink passes again. We spent the day at the pool because we were super hot on the beach. (Yay for sunshine!) The pool was quiet and the drinks were flowing. So, another relaxing day in the books for Eddie and me. The pool closes down around 6, but the drinks stop at 5. We headed back to the room for some pasta and garlic bread and then took a short nap. We had to gear up for another night of dancing. Turns out that Richard and Carol came to the bar to enjoy the music and we did more talking than dancing, but it's always nice when you make friends on vacation. Elroy was on duty last night to talk to guests, dance with them, and make everyone feel comfortable. There's a little boy about 7 years old on vacation with his parents who is into break dancing. Elroy was showing him all kinds of moves last night...truly adorable to watch. Eddie and I did get to dance for about an hour and had a great evening.

A walk back home on the beach was a perfect way to end a perfect day on Antigua.

Just Call Me Jack Sparrow

July 2nd was a pretty rainy day here in Antigua. Or should I say there was plenty of 'liquid sunshine' again yesterday? 

So, around 11 in the morning Eddie and I walk over to the front desk and purchase drink passes...yep...all you can drink, anything you want, all day long. 

Let me set the scene: Pina coloda in hand, second floor of the beach bar that overlooks the pool on one side and the ocean on the other. The ocean side is very tropical. If you look to the left you'll see glimpses of the aqua waves rolling in through the massive palm trees that shade the beach bar area. If you look to the right, you'll see nothing but miles and miles of ocean and probably a sailboat or two. 

So this view is how I spent my afternoon. Most of the time, except when the rain moved in, (and it moves through quickly) Eddie and I were upstairs in this deck area alone, enjoying our drinks and the view. 

Lucky for us, the drink passes lasted until midnight. Yee haw! We had to take a short dinner break, run back to the room, eat, take a nap, and head on out to the OTHER beach bar that was playing mediocre piano bar music when we arrived. At 9:15, they switched over to some hip hop and popular dance music. Of course I Eddie and I, having plenty of rum in us, danced the night away with drinks in hand the entire night. Pina colodas, Strawberry Daiquiris, Antigua Sunshines, Miami Vices, and the old standby...Rum and Coke. We had a fabulous time even thought it rained most of the day. Thank goodness for drink passes!

When I woke up this morning, I smelled of rum and I immediately thought I should change my name to Jack Sparrow. What do you think?

Life's a Beach

After complaining the first few days we were here about rain and little sunshine, the last two days have been amazing. We've spent our time sightseeing a little, exercising a little, eating a little, and lying on the beach a lot.

The waters in Antigua are the most beautiful I've seen. I've been to Hawaii...five islands in Hawaii and while the water is beautiful, it doesn't quite out do the water here. I've also seen the water in Cancun, Mexico, St. Maarten, Florida, and California. St. Maarten is a close second to the beauty of the water in Antigua.

We are staying in Jolly Harbour. The bay is tranquil. It's calm, relaxing, soothing, everything a beach should be in my opinion. The waters light up when the sun hits them, every shade of aqua blue you can imagine. It looks as if lights have been turned on under the water to create a vast pattern of sparkling beauty. I love hearing the small waves crash on the sand...it sounds like an outburst of applause the quickly comes and goes every time a wave hits the sand. It's a sound and sight that I shall never tire of. The best part is that I have my husband here with me to share the beauty of the beach with me. It may be cliche to say, but hey...life is a beach. :)

Antigua, Days 3 and 4

Well, what can I say? We have visited Antigua right in the middle of a tiny rainy season I guess. It has rained, I kid you not, every day since we have arrived. Twice, middle of the night rains have been so torrential that they have awaken me from a dead sleep.
A local on the beach yesterday said to us that the rain is just liquid sunshine. Yeah right.
Eddie and I find ourselves saying, "Quick! The sun in out...let's get on the beach." to only find that in the five minutes it took us to gather up our things and get out there, another rain shower has moved in and taken our sunshine away. Yesterday after the 4th attempt at some beach time, I gave up, came inside and took a shower and put on regular clothes. Amazingly enough, it felt awesome to put a bra on. lol!
The forecast today said that we would have a 40% chance of rain in the AM. The sun in shining currently and it's the AM...perhaps I should get off blogger and get out in that sun.

Antigua, Days 1 and 2

So, we finally arrived in Antigua for our big 2011 summer vacation. We are missing Little Eddie, by the way. :( We had to circle the island for 30 minutes before finally getting to land because of major backups at the airport. Those major backups also translated to major backups in the immigration line. At times, it seemed as if the line wasn't even moving. They had two lines open for citizens of Antigua and 4 lines open for all the other visitors of Antigua. Seemed kind of lopsided to me. Anyway, because of this, we were forced to stand in line for over an hour before getting our bags, car, driver's license, and heading to the condo.

Upon first observation, we immediately found that the people of Antigua are not friendly...there is no ALOHA here! I find this to be strange because their economy on the island is directly dependent upon tourism. This was initially a turn off to me, but I've gotten over it. Hey...it's a chance to be rude, right? :)
So, our first day on the island was all about getting the things done that we needed to. We unpacked, went to the grocery to pick up fresh items to eat, explored the resort, then settled in for a good night's sleep.

Day 2 was more relaxing. Eddie talked me into a 40 minute run on the beach. He even wanted to go to the gym later on in the afternoon, but the gym is closed from 11 to 4 in the afternoon. Weird, right? After the run, we got hooked up with two beach chairs and spent the rest of the morning soaking in the sun. The sun's rays are intense here, which is to be expected I guess since we are closer to the equator here. After a tuna sandwich lunch, we went for a drive down to Shirley's Heights. This is the highest place on the island of Antigua and was used as a lookout for the English Military when they occupied the island. The old lookout is now converted into a restaurant and they have live steel music every Sunday. We did go on Sunday, but were too early for the music. It's a nice place...would like to go back.
After an hour or so at the pool, we ventured back to the room for some rum punch. Eddie has already perfected his concoction and I'm looking forward to having more rum punch tonight!

It looks as if we are going to be here when it rains...a lot. Cross your fingers that the forecast will change and we will be blessed with a lot of sunshine.