Antigua - where people who can go anywhere, go

I’m not a big celebrity guy - I have never asked for an autograph. Couldn’t really care less. But when I find a tiny island where so many people with vast wealth have houses, it makes me wonder. Why this place? They could live anywhere, vacation anywhere. Why Antigua? Why would multiple billionaires go here?

Because it is spectacular, that’s why. It is just plain gorgeous. A true tropical paradise. Oh, there are the usual touristy spots; crowded shops, overpriced beach bars and crowds of people taking pictures with their iPads. But there is also some amazing natural beauty.

There is also Stingray City. I doubt if that is why Eric Clapton or Oprah are here, but it is worth a visit. I scuba dive, and have swam with many rays in my time, but this is different. These stingrays are used to people, and are used to being fed, so they actually come to you. Now, this might bother some (it certainly isn’t their natural feeding routine) but it seems to me that they are treated well. We had a little lecture about how to treat the rays before they would take us out there, and the guides really helped even the most nervous guests interact.

I kept thinking “here kitty, kitty” as I snorkeled with the stingrays. Not sure why I wanted to treat them like cats.

If you are in Antigua for a day, chances are you are on a Lesser Antilles cruise. These tend to have a lot of ports, and it might be easy to make this a “ship day”. That’s find, rest is important, but for my money, I would spend part of the day heading out to swim with the stingrays. Then rest on the ship. Best of both worlds.