Happy New Year!

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 7 Jan 2008 14:11

17:03.970N 61:53.031W

We were at a loss as to what exactly to do on New Year's Eve down here on the island of Antigua.  After all, no one was having a Barn Party like the Jamessons always do.  Besides, there are no barns here - not a one.  Not even a garage.  Not really anything that could truly be called 'indoors' (aside from schools, medical clinics and police stations, that is).  And you certainly wouldn't need a wood stove to keep warm.  And without Ben playing DJ, the music would most certainly have sucked.  I suppose we could have attempted to recreate a barn party of our own and set up a shrine around the barn party photo collage we have on board and played the 'Barn Party Greatest Hits, Volume 1' CD that Ben and Erin put together for us.  We could have even fed Don too much scotch, listened to him sing, 'Skeeter On My Peter', watched him fall asleep and listened to him snore while the rest of us swayed to 'Piano Man' in the background.  But somehow I don't think it would have been quite the same.  On top of that, I'm not sure Margy and Rick would have enjoyed it quite as much as I would have.  So we opted not to sully our barn party memories by attempting to recreate perfection and doing a poor job of it. 

What a quandary.  We didn't really want to hang out in any of the restaurants near the marina as they are quite touristy and lack that certain local charm that's needed on a night like New Year's Eve.  We were left with only one choice...consult a local.  We did exactly that and sought the advice of our trusty taxi driver Michael two days before New Year's Eve.  He suggested a place called Dennis's Restaurant and Cocktail Bar.  It is run by a local named Dennis (what else?) and located on the next beach down the coast from Jolly Beach - too far to walk, but just perfect for a taxi ride.  We decided to check Dennis's out that night and went there for dinner with Michael as our driver (who else?).  Dennis's is located on a hill overlooking Frye's Beach and if it weren't for the dark, we were sure the view would have been marvelous.  The building is open air (see? indoors just doesn't exist down here) with about ten tables set up on two wide porches and a bar sort of inside under a thatched roof.  The meal we had was the best we had in Antigua.  Margy and I had the catch of the day.  Hers showed up with no head, but being lucky, I received the whole fish, eyeball staring at me and all.  After covering the eyeball with a piece of carrot all was well and the food was excellent.  We knew we liked Dennis right away when he came to take our order and Rick asked him what was in the shrimp and chicken medley.  A sly grin crept over Dennis's face and he looked at Rick and after a moment said, 'shrimp and chicken'.  After the meal Don asked Dennis the loaded question, 'Dennis, where do you recommend we go for New Year's Eve?'.  The sly grin came out again and Dennis answered, 'Well, it just so happens we are having a party here!  Three dishes to choose from, a bottle of wine, karaoke and the best view anywhere on the island for the (pronounced 'deh') fireworks - but we are almost fully booked.'  We didn't discuss it further then, but by the time we got in the taxi with Michael to head back to Jolly Harbour, it was decided.  Dennis's for New Year's it was.  Karaoke and all.  Michael arranged it with Dennis for us and arrived promptly at 8pm on New Year's Eve to pick us up. 

The night started a little slow with rain pelting us from behind as we sat on Dennis's porch, food that wasn't quite as good as our previous visit, and a very nervous host.  It was only Dennis's second New Year's Eve party, so the tension was high.  The generator quit and everything went quiet and dark for a minute or two (Rick happened to be in the bathroom at the time  : )  ), but after that things started to pick up.  The karaoke kicked in, the British patrons got rowdier and more locals showed up.  Rick has always been known for his willingness to sing and was not bashful about belting out 'Sweet Caroline', complete with fist pumps during the chorus. Our table after dinner, but before karaoke, is shown in picture 1.  We were all supplied very fashionable party hats when we arrived, and Margy is wearing hers in this picture.  The second photo documents Rick's 'Sweet Caroline' chorus fist pumps and the third photo was taken after the party was really revved up - as was our waitress - who is the subject of this photo.  Per Dennis's promise, there were, in fact, fireworks at midnight and our view was very good.  I tried to catch more of the finale fireworks in the picture, but apparently this was the best I could do at the time.

In the end, the ever faithful Michael arrived to take us back to Jolly Harbour sometime between 1 and 2 am.  Did I mention that January 31 was Michael's birthday?  Not only did he take us on a tour of the island on his birthday, but taxied us to dinner and then stayed up waiting for Dennis's phone call telling him we were ready to go home.  When we asked him what he did for New Year's Eve he said he went to church.  'Not even a single drink?' we asked.  'No', he said, 'I decided to keep the whole night holy.'   Wow.  After that inspiration, we proceeded to the Gazebo Bar for a nightcap.  Shortly thereafter we called it a night. Immediately upon arrival at the boat, Don realized he was missing his glasses.  After a thorough search of the boat and the Gazebo Bar, Don went to bed without his glasses.  Major panic.  He was up again at 7am retracing his steps.  No glasses.  More panic, searching the boat for all pairs of spare glasses.  Glasses are not something easily replaced from afar.  Later that morning Don went in search of Michael - we didn't know his last name or his phone number, but this is a very small island, and all Don had to do was ask another taxi driver to call Michael, which he did.  Little Michael answered, said his dad was out hanging up the laundry and that he would ask him to look for the glasses and bring them by the boat if he found them.  Three hours later, Michael came strolling down the dock looking for us.  In his hand were Don's glasses.  Do people come any better than this?  This time we got Michael's card before we said good-bye and promised to look him up when we pass through Antigua again on our way home in 2009.

In the end, it wasn't a barn party, but the karaoke and fireworks, along with the 80 degree weather and good company were a more than acceptable substitute.

Happy New Year everyone!

Anne and Don  

    

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