Aboard Refrigeration a company specializing in marine refrigeration for our extensive yachting community . Don Elmore <aboardrf@hotmail.com> reports that: "Aboard Refrigeration will be in full operation on the 12th of October 98. We sustained only a little flooding which happens frequently anyway due to plumbing problems. We will do what we can to let the world know we will be ready for the tourists during the season............Eileen and Don"

Crabbs Marina - Rachel Smith <ladysailor@uconect.net> had contacted me about her boat CAMELOT VII' in a trench "on the hard" there.

She advises me that she finally got some information on Crabbs from someone who had been there. Crabbs has suffered over the years as hurricane after hurricane has battered their facility. Apparently the main office was destroyed but the boats are all in good condition and boat lift is operational.

Cruise Ships

MONARCH OF THE SEAS
RETURNS TO ANTIGUA

Norwegian Sea was the first ship to dock at Heritage Quay after the storm and Monarch of the Seas followed the very next day. It is a testament to Royal Caribbean's confidence in the recovery process in Antigua that they sent Monarch of the Seas back here only two weeks after hurricane Georges raged over the island. After hurricane Luis in 1996 it was 3 months before the ship returned!

My good friend Conrad La Barrie (labarrielc@candw.ag) was very upbeat about Cruise Ship Facilities in Antigua when he happily reported to The Caribbean Hurricane Page that both cruise ship docks in Antigua are in good shape and that he expectedbusiness to continue as normal. Extensive clean up is ongoing throughout the island and Nelson's Dockyard will be operational soon.

Conrad's company, Destination Antigua Ltd, (hosted by me at 1-by-1.com), is agent for fourteen cruise lines. They and sister company Bryson's Shipping, are expecting a bouyant cruise season for 98/99.

Dive Antigua and Antigua's reefs. Big John tells me:

"Dive Antigua survived in OK condition. No damage to the dive shop but we sustained minor damage to one dive boat and lost another boat. We are planing to be open for business by the 3rd week in October.

As to the reefs we are looking forward to some exploration to observe changes. Reefs have adapted to the ravages of hurricanes over millions of years of evolution and as a matter of fact research has shown that reefs which experience hurricanes fare much better over time in terms of health and biodiversity. As appears increasingly more and more common in ecology, parallels occur, for example forests in which fires have been aggressively controlled, fare much worse in terms of biodiversity, parasites, health and nutrient availability than forests that experience a regularly occurring burn.

Anyway back to the grind, boats to fix, reefs to explore and.....Rum and Pina-Coladas to liberate!

See you on the reef....Big John"

Heritage Quay Duty-free Center - The main passenger cruise ship dock leads directly into Heritage Quay Duty-free Center where one of my galleries Island Arts is located upstairs. With almost no tourists on the island at that time..... and no business...... you can imagine how pleased we were to see the ships return only two weeks after the storm.

Fortunately the complex sustained very little damage, unlike the terrible mess left by Luis, and was cleaned up in a few days.

Heritage Quay comprises of 44 duty-free shops (currently being extended) to cater to every tourist's souvenir and holiday gift needs. Deluxe jewelers like Colombian Emeralds and Little Switzerland offer glittering gems (and some tempting deals) and other stores provide everything from swimwear to perfume. Of course our sponsor Benjie's Photo Lab is located there too to process holiday snaps in an hour or so!

Island Arts Galleries <maleyn@candw.ag> sustained 5% damage. Our gallery in Heritage Quay is undamaged and is already open for business. At first glance our gallery in Hodges Bay looked really messed up by Georges, but much of it was debris from the garden. We lost a little roof which I replaced in 3 days and sustained a little water damage. All paintings are undamaged. We are now clearing the debris in the garden. We got power back ten days after the storm. Our gardens at Aiton Place are now in pretty good shape and Linda and Terry-Anne have done a great job of cleaning up the gallery. Our potted plants on the terrace are a little sadder than usual and Gloria's orchids will need a little TLC but Aiton Place is back on it's feet and ready for visitors. The last remaining obsticle is our road signs which won't be back in place for another week or two. 268 461 6324

I can usually be found signing prints at Island Arts, Heritage Quay Duty-free Center, most Thursdays (when the big ships come in). I choose Thursdays for this weekly ritual because Thursdays are big cruise ship days. Royal Caribbean runs information about me in Monarch of the Seas's cabins, (as do Celebrity Cruise Lines), partly because of my association with Star Wars and other movies, partly because I give their passengers 25-35% off the international list prices of my artwork...... the lowest prices anywhere in the world! (I offer discounts to some hotels, those that send me many customers, too. If you visit us in Antigua but aren't staying in one of those hotels I will extend the 25-35% offer to you ..... just tell the sales girl you visited the AntiguaToday site.) Island Arts is a rather compact gallery and sometimes there can be quite a crush as passengers clamber to invest in the growing value of my artwork. We specializes in affordable Caribbean Art, my prints and hand crafted miniature Antiguan houses that I designed.

The Jolly Roger Pirate Ship Steve Coghlan <jollyroger@candw.ag> describes minimal damage at Jolly Roger Antigua Ltd - Antigua's famous pirate rum punch cruises. Very light cosmetic damage to the vessels. No damage to office facilities. Power and water has been restored in St John's so administration back to normal. The vessels are hauled out now for the annual docking maintenance, and are due to resume normal operations by Oct 10.

Jolly Dive We sustained virtually no damage to this operation either. We are diving 6 days a week,excluding Sunday, divers permitting, with emphasis on our two tank morning dives and our "Discover Scuba Course" ( a one day beginners course.) We will be offering a complimentary pool demonstration here in Jolly Harbour at the BBR Sports Club, schedule to vary weekly according to guest's interest. Since Club Antigua is closed for approximately one month we will be doing all our booking through our Jolly Harbour office next to the "Epicurean Super Market" ( which by the way is fully stocked and open 9:00 am through 5:30 pm , Monday through Sunday) We may be contacted through our web site : http://www.kokomocat.com/jollyd.htm or direct email : divemaster@kokomocat.com or direct phone / fax: 268-462-8305

Kokomo Cat Cruises Ltd. We sustained basically no damage to our operation. We are now sailing an abbreviated schedule since some of the major hotels are closing for repairs. However, Jolly Harbour is up and running with power and water and also minimal damage. We are sailing our "Circumnavigation Cruise" on Thursdays, Our "Bird Island Cruise" on Wednesdays, and our "Triple Destination Cruise" on Sundays. We have been in contact with Shirley Heights as to our Sunday cruise and they are up and running as of last Sunday the 27th of September. Of course if there are any groups that wish to sail on another day we are most happy to accommodate. We can be contacted through our web site : http://www.kokomocat.com or our direct email : mary@kokomocat.com or direct phone : 268-462-7245 (That's 462-SAIL) or direct fax : 268-462-8305.

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