Bill and Jackie's Antigua Trip

Ah, what a vacation!

Jackie and I visited Antigua (an TEE ga) for a week in April, 2002. Some immediate thoughts that popped into my mind upon returning home:

• What a beautiful island!
• A great place for a beach vacation.
• I've never seen so many sunburnt people in my life.

Where is Antigua?

When we told people we were going on vacation to Antigua, more often than not we'd get asked "Where is Antigua?" As you can see from the map to the right, Antigua is in the eastern Caribbean, and is the largest island in the country of Antigua and Barbuda. It is about 14 miles long and 11 miles wide, encompassing 108 square miles. Barbuda, a flat coral island with an area of only 68 square miles, lies about 26 miles due north. The nation also includes the tiny uninhabited island of Redonda, which is a wildlife refuge. There are also numerous tiny islands just off the shores of Antigua. The current population for the nation is approximately 68,000 and its capital is St. John's on Antigua.

Fortunately for us, our USAirways pilot knew how to get to there. We had driven from Vermont to Rhode Island on Friday afternoon, and caught a flight from Providence to Philadelphia the next morning. From Philadelphia, we flew directly to Antigua. For most of the flight, the view from the plane was boring, just ocean and more ocean. As we got closer to our destination, we began passing by small islands. We were unable to identify any of them, but the last one we passed before reaching Antigua was a small island with what looked like a dormant volcano on one end. Perhaps it was Nevis?

As we neared Antigua, people craned to see out the windows of the plane. It turns out we flew inland just south of our resort in Deep Bay; I remember seeing it from the air. The airport in St. John's has just one runway that ends at the ocean. The plane landed, turned around at the end of the runway, and came back down the same way it landed until it pulled off at the terminal. Then we sat on the tarmac for several minutes before the pilot informed us that we were waiting for another plane to vacate our parking spot. No jetways here, just a parking spot. OK, we found that humorous.

Once we parked, they drove out those ramps like you see in the old movies. We exited out the rear door of the plane (don't think I've ever done that before) and walked to the terminal. It was hot and muggy, just perfect for vacation. We cleared immigration and waited for our luggage. As luggage was pulled off the conveyor belt, skycaps with hand dollies would grab people's bags and help them to the cabs with it (for a fee of course). The conveyor belt stopped and we never saw our bags. We had a moment of panic until we realized there were at least a dozen other people in the same predicament. So we waited, and about five minutes later the belt started again and our baggage arrived. Phew! One bullet dodged.

The customs official just asked which hotel we'd be staying and then waved us through without looking at our bags. We walked out the taxi stand and the dispatcher filled out a slip for us and set us up with one of the many taxi vans there. As the driver was loading our bags into the back of his van, another driver pointed out that his tire was leaking air and going flat. Our driver kept reassuring him that he could make it to the service station to put air into the rapidly deflating tire. The other driver was also taking a couple to the same resort, so he offered to take us with him and let the first driver keep the fare for the trip. He finally accepted that idea, accepted my money, and loaded us and our luggage into the other van.

I've never considered that I had visited a place if I never left the airport. For example, I've flown through the airport in Atlanta several times, but I've never been to Atlanta. So as the taxi driver left the airport, I felt like we were now in Antigua and the vacation was underway.

Roads and driving in Antigua

Before we'd left for Antigua, I had done a lot of research on the island and what types of activities we could do there. I'd read that motorcycles and scooters were dangerous on the roads, but I toyed with the idea that Jackie and I could rent a car one day and drive around the island. Well, within a few minutes of leaving the airport, I quickly discarded that idea.

Being an ex-British colony, they drive on the left in Antigua. If that's not bad enough, the roads are very narrow. So when no traffic was coming the other way, the driver would use the center of the road. When an oncoming car approached, the driver would move to the left half of the road. Each time he did this, it threw me for a loop and I knew my reaction in the same situation would have been to move to the right. Watching him turn corners in traffic also was unsettling. I'd have had a dozen accidents before I got to the resort.

In addition to the narrow roads and driving on the left, road signs were practically non-existent. Then there are speed bumps everywhere, although I never did figure out why they were placed where they were. There were people walking in the street, goats everywhere (more on them later), and the occasional cattle grazing along the roadside. So much concentration would have been necessary to drive, that I wouldn't have been able to see any sights while doing so and am sure I'd spend half the time being lost.

One question did occur to me, though. There is nothing like a highway there, nothing where you can open up the engine and put it on cruise control. It's all city driving (in Saint John's) or country roads. If there's a flat, straight section of road, it usually has a speed bump. It is a small island, after all. But I wondered how many cars in Antigua ever sustained 70mph for more than a few seconds at a time.

The Royal Antiguan

The taxi driver deposited us at our destination for the week, the Grand Royal Antiguan Beach Resort. The beach is the big attraction here. It's located on Deep Bay, a couple miles west of St. John's. St. John's Harbor is very large and accommodates the gigantic cruise ships that come to the island for a day. A small peninsula divides Deep Bay from the entrance to St. John's Harbor. There's also a lagoon in front of the hotel that has a small entrance off the harbor. The hotel faces the lagoon, not the beach. We had a room on the back of the hotel, facing the hillside, so we didn't care what the view was from the other side of the hotel.

The hotel room was larger than normal, but pretty basic. It had a king size bed, dresser, TV (with American cable channels), and a bathroom large enough for both of us to knock around in at the same time. Check out the funky colors of the furniture and draperies of the room. The bedspread was also a patchwork of bright colors. It certainly made it look like sunlight during the day. Other than that, there was nothing special about the room, no clock, no hair dryer, no coffee maker, etc. Only one of the electrical outlets was 110V, 60Hz like we have in the states, and it was near the floor on the wall outside the bathroom. That made it interesting to watch Jackie use her hairdryer.

The hotel was very clean and the grounds were beautiful. Some of the staff were very friendly and fun, while others were polite but curt. The best part of the resort was the beach on Deep Bay. It's a long beach, but most of the people at the resort stayed on the south end of the beach. The bulk of our time during our visit was spent on that beach. We'd wander down from our room some time in the morning, grab a couple lounge chairs, and plant our butts for the next few hours. The sun was intense and hot (when it was out), so we'd be slathering on the sunscreen all day long. We'd sit and talk, enjoy the views of both the bay and the people, walk up and down the beach, jump in the water when we were too warm, and just let relaxation seep into our bones. After a few hours, we'd wander to the one of the restaurants for lunch. We usually ate lunch at Andes, which sits at the very south end of the beach overlooking the water. Then we'd wander back to the beach.

The water in the bay on a normal day is very calm and beautifully clear. It's a deep turquoise color when the sun is out. The clearness of the water amazed me, but then I grew up on the shores of heavily polluted Lake Erie in the 60s and 70s. In Deep Bay, we could stand in water up to our necks and see our feet. Since the bay is in a protective cove, there are no waves to speak of. I could just float on my back in the swimming area without worrying about waves or anything else. The bay is a busy place with jet skis, small sailboats, windsurfers, kayaks, and boats either anchored, coming, going, or pulling someone on skis or a banana boat.

The catamarans that offered different tours would come into the bay to pick up their customers right on the beach. Other times they would just visit the bay for a while to let people enjoy the beach. The Jolly Roger, a partying pirate ship, came by twice during the week. People would swing off the boat on a rope to drop into the water, walk the plank, and dive off the upper decks of the boat. It looked like a good time. If we'd stayed longer, we probably would have taken a trip with them one day.

There's also a boat in the bay. The Andes was a ship that sank in the bay in 1907. When you pass it by boat, you can see the two masts that end right at the water line. You really can't see that from the beach. The resort advertises the Andes as a great snorkeling opportunity, but I think the jet skis and boats might make that a bit nerve-wracking.

Looking out past the end of the bay into the Caribbean Sea, there were three more sights to see, but it wasn't until the end of the week that someone explained to me what they were. The first was a bit difficult to make out, but it was soon obvious that it was a lighthouse on a small spit of land. To the left of that is a shipwreck, or so I'm told. It's a boat that got hung up on a reef years ago and is still sitting there. Farther to the left of that was a faint purplish mountain. That is the island of Nevis. If you stare really hard at the photo on the left, you might be able to see all three.

The green flash

No, this isn't a comic book superhero or an oddly colored pervert. It's a rare atmospheric phenomenon that occurs when the sun sets on a clear evening, primarily over an ocean. For a detailed scientific explanation, try reading The Green Flash. I'd read about it before, but I didn't know how easy it might be to see. When Jackie and I arrived late Saturday afternoon, we wandered down to the beach and soaked up what sun and warmth we could (heck, it was snowing in Providence the evening before we left!). I mentioned to Jackie about the green flash, so we sat and watched as the sun went down. There was one large cloud, just above the horizon, but enough room below it that we could see the sun dipping below the horizon. Just before it disappeared, the top of the sun turned green! I couldn't believe we saw it. Since Jackie had seen it too, I knew I wasn't crazy. Well, that may be stretching things a bit.

So for the rest of the week, we thought we'd check out each sunset and see if we could see it again. On Sunday, clouds moved in just before sunset. On Monday and Tuesday, it was raining at sunset. Wednesday evening had clouds move in just before sunset. Thursday had a few clouds, including one just at the horizon which blocked our view. Friday was a perfect night for it with clear skies. Unfortunately, no green flash, although it was a spectacular sunset. The sun disappeared just behind the shipwreck way out beyond the bay, so maybe its presence obstructed our view.

Shirley Heights

Every Sunday night, there's a party at Shirley Heights. We were told it was a chance for all the tourists to party with the locals. The Royal Antiguan runs shuttles full of people down there, as do other resorts. Some of the catamaran tours that run on Sunday end at Shirley Heights. As you might guess, it's a lot of people in a small space.

Shirley Heights is on the southeast shore of Antigua. The British built fortifications there in 1780 to protect Nelson's Dockyards in English Harbour below. The view from Shirley Heights, either out over the Atlantic Ocean or looking down at English Harbour, is jaw-dropping. In one of my less lucid moments of the week, I decided not to bring the camera with us. Personally, I blame it on too much sun during the day. To make up for, check out the photo of English Harbour from Shirley Heights.

Our taxi van arrived there about 5PM and it was already crowded. We grabbed some rum punch and wandered around marveling at the view. There was a row of picnic tables under a pavilion and we thought it would be wise to grab one of the last remaining spots at one of the tables. We sat next to a couple from Maine who had the room next to us at the Royal Antiguan. On the other side of us was a couple from the Philadelphia area. He was a photographer who had been flown down to photograph a wedding. They paid for his airfare and three days on the island. What a tough gig! There was a newlywed couple from England across the table from us. It was fun talking with them and asking about each other's country.

The barbecue chicken there was great. Messy, but great. It's good fun to watch people try to eat chicken dripping with barbecue sauce without appearing to be a slob. I found it damn near impossible, so I stopped trying and just picked it up with my fingers. I'm so classy.

The music was good, but loud. People were trying to speak over the music and do their best to listen to different accents. It was so crowded with people that finding any room to dance was a difficult task indeed. Just walking to the bar took a lot of slithering between people. So we tended to hang out on the fringes of the crowd where we could enjoy the views and solitude without being crushed. Still it was a fun time and I was glad we went.

Before we left, one of the bands took a survey of the homelands of all the tourists. England got the loudest cheers, and the U.S. and Canada both sounded a distant second. Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, and Australia also had their own contingents there.

Circumnavigating the island

Many of the activities available involve different boat trips around the island. There are private charters, snorkeling trips, eco-tours to different parts of the islands or the tiny islands offshore, deep sea fishing, and circumnavigation trips around the island. Many of these trips, including the circumnavigation, were done with catamarans.

Jackie and I signed up for a circumnavigation trip with the Kokomo Cat on Tuesday. The Wadadli Cat and Treasure Island Cruises also offer this trip. The weather on Monday made us nervous. Rain and a stiff wind moved in late in the afternoon. When we awoke on Tuesday morning, the wind was howling. Just walking out of the hotel into the wind made you take half a step back. We made it down to the beach, where the Kokomo representative cautioned us that there was a 50% chance they'd be unable to circumnavigate because of the wind and waves. We decided to wait for the next tour on Thursday. The news that evening said winds were 30-40 knots and waves were 7-10 feet. I think we made the right decision to wait until Thursday.

Thursday morning, it was cloudy and sprinkling when we made our way to the beach. The different catamarans come into Deep Bay and right onto the beach to pick up their customers at the Royal Antiguan. They do the same at other resorts on the west side of the island. We boarded up a ladder in the front the drops down between the twin hulls. We took up seats on one side of the boat, and stayed dressed and under our beach towels to stay warm. The catamaran made one more stop at the Sandals resort for the last group of people. Then we motored out to the Atlantic side of the island.

As we moved from the Caribbean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, the wind and the waves increased. The engines were running full bore and the catamaran bounced up and down through the waves. Drinks were free on the cruise, and I was surprised that within the first hour, several couples were through four or more beers already. As the boat heaved, those who tended toward motion sickness began to look a little green. I did pretty well with it and found it easier to manage the bouncing by standing and holding onto the roof of the catamaran. I think I could lessen the bouncing by letting my legs absorb a lot of the shock.

The captain of the boat kept a running commentary of the sites we passed as we moved around the island. The sun finally came out and as it warmed up, people began peeling off towels and clothes to enjoy the warmth in their swimsuits. Some moved into the nets at the front of the catamaran where they'd catch the spray from the hulls slapping against the water.

We arrived at Green Island in the afternoon for lunch and snorkeling. The Wadadli Cat doing a circumnavigation on the same day was already there for the same reason. Before leaving the boat, the crew warned the snorkelers not to stand on any coral reefs, not just because they'd damage the reef, but also because they could step on a sea urchin. These give a porcupine-like sting, and the only thing to relieve the pain is ammonia. If necessary, they told us the only source of ammonia we'd get was from people who'd drank a lot of beer.

Jackie and I didn't snorkel, but explored along the beach instead. As we left the first small section of beach, we had to either walk over some large rocks or wade through the water to reach the next section of beach. I looked down as I started wading, and saw dark spiny objects sticking out from under rocks in the shallow water. Upon closer inspection, they were sea urchins. We decided to cross via the rocks instead.

We saw several fish in the water. Most of them were small fish, but we did see one larger fish about 15 inches long with a square-shaped head. We also found some anemone in the shallow water. We also checked out the aloe, cacti, and the lizards that scampered among them above the beach.

After lunch, we moved out from Green Island, cut the engine, and unfurled the sails. The Wadadli did the same and sailed along the west coast of the island alongside us. We watched a rain cloud moving in behind us, rain on us, and then move forward ahead of us. As the sun came out again, Jackie and I moved into the nets at the front of the catamaran. It was a great place to enjoy the sun, the surf, the view, and, of course, the Wadadli beer. As the boat moved to the southern side of the island, we passed Shirley Heights and the cliffs below it. There was the wreckage of a car about 2/3 of the way down the sheer cliff. That's definitely an accident you don't walk away from.

As we entered English Harbour, we passed the Pillars of Hercules. It's amazing to see unique natural formations like that. We moved slowly through the harbor, enjoying the sight of all the large sailboats who are gathering for Sailing Week held at the end of April every year. We went back out to sea and continued our cruise around the island. As we reached the resorts on the western side of the island, they began to let people off. When we reached the resort at Jolly Harbour, they had to help an older man off the boat. His legs were wobbly from all the liquor he'd been drinking. Then they carried his wife off. I didn't even realize these two had been drinking, they'd been so quiet. They deposited the wife in a beach lounge. She looked passed out. Her husband finally got her roused, and headed off for their room thinking she was following him. She got partly up to follow him and passed out face first into the sand. The crew went back down and got her back into the chair. The resort staff finally came out to take care of her, and as we were leaving the harbor, they were pulling her off the beach still on the lounge chair.

We continued north and I sat in the nets talking with a guy from England, drinking more Wadadli Beer, and enjoying the views with Jackie. When we passed the nude beach at Hawksbill, we waved to the people there and they waved back. Finally about 5PM, we reached Deep Bay and the catamaran pulled onto the beach at the Royal Antiguan. Our 8-hour circumnavigation tour was over. I think it was my favorite part of the whole week.

Fort Barrington

When we postponed our catamaran trip on Tuesday because of the wind, we decided to hike to Fort Barrington instead. It sits atop the hill that divides Deep Bay from St. John's Harbour at the end of the Royal Antiguan resort. It's not much of a hike, but the remains of the fort sit high enough to afford a great view of both the bay and the harbor. It was an exercise just to stand still on top of the fort with that wind howling in our face. Jackie had fun trying to keep her hair out of her face to use the camera. We continued hiking west of the fort to the end of the peninsula. There we sat and watched the waves break as they hit a small channel and island right off the tip of the peninsula.

We saw a few interesting things here, besides a lot of goat droppings. On the hillside we tried to identify an area of wildflowers. They looked like impatiens to me. We also saw a cactus growing out of a tree branch. I kid you not. I didn't think they could do this. If my camera hadn't run out of film, I'd have a picture for you.

We hiked back down the hill from the fort to where the lagoon in front of the hotel empties into the harbor. As we came around the north side of the hill the fort sits on, we encountered hundreds of empty plastic bottles along the shore. I'm guessing this is where the refuse from the sea is washed ashore. I wonder how much of this comes from the cruise ships that pass in and out of the harbor. That Tuesday, there were four cruise ships there. These things are huge! They could be seen leaving the harbor by looking over the small hills from the resort.

Goats and other animals

On our first day on the beach, I kept hearing sounds from the hillside on the south side of the bay. It sounded like a boy calling for his mom, "maaaa-maaaa." Then we realized that we were hearing goats bleating and we could spot them among the rocks and trees. When we left the resort on Sunday to go to Shirley Heights, there was a herd of them grazing in the grass along both sides of the access road to the resort. As we rode across the island that evening, we could see goats grazing anywhere they pleased. One day on the beach at Hawksbill, they were grazing right behind our lounges.

We asked a taxi driver about it one evening (taxi drivers are a great source of local information). I was wondering whether the goats were wild or if they belonged to farmers. We had noticed that some of them had collars or chains around their necks. The taxi driver told us that they all belonged to someone, but they were allowed to roam free to find enough to graze on. He mentioned that during a drought a few years ago, they couldn't find enough to graze on and were dropping dead in the streets.

So I didn't mind seeing the goats all around, and was glad to see that they looked healthy and eating well. Still, I did watch where I stepped when walking through a grassy area.

We saw a few other things we can't see back home. There were mongooses at the resort. Whether we saw the same one many times or more than one of them, I'm not sure. I guess that's why we didn't see any snakes. We also saw a starfish in the surf on the beach one day. Actually, I almost stepped on it. I picked it up and turned it over and saw it was still alive. So I put it back in the water.

Hawksbill nude beach

On Friday, Jackie and I took a taxi to a resort just south of the Royal Antiguan called Hawksbill. Actually, it's only about 2 miles. We could have walked it if we knew the way. Check out the photo to the right of a large rock in the bay off this resort. My first reaction was that it looked like a dolphin. Most people, I guess, see a hawk's head with the bill. Hence the name of the bay and the resort.

Hawksbill Resort is smaller and quieter than the Royal Antiguan. There are four beaches there. The first three are close to the rooms and restaurants and they tend to be small and not too busy. The fourth beach is at the southern end of the resort and is quite long. Once you walk to the beach and through a gate, you're now on Antigua's only "official" clothing-optional beach.

I think when most people conjure thoughts of a nude beach, they picture a crowd of thin, athletic bodies mingling about and perhaps playing volleyball (sorry, I can't picture myself doing that naked, too much bouncing anatomy involved). This beach was a far cry from that idea. The beach had two sections, and most people were at the first section. We initially walked down to the second section where there were fewer people. All told, there were maybe 20 people at most on the beach at any particular time. It wasn't crowded, and people might say "hi" when they passed, but otherwise, everyone was left alone. Everyone there appeared to be somewhere between their 30s and 50s. No young, hardbodies there, just real people with their imperfect bodies.

We did the same things here we did at the beach on Deep Bay. We enjoyed just lying in the sun, explored up and down the beach, and jumped in the water for a while when we got too hot. On the far section of beach, there was one area between the rocks where you could swim. The sea floor fell off quickly, so you couldn't wade too deep and the waves were more active. Also, the rocky bottom made stepping more difficult. To the right is a photo of Jackie swimming there.

We got dressed and had lunch at the restaurant near the first beach at Hawksbill resort. There were just a few people there, not like lunch at Andes at the Royal Antiguan. After eating, we wandered back to the nude beach, and this time stayed with most of the other people on the first section of the beach. There was a better swimming area here where you could wade and float without worrying about it getting too deep quickly and had a sandier bottom.

It was a great beach day that passed too quickly. After a lot of sun, sunscreen, and total relaxation, we caught a taxi back to the Royal Antiguan for dinner.

King's Casino

For our last evening on the island, we took a taxi into St. John's and visited King's Casino. The resort gave us a voucher for a free taxi ride back. The resort had a casino, but it's just a large room with slot machines. King's Casino was a lot larger, although small by Las Vegas or Atlantic City standards. They had a whole lot of slot machines, including some with progressive jackpots. They had three blackjack tables, three Caribbean stud poker tables, and two roulette tables (which were unused).

I got $60 worth of chips and sat down to play blackjack. I lost the first six or so hands right off the bat, but then had a hot streak and was eventually playing with the casino's money. Jackie watched over my shoulder for a while. There were usually four or five other people playing at the same table with me, and I had a good time chatting with the guy on my left. Unsurprisingly, they keep you plied with free drinks while you play (more Wadadli beer!), and the dealers don't interact with the players much. They also rotate dealers every half hour.

It was a fun time! The blackjack was going well and the people were fun and interesting. Jackie took some of the chips and played the slots for a while. While she was gone, I was chatting more with the guy next to me, and he asked me where I was from. When I told him, he said he used to live in Essex Junction, Vermont. When I told him I worked in Essex Junction, he immediately said "IBM!" Turns out he used to work for IBM here too. I traveled thousands of miles to a little island and end up sitting next to a guy who used to work where I do now. Small world.

Between the money I made at blackjack and the money Jackie lost at the slots, we walked out with $10 less than what we started. That's a good evening in a casino as far as I'm concerned.

Going home

We didn't want to leave. Plain and simple. I wondered how long the credit cards would hold out if we never left. We got up early the last day just to spend the morning on the beach. As did a lot of the people we saw all week at the resort. People kept whining about going home. Everyone was grabbing their last rays of sunshine and views from the beach, chatting up people they'd never see again.

It had been a good week. Although the weather was less than perfect at times, we still saw a whole lot of sun. We went through three bottles of sunscreen during the week. If the weather had been better, we might have had to use a fourth bottle. We avoided being sunburnt and came home with dark tans. The party at Shirley Heights, the catamaran trip, the nude beach, the casino were all fun, and there was still so much more we would have liked to do at the slothfully pace we fall into on vacation. Hell, we could have spent another week just lying on the beach at the resort.

We finally pried our butts off the beach, showered, packed, and checked out at noon. We caught one last big lunch in the buffet restaurant at the resort, bought the last souvenirs, and took a taxi to the airport. They had told us on the plane during the flight to the island to arrive 2 1/2 hours early for the flight off the island. Several people at the resort asked us if we had been told the same thing. It sounded like a bit too much time. We arrived at the airport closer to two hours early.

To be able to send planes from Antigua to the U.S., the airport had to observe U.S. airport security requirements. When we arrived at the airport, the line for the check-in counter comes almost to the curb. While check-in is under a roof, it's open air to the outside. In front of each counter is a row of tables. Every passenger has their checked bags hand-searched at the tables before you can even check in for your flight. This really didn't hold things up, since the check-in agents were never waiting for people to finish the luggage check.

We had our suitcases hand-searched, got our e-tickets and gate assignment, passed through customs, had our carry-on bags X-rayed, and made it to the gate in plenty of time. We still had an hour before our flight. Eventually, we boarded our plane and watched wistfully as Antigua fell away behind us. By 11PM, we were back in Providence. Sunday, we drove home to Vermont with thoughts of sun, sand, surf, skin, food, and total relaxation still playing in our head.

Would I go back someday? You're damn right! Although, there's still a lot of other places I'd like to explore.