Shaken and stirred in Antigua

The view that lasted only about 2 minutes this morning

As we set sail from St Lucia yesterday evening there started a little playful banter between the two P&O ships in port. The mighty Arvia versus the mini Aurora. As we were leaving port, tradition is that we sound our horn (sorry, whistle…though it sounds like a horn). Then, not wishing to be left out, Arvia joined in, only it was 10 octaves deeper and certainly resonated throughout Castries. I reckon Arvia’s captain then got everyone worked up because the whole ship turned out to watch our departure. Pretty much the whole capacity of passengers and crew. It started getting a bit rowdy with Oggi, Oggi, Oggi being shouted on Arvia, with the responding Oi, Oi, Oi. Perleasssssseeeee! We’re not in Benidorm guys. When we spoke to Steevan later in the evening, he informed us Arvia was at 94% capacity. It looked like a medium-sized town on the water. I wouldn’t go on it, literally if you paid me. It looked absolutely chocker and certainly not my idea of a fun holiday.

Shocker of all shockers, but I am here to report that we had another ok meal last night. I went double vegan. Salad to start and risotto for mains. Well, I figured out they can’t mess too badly with a salad and the risotto was reasonably flavoured and textured. All washed down with our remainder bottle of wine from the previous evening. 

We mused on how this holiday differed so much from our previous holidays. In the past, all we’ve wanted to do is find a sun bed and zone out. Now we want to do things as we’re retired. We recognised there was no way we would have done what we’ve done so far in the Caribbean if we’d simply checked into an all-inclusive hotel, as we had in the past. We have found ourselves saying that we really must come back and see these islands properly. The trips are great, but they really are a whistle-stop tour of the island.

A slightly more civilised get-up this morning. And another beautiful morning on another Caribbean island. It’s Tuesday, it must be Antigua. We managed an awesome view for a matter of minutes before the same TUI cruise liner that was in Barbados, blocked our lovely view of a clipper boat and then before we had even set out for breakfast, a third cruise ship docked. That set the scene for it being busy out there today.

We have been to Antigua once before. We did, as I mentioned earlier, rock up at the adults-only all-inclusive Cocos On the Beach Resort, found a bed and pretty much stayed there for our 10-day trip. I think the most we managed was a trip to their sister hotel at the time and a wander down to the beach to get hassled at with hawkers and ganger sellers. In July 2008 there was a double murder of an English couple on their honeymoon at the same resort. The resort had been an idyllic, tranquil piece of paradise and naturally, we were shocked by this senseless act. We’ve not been back until now. 

Of course, as tradition would have it, there were queues to join as we got off the ship. We were a group of 40 for our trip today, so two minibuses. There was loud music on the quay, just to get you into the party mood. At 10am, really?! Then onto our minibus, where selecting the right seat was key to a marginally better experience. This bus seemed to have more wheel arches than wheels. So, to the back of the bus it was. I’m not sure I will ever be thanked for this life choice, given that the bus had zero suspension and every time we went over anything that resembled a dump, we were thrashed back down onto our seats. It was a very bumpy ride.

Our tour guide for the day was another loud, assertive Caribbean woman. Today’s was called Christine, who shouted over the din of the minibus. Our key facts were going southeast from St John’s where we were docked. The population is around 100,000 and the island is roughly 108 square miles. Antigua gained its independence from the UK on 1 Nov 1981. Antigua has between 30 to 45 inches of rain a year. There are 40 forts on the islands. It’s a fairly flat island compared with the mountainous island of St Lucia. It’s lush but not as rain foresty as St Lucia. In the 1970s Antigua stopped its sugar cane production. Tourism is now one of the largest income streams for the island. At one point in our journey, we were held up by someone’s pet iguana crossing the road…at leisure.

The view across to Eric Clapton's house, on the headland to the right

Our first stop was the Block House, one of the many forts on the island. This side of the island gets the trade winds from Africa. The local attraction here is Eric Clapton’s house which sits on a headland. He also created the rehab centre for the local island after he came for rehab on the island himself. What I found strange was that there was no information at the fort even though it is evidently a tourist attraction. IMHO, Antigua is not a pretty island compared to Barbados or St Lucia. 

Cars lie rotting in gardens

As we drove throughout the island I realised that if a car no longer serves you, you simply leave it in your garden to rot. There were a lot of rotting cars in gardens.

On to Shirley Heights for a photo opportunity and more to the point, an opportunity for the locals to sell their wares. We could see Montserrat and Guadeloupe from this point. It was a strange tour which basically consisted of being pointed out the local police headquarters, the prison, the graveyard, the school, and the markets. OK, why don’t they admit, there’s not a lot on Antigua but beautiful sands.

Nelson's Dockyard from one of the viewpoints

The Royal Palm

The next stop was Nelson’s dockyard, Kevin, our guide pointed out where the Queen had planted a palm tree in 1966. This is referred to as the royal palm…obvs. He explained how well ships were protected in the harbour from hurricanes because of its shape. 

One of the three capstans used to haul a ship onto its side for maintenance

He explained how the ships were cleaned. This process took 6 months due to the volume of rum consumed. The ship was hauled over to a horizontal level from a vertical level by tying the ropes to capstans and the masts. Men then hauled the arms of the capstans. We saw where Princess Margaret honeymooned, at Clarence House overlooking Nelson’s Dockyard. 

Lobster lunch with rum punch

We were then treated to a very nice lobster lunch with the best rum punch to date and an amble around the dockyard looking at the posh boats. 

Lovely yachts in the dockyard

Before we knew it, we were being instructed back on the minibus where I swear the journey got even more bumpy. At one point, I tried to drink my water on the bus, it nearly ended up my nose. The next stop was a drive over to the St Mary’s area which is much lusher with fruit trees. 

Houses in St Mary's

It felt less inhabited than the rest of the island, but where it was inhabited the houses looked as though they’d just been built, just suffered a hurricane, someone has just died (and no one has taken over the house) or the occupants simply don’t care. 

A typical village scene

It’s hard to know, though what is evident is there doesn’t appear to be the wealth here that there is on the other islands.

The beautiful Turner's Beach, looking across to Monserrat

Last stop. A true authentic Caribbean beach. Turner’s beach where we were given another “vibrant” rum punch. There wasn’t a chance either of us could sit in the sun on a lounger, it was way too hot. There were no parasols so 5 minutes in the sun would have been madness. As they didn’t have ice creams, we had to have beers to cool down. My summation of Antigua is that it doesn’t have what the other Caribbean islands have.