International Destinations

Antigua offers a sense of unspoiled serenity

By Toni Dabbs

With so many tropical islands teeming with highrise hotels, tour buses and duty free shops, it can be difficult to find the little piece of paradise that many travellers dream about. Antigua maintains that delicate balance between comfort and unspoiled surroundings.

Located in the eastern Caribbean grouping of islands known as the Leewards, the 108-square-mile island was coveted by the British, French and Spanish for its strategic naval location. The British ultimately colonized Antigua, primarily with military personnel and sugar plantation owners.

Although the island now is an independent nation, its official language remains English, spoken with a lilting accent by the descendants of plantations' African slaves who comprise most of the island's 71,000 inhabitants. About 18,000 live in the capital city of St. John's, situated on the deepwater harbor in the northwest portion of the island. The rest reside in widely scattered villages.

Beaches are Antigua's greatest asset. With 365 to choose from, sun and surf worshipers can spend a full year on the island without visiting the same beach twice.

Amazingly, the beaches don't all look alike. Some are broad and smooth, while others are narrow crescents secluded at the bases of cliffs. Many have golden sands, yet some are dazzlingly white.

A few beaches on the northeast are pounded by the Atlantic, but those on the Caribbean coast are sheltered by a string of barrier reefs that guarantee calm, clear conditions for water sports. Most hotels provide snorkeling, sailing and windsurfing equipment for guests and have instructors available to teach beginners.

The beaches are public places, but hotels are protective of those adjacent to their facilities, sending security staff to patrol them and maintenance staff to clean them. Vendors selling sun hats, T-shirts and jewelry wander by, but they tend to not be pushy.

Antigua's beaches can be enjoyed year round. Located just 17 degrees north of the equator, the island boasts temperatures that rarely fall below 21 Celsius in February or rise above 33 Celsius in August. No month averages as much as five inches of rain. The driest season is January through March, while showers are more frequent September through December. Hurricanes occasionally are a hazard, primarily August through October.

Humidity is relatively low in Antigua, but in combination with temperature and sunshine, it can take its toll. Daytime pace is unhurried, with mornings best for horseback riding, golf, tennis and other active sports.

When the air cools down in the evenings, the beat picks up, with calypso, reggae and jazz bands playing at hotel beach parties and nightclubs. Casinos around the island offer roulette, craps, blackjack, poker and slot machines.

To get around, visitors can obtain driving permits and rent cars, but the twisting, unmarked roads can be difficult to follow. Taxis are readily available at reasonable rates to take guests where the action is, on a shopping spree to St. John's, or on a sightseeing tour of the island.

St. John's is at its liveliest on Saturdays, when residents from all over the island come into town for the weekly market. The market buildings at the south end of town fill with merchants selling everything from meat butchered on site to imported household items. Outside, individuals spread cloths on the ground to display surplus vegetables from their gardens and homemade goods.

Across the street, buses come and go to the accompaniment of a steel band set up in the parking lot, adding to the profusion of sights and sounds.

By comparison, the downtown shops are tranquil. Two centres cater to tourists: Redcliffe Quay and Heritage Quay. Despite its name, Heritage Quay is a modern mall, featuring outlets for fashionable chains known throughout the Caribbean. Redcliffe Quay, a collection of converted former warehouses and shops, contains long established, independent businesses that specialize in quality local products and resort wear.

St. John's is a good place to begin a sightseeing tour of Antigua. A small museum in the Old Courthouse, built of stone circa 1750, relates the story of the island from its geological formation through its political independence to the present day. Its exhibits provide the background necessary for appreciating the island's historic structures.

One such structure is St. John's Cathedral, a two-towered baroque style stone building that dominates a hill on the east side of town. Consecrated in 1848, it is the third church constructed on this site, the first having been built in 1681.

On the opposite side of the island, surrounding English Harbor, are relics of the British military's occupation, in various stages of restoration and ruin.

Nelson's Dockyard is named for the young Captain Horatio Nelson who, during a short command there, recognized English Harbor as one of the safest land-locked harbors in the world and lobbied for the dockyard's completion.

It is a favorite port-of-call for the yachting crowd. Many of the original 18th century buildings, characterized by weathered brick, hand-hewn beams and wrought iron chandeliers, have been painstakingly restored to serve as shops, hotels and restaurants.

The Admiral's Inn, true to its name, has just 14 guest rooms above a ground floor lounge. Its shaded dining terrace overlooks the abandoned drydocks where ships were repaired.

The Copper and Lumber Store Hotel, a warehouse in Nelson's day, now has spacious, antique furnished suites surrounding a central courtyard restaurant.

The Dockyard Museum, located in the Naval Officer's House, is packed with memorabilia tracing the life of Lord Nelson and the history of the British navy in the Caribbean. It includes a collection of antique maps and charts of the island.

On the ridge of hills overlooking English Harbor are the remains of the British troops' principal fortifications on the island. The area is named Shirley Heights to commemorate General Sir Thomas Shirley, who began their construction in 1781. A visitors' center near the ruins of the royal artillery quarters includes a small museum, and the battery beyond the old ordinance building is an ideal point from which to view the harbor spread out below.

Other historic structures that can be seen around the island are the bodies of sugar mills, usually set on high ground to better catch the wind.

Vestiges of two mills and the arches of an old boiling house mark the site of Betty's Hope, the first major sugar plantation on Antigua, founded in 1674. The estate, just south of Pares Village in the central portion of the island's eastern half, slowly is being restored. A storeroom in the former cotton house serves as a visitors' center, where guests may view early estate plans and a model of the site.

Nearer the eastern coast, just north of Freetown, the Harmony Hall arts and crafts complex has converted a picturesque old mill into a circular restaurant. Visitors may climb the stairs to a small sitting area atop for a 360-degree view. The adjacent gallery carries a selection of high quality items.

Antigua's open-air bars and restaurants are among the island's varied pleasures. Many are operated by hotels and feature ocean views, but those along Dickenson Bay north of St. John's are especially popular with tourists. Warri Pier at the Halcyon Cove Resort offers fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere directly over the waters of the Caribbean Sea. One of the island's best-known landmarks, the restaurant specializes in local seafood and steaks.

Passengers on the cruise ships that call at St. John's for a day don't have enough time to experience the island's easygoing lifestyle. Visitors who stay longer quickly discover that timekeeping is a concept easily ignored, eating and sleeping not by the clock but as the mood strikes.

A week on Antigua seems perfect: ample time to appreciate the island's distractions and spurn the everyday pressures of home. Still, the time to return to the real world comes too soon.