St John, Antigua - Tuesday 26/04/2011
Wow! “The Wedding”, Sailing, Cricket, and Beaches - 365 of them!
Another beautiful day as we docked at St John - the capital, on the island of Antigua in the Lesser Antilles. Population 80,000. The colourful Caribbean architecture and the waft of the steel drums beckoned us ashore to experience another interesting and beautiful island. We quickly organized a taxi and set off with driver Clement on our day of exploration. Clement was very excited, as is the whole island, about the Royal wedding on Friday. They are very proud of their English Heritage and even prouder that the young Royals are flying in to Antigua and heading for Barbuda, a small island nearby, for their honeymoon.
Clement expertly navigated his way through the busy township - everyone was out shopping after the Easter holiday and the big produce (all imported from Dominica) market was abuzz. We scooted (they drive very fast here on narrow roads - doesn’t seem that road rules or speed limits exist!) across the countryside in the middle of the island, passing through the towns of All Saints and the original and biggest town originally settled by the English, Liberta. We stopped at Monks Hill which gave us a fantastic view of where we were heading - Falmouth and English Harbour, home of Nelson’s Dockyard,named after the famous English Admiral,Horatio Nelson- he was temporary Commander of the Leeward Islands Station 1784-1787).
The Dockyard and Shirley Heights are National Park. The dockyard was built in 1725 and was base for the English navigation squadron. Starting in 1713,the Caribbean was the scene of struggle for naval supremacy in which Britain, Spain, Portugal and France and the United Provinces were competitors.In this power contest of the 18th century, Britain’s strength lay in her navy and the waters around the valued sugar and spice islands of the Caribbean. Privateers (pirates! - go Johnny Depp) were at large in the Caribbean anxious to seize the valuable cargoes of sugar and other products being sent from the West Indies to Europe. This confused situation was still further complicated by the American War of Independence and the attempts of Britain in the last quarter of the 18th century to restrict trade with her former American Colonies. It is against this background of world unrest and competition that English Harbour was developed into Britain’s main naval base in the Eastern Caribbean. English Harbour’s importance grew not only as a port but as a hurricane refuge and for careening His Majesty’s Ships in the deep water against the shore. This enabled Britain to keep a squadron of ships continually in the Caribbean and thus maintain naval supremacy for over the enemy.
Nelson’s Dockyard is now refurbished as a Colonial style village and it’s the only remaining Georgian shipyard in operation. We did a walking tour through the dockyard and its restored buildings and museum. The annual Antigua Regatta is on this week, which is a huge event bring yachts from all over the world to participate, so the grounds on the foreshore of the Marina at the dockyard was set up with a Sailing Expo and the TV camera’s were there doing some coverage of the event. Antigua's strategic location and natural harbour created an island safe haven for ships and sun-seekers alike and is still used today as such - yachts from all over the world are moored there.
Next was Shirley Heights Lookout, 487 feet above sea level offering a cliff-top panoramic view over the Atlantic Ocean, English Harbour and beyond. The added bonus for us today was the spectacular sight of the sailing yachts racing, their sails billowing as they battled each other and the strong winds as they flew across the white tipped Atlantic!
From this vantage point we could see the homes of Eric Clapton, as well as Whitney Houston’s, who have been lured to Antigua by its beauty and climate.
As we headed for Dickerson Bay Beach we passed by the islands Sugar Factory - disused now but previously the hub of the islands trade, as well as the new Sir Vivian Richards Stadium specially erected for the Cricket World Cup (the original one Recreation Ground still takes pride of place in town).This small island, pop 80,000 has produced many of the giants of world cricket notably the Master Blaster ,Viv Richards but many others including Richie Richardson,Andy Roberts, Curtley Ambrose and Ridley Jacobs.The world of Cricket and cricket fans owe a lot to this little island gem!
Clement delivered us to the beach where we cooled off in the green sparkling water of the Caribbean and quenched our thirst sipping the local brew under the umbrella at Sneaky Pete’s! A walk along this lovely beach uncovered the beautiful Sandal’s Resort (only for couples!) nestling among the palm trees on this white sand beach. Hmmmm....a nice exotic holiday getaway!!!?????
Antigua is a sun-lovers delight as there are 365 beaches - one for each day of the year! and they are all beautiful!!
Two hours later and feeling cool and very relaxed Clement delivered us back to the ship!
As the Antiguan’s say, here “The beach is just the beginning......” A beautiful and interesting island!
Sneaky Pete's!
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