Monday 21 May: Day 2 of hire car in Antigua. Yesterday we covered the eastern region, today we cover the west.
We wake after a peaceful night’s sleep at anchor back in Falmouth bay, with no squeaking mooring lines and no loud music, and above all a lovely cool through draft inside the boat. That said, the wind this morning is much calmer, for the first time in several weeks. Could the trade winds finally be dying? It’s about a month overdue now!
In the car, we head directly north across the center of the island up to the airport, to start on the north coast. The airport has a nice new terminal and well-manicured gardens around it. A pleasant entry to an island that is otherwise rather chaotic in its buildings and planning.
As with other windward beaches the north is also plagued with the sargasso grass. The Jabberwock Beach which is famous for kitesurfing is no exception. Glen would not be enthused to launch his kite from that brown water!
Around the corner, at Hodges Bay, we start to find beachside properties that are clearly expat owned. We were wondering where they were! We enter a small but pretty hotel (which is pretty deserted!) in search of a coffee. But alas, their machine has broken, so we move on.
Next bay is Dickinsons Bay which is sheltered around the corner from the sargasso weed. The resort on this beach is Sandals, but either side seems to be open to the public. The bay is a beautiful light turquoise and the sand white. Now this is more like what we expected to see in Antigua, by its reputation. We are unsuccessful at entering Sandals, using our usual “we own the place” look and walk. The security guards are sharp and spot us! So we have to get our morning coffee from a beach bar instead! At the other end of the beach, where there is no resort, it’s pretty much deserted, excepting a 50ft yacht which is on its side on the beach. Clearly it’s been there a long time.
Further round we find Runaway and Fort Bays. Both backed by salt lagoons and both open to the public. Lots of locals on the beach as today is a public holiday. They seem to enjoy large family gatherings under the shady trees, with the women cooking all sorts of local food.
At the end of Fort Bay is Fort James. We drive up to it and continue driving right over the old draw bridge and into the fort itself! It’s completely dilapidated, but all very clearly there. It feels like we’ve just discovered it for the first time since it was abandoned in the 1850s! Multiple cannons are still lining the old walls and are in fact in superb condition, way better than the rest of the buildings. The old magazine store (where they stored gunpowder) is still pretty much as-was, with its solid stone roof and walls. Once inside the small entrance and eyes adjusted to the darkness, the interior looked untouched by time. We wonder just how many hurricanes this fort had been through. Clearly they built things to last in those days.
This fort guards the entrance to the large bay where St.John’s lies at the head of. This is our next stop. Being a holiday today this, the main town, is completely deserted. But the feel of it is very similar to all the capital towns we’ve seen in the Antilles (bar the French islands) where there is a mixture of old colonial mixed with modern, but rather run-down buildings. It’s the middle of the day now and extremely hot in the sun. So we opt to simply drive around, noting there are no real special sites to see here, not even a town square of any sort. So we head back out, on the southern shore of the bay to visit the beaches on the west coast.
As we drive out we see a big ship in the bay. But then we realise it’s not any old cargo vessel, it’s a yacht carrying ship. We saw 2 such ships in Martinique and now this one here. It’s clearly big business shipping yachts back to Europe. This one is in the middle of loading, with several already on deck, 2 yachts tied alongside, and a few others milling around ready to be picked up. One is a large Oyster. Why would you buy an Oyster then have it moved by ship? Seems very odd. We guess a lot of people have more money than they do time. Kind of the opposite to our situation!
The beaches and water on the west coast look to be spectacular. But, you cannot get to see them because each is owned by an all-inclusive resort. Each one we approach we end up thwarted by a security barrier. It seems sad in a way that these resort monopolise the best scenery in Antigua. And of course, if you are in one of these resorts you certainly get to see your beach …. but then that’s the only beach you can see, because all the rest are barred from public! Again, this is in stark contrast to the French islands where there are no major resorts that have such monopoly over any beach. All beaches have public assess there. Clearly we will have to sail close to the shore to get any real feel for the true scenery of Antigua.
Further south we enter Jolly Harbour Bay. This has the best and biggest marina on the island. It also has man made islands of residential developments, each property with its own mooring. All very American. Needless to say, all gated and security monitored. That is, no entry for us! However, the beach, once we actually find the narrow public entry point, is very nice. Again, beautiful blue water and white sand. We have our lunch here is a beach bar. Not the greatest … but we were hungry!
The last stretch of western coast also has lovely beaches, mostly open to the public, but each with a resort at one end or the other. Here the sea is also weed free plus has an added bonus on getting the Atlantic breeze as it swings around the SW corner. We have our sights on Jaquie-O’s beach bar, which has a good reputation. Although not connected with Jacky O’s in Mikonos, Greece, we simply have to go there to check it out. The one in Greece held quite a fascination with Oana. Her kind of place for sure. Sadly, not only is this Jacqui-O’s closed for the day, but so are all the beach bars that we have on our agenda!
The final stretch of coast, passing Morris Bay and Carlisle Bay, the sea and sand are equally nice. Finally, today we have found beaches, water and scenery which define the Antigua you see in the glossy brochures. But still a little sad how the resorts have first rights on all the best parts.
From Carlisle Bay back to Falmouth we pass over the highest hills in Antigua. All of a sudden we are in green forest, which is so lush compared to the rest of this dry island. We note that most of the trees are mango trees, and have their branches laden with mango fruit …. but none quite ripe yet.
We stop at a roadside fruit shop and oddly meet a young couple whom we’d said hi to in Nelson’s Dockyard 2 days ago. Turns out that they are from Lithuania and have just bought a Moody 40, currently moored in the Catamaran Marina, next to where we are anchored. They cannot be older than mid-20s and don’t seem very experienced in sailing. Their plan is to take the boat to Trinidad and fix it up ready for a relaunch next Dec, sail the Caribbean then head across the Pacific. They are clearly brave! But nice to see younger people doing what we are planning to do. So far we have felt like the youngest!
Back on Cloudy Bay we have tea in the cockpit as the sun sets. The wind is certainly decreased this evening and it’s really very quiet, not a single sound coming from ashore. Such a peaceful end to a busy day sightseeing. Tomorrow we will leave Falmouth with Barbuda in our sights.