Antigua: Horatio Nelson Slept Here

January 9, 2020, St. John’s, Antigua (and Barbuda)— Say after me:

An-tee-ga. And Bar-biew-da. That’s the way the locals pronounce them. Around 12,000 years ago, the sea level rose and created the two separate islands where there had been one.

Start the day with a double rainbow, shot from the Aquavit Terrace on the aft deck during breakfast. I hadn’t realized it was a double until I pulled it into the computer. If you tilt your screen you may see the ghost of a second arc above the more visible one...

Long an outpost of the British Navy, Antigua is one of the ‘most British’ of the Caribbean islands. Christopher Columbus explored it in 1493 and claimed it for Spain, then the French arrived briefly. By 1632, the British had colonized it. Though still part of the Commonwealth, the islands gained independence in 1981. But there’s no one left on Barbuda: When Hurricane Irma damaged or destroyed 95% of its buildings and infrastructure in 2017, all the island’s inhabitants were evacuated to Antigua, where they remained. One source called Irma ‘the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in recorded history.’

Like so many others, Antigua’s raison d’être for the Brits was sugar cane, so of course the island has a long slave history. Slaves weren’t allowed to talk to one another while they worked in the cane fields, so they communicated by song — the birth of calypso. Or so we were told.

I took the 6-hour ‘Antigua by Sea & Land’ tour, which started on land and ended on sea. A drive through the capital of St. John’s produced just one forlorn building: I imagine it was part of a sugar cane processing plant.

English Harbor viewed from atop Shirley Heights, the island’s principal British fortification, which is in ruins. The promontory that reaches the farthest to the right belongs to Eric Clapton. The long string of buildings along the top of it, taking up a quarter of the promontory, is his little island getaway. Timothy Dalton has a house nearby.

Falmouth Harbor from an overlook...

... a collection of former fortification buildings that are now a restaurant, gift shop and open air market where local women sell crafts and trinkets... mostly trinkets. Except for the traditional Antiguan dolls...

The island’s most famous British resident was Horatio Nelson. In 1784, Admiral Nelson was sent here to command the British fleet, and remained for 3 years. Nelson’s Dockyard, the Crown’s 18th-century naval base, is the only remaining Georgian era dockyard in the world. The buildings are all gorgeous (to my anglophilic eye) and perfectly restored into a hotel, restaurant, museum, etc.

The dockyard was filled with super mega-yachts and beautiful sailboats along the old stone quay. These 3 are from Valletta in Malta, Port Antonio in Jamaica, and London in England.

We upped and downed around the island some more, driving through the rainforest on what’s called Fig Tree Drive. ‘Fig’ is what Antiguans call bananas. I asked our guide, Dwayne, what they call bananas. ‘We call them bananas of course.’ OK.

If you’re a beach lover, you’d never get bored, until next year: Antigua boasts 365 white sand beaches.

Since this 6-hour excursion was named ‘Antigua by Sea & Land,’ we embarked on a catamaran to sail back to the ship in St. John’s...

...with rum punch (or any other soda and booze drink you wanted, just don’t ask for wine), jerk chicken lunch, and a long swim stop at Deep Bay along the way.