Antigua Directions Read online

  An enormous supermarket, with a fairly standard assortment of foodstuffs.

  Long Street liquor stores

  Long Street, between Market and Cross streets.

  These beautiful old liquor stores stock Antigua's Cavalier and English Harbour rums, as well as other, better Caribbean rums, including Barbados's Mount Gay Extra Old and Haiti's Barbancourt Reserve.

  Woods Centre

  Friar's Hill Road, 750m north from the junction of Cross and Newgate streets.

  Oozing local affluence, this American mall-style shopping centre is mainly targeted at Antiguan shoppers. Nevertheless, here you'll find Epicurean, the island's best-stocked (if fairly pricey) supermarket (daily 8am–10pm), as well as banks, fast-food outlets, a post office, a gym and plenty more. A courtesy bus runs to Woods Centre from the west bus station, near the public market.

  Entertainment and nightlife

  18 Karat

  Church Street; tel 562 1858. Thurs–Sun 10pm–late. Cover EC$10.

  Mainly frequented by young Antiguans, this clubbing hotspot plays a wide variety of Caribbean and international music. Has recently been attracting some tourists.

  Deluxe Cinema

  High Street; tel 462 2188. Ticket price EC$10.

  The island's only cinema, showing the latest imports from the US.

  Traffic

  Corner of Indpendence Avenue and Redcliffe Street; tel 562 2949. Nightly 8pm–late. Cover of EC$10 after 10pm.

  A popular new nightclub, which often features live jazz or blues.

  The northwest coast

  Just north of St John's, Fort Bay boasts a lovely stretch of sand and, at its southern end, the notable historical site of Fort James, one of the best-preserved colonial forts on the island. A little further north, Runaway Bay and adjoining Dickenson Bay constitute the island's main tourist strip, with a couple of excellent beaches and a host of good hotels and restaurants.

  Fort Bay

  Fort Bay is home to the capital city's most popular beach, a long, wide strand of grainy white sand that's packed with city-dwellers at weekends and holidays. At its northern end, you can hire beach chairs from Millers, which is also a good place to pick up a drink. If you're in a souvenir-hunting mood, there's a vendors' mall nearby.

  At the other end of the strip, 500 metres south, a host of food and drink stalls open up at busy times, transforming the place into a lively outdoor venue, with music blaring, fish frying and plenty of frolicking on the beach. If you want to swim, there's a protected, marked area at the top of the beach; elsewhere, though the water is normally fine, you'll need to watch out for occasional undercurrents.

  Fort James

  Together with Fort Barrington and St John's Fort on Rat Island, the eighteenth-century Fort James was designed to deter any ships from attacking the capital, which had been sacked by French raiders in 1666. Though earthworks were first raised here in the 1680s, the bulk of the fort wasn't put up until 1739, when the long enclosing wall was added. The place never actually fired a shot in anger, although its guns undoubtedly intimidated visiting vessels into paying the eighteen shillings levied to the fort's captain.

  Today, though the fort is pretty dilapidated, it still offers plenty of atmosphere: unkempt, often windswept and providing great views across the channel and back down to St John's harbour. Rusting British cannons from the early 1800s point out to sea and down the channel, their threat long gone but still a dramatic symbol of their era. Elsewhere, the old powder magazine is still intact, though leaning precariously, and the stone buildings on the fort's upper level – the oldest part of the structure, dating from 1705 – include the master gunner's house, the canteen and the barracks.

  Runaway Bay

  Most of the tourist development on Antigua has happened along the island's northwest coast, where quiet Runaway Bay (as well as the more built-up Dickenson Bay), offers gleaming white-sand beaches that slope gently down into the turquoise sea. Great for calm swimming, Runaway Bay has fewer hotels to tidy up their "patch", and so is strewn with more seaweed and rocks than Dickenson Bay. Still, it's a great place to wander in the gentle surf, though at the northern end much of the beach has been eroded by heavy swells.

  Dolphin Fantaseas

  Runaway Bay; tel 562 7946, [email protected], www.dolphinfantaseas.com. US$140 per half-hour session.

  At the northern end of Runaway Bay, Dolphin Fantaseas lets you swim with three dolphins in a man-made lagoon. It's not cheap, but it gets rave reviews from visitors. Others are less enthusiastic, some worried about the impact of captivity on dolphins, some complaining about "outsiders exploiting the island's resources". That said, the operation is certainly trying to address animal welfare concerns with an active local education programme on marine life and conservation. The business is also building up quite a menagerie of other attractions, including a mini-zoo with parrots, a toucan, tortoises, stingrays and hermit crabs.

  Corbison Point

  Just beyond the dolphins, grassy Corbison Point pokes out into the sea, dividing Runaway Bay from Dickenson Bay. A stone igloo-shaped powder store is the sole remnant of an eighteenth-century British fort that once stood here. The cliff has also revealed Amerindian potsherds and evidence that more ancient island-dwellers exploited flint in the area for their tools.

  Dickenson Bay

  Trapped between two imposing sandstone bluffs, Dickenson Bay is fringed by a wide white-sand beach, which stretches for almost a mile between Corbison Point and the more thickly vegetated woodland of Weatherills Hill at its northern end. It's a lovely bay, shelving gently into the sea and with protected swimming zones dividing swimmers from the jet-skiers, windsurfers, waterskiers and parasailers who frolic offshore.

  The northern half of the beach fronts some of the largest of Antigua's hotels, including the Rex Halcyon Cove, whose pier juts out into the sea and offers dining above the ocean, and Sandals Antigua, with its striking yellow pavilions. As a result, particularly in high season, the area can get pretty busy, with a string of bars, hair-braiders and T-shirt sellers doing a brisk trade. Still, it remains an easy-going place, with minimal hassle.

  * * *

  Birdwatching sites

  In addition to the salt pond, seabirds can also be seen at either end of Dickenson Bay and at the north end of Runaway Bay, swooping gracefully around the sandstone bluffs; watch out in particular for the pelicans, showing off their clumsy but spectacular technique of divebombing for fish. See also Fitches Creek Bay and Barbuda.

  * * *

  McKinnon's Salt Pond

  A good place for bird-spotting, McKinnon's Salt Pond is an extensive area of brackish water edged by mangroves. More than 25 species of water birds have been recorded here, most noticeably the big flocks of sandpipers wheeling above the pond, as well as terns and plovers that nest on the sand and redfooted herons that breed in the mangroves.

  Accommodation

  Antigua Village

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 2930, fax 462 0375, www.antiguavillage.net

  Large if unremarkable resort with dozens of self-catering apartments – from studios to two-bedroom flats, starting at around US$270/160 in winter/summer – strewn about attractively landscaped gardens. It's set on a good stretch of beach, there's a small swimming pool and a grocery store on site, and it's close to one of the area's best restaurants, The Beach.

  Barrymore Beach Club

  Runaway Bay; tel 462 4101, fax 462 4140, [email protected].

  A reasonably priced option (US$115/75 in winter/summer) on a small piece of land with its own tiny, virtually private beach. There's a quiet, secluded feel to the place, and the rooms, studios and one-bedroom apartments, are comfortable if unspectacular – ask for one close to the sea. The gardens are well kept and dotted with hibiscus and all types of palm. Julian's Alfresco, one of the best restaurants on the island, has recently opened on the premises.

  Dickenson Bay Cottages

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 4940, fax 462 4941, www.dic
kensonbaycottages.com.

  Thirteen spacious, airy and attractively furnished cottages set around a well-landscaped garden and medium-sized pool, up on a hillside overlooking Dickenson Bay. Though a quiet place, it's just a short walk from the beach and from the much busier Rex Halcyon Cove, where guests enjoy subsidized use of the facilities, including tennis courts and sun-loungers. One-bedroom cottages cost US$145/127 for two people in winter/summer (US$46 per additional person, though kids under 12 stay free), while two-bedroom cottages cost US$277/226 for up to four.

  Island Inn

  Anchorage Road; tel 462 4065, fax 462 4066, www.antigua-vip.com

  A kilometre or so north of St John's, this small two-storey hotel is curiously located another kilometre from the beach (on Runaway Bay) and targets mostly business travellers. That said, it's a cosy place with a small pool and good value at US$80/75 for a double room in winter/summer.

  Rex Halcyon Cove

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 0256, fax 462 0271, www.rexcaribbean.com.

  Very large, sprawling low-rise resort at the northern end of the beach, rather faded and a little time-worn but with good-sized rooms, a decent pool, tennis courts and a restaurant on the Warri pier – called, fittingly, Warri Pier. Rooms start at US$280/230 in winter/summer.

  Sandals Antigua

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 0267, fax 462 4135, www.sandals.com.

  Part of the popular, all-inclusive chain found throughout the Caribbean, this resort has 189 luxury rooms that are cleverly spread throughout the resort, reducing the sense of being part of a crowd. Four restaurants offer excellent Italian, Japanese, southern US and international food, and all watersports – including diving (training, certification and dives) – are included in the daily rate. Priced from around US$225 per person per day, though (heterosexual) couples only are allowed.

  Siboney Beach Club

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 0806, fax 462 3356, www.siboneybeachclub.com.

  Small, intimate and very friendly place, fabulously landscaped in a micro-jungle of its own. Rooms are spacious and comfortable, and one of the island's best restaurants (Coconut Grove) is on site. Owner Tony Johnson is a great host and, now in his seventies, still windsurfs daily just offshore. A suite – which includes bedroom, lounge, kitchenette and patio or balcony – costs from US$170/110 in winter/summer. The choicest ones are right up in the jungle "canopy" with great ocean views.

  Sunset Cove Resort

  Runaway Bay; tel 462 3762, fax 462 2684.

  Situated at the northern end of the bay, Sunset Cove Resort has lost its beach entirely in heavy sea swells, and you have to walk five minutes around the headland to swim comfortably. That problem aside, it's a pleasant place, attractively landscaped with birds nesting in the bougainvillea. There's a small freshwater pool, and the sizeable rooms (from US$100 year-round) all come with kitchen facilities and cable TV.

  Time Away Apartments

  Runaway Bay; tel 462 0775.

  Right next to Sunset Cove and suffering from the same beach erosion, this little block offers six one-bedroom apartments with tiled floors, rattan furniture (including pull-out couches, so that the rooms can sleep four at a pinch) and self-catering facilities. Apartment prices are US$125/100 a night year-round.

  Trade Winds Hotel

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 1223, fax 462 5007, www.antiguatradewindshotel.com.

  Lovely place in the hills above the bay, with big, comfortable air-conditioned rooms. Guests can chill out by the lagoon pool on a wide verandah overlooking the ocean or take the regular shuttle down to the beach, a kilometre away, where sun-loungers are freely available. The hotel's Bay House restaurant (see review, below) has good-quality food and great views. Double rooms start at US$225/125 in winter/summer.

  Restaurants and bars

  Bay House

  At the Trade Winds Hotel, Dickenson Bay; tel 462 1223. Daily 7am–11pm.

  This smart restaurant, on an airy terrace high on the hill overlooking Dickenson Bay, is an ideal romantic place for a sunset drink followed by top-flight food. Creative, tasty starters set the tone – pork and prawn wontons (EC$25) or snapper ceviche (EC$30), for example – while main courses might include tuna with breadfruit and pineapple salsa (EC$65), grilled lobster with lime and garlic sauce (EC$75) or fillet of beef marinated in soy sauce with Chinese cabbage (EC$70).

  The Beach

  Dickenson Bay; tel 480 6940, fax 480 6943, [email protected], www.bigbanana-antigua.com/beach.html. Daily 8.30am–midnight.

  Newly refurbished and brightly painted restaurant on the beach right by the Antigua Village, serving good food all day. Lunches see sushi, pizzas, burgers and salads served for EC$35–50, while dinner specials could include sesame-crusted tuna, meaty pasta or seafood stew for EC$40–75. Often has live music in the evenings (see "Nightlife").

  Candyland

  Fort James. Daily 9.30am–8pm.

  Friendly little beach bar under the casuarina trees just before you reach Fort James, serving good, simple food all day long. Regular specials include various curries, steamed fish and conch chowder, all for around EC$25–35.

  Chutneys

  Fort Road; tel 462 2977. Tues–Sun dinner only.

  Five minutes' drive north of St John's, between KFC and Pizza Hut, Chutneys is the only authentic Indian restaurant on the island. They serve a wide variety of chicken, lamb and seafood curries (from mild to highly spicy; EC$39–45) as well as tandoori, tikka, rotis and some excellent vegetable dishes (EC$16). There's also a large non-curry menu that includes the bizarre-sounding but popular mako shark in champagne sauce (EC$45).

  Coconut Grove

  At the Siboney Beach Club, Dickenson Bay; tel 462 1538, fax 462 2162, [email protected], www.coconutgroveantigua.com. Daily 7.30am–11pm.

  Great cooking and friendly service combine at this delightful open-air beachside location. Mouthwatering starters include coconut shrimp in a coconut dip (EC$32.50), while main courses feature dishes like mahi mahi in a mango salsa (EC$62) and rock lobster in Creole sauce (EC$80). For dessert, try the magnificent coconut cream pie (EC$24).

  Fish and chip van

  Dickenson Bay; tel 724 1166. Wed & Fri 4–9pm.

  If you're craving a round of fish (or sausage) and chips, look out for the fast-food van parked out on the main road between the Marina Bay Hotel and Siboney Beach Club most Wednesday and Friday evenings. A basket of fried fish and chips will run you EC$25, sausage and chips EC$15, and on Wednesdays, there's Indian curry at EC$25.

  Julian's Alfresco

  At the Barrymore Beach Club, Runaway Bay; tel 562 1545 or 770 3233, [email protected], www.caribbeanhighlights.com/julian. Tues–Sun lunch and dinner.

  One of the top food choices on the island, with an appealing blend of Asian, European, South American and West Indian cooking styles and a lovely open-air location in tropical gardens just yards from the beach. Menu highlights include starters of seafood chowder for EC$16 and "fusion of fish" for EC$34, while mains of Cajun-style mahi mahi and marinated tenderloin of beef cost EC$62 and EC$75, respectively.

  Millers by the Sea

  Fort James; tel 462 9414. Daily 11am–11pm.

  Large beachside restaurant a kilometre or so north of St John's, with an extensive menu and occasional live music (see "Nightlife"). Typical dishes include curried conch or pan-fried snapper for EC$48, and there's normally a beach barbecue for lunch and dinner on Thursday.

  Pari's Pizza

  Dickenson Bay; tel 462 1501. Tues–Sun 5.30–11.30pm.

  Pari's Pizza is all about pizzas, ribs and steaks – nothing earth-shattering, and slightly overpriced at EC$50 for a small rack of ribs, EC$24 for the smallest of the pizzas, and EC$69 for some surf and turf. Reasonable enough if you're staying nearby, though.

  Warri Pier

  At the Rex Halcyon Cove, Dickenson Bay; tel 462 0256. Daily 11am–11pm.

  Open-air dining on what is now a rather shabby pier jutting out into the bay. American staples dominate the lunch menu,
with burgers and BLTs for US$7–12, while the evening selection is more interesting, with fresh fish and steaks for US$15–25.

  Nightlife

  The Beach

  Dickenson Bay; tel 480 6940, fax 480 6943, [email protected], www.bigbanana-antigua.com/beach.html.

  Regular live music on a stage set up just outside the restaurant on the edge of the beach. No cover charge unless there's a beach barbecue: "steak and stripe night" – a BBQ steak dinner with Red Stripe beer – costs EC$50.

  Millers by the Sea

  Fort James; tel 462 9414. No cover charge.

  This large, convivial restaurant and bar sometimes hosts live music, ranging from local jazz and soca bands to guitarists and karaoke.

  The Atlantic coast

  Continuing east around the island from the top of Dickenson Bay brings you to Antigua's Atlantic coast. Here, the long jagged coastline, from Hodges Bay to Soldier Point at the southern end of Half Moon Bay, offers plenty of inlets, bays and swamps – but, with a couple of noteworthy exceptions, rather less impressive beaches.

  Though tourist facilities on this side of the island are much less developed, there are still several places of interest. Betty's Hope is a partially restored sugar plantation; Parham, the island's first port, has a lovely old church; Devil's Bridge offers one of the most dramatic landscapes on the island; at the delightful Harmony Hall you can relax with an excellent lunch and a boat ride to Green Island; and at picturesque Half Moon Bay you can scramble along a vertiginous clifftop path above the pounding Atlantic.

  Hodges Bay

  For the most part, Hodges Bay is a high-end residential area, though it does have one fine French restaurant in Le Bistro and an excellent family-oriented hotel in Sunsail Club Colonna. If you want to make use of the latter's enormous swimming pool or top-quality sailing equipment – Hodges Bay is great for sailing, as strong winds typically blow across this north coast spot – day passes are generally available, at US$100 for a full day or US$55 for a half. There's also a good dive shop here called Ultramarine, offering the usual packages for certified or non-certified divers as well as "surface scuba" for children not yet old enough to subject their bodies to the rigours of diving to any depth. As for the beach itself, it's decent, but not particulary good for hanging out – rather, this part of the island is best for watersports fanatics (see also Jabberwock Beach).