Antigua – First Impressions

We arrived in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua around 6pm on November 24th, roughly 12 days and 7 hours after leaving Beaufort, NC. Despite the amazing last day of sailing, we were all very happy to once again be attached to land and sitting on a flat boat. We arrived after dark, so we worked our way into the spacious anchorage of Falmouth Harbour, just west of English Harbour. We found an open space, motored in place while the boys reattached the anchor to its chain (it had been stowed away in the anchor locker for the passage), and then quickly dropped and set the hook. Next up? A quick swim in the ocean and then a bubbly toast!

Rainbow!

Since turning into the trade winds, the ocean has pretty much stayed between 28 and 29°C – the perfect temperature for a swim, even well after dark. I grew up swimming in the salty ocean in Vancouver, but this ocean is MUCH saltier. I even looked it up to confirm why – the elevated saline levels are due to sunlight-driven evaporation, which generates a warm, salty layer of water right near the surface of the Caribbean Sea. In the Pacific Northwest, there is less sun (meaning less evaporation), as well as a lot more fresh-water rain to help dilute the salt. Inside of Vancouver Island, we have the added runoff of freshwater rivers into the ocean, which freshens the water even more. Swimming in Antigua is amazing because you can float along with very little effort. Just be sure to have a glass of water on hand when you get out, so you can rinse the salty taste out of your mouth! But I digress…

Arriving after dark meant that we couldn’t check in with customs until the morning. In the midst of a morning pop-up rainstorm, we lifted the newly-inflated dinghy off the deck and sent Boat Master Mike (an official title!) into town to visit Customs and Immigration, buy a courtesy flag (proof that we were cleared in), and find us a couple of SIM cards. The adventure took several hours, so John and I were itching to get to land by the time Mike arrived back. One last journey was in order though – a quick trip around to the anchorage in English Harbour, so we would be closer to Nelson’s Dockyard for Saturday morning when we were set to enter the marina. We motored around the point, anchored near Galleon Beach, and then dinghied over to the dockyard to start exploring Antigua.

The earliest settlements in Antigua date to about 2900 BCE. The first well-documented group of indigenous people to settle in Antigua were the Arawak people, who travelled here in canoes after being driven from the region of present-day Venezuela. They arrived starting around 1200 CE, and stayed roughly 100 years before most were driven out by the Carib, a group with a more warlike culture, and superior weapons and seafaring skills. Various indigenous groups populated the island until the arrival of the Europeans – early Spanish explorers appear to have had trouble differentiating between different island peoples, so it is not clear how many ethnic groups were actually present in Antigua.

Antigua was colonized by the British in the 1630s, when the first English sugar cane plantation was established on the island. Sugar cane quickly became the main crop, taking over from tobacco. Harvesting sugar cane and boiling it down to create sugar required incredibly hard work under terrible conditions. Thousands of local indigenous peoples were enslaved to – and killed by – this difficult work; in order to keep their plantations operating, masters imported slaves from western and central Africa, believing them to be better suited to the tough conditions. Slavery continued in Antigua until 1834 – Britain officially abolished the slave trade in 1807, but it was many years before slaves in Antigua were emancipated. In 1968 Antigua was joined with Barbuda and Redonda Island and made an associated state of the British Commonwealth. In 1981 the state disassociated from Britain and became the independent country of Antigua and Barbuda. (btw: the ‘u’ is silent in Antigua, but present in Barbuda – they’re pronounced “An-tee-ga” and “Bar-bu-da”).

English Harbour, on the south side of Antigua, is one of the largest deep water ports in the Eastern Caribbean. The Harbour’s geography makes it naturally well protected from hurricanes and attacking ships, and it’s position on the south shore of the island put it only 40 miles from the French naval outposts on Guadeloupe. The British Navy began building a dockyard in English Harbour in 1728; they began with a small dockyard on the East side of the harbour, with facilities to clean and repair ships. By 1740, developments began on the Western side of the harbour, encompassing many of the buildings that remain there today (for complete details, visit nationalparksantigua.com). Nelson’s Dockyard is named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, who lived there from 1784 through 1787; the site was restored beginning in the 1950’s, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to the marina, the site is home to several restaurants and hotels, a museum, a bakery, and a small provisions store. Signs are placed around the various buildings, explaining when they were built, and giving some history as to how they were used.

Because of our delayed departure from the US, John was only able to spend a few days with us in Antigua. We spent the time touring around Nelson’s Dockyard and exploring Falmouth and English Harbour. The Salty Dawg Rally had lots of welcome events planned to get us used to the area – dinners at the dockyard, yoga on the lawn, drinks at the Antigua Yacht Club, and even a special Dawgs-only event up at Shirley Heights, a nearby lookout point: Yummy BBQs, live Steel Drum bands, and of course the ubiquitous rum punches. What’s not to like?! It has been wonderful getting to know our fellow sailors at these events – such a great way to have an instant support community in an otherwise unknown area. Many of the sailors have been cruising in the Caribbean for multiple seasons, so they have lots of tips to share about things to do and see, both in Antigua, and in other islands. This is going to be a great help as we start to make plans about what to do for the rest of our winter!

When John was ready to fly home, we rented a car to do a little sightseeing on the way to the airport. It was just a quick tour, but it was a great to see areas of the island that aren’t going to be accessible by boat. Driving on the island is a real adventure though – the cars are all right-hand drive, the roads are narrow and windy, and the local drivers are very speedy! Good job Mike for getting us safely around!

We had one more unexpected adventure before coming back to Canada for a quick pre-Christmas break. Our flight home got cancelled due to mechanical issues, so WestJet put everyone up at a local hotel while we waited for a replacement plane to arrive. We ended up at the St. James Club, an all-inclusive hotel in the bay just East of English Harbour. Although we were disappointed to have lost a day of our trip, it was a pretty good place to have to spend a night! It did give some perspective though – the jacuzzi bathtub in the hotel room held more water than our largest water tank. What one person uses for a single soak in the bath, we can survive on for a whole week!