Our island hopping took us to the beautiful and historic Antigua and we love it! A five day stay is not long enough when there’s so much beauty, history, and cool people. We are enjoying English Harbour, Antigua and we wish we could stay longer.
A Favorite Anchorage
English Harbour is one of our favorite anchorages and one of the best parts of Antigua! It ranks up there with the Exumas Land and Sea Park. We love English Harbour for many reasons.
The locale is beautiful: we’re surrounded by a wide beach, dramatic cliffs and the restored ruins of an old fort.
The water is lovely too. There’s a snorkeling area a short swim away. When we jump off the boat with our fins and snorkels we see turtles and even a spotted eagle ray!
We also had a special treat on Wednesday when the owner of the local French restaurant drove around the harbour selling fresh baked bread and croissants. He only came one morning- we are in the low season after all – but those croissants made our day!
Nelson’s Dockyard
What’s on land is incredible too! We are in the middle of a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is stunning.
Nelson’s Dockyard is an amazing array of restored old forts and naval buildings. It’s a working marina in this beautiful old space. We are the perfect audience for this nautical history and the restorations are really well done. This complex has buildings from the 17 and 1800s housing restaurants, a hotel, a museum, a bakery, and the customs and immigration offices.
Stunning Views
Early one morning, with French croissants to fuel us, Brian and I ventured on a long hike through the remains of a fort.
The easy part of the hike took us to the old fort at the edge of the cliff overlooking the harbour.
Then we decided to challenge ourselves and climb higher and higher. We were rewarded with views all around of English and Falmouth Harbours, the ocean, sheep, goats and ruins of another fort.
This portion of the hike included rock climbing and pulling ourselves up and down with ropes.
I’m very happy Brian got into gear early that day because any later and we would have been puddles. Summer is almost here: the sun is scorching, the humidity is growing, and the breezes are generally not strong enough. The views, however, were breathtaking.
The Pillars of Hercules
Just at the end of this harbour stands an impressive rock formation, The Pillars of Hercules. We parked our dinghy at a dive buoy and snorkeled in this amazing spot. A geologist would love this! There are reef ledges and massive boulders underwater alongside the cliff with the pillars. We snorkeled among so many different species of fish, large and small. It’s wonderfully healthy and the clarity was amazing. We saw the bottom from within our dinghy. Another reason to love English Harbour!
Sailing on
We love it here so much but we have to move out of the hurricane zone. Instead, we’re having as much fun in the short time we are enjoying English Harbour, Antigua. Who knows? We don’t have plans for next season so maybe we can return and see more of this lovely land.
We already have our exit papers and tomorrow we head for Guadelope. It also looks beautiful. Wish us fair winds!
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