Antigua lies in the Leeward Islands. Its capital, St.Johns, is where the cruise ships berth. There is a large shopping complex by the Cruise Ship Dock at Heritage Quay which caters for tourists, consequently the shops tend to reflect this and are geared mainly for the American market. If you search, however, there are smaller shops outside the main complex.
The local currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$), however the US$ is widely accepted and in one shop we even paid in Euros.
We understand the beaches are excellent on Antigua but the interior is rather low lying and scrubby in appearance, in fact there are signs of much poverty and dereliction in the centre of the country. Derelict cars and vans litter the scenery and many houses are little more than shacks. The people, however, are friendly and generally smarly dressed.
In St.Johns be careful as you cross the roads as the gutters are very deep to cope with tropical rainfall and we heard of someone who broke their ankle when crossing the street. Beware, also, of pickpockets we heard of sonmeone who lost their wallet on our cruise, but this could apply to almost anywhere.
If you wish to use your mobile phone here you will need to set up Triband with your mobile phone company before you leave the UK.
For further information on Antigua try Antigua and Barbuda tourism.
The tour I went on was The Best Of Antigua going to one of the most picturesque locations in the Caribbean, Nelson's Dockyard and English Harbour. We went in minivans, 10-12 people in each van. First stop was Dow's Hill Visitor centre. There was supposed to be a short guided tour and multi-media presentation, but somehow we missed it as no-one seemed to know what was going on. We preferred to view the scenery overlooking English Harbour. There is a shop and toilets here. Although the paths round the centre are concreted the drive from the vans was gravel. From here we went to The Blockhouse ruins to see the views over the south of the island. You can see Montserrat's active volcano from here which is about 30 miles away. Further on we came to Shirley Heights overlooking Nelson's Dockyard, then we drove down to the Dockyard for a guided tour. Unfortunately our dockyard guide left us to our own devices whilst we were having a complimentary drink and we had to make our own way back in the hope we hadn't missed our minivan. There is a large souvenir market here. On the way back we passed a ship shaped house which our driver told us was called H.M.S.Standstill. It was owned by a local fisherman. It was a good tour and we saw everything we wanted to but the local organisation could have been better as all the onus was put on the driver as we had no guide apart from at Nelson's Dockyard.
Antigua April 2003 Arriving in Antigua was fantastic, having never been to the Caribbean I found the arrival to the port wonderful, first impressions was exactly how I imagined a Caribbean island to be (little did I know that every island was to be different). Disembarking from Aurora you walked on the path towards the shops which were very colourful and all made of wood, the people were so friendly and wanted you to buy as soon as you arrived. We had already planned out trip and did the quad biking, so we had a taxi take us to our destination (a 20 minute ride by taxi). We arrived at this house and their were our quad bikes waiting for us. We had a good 2 hour trip all the way up into the mountains unfortuantly for us it rained and we did not get a good view. I was amazed at how poor the Island was up in the mountains there were cars dumped,washing machines anything that could be was. The horses were tied up on chains and very thin. We had to cross abridge that was nearly falling down but we made it. The quad biking was good but only if you really like biking as they do go quite fast (I was quite glad to get off). Going back towards the ship we passed the Cricket grounds (never seen so many so excited)and our taxi driver was full of information about the Island. Back at destination we had a wonder round the shops and in one of the streets there was a steel band playing and it was so atmospheric, relaxed and enjoyable. I am hoping to do the Caribbean again in 2005. This is with thanks to Tracey Britton.
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