Dates: 20/02/2010 to 27/02/2010
Visa: No visa needed as I held a Spanish passport
Bought a pack with Virgin Holidays including flight, 7 nights hotel in all-inclusive board and Airport transfers.
Flight details:
London Gatwick – Antigua nonstop flight with Virgin Atlantic airlines. Flight time was 8:40hs on the outbound flight and 7hs in the return one. Outbound was 45 min delayed while return was over 2hs delayed due to problems in San Juan (the flight connects with Puerto Rico). Both flights were full. Plane was a 747. Service was good, but in flight entertainment was just ok compared with other airlines.
Hotel:
Jolly Beach resort and Spa
http://www.jollybeachresort.com/sites/S1/index.php?p=1
Overall rate is good.
The location was excellent as Jolly Beach is one of the best beaches in Antigua and big enough so despite the size of the hotel it did not feel too crowded.
The resort is fairly big, but it has no big tall buildings so it mixes ok with the beach and the environment (or in other words could be much worse).
The room we got was facing the sea and just on the beach. It was a bit old and run down, but good enough for a week. Size was ok and the bed was comfortable. It had a fan, A/C and a TV. The terrace was big enough to sit outside for a drink and see the waves and the blue water.
The staff was really friendly and relaxed, and also cooperative when we needed them.
It has 3 international restaurants and it is mandatory to book beforehand for any of them so sometimes the queues can be very very long in the booking desk. Only 2 bookings per day. No booking needed for the open buffet or the outdoors grill.
There are 5 restaurants in total:
- Bocciolo (Italian): has dress code. Food was ok but not much amount. It depended on the dish ordered as one of the nights the food was not good at all, the other 2 nights food was good. Desserts were good.
- Lydia’s (fish&seafood). Good. If you want to have seafood or lobster you have to pay extra.
- Hemispheres (varied buffet). Good. Plenty of variety and different food each day. Good deserts.
- Utsav (Indian): acceptable. Not many dishes to choose.
- Coconut grill: ok. burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fries. Open most of the day.
There are 2 bars where you can order as many drinks as you want. They have many different cocktails.
Car rental: After asking for prices at the hotel and in a company called Lion’s Cars we decided to book it with Hertz. (around US$20 cheaper in total).
The car was a Nissan Almera, automatic. Clean enough and not too worn out. More than enough for the island.
Price total for one day was US$95 (US$75 for the car including taxes and full insurance + US$20 for the local license). The local license payment is one-off and valid for 3 months, but is mandatory the first time you rent a car. We got the car around 10am and we had to give it back following day at the same time.
The only small thing was that the day we went for the car at the time they told us the office opened (9am), the office was closed and the employee did not arrive till 1 hour later.
Tlf: Head office: (268) 481-4440/1/2 Airport: 481-4455 Jolly Harbour: 481-4456 Royal Antiguan: 481-4457
www.hertz.com email: hertzag.resv@candw.ag
Price of the fuel was EC$11 per gallon. Driving around the island was easy, even when traffic around St John’s got really jammed. I definitely recommend it to go out of the resort and to be able to reach the east side of the island, much less touristic and fairly empty. In total we drove around 63 Km.
Diving:
Went diving with Jolly Dive and I was really happy with their service. Staff was extremely friendly and professional.
www.jollydive.com ph: 1-268-4628305
Price was US$120 for 2 dives in the morning including full equipment rental. Left around 9, back at the hotel around 13:30.
They decide the dive site on the same day depending on the weather, currents…
Both dives were excellent, with 2 instructors for 5 people. Equipment was in very good state.
ANTIGUA
St John’s:
We took bus number 20 from Jolly Beach area to go to the capital. Price for a single ride was EC$3.25. All public buses are vans or mini vans. It dropped us in the West Bus Station. On the way back we took same bus number in the station. The bus did not leave till it was completely full…what meant 35 minutes waiting under the sun and sweating…but always better to take public transport than expensive taxis where you don’t get to see and interact with friendly locals.
The capital of Antigua is interesting and has some character to it, mostly compared with many other areas of the island that are too touristic and they are not very inspiring.
The area around the harbour where the big cruise ships arrive is bustling with locals trying to get the tourists that just arrived in taxis or tours around the island. Tax free shops and buildings look much less shabbier around this area than they do in the rest of the city.
St John’s was quite busy on a Tuesday morning. We took a stroll around the fish market, the public market, the park by it with the tacky flashy coloured monument to VC Bird as pater patriaie…
The cathedral was bigger than expected. Dominates the capital and is a fine building, but it was in urgent need of a restoration, very run down. We could not go inside as it was closed.
The museum (price US$3) is in one of the most beautiful buildings of St John’s. The museum itself is kind of cute, very small. The panels with written history are interesting, especially the ones about sugar plantations and slavery trade, but there were not many objects on display (missed more naval stuff, coins…). Still worth a visit and we learned quite a few things about the island’s background. Really liked the wreck map.
Most of the buildings in St John’s (and all around the island) are wooden houses painted in different colors, sometimes vivid, sometimes more pale. I liked the typical Antigua house. Some were new and glittering, many others were crumbling down.
Fig Tree Drive
Driving through Fig Tree Drive was quite interesting, with pineapples, bananas and rainforest vegetation. Half way through it is the canopy ride, what proved to be very popular, with lots of people enjoying it.
Contact details are http://www.antiguarainforest.com/ email: arc@candw.ag phone: (268)562-6363
Falmouth and English Harbours / Nelson’s Dockyard
Stopped for a drink in Falmouth Harbour. Very touristic laid back atmosphere, with a few nice bars/restaurants. Big Harbour full of yachts.
Agree with LP that Nelson’s Dockyard is a must see. Price was EC$13. Very nice visit, well preserved, it is a great couple of hours strolling around learning about the military part of the colonial era and Nelson’s involvement in the area (Nelson had to stay 8 months in his ship without going ashore while he was on trial. He was not very confident of the outcome and was ready to flee). The museum was set in a nice building and the contents were interesting.
Shirley Heights:
Hill with outstanding views, not only over English harbour and Nelsons’ Dockyard but also over Montserrat. Entrance ticket was free for us as it was included in Virgin’s pack, if not is EC$13.
The sunset was gorgeous on a cloud free day. The sun just sets by Montserrat. The views and the sunset panorama makes worth it stopping here.
We also went to the famous Sunday evening party…and we did not like it at all. A drum band playing decaffeinated versions of Marley/UB40 and other famous songs from the 80s while flocks of tourists eat stuff from the grill…far too crowded…far too touristic. The price of the van from the Jolly was US$20 per person. And yes, the band improves after dark and it is a bit emptier but still better skip it…
Half Moon Bay and East side of the island
Half Moon Bay was one of my favourite spots of the island. We went there in the rental car. The beach was beautiful, big and it was almost empty (roughly 10-12 people, no more). Water was crystal clear.
We went to the south side of the beach and the snorkelling around the reefs was fantastic. By far the best I did in the island. Tons of many different fishes, beautiful marine landscape, nobody around…highly recommendable.
By the beach there is a place to eat and drink: Smiling Harris thirst quencher. The owner calls himself Samuel L Jackson (they definitely resembles the actor) and they serve chilled drinks and some quick bite like hamburgers, sandwiches or rice&beans). Tel: 722-3939.
Another thing that caught my attention is that there are some rooms built around Half Moon Bay, right on the south side of the beach and by it, but they were abandoned, probably because the East side is too far from everything and not touristic at all?
The East of the island has a complete different atmosphere. It reminds you that even in Antigua you can find your own spot and that crowds can be left behind.
Catamaran ride around the island:
We booked this with Virgin Holidays (as far as we were told the day tour around the island in the Excellence catamaran was exclusive to Virgin Holidays customers). Price was US$110 per person, drinks and lunch included. The catamaran was great, new, modern, clean…around 30/35 people, not too crowded. Staff was really friendly. Very relaxed and seemingly happy.
Day started at 8:30 from Jolly Beach. Stopped for some time at St John’s to pick up other people. The speaker was good fun and he was telling us lots of things about the stuff we could see from the boat. The lunch and snorkelling stop were in Green Island. The beach was very nice and the water was clear and clean. There was a snorkelling excursion along the reefs, with guide and rescue kayak. Snorkelling itself was ok, not great. Lunch was good: fish and salad buffet.
In total we stayed 3 hours stopped at green Island. After that we completed the circumnavigation of the island and they dropped us back at the hotel around 3pm.
I’d say it was a very nice laid back day out but not amazing (as Barbuda turned out to be). Still worth it.
