Last Updated on April 14, 2021 by Fiona Maclean
Sailing Week in Antigua:
While my parents travelled a lot throughout my childhood, there was a brief phase when we stayed in one place. For eight whole years. I can remember being piled into the back of the car by my father to go to the sea-side for the day. We had no idea why, but enjoyed our trips to the amusement arcade, to the zoo at the end of the pier and to the beach, a glorious mixture of rock-pools, rusty red carr stone and white chalk cliffs and sandy beaches. It rained a lot. We collected shells, pretty stones and tried our best to persuade my mother that the shrimps and tiny fish we’d caught would be safe to take home to Nottingham. I remember that particular ambition being quashed when she suggested they might be good for tea.
Where would you like to live children – in Nottingham or by the sea?
Asked my father – to the very visible irritation of my mother. It was an unfair question – what child under eight wouldn’t answer as we did, chanting the obvious response in unison.
And so, less than six months after we’d moved to Nottingham, to new schools and a new home, we upped sticks and went to live by the sea. So began my love affair with water. I learnt to sail in a mirror dinghy, spent hours pottering around in a makeshift canoe and never really suffered from teenage angst because I simply got on my bike and went to the beach when life seemed overwhelming. I know that my choice of University was entirely dictated by it’s proximity to the beach. I still aim to end up living somewhere with a sea view again before I retire. For now, though I am very grateful when I am offered the chance to spend a little time by the sea. And if it’s somewhere where the sun is shining, that’s even better!
Arrive in Antigua for Sailing Week and, even more so than the other 51 weeks of the year, you are bound to spend much of your time by, on or in the sea. According to the locals, the island has 365 beaches, one for every day of the year. Regardless of whether that is fact or legend, this small island offers visitors every kind of activity from beach parties and barbeques with live music to sailing and windsurfing, from tranquil, deserted beaches to marine history as well as a wealth of marine life to see. And Sailing Week is a great time to soak up everything.
A brief chance to freshen up in my luxurious room (I loved the flower-strewn bathroom) and to sneak out to take a look at the view, then off for dinner and to get something of the atmosphere on Shirley Heights. My first night coincided with the big concert for Sailing Week – local soca star Tian Winter supporting Shaggy.
Stunning views out over the harbour, fabulous rum punch and crowds of lively locals mingling with the sailing set for an evening of partying. For us, after 23 hours of travelling it was a brief visit that just gave us all a flavour of the atmosphere. Then back to St James’s Club to sleep.
During the week, apart from exploring the resort itself we had a chance to travel around the island and find out a little more about its Naval heritage together with getting an understanding of colonial life and of the impact of the slave trade on sugar and rum production. We enjoyed some of the racing – sailing week involves over 100 boats from 23 countries. We explored the island. I even got to sail a hobbie cat. Later features will go into more detail.
This trip to Antigua really inspired me to want to see more of the Caribbean. I’ve since been to Grenada for Chocolate Week and to St Lucia where I fell in love with the two pitons. Now I want to visit more. If only I’d realised I could have hopped over from Antigua to St Maarten and enjoyed more unforgettable experiences.
For now, this is just a chance to say thank you to the people who helped make this trip so special. From the lady selling corn on the roadside, who looked FAR too young to have been doing that for 30 years.
To the children playing at Nelson’s Dockyard
From the smiling street and beach vendors – with charming trinkets to take home that they make themselves
To the staff at St James’s Club – always immaculate and helpful – and always very hard at work keeping the resort pristine.
I asked Francine, our guide from the Antigua Tourist Board, what she thought made the island special. Not the beautiful beaches, not the fabulous climate (it is one of the more sheltered of the Caribbean islands and has a year-round temperature of between 28 and 35c). Not the food, not even the rum punch.
The People. It’s the people that make Antigua special
That’s what Francine told me – and I was easily convinced by my own experience. Antigua is full of people who laugh, who love life and who want to help. From Francine herself who never stopped smiling to Cleo Henry our driver, from the family taxi firm John Henry and Son, who was a mine of information and who spent hours each day taking us around the island.
It was a magical trip that seemed all too short but nevertheless provided a great insight into this island. And for those into sailing – there are some phenomenal races to watch.
So many thanks to Elite Island Resorts
To Francine and Charmaine from the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority
I travelled with Virgin Atlantic and stayed in the Royal Suites at the St James’s Club Antigua
Sailing Week next year, 2019 is from 27th April to 3nd May. Put it in your diary now!
And if you think you might forget, why not pin this post for later!
would love to visit ive been to barbados stopped here going to drop off so to stay here would be a dream come true
Would love to visit
that looks amazing- I would love to visit there- it must go on my bucket list
I have always wanted to travel to the Caribbean a dream never enough money to go one day it will happen it looks so quite and beautiful away from the hustle and Bustle of London it really does sound like Paradise
Antigua is the most beautiful place on earth. I was so lucky to live there for over ten years and yes, it is PARADISE! :o)
I love the Caribbean, my fave holiday ever was in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic x
My Caribbean adventure is limited to Barbados and I am would love to go to Antigua. That concert would have rocked and I don’t think I would have stopped eating those fire roasted corns (A big thing in Sierra Leone). Lovely pics too Fiona.
I have not been to that island, but think it is always the giant personality that the people display that makes each one special. You captured the fun of it all very well in your pictures..thanks for taking us with you.
It is supposedly the quietest of the Caribbean islands. It suited me just fine:)
Spot cant get enough been to St James club 4 times in 4 years booking number 5 shortly done barbados but to many people for me Antigua is Number One
What an amazing trip this sounds like, Fiona! The closest I’ve come to sailing is riding around the Hudson River here in Manhattan on a party boat (not sail boat, sadly!) This sounds like a boat load of fun though, and would love to check it out next spring!
There’s a great Hamptons event to win a week sailing as part of Sailing Week. Maybe I can link you up with the PR and you can help promote it.
This looks a great place to visit.. I am always wary of going places with my young boys.. We are hoping to go away next week.. Just for a dya trip to the beach.. Maybe I will take some pictures and do a blog about it… It will take about 4 hours to get there… which normally takes 2.. Frequent toilet breaks.. and a drink every now and then (monster) to keep me going.. It’s hard work driving with lots of kiddies in the car.
William
My dad was a doctor and he used to (literally) drug us all with phenergen so we slept in the back of the big estate car. We drove all around Europe that way;)
That looks like one amazing trip. The weather looks like it was warm + perfect!
I thought the weather was HOT, but then I am a frail brit used to nothing over 25c!
what an amazing trip. Not much of a sailor myself (dont have the sea legs) but happy to sit at the beach in Antigua anytime!
Me too, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the resort – a great solution if you have kids because you have a very relaxed environment for when they get bored with sight seeing
Now that sounds like Paradise. I don’t really know much about Antigua. I also didn’t know you could sail. You definitely need to plan for that house down at Boscastle!
lmao, sailing a hobbie cat isn’t really sailing…though it is great fun! And yes, it was wonderful…and full of cacao trees, so you’d have been right at home!
It sounds like you had a great trip and a great childhood. I have lived near the coast and beaches all my life, so I suppose I have been spoiled.
I don’t live nearly close enough at the moment….
What a fabulous first trip to the Caribbean. I’ve always fancied a sailing trip, it sounds so restful and physical at the same time. GG
This looks absolutely beautiful.
It’s our dream to one day live on this street we know on the sea front in Great Yarmouth 😀
Louise x
Confessions of a Secret Shopper
There was quite a special moment for me when I bumped into the general manager of St James’s Club resort and his opening greeting was ‘another morning in paradise’. Everyone I asked wouldn’t want to live anywhere else
How beautiful! I miss travelling…
I would def want to travel to something like this, so beautiful and such a rich culture! 😀
My first trip to the caribbean – it was a fabulous one!