Paging AmantdeChat- re: Antigua

[sydneycasandra]

AmantdeChat-

Antigua is lovely. Like all small Caribbean island nations it has its ups and downs.

Good things:
-Beautiful weather, if a bit hot. Rains rarely and usually only for a short while.
-Generally a lovely, attractive country. Of course some areas that are poorer are not well maintained but the plant life and ocean views are incredible!
-*Most* people are quite friendly towards foreigners; taxi drivers etc were all polite and prompt, and people were generally amenable to helping us out if we were lost or confused. Mention that you''re looking for some local food and you''ll make very fast friends (the receptionist at the hotel invited us to her house for dinner! we didn''t accept but I bet it would''ve been great!)
-Beaches are mostly pretty nice, the ones we visited weren''t too rocky, and they are all public so you can go to anyone that you choose.
-Eat at Kalabashe restaurant if you like healthy vegetarian food. It was delicious, inexpensive, and friendly.
-If you want some spa treatments before the wedding I would maybe avoid the spa at Sandals if it was anything like the spa at our resort; a 30 minute massage was $70! A place called "Touch therapies" on Old Fort Road (probably a 10 minute drive from Sandals) offers massages and packages at prices which much more approximate reasonable rates; it''s probably not as fancy as Sandals so decide what''s important to you; they don''t have A/C on but rather, use fans. (DO NOT however, get a manicure at this place, they botched my nails HORRIBLY, I had to go home and fix them. The massage, facial, pedicure, and body scrub, however, were all good. Wear plastic flip flops if you go to the steam room as they do not supply them and you WILL want them)
-The Shirley Heights Sunday Party is a good drive from where Sandals is located but it''s pretty fun. If you arrange a day trip, you can go down and see Nelson''s Dockyard at English Harbour, a nice historical site, and then tour Shirley Heights in the evening. It was fun, probably not a "must-do" but we did have a good time.
-Wadadli Cats boat trips are pretty fun, we did the Triple Destination (which inclues a brief tour of English Harbour and a trip to Shirley Heights; it was a good value at $110 per person because it included a boating trip from 10a-3p, lunch (let them know in advance if you''re vegetarian!), snorkelling, drinks, taxi to Shirley Heights and a taxi back to your resort. (A roundtrip taxi from where you are to shirley heights would be about $45). WARNING: they do not allow shoes to be worn on the boat so if you don''t like going barefoot like me, be warned.
Bad things:
-Things are rarely on time, and many people still have a ways to go in being "service-oriented" in the American fashion; we had to ask several times for things at restaurants, hotel, etc.
-St. John''s, the capital city, really doesn''t have much to offer. It''s extremely hot and poorly organized with few sidewalks, so people just walk around in the street which is very dangerous. It also often smells strongly of the open sewage drains running everywhere. Most places close at 5pm, w/ the exception of some shops in Heritage Quay and Redcliffe Quay; these are VERY touristy shopping areas and there are many people begging for money, trying to sell marijuana, offering "tours", and making lewd comments to women. Advisable to stay away unless you really want some knickknacks. St. John''s after dark is also a bit dangerous in my opinion (we had a car for a few days and so drove around much of the island).
-Pretty much none of the roads are labeled in Antigua so even with a good map you will get lost, A LOT. The roads are in serious disrepair and often fork and you can''t tell which one is the road you were continuing on and which one is the "spin-off". A woman approached our car offering "directions" but was actually just asking for money; this happened a lot. Bring a cheap-o replacement wedding band to wear if you leave your resort and keep your real stuff in the safe at your hotel. It seems that white tourists with $ are popular crime targets, and I''ve also noticed that many places don''t have their items priced, and when you ask the price of the item, it goes up quite a bit if you fit the above description.
-Our worst experience occured the day before we left; a local church was sponsoring their annual "Food Fair", where vendors come and set up booths and sell food from their native countries (caribbean and a couple south american). It started at 2, which meant that NO FOOD was actually ready and for sale until 3:15. Many people were extremely rude to us and would not under any circumstances acknowledge or serve us. We were cut in front of in line several times, elbowed, pushed, and generally ignored as if we were invisible. It is much like I would imagine being African-American in the south in the 50''s would''ve been like. Apparently discrimination against whites is not entirely absent from Antigua and other Caribbean countries; our taxi driver didn''t sound surprised to hear about us waiting at the front of a food line for 20 minutes and being ignored (they kept serving the people behind us w/o even taking our order; I just wanted to see if we could wait out their rudeness; eventually we did, sort of), but did tell us that the majority of Antiguans support the travel industry and appreciate the business and economic prosperity that Americans, Canadians, Europeans, etc. have brought to the country.
-The airport really sucks. Really, really, really. Bring lots of snacks because the "restaurant" there has a very limited menu and we were delayed for almost 5 hours.
-The mosquitos are horrible! Bring bug spray!

Have a fabulous time and do not let the things I wrote under the "bad" part discourage you; our holiday was overall very enjoyable but I just wanted to make you aware of the difficulties we did encounter so that you could be better prepared than we were!

 

[AmantdeChat]

Thanks for all the tips!! We have been to a couple of Caribbean islands and figured that Antigua would be about the same, which it sounds like it is. I will definitely print up your post and take it with us.

I''m so glad that you had a great time despite the few bad things. I figured I would get a manicure here at home and have Sandals do my hair and makeup. I read a couple of reviews that really raved about their hair and makeup people.

Once again, Congrats! More pictures wouldn''t hurt either!