Antigua Christmas 2024 - Day 2: English Harbour

It was a beautiful morning for breakfast on the veranda, as we admired the view of McKinnon's Pond, St. John's, and the Five Islands peninsula in the background.

Now that it was light out, we had some time to see the view from the various sitting areas around the villa.

The pool is surprisingly chilly considering how hot and sunny it is, every day. The current theory is that the nightly rain shower tops it up with cold water.

Around 10 AM, we began the process of cajoling everyone out the door and into the van. Check out this sweet ride.

Our ultimate goal was the English Harbour area, all the way across the island in the southeast corner. Along the way, we made a pit stop at Betty's Hope but it was closed due to the holiday. The ~1/3 of a mile "road" from the main road to the former sugar plantation was a bit rough, so everyone was happy to go back the way we'd come rather than continue past it for another mile as a shortcut.

Driving around this island is a bit ridiculous, at times; hazards (so far) include cars parked haphazardly, oblivious pedestrians, stray dogs, enormous potholes, random speed bumps, and the not-infrequent overtaking on either side. Most of the roads also have patches on top of older patches, with the occasional roadwork sprinkled in.

Less-frequent sightings include roadside cows, goats, and donkeys. If it's anything like some of the other islands we've visited, the cattle owners who don't have grazing land (or can't otherwise afford to feed them) are in the habit of leashing cattle along public land at the edge of the road, moving them periodically. I can't find it at the moment, but I seem to recall finding an article about this on a previous trip.

I suppose it's also probably a decent form of weed control?

Along the drive, we drove through Saint John, Saint George, Saint Peter, Saint Phillip, and Saint Paul parishes. As we approached English Harbour, we stopped at the Willoughby Bay Lookout to gaze out at the water.

There were some large pelicans diving for fish and circling the area.

It was around 11:30 by the time we made it to English Harbour. We had Christmas lunch plans, but not until later, so we parked the whip at Pigeon Point Beach and practically ran to the water.

As the name would suggest, it's still a harbor, mostly full of sailboats. Antigua is the "sailing capital of the Caribbean", apparently.

We enjoyed the beach and the tranquil, warm water for almost two hours before we all got hungry and decided to make way to our lunch date at MAIA; it was less than half a mile's walk up the road, so we loaded our stuff in the van and took a stroll.

Along the way, we encountered a dozen or so people coming the other direction, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas; some were toasting with their walking beers as they greeted us.

MAIA is the waterfront restaurant at the South Point boutique hotel; we were one stumble away from the water's edge, which is also a dock for boats to tie up.

As we ate, we speculated about the people on the superyachts in the harbor, even going to far as to look up who the owners were for some of them. One was the Elysian, apparently owned by billionaire John W. Henry (who apparently is the "principal owner" of the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, Liverpool FC, and Boston Globe, among other things). The yacht has its own Wikipedia page.

After lunch, we got another group photo, in front of their Christmas tree.

It was after 3 o'clock when we left the restaurant, what with everything being on Island Time.

Sabrina and I decided to continue the walk, intending to see Nelson's Dockyard, while everyone else opted to go back to the beach.

It was only about 3/4 of a mile to the dockyard proper, but we were in no rush and meandered along the waterfront.

As we approached the historic area, the sounds of a party carried out into the parking lot at the end of the street.

Some partiers were already leaving, or perhaps just heading into town for a meal? It was all quite chaotic.

We took the scenic route around the dockyard, instead of heading for the loud-music-and-cold-beverage situation.

We didn't take the time to tour the museum, and I think it was closed anyway, but there's plenty of material about all of the history, elsewhere.

More large yachts were docked here, presumably to partake in the Christmas party.

Sabrina, for scale.

There was a large Christmas tree in the middle of the green, with several tents serving food and beverages. Somewhere behind this, a DJ started playing YMCA as drunk people did the dance. It was quite a scene.

After about 20 minutes walking around, we'd had our fill of festivities, and walked about a mile back to the beach. On the way out, we encountered a mobile car-detailing service, in the parking lot.

It was almost 4 o'clock when we got back to the beach. We didn't know where everyone else was, exactly, so we just started at one end of the beach and walked toward the setting sun; we reunited with the group at the other end of the beach.

After another swim and some sun-gazing, we all packed up and returned to the van. Before returning to the villa, we drove up to Shirley Heights Lookout to see the panoramic view of the harbor. It was already getting hazy as the sun was setting. Yesterevening, our host at the Airbnb said something about it being due to dust blown from the Sahara.

Every planning source we've used for this trip has mentioned the huge parties that happen at the fort-ruins-turned-restaurant that is also the lookout spot. It only happens on Sunday nights, though, so we won't get to experience it. Also, that would've been a tough sell.

There was another ruin of an old military building, but we didn't stop to take a closer look.

As we drove back to the villa at the northern end of the island, the sun began its final descent to the horizon.

The ride back was uneventful, other than the usual road situation and a traffic jam at what might've been the only gas station open today (judging from the line of cars).

Back at the house, we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we unloaded. I rinsed off in the pool; I think everyone else headed straight for the showers.

We cooked a simple dinner at the Airbnb, having eaten a large-and-late lunch. After eating (and also before), everyone made some Christmas Facetime calls to family.

Tomorrow, we're remaining in the St. John's area, either downtown or at a beach, before going out for an afternoon boat ride.