These Neighboring Islands Offer Stellar Resorts and Spectacular Beaches

It’s no wonder Antigua is dubbed the “wedding island” of the Caribbean. With crimson sunsets and 365 beaches, one for each day of the year, couples are guaranteed memories that will last a lifetime. In addition to romantic ambiance, Antigua and sister island Barbuda also boast family-friendly activities and the region’s most famous sailing regatta.

There’s been a boom in development on both islands. The Antigua Ministry of Tourism reports that tourism projects totaling nearly $1.4 billion will be completed over the next five years, including hotels, restaurants, residential properties and sports facilities. “This is an exciting time for Antigua and Barbuda,” said Harold Lovell, Antigua’s minister of tourism, at the CTC-29 conference held in the Bahamas last year. “These developments will allow us to strengthen our product and enhance the experience for our visitors. Each project is an indication of confidence of our investors and partners in the future of the Antigua and Barbuda tourism product.”

On the drawing board is the establishment of a new tourism authority for Antigua and Barbuda. Ministry officials believe that this is a much-needed move, one that will be modeled after other Caribbean destinations. “We are trying to create an agile business structure that will drive the tourism industry,” says Lorrraine Headley, the director general of tourism for Antigua.

Accommodations
Sixty hotels and 3,000 rooms provide choices to suit every budget, and more are coming online every month. The all-inclusive Jumby Bay Resort, a Rosewood property, sits on a 300-acre private island. Luxury suites and villas share the island with the endangered Hawksbill turtle. The eco-friendly Turtle Watch program, offered when the turtles bury their eggs in the sand (June through November), is popular with eco-minded guests.

Jolly Beach is a favorite with vacationers seeking an all-inclusive resort. Rooms and suites in five categories sit on 40 acres of gardens bordering a mile of white sand and the Caribbean Sea. Bars, tennis courts, a cyber café and two pools provide activities around the clock. Renovations are underway, including a refurbishment of rooms and the expansion of the meeting space to accommodate larger groups. “We’re adding six family units in response to the demand from our guests, especially wedding parties, but there will be no disruption, since we’ll work with existing buildings on the property,” says General Manager Ted Isaac.

Elite Island Resorts has a major presence on the island, with such properties such as Galley Bay, St. James Club, Dian Bay, Pineapple Beach Club and Verandah, which is slated to open in the spring on the northeast coast. Situated on 40 acres on the west coast, Galley Bay is the jewel in the crown, with five-star service, Gauguin-inspired cottages with splash pools, two restaurants and the thatch-roofed Teepee bar. “Sixty percent of our clientele are repeat guests,” says General Manager Britton Foreman. “Our level of service is consistent, and that keeps guests coming back year after year.”

Meanwhile, St. James Club, the only resort that touches the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, is family-friendly, with four pools, a kid’s club and babysitting services when the Monte Carlo casino is open.

Elsewhere, luxury resort Curtain Bluff now features a 4,500-square-foot spa with a couples-only treatment room, and caviar and champagne massages. The resort is framed by gardens overlooking the southern shore, and rates include meals, afternoon tea and watersports.

Built on a 17th-century sugar plantation in Brown’s Bay, with 25 new villas, Harmony Hall is a charming complex that features an art gallery, a restaurant and a private dock for ferrying to Green Island, which has spectacular beaches and underwater life. In November the hotel hosts the popular Artist’s Exhibition and Craft Fair.

One of two Rex Properties, the all-inclusive Hawksbill Beach Resort, sits on Antigua’s only clothing optional beach. The Rex Halcyon Cove, overlooking Dickenson Bay, offers a cornucopia of water activities, including snorkeling, kayaking, windsurfing and sunfish sailing.

Sandals Grande Antigua, located on a hilltop facing the longest stretch of beach in Antigua, will be grander than ever after a $70 million expansion is complete. The 180-suite Mediterranean Village will join the 193-room Caribbean Village and includes an art gallery, a shopping promenade and four new restaurants.

Visitors can also find accommodations on neighboring Barbuda. This strand of nearly deserted beaches is carpeted in white sand and millions of seashells that have washed ashore. Worth noting for divers, 60 ships have wrecked over the past three centuries at Palaster reef, on the southeastern tip.

Suites at the Beach House on Palmetto Point are for those seeking privacy and pampering. The Coco Point Lodge, at the southernmost tip, features reef-protected swimming in crystal-clear water. The adults only K-Club is for the discerning traveler, with rates starting at $950 in low season.

Work will soon start on a fourth property, an $8.7 million luxury resort consisting of 40 wooden bungalow suites, a joint venture between the government and the Market Positioning Group of Miami.

Dining
Sunday nights at Shirley Heights is as Antiguan as fungi and pepperpot, and a tradition for 25 years, with chicken and ribs grilling on barbeques, live steel-pan bands and plenty of Cavalier rum and Wadadli lager. In the quaint community of Gambles Terrace, Chef Carl Thomas cooks regional specialties in his Home Restaurant, famous for its bread pudding. Visitors should climb the old wooden staircase to a veranda overlooking Heritage Quay to Hemmingway’s Caribbean Café, the writer's haunt in the 1930s. Today it’s the ideal stop for a slice of key lime pie.

The Bamboo Restaurant in the Coconut Beach Club offers spiny lobster and homemade coconut ice cream, and the Gauguin Restaurant at Galley Bay is a great place for honeymooners, with intimate, thatch-covered tables and such dishes as salt fish fritters and tomato chutney. “The biggest compliment I can get,” says Chef Gale Mason, “is when guests ask me for my recipes.”

Day Trips
Beaches are open to the public, with reefs and coves that dot the coastline and azure water and sugary sand that invites sunbathers, sailors, swimmers and bookworms who like to cozy up in lounge chairs. With sandstone cliffs to the north and rock bluffs to the south, Dickenson Bay is party central, with plenty of water toys and two mega-resorts. Sans hotels, Fort James Beach is an eel-shaped wedge of sand with few tourists and plenty of locals. Half Moon Bay, tops on the Travel Channel’s list of the best beaches, offers superb snorkeling among the coral reefs close to shore. Two hundred shipwrecks lie underwater, including the Andes, which sank in 1905 at Deep Bay. Protected by a reef and hidden by mangroves, Cades Bay is the best-kept beach secret, and Pigeon Point, on the southeastern tip, is tops with the yachting crowd.

On the edge of English Harbour, Nelson’s Dockyard is the only Georgian naval dockyard in the world, with restored buildings that are now hotels, museums, shops and restaurants. In the limestone district, Betty’s Hope Sugar Plantation is renown for the picture-perfect vistas over the hills to the ocean. A visitors’ center has been created in the former cotton storeroom. The best hiking is the footpath from English Harbour to Shirley Heights, beginning at the Galleon Beach Hotel. With a summit of 492 feet, this hike rewards with breathtaking panoramas. Cedar Valley Golf Club and Jolly Harbour Golf Club offer 18 holes, and the K-Club has its own nine-hole golf course. The picturesque Fig Tree Drive through the rainforest and along hills dotted with old sugar mills, mango and banana groves, and historic little churches is a popular day trip.

Skimming over the water at varying speeds in a high-powered inflatable boat is an adventure junkie’s top pick, with sightings of frigate birds, brown pelicans, Hawksbill sea turtles, stingrays and sunfish. Another unique attraction is Devil’s Bridge, in Indian Town National Park, where Atlantic breakers have carved out a natural limestone arch.

Antigua is a duty-free zone and full of shopping opportunities on the easy-to-navigate streets of St. John’s. The waterfront where the cruise ships dock is home to the Redcliffe Quay district and Heritage Quay, which houses the National Museum. A few blocks away and recommended for an afternoon stroll is the Heritage Craft Market, jam-packed with bargains for those who hunt long enough.

Getting There
Air Jamaica Vacations has announced the re-launch of its Island Vacations brand to serve inter-Caribbean travelers. Airlines flying to Antigua include American, Continental, US Airways and Delta.