Adventures in the Caribbean - Part 5 : Antigua

Shaped like a heart, Antigua boasts a beach for every day of the year. We were greatly impressed with what we saw on this beautiful island, which is about 14 miles long and 11 miles wide.

Antigua, also known as Wadadli, is in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, and is the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la Antigua—St. Mary of the Old Cathedral. The name Wadadli comes from the original Amerindian inhabitants and means approximately "our own”. Its population was 80,161 (at the 2011 Census)

The island was originally discovered by Columbus in 1493 but it was not until 1632 that Antigua was colonised by a party of refugee English planters from St Kitts.

In 1666 Antigua was raided by the French but was recaptured by the English the following year. During the 18th and 19th centuries Antigua was the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Island Station and the principal British naval basw in the Eastern Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars

The most famous attraction in Antigua is Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour and we spent over 2 hours here.

This historic dockyard dates from 1745. It was abandoned in 1899 and in the 1950s its restoration began. Today the buildings have been converted into inns, shops, restaurants and a museum

The Dockyard was in regular use by British men-of-war ships. By the time Horatio Nelson was appointed to the Station in 1784 it was equipped with a capstan house, mast house, blacksmith shop, and much more.

Today the dock is also the mooring place for a number of splendid yachts and other cruise boats

No visit to Antigua could be complete without a visit to the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium

England will be playing West Indies here in One Day Internationals in February  2014

For more photos of our time on Antigua click Antigua

Adventures in the Caribbean - Part 4 : St Kitts

After leaving St Lucia we spent a day at sea travelling to our next island - St Kitts; we docked in Basseterre, the island's capital

St Kitts and its sister island, Nevis, are also known more formally as the Federation of St Christopher and Nevis. The west side of St Kitts borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. 

St Kitts is one of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles and is about 18 miles long and 5 miles wide. It is about 1,300 miles South East of Miami, Florida. It was first sighted by Christopher Columbus in late 1493 and he named the island after the patron saint of travellers - St Christopher.

Sun rise over St Kitts

In 1623 St Kitts became the first island to be colonised by the English when Sir Thomas Warner established Old Road Town.  The French were equally ambitious and set up their own settlement on St Kitts in 1625 in the northern and southern parts of the island.

 In 1626 the English and French combined forces to massacre the Caribs. By 1700  slaves had been introduced to work in the plantations which were by then growing sugar cane. Independence Square was once the site of the slave market but it is now an attractive park and fountains, surrounded by Georgian buildings.

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 gave St Kitts to Britain but the French continued to be a problem and they captured the British garrison in 1782. But the Treaty of Versailles in 1783 returned the island to British control. St Kitts finally gained independence in 1983 and became a full member of the Commonwealth.

This  is "The Circus" in the centre of Basseterre. It is modelled on Piccadilly Circus in London. the photo shows the Berkeley Memorial Clock.

 

We visited the Warner Park Cricket Stadium

 View of the main bay in Basseterre ...

 ... we watched pelicans

 There was a carnival in Basseterre on the day of our visit.

The main festivities did not start until late afternoon (by which time we were back on board) - but we were entertained by this troupe of dancers over a beer or two

For more photos of our time on St Kitts click St Kitts

Adventures in the Caribbean - Part 3 : St Lucia

Our next port of call (literally) was Castries on the island of St Lucia

St Lucia is in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of St Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It is 27 miles long and 14 miles wide, with a shape that is said to resemble either a mango or an avocado (depending on your taste). It has a population of 174,000 (2010). Its capital is Castries (population 60,263). Major towns include Gros Islet, Soufrière and Vieux Fort

St Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, the island's first European colonisers. They signed a treaty with the native Carib people in 1660. England took control of the island from 1663 to 1667; in ensuing years, it was at war with France 14 times and rule of the island changed frequently (it was seven times each ruled by the French and British). 

In 1814, the British took definitive control of the island. Because it switched so often between British and French control, St Lucia was also known as the "Helen of the West Indies".

Representative government came about in 1924 (with universal suffrage from 1953). From 1958 to 1962, the island was a member of the Federation of the West Indies. On 22 February 1979, St Lucia became an independent state of the Commonwealth of Nations associated with the United Kingdom. 

We took a sea trip down the coast to Soufriere

Where we saw the famous Pitons. These are thought to be spines of lava which were thrust up from the craters of two volcanoes. The Pitons were named a World Heritage Site in 2004

Behind Soufriere the land rises sharply for about two miles to the crater of the sleeping volcano. We were able to enter the only "drive-in" crater in the world

Then back to our ship

... via Marigot Bay - where the original "Dr Doolittle" was filmed

For more photos of our time on St Lucia click St Lucia