Carslisle Bay
All text and pictures Copyright 1997 datagirl7@oocities.com.
Carslisle Bay
Background Information: Location, Climate, History & Culture
Just to keep you from mispronouncing the names of the islands, as I did, I'll tell you now that the island of Antigua was pronounced Ann-tee-gwa for decades, but when the British began ruling the island, their mispronunciation as Ann-tee-ga became official.
Antigua and Barbuda are located in the middle of the British Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean about 259mi (420 km) east-southeast of Puerto Rico. To the south are the islands of Montserrat and Guadeloupe, and to the north and west are Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Barts, and St. Martin. Antigua, the largest of the Leeward Islands, is about 14mi (23km) long and 11mi (18km) wide, encompassing 108mi² (280km²). Its highest point is Boggy Peak (1330ft/405m), located in the SW corner of the island. Currently, the population is approximately 68,000 and its capital is St. John's on Antigua.
Daytime temperatures are 75-80
There are supposedly 365 beaches on Antigua, one for each day of the year. Most are on the calm, protected waters of the Caribbean. This is a major attraction for those searching for some time to themselves. Every beach is open to the public (but for safety you should not go alone to particularly isolated locations).
The first settlements, dating from about 2400 BC, were those of the Siboney (in Arawak this means "stone-people") Meso-Indians from South America. They crafted beautiful shell and stone tools found around the island. Later, after their departure, the island was inhabited by the pastoral, agricultural Arawaks from 35 to 1100 AD. The Arawaks were then displaced by the cannibalistic Carib Indians. The Arawaks called the island Wadadli (which is now the name of the Island's beer).
The earliest European contact with the island was made by Christopher Columbus during his second Caribbean voyage (in 1493). Upon sighting the island, he named it after Santa Maria la Antigua, the miracle-working saint of Seville (whose statue is at the Church of Santa Maria la Antigua in Seville, Spain). At the time, the islands were still inhabited by the Caribs.
European settlement was difficult because of Antigua's lack of fresh water and determined Carib resistance. In the 1630s, the first slaves were brought from Africa to work on the sugar plantations. Because of the many slaves brought to the island, ninety percent of the inhabitants of Antigua and Barbuda are of African decent. It wasn't until 1666 that the British established colony strong enough to withstand the island's harsh conditions and the frequent attacks by the Caribs. In 1684, because of Sir Christopher Codrington's large-scale sugar cultivation at Betty's Hope, the island entered the sugar era.
One hundred years later, in 1784, Horatio Nelson took over command of the Leeward Islands Squadron. He developed the British naval facilities at English Harbor (which resulted in the construction of Nelson's Dockyard) and enforced stringent commercial shipping laws (which caused many seafarers and shopkeepers to have hostile attitudes toward him). He spent most of his time on his ship, calling the island a "vile place" and a "dreadful hole" (which also probably caused many of the Antiguans to have a hostile attitude toward him). English Harbor was almost impregnable while Nelson was commander and was the main stronghold of British colonial rule in the Caribbean.
By the end of the eighteenth century Antigua had become indispensable to the British Empire because of its strategic location as a gateway to the Caribbean, and as a valuable commercial colony because of the sugar production. Most of the island's historical sites, from its many ruined military fortifications, and the restored buildings of Nelson's Dockyard, are evidence of the early colonial efforts to ensure its safety from invasion.
In 1834, Britain abolished slavery in the empire. Antigua instituted immediate full emancipation rather than having a four-year 'waiting period' like the other British Caribbean colonies. Today, Carnival festivities celebrate the earliest abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean by Antigua.
Saturday, May 25
It was very hot in Antigua when we arrived even though it was after 10 PM. We walked down the stairs off the prop plane and across the tarmac to the airport terminal, where we cleared immigration easily and customs went through our bags. Clearing customs took quite a while. Some people had huge bags that were emptied out on the counter and riffled through. Others (who I assume were Antiguans) had packed in bulging boxes and shopping bags that were tied closed; these had to be cut open to be inspected. Then they would gather their belongings in their arms and walk away.
We drive to Antigua Village Resort on Dickenson Bay, find our condo, and get some sleep.
Sunday, May 26
This morning while exchanging our rental car, we encountered something we considered unusual -- a cow wandering down the road dragging a rope behind it (3:14). Later we realized that this is totally usual; there are probably thousands of loose kine, pigs, goats, chickens, mules, horses, donkeys and sheep running around the island. I was told that they are generally rounded up at night, although it's hard to believe that.
Here I also saw a vehicle model called an XL Saloon, which I thought was a strange name for a van, but it turned out that saloon is just an English term for that sort of vehicle.
We then drove up to somewhere to the left of Shirley Heights (3:15-16) where there are large barrel cacti (3:17-18), a munitions building (3:19) and an Officer's Quarters (3:20). This is where we had our first encounter with the local merchants who always have a special reduced price for every tourist. We walked around watching our steps carefully because there was a herd of goats and sheep up there with us, who were in the charge of one of the people sitting with the merchants.
Then we drove to Shirley Heights, an irregular arrangement of gun emplacements, barracks, and other military buildings, above English Harbor. These are the remains of the fortifications of the harbor's colonial observation post for the dockyard, built in 1787. The site was named after General Shirley, Governor of the Leeward Islands from 1781. One of the buildings, known as the Block House, was erected by General Matthew as a stronghold in the event of a siege. It is now used as a restaurant/bar. Behind it, there are several merchants who were selling jewelry and maracas when we were there. Shirley Heights permits a magnificent view of the harbor (3:21) and of Montserrat and Guadeloupe. Nearby is the cemetery, in which stands an obelisk erected in honor of the soldiers of the 54th regiment.
Near the Block House there is a small souvenir shop displaying a shirt stating "don't drink and drive in Antigua, you WILL hit a bump and spill your drink." They aren't kidding. The roads in Antigua are quite bad -- many bumps and potholes -- you'd think they had horrible winters (but, of course, they don't -- which makes you wonder just how the roads got to be are as bad as they are).
I'm not really sure whether Antiguans want tourists to come to their island or not. They are very friendly people -- well, I guess we have to leave Michaelangelo Simon as an exception, but we'll get to him later -- but road signs were noticeably absent. Other than in St. Johns (the main city) the roads are primarily unmarked -- both on maps and at corners -- making it very difficult to find anything. What are marked on maps are gas stations and churches. So directions go something like this: Turn left at the third church on your right then fork left after passing a gas station on the left. Also, the island's "attractions" are generally not indicated on maps, and when they are, the symbol might not be along a road. Thus, it is up to you to try to figure out how to get there, whether there are roads to the attraction or not. For example, to see the megaliths on Green Castle Hill , we would've had to go a ways off the road on foot across someone's field. The exception to the dearth of signs is Le Bistro, a fairly expensive restaurant, which had signs at just about every corner -- not as difficult as you think since there are only about 30 corners where tourists would generally go other than in the city of St. John's.
We see a goat trying to climb a tree (D:1) and a baby goat (3:22), and for some reason this intrigues us.
We then went to Half Moon Bay (3:23) National Park in the SE of the island. Along the way, Dad saw the remains of a windmill that had a hole the shape of Dick Tracy in the side -- as if he had burst out of it (3:24). After explaining who Dick Tracy was to David, we continued on to St. Phillips, where we stopped at the Community Church, which was damaged in the hurricane last September. The stained glass windows are nice, but it's funny to see blue sky out the other side (3:25-27).
We continued to drive on to the eastern extremity of the island. Indian Town Point, which juts out into the Atlantic, may have been an Arawak campsite before the arrival of the Europeans. At first, we got to Devil's Bridge, which is on the Point, but didn't see anything resembling a natural bridge, so we had to ask some poor couple in a car and they just pointed down towards the water. So we wandered down to where they had pointed -- half believing they had just pointed in a direction to get rid of us; but then we found it. The bridge was formed, when at high tide, the rougher waves of the Atlantic force spectacular geysers of water through holes in the rocks near the bridge (3:28-29).
This evening was interesting. I had brought some candy with me (since I had just gotten my braces off on Monday, I was pigging out on caramel) and had left some Rolos on the kitchen counter. We came home to find the counter wet from water leaking from the upstairs bathroom. While cleaning it up, we noticed red ants on some of our food so we started carefully bagging all our treats up. But then we found ants on our Waffle Crisp cereal box. This could not be tolerated. We would throw away crackers and cookies -- but not Waffle Crisp. So, since there is no nightlife in much of Antigua, David and I had nothing better to do. So we spent an hour looking in each hole of every waffle -- 9 holes in each -- to ensure there were no ants (and luckily it seemed that we caught them before they managed to claim the bag as their home). Just when we thought we had everything under control, I picked up my Rolos and found a clump of the stupid things had claimed it. I promptly dropped them on the floor (did I mention these ants sting?), and I guess the Rolos crushed them, because they were all dead. They had eaten half a Rolo in the few hours we were gone. After this vendetta against the ants, there were very few survivors to be found later in the week (although we did leave all our food in the fridge or hanging from the ceiling from then on).
We eat dinner at Barrow's Chill Out Bar and have Dark 'n Gold bard (brown cows) for desert at ???? beach. They do know how to name their restaurant/bars don't they?
Monday, May 27th
This morning I go scuba diving. Antigua is almost completely surrounded by well-preserved coral reefs, walls, and shipwrecks, especially the southern and eastern coasts that are surrounded by shelves providing excellent conditions for diving and snorkeling. There is little or no current in most places, the water temperature averages about 80
I dove with Dive Antigua led by "Big John Birk". According to them, it is Antigua's longest established, most experienced dive operation. Their 40ft dive boat was, luckily for me, covered (3:30-31). My buddy was Jeff (a British Airways pilot) and he showed me many things I would've missed because I didn't know where to look since it was my first dive in the ocean. Linda and Paul from England were also with us (he is an aeronautical engineer for Rolls Royce and she is a physicist for a pharmaceutical company). I petted a shark and saw eels, trumpet fish and barracudas. After the dives, they served refreshments (rum and Pepsi) explaining that Pepsi costs more than the rum -- so they give you quite a bit of rum compared to the Pepsi.
When I returned, we walked down the beach together to see the hurricane's damage to houses and Gabriella's Casino (which was the size of a very, very small house; 3:32). It is now rebuilt (and much larger) much further inland.
We went to KFC for dinner. It was interesting: they were out of regular chicken, rolls, salt and mayo. This didn't seem to concern them at all.
Tuesday, May 28th
We walk out of our condo and remarked to one another that it was raining as we passed a local and he told us "its not raining -- it's just water." Hmmm... interesting, I never thought of it that way before.
We go to Prickly Pear Island (3:33, 4:3-4), off the north tip of the island at Hodge's Bay. Miguel and Josephine are our hosts. Sue and Fran (who also stayed at Antigua Village) came along. There's reasonably good snorkeling here but the waves are pretty high. For lunch there was some kind of fish, lobster with drawn butter, lobster salad, potato salad, fried chicken, and curried conch. Then Fran (or Sue) and I went out snorkeling again to find some shells. Miguel sent one of the boat drivers out to us and we thought he was going to lead us to a reef. We swam after him, but it didn't seem like we were going to any reef, it just got deeper and deeper. We saw large starfish (about 1.5ft across), lawn chairs blown away by the hurricane, and several conch -- he picked up one for each of us. After about 15 minutes of swimming, he asked us if we wanted to go back. We said yes. He said, "well, whatever you ladies want" as if we were wimps or something.
There was an octopus there that ate conch and other shellfish. We took the conch shells he left behind. We also caught four live conch (3:34-35) and set them down upside down on the beach and let them "race" to see which turned themselves over first and which would move the farthest. Conches seem to be very unconcerned with their environment. They only want to be opening down (although it takes them about 15 minutes to bother to turn themselves over, when they do it is a very quick flip) and simply go in whichever direction you point them. When we left we pushed the live ones off the side of the boat into deeper water so they wouldn't be found too soon.
There are birds on the top of the island and they are not happy that we climbed up to them (3:36-37; 4:1). We also took a picture of all of us (4:2)
Wednesday, May 29th
I go scuba diving again. This time arrow crabs that climbed on me -- they look like giant spiders. I also saw squid and a manta ray. Big John also found some baby crab that had camouflaged themselves with pieces of sponge and looked like little orange tarantulas. Aston was our helper.
I find two tiny crabs on the beach and adopt them. The larger one is George and the smaller one is Fred (4:5). I put them up in a Pyrex dish with some extra shells, sand and water. George was interested in getting a new shell and tried each shell on and sometimes walked around without any shell at all. I guess he was an exhibitionist. He even wore one like a inner tube because it was tiny and had a hole in both sides so he could put his whole body through.
Houses on end of Curtain Bluff peninsula (4:6)
For dinner, we go to O'Gradys Pub in St. John's to see Laurie Stevens, an English guitarist/comedian. He asks for singers and sings a song by them. He knows a lot of songs.
Thursday, May 30th
Today we drive around the island. We start at Antigua's most picturesque drive, Fig Tree Drive, which meanders from the low central plain up into the ancient volcanic hills in the southwest of the island. The bumpy 20mi circular drive passes through lush vegetation in a rainforest and rises to the steep farmlands around Fig Tree Hill (figs are what Antiguans call bananas) before descending to the coastline again. Obviously, bananas grow along the drive; there are also mango and coconut groves, as well as a number of old sugar mills and pleasant little churches (4:7-10; Carlisle Bay). We see traditional Antiguan houses along the way -- they are little shacks. We also see people washing their clothes in their front yards in pails/bowls/buckets and others riding donkeys near the pineapple farm area (4:11-13).
At Jolly Bay (4:14-15), mom and I did some shelling after having a run-in with a German tourist. While walking from the car to the beach, mom saw a cobalt blue bottle, which she picked it up and rinsed in the ocean. Leaving it there while we shelled, she walked onto the beach. A fat topless German woman then started heading toward the bottle, so mom picked it up again. The woman insisted it was hers but couldn't get mom to give it to her. So she went back and grumbled to her also fat and topless companion before sulking off to a building.
We then took a drive through the "scenic" part of St. Johns (4:16). The people here live in abject poverty. Some houses were only about 8 feet square. Most don't have running water (although we heard that they chose not to because it's very expensive -- they'd rather carry it down the street in buckets from the spigot). Some wash their clothes in buckets in their dirt "yard" and hang them in trees to dry. On the other hand, some of the resorts on the island are quite opulent. Prices are quite high also; a gallon of water is about $2, and a yogurt is $1.50. Luisita Lopez Torregrosa asked a native about this vast difference; the native responded 'Wha' eye no see, heart no grieve'.
We then went to Nelson's Dockyard National Park (4:17-18) at English Harbor. Nelson's Dockyard was built between 1725 and 1746. It was used by British Navy Admirals Nelson, Rodney and Hood during the Napoleonic wars. During the Seven Years War, it was instrumental in establishing British navel superiority over the French. In the late eighteenth-century it served as the headquarters of the fleet of the Leeward Islands, and Horatio Nelson expanded the dockyard extensively during his tenure as commander of that squadron. Although the yard was gradually abandoned in the nineteenth century (and closed in 1889), it has been completely restored and is now the only Georgian dockyard in the world. Almost all of the park's other sites of interest overlook the harbor. The closest of these is Clarence House, a residence built for the future King William IV (1765-1837) when he served under Nelson as captain of the H.M.S. Pegasus (who was appointed to command in 1878). The house is now the Governors country residence. Today, the park has a museum, souvenir shops, hotels, restaurants, a dive shop, a yacht haven, banks, a post office, a pharmacy, a photo shop, a hairdresser, a bakery (where we got turnovers, croissants and bread pudding that were really good and really cheap), and a travel agent. What's funny is that you have to pay $2.50 to get in to the Dockyard to go to the shops.
English Harbor (4:19) is one of the safest harbors in the world because it is deep enough to take seagoing ships but barely visible from the sea. It was initially developed as a base for the British Navy and from 1707 to 1899 was the main British naval base in the West Indies.
The Pillars of Hecules (4:20-21) in Nelson's Dockyard used to be a building which ships could be brought into to have their sails fixed. They are fantastic rock formations that yachtsmen looking for the entrance to English Harbor often use as a marker, as they are easily visible from sea.
David bought a Wadadli (the local beer) T-shirt from the vendors here. I bought a shell T-shirt and the lapis/malachite necklace that I made into a necklace/bracelet/earring/barrette set.
Along the road, we see a church made primarily of the peculiar green stone that is seen around the island (4:22).
Then we went to Betty's Hope Sugar Plantation. It was the first large sugar plantation on Antigua, and its success led to the island's rapid development of large-scale sugar production. It was built by Sir Christopher Codrington, who came to Antigua in 1674 from Barbados. It was named after his daughter. Displays show how sugar and rum were produced during the 300 year colonial period. The only surviving structures at Betty's Hope are two restored stone sugar mills and the remains of the stillhouse (4:23-25). In 1790 there were 160 windmills on the island (the first was built in 1670). Now there are about 90 ruins remaining on the Antiguan landscape (many have been converted into houses, shops, and restaurants), and Betty's Hope provides a good sense of the way these mills must have dominated the island during the hundreds of years that sugar production was the dominant industry.
We eat dinner on the Warri Pier. While eating, we see Paul limping down the beach. We meet up with Linda and Paul at Spinnakers on our way back to our condo and find out that someone on the dive boat dropped an airtank on his foot. He dove anyway and got to see a turtle everyone else missed since he entered the water last so that no one would bump him. They brought a kettle and tea with them to save money and they are very glad since they've seen the prices of food here.
We wanted to go to either Montserrat or Barbuda for the day, but because of the timing of flights if we went to Barbuda we'd only have about 6 hours and volcanoes were erupting on Montserrat so no one was allowed to go there.
Friday, May 30
I try to go scuba diving but they aren't going out today. Tommy gives me a sea biscuit. So mom and I walk the beach (5:2-4).
We go to St. Johns, Antigua's largest city and capitol, for the day. St. Johns has lots of shops. It is the point of entry for approximately half of the island's visitors, having a deep water port for cruise ships. The white baroque towers of St. John's Cathedral (5:6-7,11), built from 1845 to 1848, are visible from every point in the city. Originally built in 1683 as a simple wooden building, it was rebuilt in 1720 as a brick building. The church is now in its fourth incarnation (earthquakes in 1843, 1789, and 1745 destroyed the previous structures). It's exterior is stone covered with a gray cement. It is noted for its pitch pine interior, which is intended to save the building from ruin by hurricane or earthquake. The iron railings at the entrance date from 1789. The figures of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist are believed to have come from a French ship during the Napoleonic Wars.
Then we went and saw the War Memorial (5:8). At the corner of East and High Streets a handsome Cenotaph commemorates the dead of both world wars. It was unveiled in 1919. The George Westerby Memorial was erected in 1888 in honor of the bishop of that name. Government House, originally a timber-built 17th century mansion, was from 1801 the residence of Lord Lavington, owner of the Carlisle estate. It has a fine dining room in typical Georgian style.
To learn about the early history of the island, we went to the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, housed in the colonial Court House. It is the oldest building in use in St. John's (built from 1747-1750). The museum displays both Arawak and colonial artifacts. It also features a life-size replica of an Arawak house, models of sugar plantations, and shell and animal displays.
The Market, at the southern end of St. John's on Market Street is a busy outdoor farmers market. It is vibrant, with folk crafts, colorful tropical fruits, and large numbers of people, especially on Friday and Saturday mornings.
While in St. John, watch out for the gutters -- they are VERY deep (5:9-10). If you go, you'll see what I mean. Also, be on the lookout for women balancing bags on their heads (5:9-10).
At Heritage Quay, I buy a rum (at the Smoke and Booze Shop) and a swizzle stick of a toucan (to use as a plant stick). Then a man calling himself Michelangelo Simon (Michaelangelo the Second) tells us he wants to draw my picture for $10. We say that we're not interested, but he insists on drawing my nose to prove how good an artist he is, since dad said that he had no scientific proof that he was any good. Well, "my nose" was basically unidentifiable. We again said we weren't interested but he kept following us around trying to get us to buy the picture as he continued to draw it. We tried to get away from him by eating lunch at Redcliffe Tavern (good food). He was right behind us so we asked the waitress to seat us away from the door. Unluckily we were seated at a window so he stood outside the window drawing me eating. Finally, I saw him follow some other hapless blond who happened to walk by and thought that I was freed. But as we left he caught up with us again, so we ducked into a shop. The saleswoman knew about Michaelangelo and said if he bothered us again to tell him that we'd tell security about him. He apparently was well-known in the area. She said it wouldn't be so bad if he weren't so insistent and if his drawings were worth money. He finally left us alone.
We then went to see the 'megaliths' of Green Castle Hill (5:12). They are thought to be a unusual natural geologic feature; however, their origin has not been established. It has also been suggested that they an Indian cult site. We didn't find them very interesting, and would've had to cross someone's field to get to them, so we just looked from the road.
Then we drove past Boggy Peak (the highest point on the island, 1,360 ft/415 m high; 5:13).
Saturday, June 1
We go shelling in the morning again and see an impressive sand sculpture of a woman sunning herself (5:16-17). Take pictures of our condo and beach (5:15,18-22). And on the way to the airport we saw a lotus pool (5:23-24).
Rum punch is a popular drink made from 2pt dark rum, 1pt sugar syrup, 4pt fruit juice.
Antigua & Barbuda Department of Tourism
25 S.E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 300 Miami, FL 33131
610 Fifth Avenue, Suite 311 New York, NY 10020
Tel: 305-381-6762 Fax: 305-381-7908
Tel: 212-541-4117 Fax: 212-757-1607
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