In 1723, work commenced on the English Harbour Dockyard, which would provide a port that was easily defensible, gave immediate access to the trade winds, yet protected enough to careen a ship and provide a safe haven in hurricanes. It was completed in 1745 and was Britain’s main naval station in the Lesser Antilles. Nelson was stationed here in 1784 and eventually took over as naval commander.
When former commander Vernon Nicholson sailed into English Harbour in 1947, the dockyard was in ruins. The arrival of Nicholson’s Charter Company in 1949 and the restoration of the ruins into a beautiful yet functional monument gave momentum to the development of the yachting industry here. The whole of Nelson’s Dockyard has been beautifully reconstructed and is now a restored Georgian Naval Base housing hotels, restaurants and businesses. It is not only the yachting capital of Antigua, but a major Caribbean yachting centre.
We were anchored in English Harbour while in Antigua. The harbour is quite small and is bordered by a lovely white sandy beach and resort; two hilltop forts flanking the entrance of the harbour, the largest one being Fort Berkely; and the restored Nelson’s Dockyard.
Fort Berkeley, English Harbour, Antigua, from the stern of Hasta La Vista.
View of Nelson’s Dockyard from English Harbour, Antigua.
Restored building in Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua. The building was previously the Officer’s quarters and now contains a bar, restaurant and shops.Forts sit on the hilltops surrounding and overlooking the Harbour. One of them, Shirley Heights, affords magnificent views of both English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour, which adjoins English Harbour by a narrow strip of land. The fort on the top of Shirley Heights has been partially restored and is now a bar and restaurant.
A view of English Harbour from Shirley Heights.One of the less fortunate aspects of this harbour’s long history is that anchors occasionally get wrapped around 200-year-old artifacts, not least of which are several massive chains know as “hurricane chains”. As ships came into the harbour, their anchor would be dropped catching on these chains to slow them down and bring them to a holt.
Over 200 year old anchor with heavy chain attached, located on the beach of English Harbour, Antigua.The road connecting Nelson’s Dockyard and Falmouth Harbour is lined with restaurants, but most have closed until November, when the “season” recommences. English Harbour has quite a few yachts anchored, most on their way south for the hurricane season. Falmouth Harbour and Marina, which caters for mega yachts, is basically empty with only a few vessels in the marina and a few yachts anchored in the harbour.
Our first day after arriving was spent exploring Nelson’s Dockyard through to Falmouth Harbour. On our second day, we hired a car. For the first time since leaving Australia, we drove on the left hand side of the road, in a vehicle with the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car!
Waters of different hues of blue lapped the coastline. The island was lush and green due to recent rains. The landscape was scattered with old sugar mills from times gone by. Sugar Cane is no longer grown. Resorts popped up occasionally as we drove along the coast. In between, there were small villages of brightly painted houses, vegetable stalls and small local restaurants. Wild goats roamed the green pastures and small farms scattered the island. St John, the capital of the island, was a small busy city with buildings tightly fitting the one way streets. There was no order to the city and parking was impossible. The highlight for me for the day was driving past the Sir Viv Richards Cricket Stadium. The stadium has been built quite a few miles outside of St John and stands amongst flat coast lands. It really is quite a site with its tiered stalls and the huge screen at the end of the cricket ground. It would have been great to watch a game of cricket. Perhaps next year.
Old sugar mill, Antigua.
Yes, I am just supervising Mal who took the photo of the old sugar mill!Our last stop of the day was Shirley Heights. It was mid afternoon on a week day and being off season, the bar, restaurant and entertainment area was deserted. However, the views were amazing and the surrounding remains of the fort stood ominously on the point. We were told that Sunday Night, the bar and restaurant put on two bands and offered a reasonably price bar-b-q which attracts a large crowd. This is a very popular place with cruisers and tourists and is often featured in the Latitude and Attitude magazine. We went along on the following Sunday evening and had a great time!
The Sunday night crowd at Shirley Heights, Antigua.
Kerry enjoying the Sunday night evening at Shirley Heights, Antigua.We had no idea that these islands are so dormant in the off season. But the weather is wonderful, 30 degrees during the day and 24 degrees at night. A swim at least twice a day is a necessity!
On Monday 25th May, after only six days in Antigua, we left for Guadaloupe. We had planned to stay longer, but with everything being so quiet, we decided to continue on and return next year in the high season. Also, the weather forecast indicated winds strengthening over the next week or so.
On our way to Granada
The hurricane season commences in June and ends in November. Many cruisers have insurance policies, a condition of which is that they must be out of the hurricane belt during these months. Granada south is the area to which they are all cruising. Even though our insurance policy does not have this condition, Mal and I have decided that we too, will sail to Granada and use this as a base during these months to explore Granada and the surrounding islands. Granada will be a very busy place and we are looking forward to our time there. Our plan is to sail to Granada during June and at the latest, July. There are many islands that we will sail pass or briefly visit on our way to Granada. At the end of this year and for the first half of 2010, we plan to sail north and spend more time exploring the islands which we passed or quickly visited.
