Impressive Antigua & Barbuda Caribbean Trip!

The hotel has recently remodeled, and for the most part the all-inclusive food is the best deal for an additional $40 per person, per day. You can eat breakfast upstairs across the front-desk area, and eat at night at the Wari Pier on the Sea down by the beach of the hotel property, not far from the pool. This hotel is next-door to Sandals, which was sold-out this visit. Dickenson Bay is about one of the finest beaches and is not more than 20 minutes from the V.C.Bird International Airport in Antigua.

A single room was $170 per night for during off-season. April to December and up, no food included, not an all-inclusive place. It is right on the beach and had great rooms even some that sleep children. All one-bedroom suites. They have a very convenient market right within 100 yards of the property, and two lovely beach restaurants within 100 yards or closer, right on the Beach. I went to see and view the rooms for my next possible stay and visit.

I got the evening pass and for $80 per person, all inclusive food in any restaurant and unlimited drinks. We chose the OK Corral Steakhouse, its upstairs had amazing ocean sounds, breezes, and incredible Staff—as all Sandals have but this one is amazingly awesome! You make your reservations in the office, paying by credit card is simple, and you may visit, dine, and drink until 2:00am at your leisure. We made 6:30pm reservations and were taken in within 5 minutes of our original reservation. Make your own salad from the lovely salad bar, and we got appetizers and drinks right away. There are plenty of options on the menu. I will definitely go back and check out the Italian, Kimonos or the restaurant where we can go at our leisure and not have to make reservations.

We did a walking tour that began with one of the oldest churches in Antigua, St. John's Cathedral. You can see the harbour and big cruise ships from the grave sites outside in front of the church.

I took a personal and private tour of Nelson's Dockyard, it is a very unique monument, and extremely historical. The history began in 1713, when the Caribbean was the scene of struggle for naval supremacy, in which Britain, Spain, France, and Portugal and the United Provinces were competitive of one another. In the power conquest of the 18th century, Britain's strength lay in her Navy, and the waters around the very valued Sugar and Spice Islands of the Caribbean. The American War of Independence, and the attempts of Britain in the last quarter of the 18th century complicated matters with restricted trade with her former American colonies. So, therefore, English Harbour's Importance grew in the 18th century, not only as a port but also as the hurricane refuge and for careening His Majesty's ships in the deep water against the shore.

The English Harbour was a hurricane haven for ships and can be traced as far back as 1671, and the Britsh gegan to use it as a Naval Dockyard in 1725 when St. Helena, located on the Eastern side of the harbour, was allocated funds for construction. The Friends of English Harbour formed in 1951, and began to reconstruct the dockyard and officially reopen it in 1961, after a lot of restoration work.

Now it's a Georgian Naval Dockyard and part of the Antigua and Barbuda National Parks authority. They have plenty of buildings of interest, such as the Admiral's House, the Copper and Lumber Store, The Officers Quarters Building and the Captain House to name a few!

My favorite restaurant in Antigua, next to Sandals of course,  is Hemingways in downtown Heritage Quay area. It looks above the downtown streets and directly across the street from Kings Casino. It is not open on Sundays. I got Lobster with lime sauce and a huge side dish of my choice was crab meat and sauces. Hemingways is on St. Mary's Street. It's in downtown St. Johns and is a charming green and white restaurant. It is upstairs in a wooden West Indian house, built about 1829. It opens from 8:30am until pretty late. They offer dinner, lunch, and snacks or tropical drinks... served on the veranda where I always eat. This is my third time. The place overlooks St. Mary's busy street and the duty-free Heritage Quay. The salads are fantastic, and sandwiches, burgers, seafood (my personal favorite), luscious desserts, and everything has this amazing Caribbean flavor. You can just watch the world go by as, I do every time that I go.

I went after finding out that Paradise Fitness Center, downtown near the Largest Catholic church and the Museum, is open 7 Days a week. I had to pay only a mere 20.00 E.C., with their money being 2 and a half times less, it was not even $10.00. They have two floors, a spacious upstairs with state of the art treadmills, bikes, and various size weights. Downstairs is a nice mini bar, with vitamin and fruit juices, very reasonable—$2 at the most.They didn't have cards to put their telephone number on, but I have it jotted down and will add it to my journal soon! I got in a wonderful 1 hour workout. The fitness center included nautilus weight machines and dumbbells downstairs, and upstairs there were fitness balls for the ladies and the men, and whomever want to use them. They also had weighted waist sticks and machines, they have it all!