A beach for all seasons
Antigua–The sand at Frye's Beach is like talcum powder, the water glitters in the sun like a sugar-glazed donut. And we are alone.
"Antigua boasts 365 beaches," says Antigua and Barbuda Tourism's Erica Henry-Jackman. "You could come for a year and never go back to the same beach twice."
Turner's Beach is a prime destination for visiting cruise ship passengers. Here, an elderly man hawks jewellery, a woman offers to braid your hair. Soak up rays then sip a cold Wadadli beer while you dine in the shade of Turner's Beach Restaurant.
Dickenson Bay is the hot bed of beaches, home to Rex Halcyon Cove, Tradewinds and Sandals Antigua Caribbean Village and Spa. The closest beach to the capital and largest city, St. John's, it's not the place for solitude.
Jolly Beach offers great mountain views, incredible sunsets, a casino, extensive shopping and a number of dining options. Hawksbill gives you the chance to avoid tan lines. Or visit the brown sugar sand at Carlisle Bay in the south. Swim 300 metres off the beach to a reef offering excellent snorkelling.
Finding a beach to call your own is no great challenge here – and we discover our own secret oases from our vantage-point aboard a yacht from Sunsail Charters. Home to one of the premier yachting regattas in the Caribbean, Antigua offers a variety of sailing excursions.
During Antigua Sailing Week in April the seas are decorated by a rainbow of spinnakers. Or you can book your own sailing adventure – the best way to discover the charms of Antigua and your own personal beach. We sail past the Pillars of Hercules, the promontories guarding English Harbour, past Eric Clapton's sandstone-coloured mansion dominating a pock-marked cliff lashed by waves. And we anchor on an uninhabited island in Nonsuch Bay, .
"Antigua is simply beautiful," says Neville Holloway, our Sunsail skipper. "And the best way to see it is by water."
It is the only way to explore the out islands – Great Bird, Guana, Hell's Gate Island. An excursion with Antigua Adventure lets you explore North Sound in a 16-metre power catamaran. Climb a trail on Great Bird, snorkel off Hell's Gate, explore a cave.
And discover another beach.
"You'd never see the beauty of these other islands otherwise," says Carol-Ann Duncan from Oakville. "It's the high point of our trip."
But Antigua has no shortage of more lubberly lures – from the history that swathes Nelson's Dockyard to the shopping opportunities at Redcliff Quay.
"The beach is just the beginning," says Henry-Jackman.
Then she grins. "You've got to try the canopy tour."
The Antigua Rainforest Canopy Tour is nestled in a steep emerald river valley. They strap you into a harness then you climb a steep mountainside trail toward the first station.
"You have nothing to fear but fear itself," says our guide.
The feeling is pure adrenaline, your body suspended 50 metres over the valley floor, the wind in your face. Surprisingly, you decide that nine zip line crossings may not be enough.
That night, it's Shindig time at Shirley Heights.
"This place was the first line of defence against a French invasion," says Antigua and Barbuda Tourism's Elizabeth Mason.
"They posted sentinels to warn of the French fleet and light a signal fire and relay it from mountaintop to mountaintop to warn the capital."
Tonight, the only fires burning at this historic fort perched more than 100 metres above the water, sizzle in great blackened barbecues. And the smoke signals entrees instead of enemies.
"We serve jerk pork, jerk chicken, lobster, the catch of the day," says Valerie Hodge, who has presided over these weekly parties since they began in 1981. "And rum punch."
You'll love the panorama from here: the yachts bobbing in a bay far below surrounded by the buildings of the world's oldest working Georgian dockyard.
You'll love the ambiance – the liquid melody of steel drum, the lazy groove of reggae.
But you won't stay too late because tomorrow is another day, another beach.
A year's worth, to be precise.
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