4. Antigua

Swordfish and delicious rum punch. Plus - the choice of a private island!  In this episode,  you'll hear about the real Antigua - with facts only a local would know: from travelling,  to eating, to shopping,

For a free factsheet on Antigua and other goodies, email May at her website:  https://www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/may.swan-easton

Transcript

Swordfish, private islands and delicious rum punch. Plus the choice of a private island. Welcome to episode four of travels with May.

Hello, I'm  May Swan-Easton a destination is the beautiful island of Antigua. Now keep listening because I'll be telling you how you can download a free fact sheet on the island, but let's get straight into the conversation I had with Joel O Henry , who is manager of marketing and business development at Antigua and Barbuda tourism authority.

And over the next 40 minutes, you'll hear about the real Antiga with facts only local would know from traveling to eating. Welcome Joel. Thanks you me. And it's nice to be here with you. First of all, can you tell us a little bit about the history of Antigua? Yeah. So until he was actually a former British commonly, and even when you traveled to answer, you get today, you see lots of those remnants around trigger mills and the UNESCO world heritage sites and the dockyard.

And it's an English speaking Caribbean island that was basically built as economy on tourism. You know, it's only 11 miles long, so it's quite easy to get around and people love it. Easiness to navigate the culture on the food, but it has a rich, rich history. You know, all the colonialism is still around and turned into restaurants and hotels today.

So the customers will come into Antiga will actually enjoy that sort of really authentic experience of being not only on an island, but also an island was significant and have some sort of, so what's the best time to visit Antiga would you say, you said we are all your owns, you know, lucky. The temperature remains.

Consistency is always above 26 degrees. So we'll have to bring your car to go and switch you in, regardless of where Newcomb, uh, what the peak rainy Montessori's September, but we call it liquid sunshine. Cause it's like having a hug button to see when you're there and what people come for various events as well.

So if you come in the summer, you can come in December. We got boat show into. April, which you go sell in regards to, so it all depends on what events was activities are happening throughout the year. There's always something happened in regards to when he comes around to you, the beach will always be blue and the sand would always be white.

And are you affected by the hurricanes in the car? The Caribbean is part of the hurricane bells. So the last major hurricane in Antigua was over 10 years ago and in Barbuda, just about three to four years ago. So it's just one of those things, but we're very resilient. We bounced back really quickly and you know, the infrastructure's in place in the hotel.

In the homes, um, to deal with this sort of national crisis, if it does happen, but it's very isolated and then Seger and Bob, as well as the rest of the Caribbean, you know, this is not a new thing. And we have always survived and trauma is stronger than ever. Um, and what's the average time people stay in Antiga for.

Two weeks. We see that a lot of long stays and people like that because they can also discover our sister island Barbuda. So it gives you a really good time. You said two for the price of one. So instead of rushing out for short weekends, you can actually come and have a really relaxing time. And they actually feel like he has left the country.

You know, your friends miss you at home and you come out here for 10 to two weeks. That's normally the length of time people travel to and see growing up. Well, Buda is a little germ. It's almost like a secrets, but you don't see it advertised anywhere, you know? So once you get to go there, you almost have like a bonus points because it's like, wow, you've thinks about, or all of that.

Many people, many of your friends and family probably would have never been. So Barbuda has a commercial flights, these operators from the Antigua airport straight to the Barbary district, because you're going from a country. So another country by one country, there is no sort of border controls. You literally just walk off the plane, straight onto the beach.

You can even take the fairies, the fairies where the locals used to go to work and back and forth. And that is very affordable. And at least on the city of St. John's and there's actually an excursion called tropical adventures that do like a day trip catamaran to Barbuda. So, if you want to have like an  where you were able to have a guy take you around the island, when you get there with a rum punch in your hand, and you can actually do that as an excursion as well, just for a day from your Antigo holiday.

Oh, sounds divine. How does Babu different from antique? It's a lot more flat, probably just six to two square miles and antique is 108. So the first difference is the size. The second difference is the population and to get his 90,000 Bob Hendrix, just 1000. So you can't even much, it's like a rub interest of Virgin of Antiga.

Well, Buda depends on the fishermen for their survival also to ship a lot of flags. Through some prawns and mussels to Caribbean islands. So you maybe haven't pawns in another Caribbean island. He came from Barbuda and they do a lot of fishing. That's where they make the economy from. Whereas Antigua's main economy is tourism, so they compliment each other very, very well.

And you know, the differences are very, you know, Professional. So it's not really like it's situation where we are competing against each other. Still one governments still want people. We will have to stay in passports, whether it be from Bob Barbuda or Antiga, anti-guns go to Bermuda, to camp on the weekends.

But you know, what's going to, I think, at a shop on the weekends. So there's a really nice combination. So I know that the island is split into six different parishes. Can you explain what that means? So bearish is almost like a major community, so it's like something I think they have inherited from the colonialism.

So St John's is the main parish for the city. So all the homes and villages in St. John's, um, there, the city St. John's Harbor, where you have the cruise ships come in. The duty-free shops, many stores and restaurants on the south coast, they are St Mary's, which is very more mountainous. So that isn't everywhere.

You have things like the rainforest and you have the fixed tree drive trails. And, you know, from fantastic hotels are located around there as well. And the nice thing about around Seeger is that regardless of where you are, the beaches are always beautiful, unable for people to swim. Um, you don't have a situation where you have the Caribbean sign and the Atlantic.

You can just of at NEC around the island, the parishes also have definitely things such as religion. So you have significant denominations of churches and various parishes, you know, like the Amsterdam Catedral is in St. John's or you can also go to another Pentecostal church in another parish, um, in Antigo.

So until you get parishes with almost like a community is. The school is parishes has its own branded supermarket sort of has its own identity. And it just create a really, really nice experience. And we do tours like the Jeep safari for which takes you through the parishes and give you a history about them, um, on a day trip around them for families then as well as couples and seminar.

Oh, of course. I mean, I actually think that, and CJ is very, very good for solos because it's such a small island and everybody's sorta related to somebody. So you always get that connection with me when you go. Or that family feeling of being welcome to my home, you know, so you actually can navigate the island.

The seating place is safe and you can rent the car for a day or rental cost for the duration of your trip. And I said, you don't even need a roadmap. Just keep driving left. You just end up on a beach bar somewhere. So what's the feeling of safety, you know, feeling warm, welcome from the people of Antigua and Barbuda, and just been able to do anything you want.

There's no place that's more than 20 minutes drive. So you can actually feel that you've done something. And of course the honeymooners and the weddings still love us. You know, there's no residency requirements, people coming out here to get married. I love that because you know, I'm tickets part of the Commonwealth.

So your documentation and embarrass certificates. Actually recognized back in Britain and it just makes it all a lot simpler. And again, for the families, as I mentioned about the beaches, they're very sort of, you know, safe the kids. Then you can do activities like swimming, the sting rays, or the range forest supply in it, keep them busy.

And, you know, while you relax on the beach and enjoy your hotel, So you mentioned hotels, what standards or what types of accommodation is there available to stay out on? Antica offers quite a mix. So I would recommend if someone wants to go out and eat out in restaurants, English Harbor is a good hub is really fantastic.

Good bed. And breakfast is from your three-star to your five star luxury like sub points and figure where you can actually walk up. So breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I stayed there last year. Christmas. And I was able to eat at a different restaurant and it's all cuisines like Indian summer restaurant, Italian restaurants, a Caribbean fusion and pizzerias.

You know, if you just want to have some jerk chicken from the street, you can even have that right. There is someone looking a bit more, all inclusive. They can actually go to the Northwest coast. We have resource like a sandals and Tega and blue waters. And Tega again, that also is a sort of black four or five star sort of exclusivity.

Very high end and you can have a good all-inclusive hotel and you can actually still go out to I'm seeing it to explore the island. If people wants to have catering places like non-social bay on the east coast, for example, but also is like luxury apartments. So you can actually go to the supermarket.

You want to cook your bacon and eggs in the morning and sort of benchmark and learn. So then I come home and have dinner prepared and he fit looking for like a private island retreat. You can go over to somewhere like Germany, the islands for that ultra exclusive five star experience. I see. It's probably one of the only private islands in the world where you can be at in five minutes after an international flight.

So from. So if catering all in courses to boutique hotels, to private island retreats, there is definitely something for everyone. We're looking at one until you go holiday, you mentioned about maybe hiring a car for the day. How long would it take to drive around the whole perimeter of the island? If somebody did hire a car, is the person who you are.

He takes you for 45 minutes.

It's 11 miles long, 40 miles wide. And you can literally just go right around the island on one road. So you can take two hours, but you do it allegedly. You're not striving. Stop. You have learned, she gets to the beach top of the church. You see some sides, some locals, maybe picking minds as instead of the roads, you can stop and grab someone who's no way around.

So definitely it's. I highly recommend it. I do. Every time I come my phone, um, it's also very affordable. It's like 40 to $50. Say for rent. For the full 24 hours. And you can see so much events here when you do that. And, you know, just trick into the local villages, you know, you'll be amazed how warm and welcoming people are.

And we're not a big population. We're not mass tourism destination, and the whole island is open. And people who live here as well. So we've left lots of restaurants to choose from. You mentioned beach bars and, um, you know, more high dining mastodons types of things as well. Um, what times do the restaurants open until as the moment the restaurants are opening until 11 usually, and that's when they close up or restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

So people can come up to answer you and essentially for whatever they want, we'll also do fantastic brunches. So if you can get through the round the clock, if you just want to come in the afternoon before sunset, you can go to somewhere like shamrocks, which in fantastic tappers and cocktails just before sunset all the, in the beautiful sea, or you can go somewhere down to English Harbor, which has new restaurants and you can enjoy fantastic, fine dining there in the evenings with live music entertainment.

And it's just really a nice experience. I think about Antigua was that the restaurants and bars are all uniquely owned. So you're not going to find the big, big brands. Um, we also very sort of like, you know, Mr. John bought this restaurants with his money, he learns how to make a trade back in the day. And it's now a big spot.

You know, he does this local cuisine, his mom's in the kitchen, you know, Stuart is on the floor in the bar and it's just. So every one of my favorite places called Dennis to be spot he's the phrase beetle, you know, he, he learned to cook from his mom and he does the locals foods. You know, the Curry goes the oxtails, the rice and peas, and he can figure your fishing trips.

If you fancy Joe. I remember that bar very well, that restaurant, because you took me there once on the, on a, with a group. And I remember having the ramen races. I screamed as a dessert and it was very different to any other sort of rum and raisin ice cream I've ever had. It literally was a blubber buy, a vanilla ice cream, some rum as some raisins over the top scattered and then a huge dollop of rum.

Just over the top of it. It was delicious. It was absolutely delicious. I remember that bar very, very well. Yes, it was really good. So, so are there any other traditional dishes that you would recommend to people try. Or unselfish so that it's like a mixed combination of things like sweet potatoes and full turnouts.

And we normally eat traditionally around Easter time, but you feel feeling homesick like when I come home on Christmas monster, make it for me. And that is like, So it could see some of the hotels who fish feature like in the breakfast menu, just the, my sample. And that is very sort of like every antique at home.

Have to do that at Easter. For Easter Monday lunch, we're very big in our seafood, the wild, beautiful spiny lobster. I mentioned earlier, the Barbie to speak on the efficient, um, major export to Antigua. They're very much like, you know, we do lots of child, lots of term dog, all sorts of different ways. Um, and you just go to the market at 5:00 AM on a Saturday and you just see people just lobsters like crazy.

It's amazing. Uh, all fresh, not frozen, you know, and seafood. Anything from the CEO will say is I go in and see you guys. It's a hundred percent fresh and just been caught probably 15 minutes before. And all very different types of fish than with that we can get in the UK. So what, what's the average cost of dinner?

Um, if you're not staying at an all-inclusive hotel, safe, something like a casual dinner restaurant. Yes. It's totally like a catch role. Let me look at this one. Trappers. This is the English shopper Monday, July. Set menu. So for example, all the starters means and desserts and saying, so what do you have in prawns chicken?

You're still paying the same course. And that works at about 150 ECC, which is about 35 pounds. And then on top of that, you have your wine and your own pantry and stuff. So I'll say round it up with drinks about 50, 50 pounds per person for a nice, lovely dinner in a fantastic setting. And it's really a good restaurant, good portions as well.

Very similar to the UK, I guess, for, for 50 pounds a head that's something that you would, you would go out to dinner in a nice restaurant here. Isn't it as well in London or something. So, yeah. So does antique a cater for special meals like vegans, halau, kosher, many of our hotels and restaurants have adopted like vegan style and also from a cultural perspective.

The denomination of religions is divided between the rest of fare and tribe and Christians, Rocephin and tribes. They believe in only eating anything from the ground. So all sorts of brown provisions that don't in need. So that is also part of our culture in terms of the food that we're able to offer, um, our customers in terms of people who want that sort of special veganism or into vegetarian, or also wants to destroy local, healthy foods.

Um, Not having the UK, for example, um, regarding Halla, um, see hotels do like sandals Antiga, uh, at that will be more resort based than in the local restaurants, because it's not a popular choice around the island in terms of locals, uh, from that sort of denomination, but definitely anybody who's vegan, vegetarian pescatarian, they can definitely find something to eat on that until you get around.

That's good to know. So now I know you have your own rum distillery, but do you also brew your own. We do the one badly bit, so that we're done you guys so nice and Coles. And I liked it because I'd bring back about six bottles. We'll me back to the UK. Cause I can't get into Tesco's. And what that means is actually the original name of Antigua.

So before, until it was discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was actually called Dudley and the beer today is called, would that leak and that can be served in any way. You spin Porto mini bars. We'll have it. Any restaurant at any bar. You know, one beer for Fiverr Caribbean dollars. So you can have a good, nice bucket of bears on Dickerson bay, relaxed and enjoy, and Tega in the best food possible.

What about tipping? Um, do the, do you tip in the restaurants and the bars? Yeah, so it's something it's a cultural thing. So people do tip for good service is not required on a mandatory. Um, so if you have a fantastic time yeah. Would you recommend tipping? Um, and people always just like to show appreciation to the locals on the stuff.

Maybe the waitress has made a recommendation of a meal you should have on the menu, or, you know, the bartender major cocktail is extra strong, so you're very happy.

There's 365. One for every day of the year. Is there a beach in Antigua that's considered to be the best? Wait, Ooh. That's, that's a big debate that we all have, even amongst my colleagues. It's like, which is your best, which is my there's a nice thing about Antigua is not only the fact that. Beautiful beaches, but we actually have 55 offshore islands.

So these offshore islands forms the part of the finger. So you can actually head out to days on a boat trip for a picnic or just a snuggler and the reefs around the island. So the beaches are not only concentrated on Antigua. So for example, The best speech is a beach on green island, which is located on the north east side of Antiga.

He has a lovely Crow of the front of it. So you can just head out and go dive in and snorkeling there. And I'd come back to the beach for relaxation on Antigua Dickerson bays. One of them was seamless speech with sandals and is located. You also some nice bars and restaurants there as well. Uh, when you think of the Caribbean Palm trees, Lucy.

That's what it is without being to shops. That's so true. Um, so what else can people see and experience that they can't in any other destination in the Caribbean? How's it a unique thing about Ron Sega is the ability to just see other islands. I mean, Uh, it was located near around Tega you can actually see monstra from, to here.

So you can do a helicopter tour that takes you over the cold air of performed Chino that erupted in 1995. Um, it was really a unique experience lost for what 45 minutes. Um, and it's very sort of like the adrenaline wild factor. Um, I always encourage people to do. Walking tours. So this is something for eat blind.

So align is a word that locals use for hangout. So let's go to line. Let me, let's go out to hang out for tonight. So Eaton line basically is a walking sort of takes you through like the box streets and the back alleys and the cobbler streets in the city. And you try local food from different stores.

Food tastes and as well, as long as the way where you actually get to CMT you're off the beaten track and is highly recommended for anyone that's coming out here who wants to experience the real, the real century. Well, you know, Antigo offers everything, you know, the choice of beaches. You can just relax in one, one day and do something else the other day.

You don't have to repeat anything because this sort of choice. Lime is like in the UK. Yes, definitely.

That's good. Again. That's guide for now. I didn't know that. That's what you can learn so much even though you're you still. Definitely. And I've been lucky that I've been turned Tega I think four or five times. And obviously with you once before, and every time I go, I try something new. I eat a new restaurant or I stay at a different hotel.

So yeah, it's full of different experiences, even though it's all on the one island. Totally agree with you on that one. So what about the wildlife and Marine life? Um, in antique. So the Antigo payload scene is very sort of centered around tropical animals. So you see things like horses and cows around the city, around the islands.

But if you want something a bit more specific, if you go to Barbuda, Well, we just actually home of the largest collation of the frigging birds anywhere in the Western hemisphere. And you can do a fantastic tour on the water taxi into the lagoon of the Barbie, the birth century. People gone all over the world for trenches, just to observe this magnificent experience is actually like, wow.

It was like tens of thousands of Ben Wayland. They migrate as far as develop your silence. And it's really quite a good story behind that. We have a lot of places in Antigo who do a lot of charity work for like, you know, wild animals like donkeys and you know, so to be skinny, you just protect the environment, keep them off the roads cause accidents.

Um, and. Very big on sustainable tourism. You know, we, one of the first countries to ban the use of plastic bags and, you know, just to ensure that no, there's no rubbish, see that will affect our sea life and our church Hills and around the world. So, or animals, whether in sea or land have a really good environment to survive.

It just like humans do on their islands as well. Is that part of the green initiative that's being developed in Antigua at the moment? Yes. Very, very big. And there is the first Caribbean islands launched a lot of things that we have to green, Colorado sort of green. Starts in St. Johnson runs all the way down south coast and all businesses operate on that corridor.

We'll have to follow a certain sort of protocols. That's used solar energy, you know, just really no plastic walls. And it's just really turning down to be clean, sustainable, and just making sure that, you know, we come up not only as a tourist destination for people just to come and enjoy the beaches, but also for people to really.

You know, respect the country and, you know, leave it in a good condition. So more people can farm again, um, in the future and things for me. And as it is, uh, in terms of the wildlife, I go back and say, and be very strict on certain things. For example, I mentioned that we're very big on our lobsters, but there's a off period where you're not allowed to catch lobsters, just allow them to grow.

And this is regulated by the government and all the hotels nobody's aware. Um, we also do. Watching them beaches sort of turtles come to the shores, the hashtags. So if you seen somebody like a galley, be able tell, you can observe this a certain times in a year. And all of these are managed by the environmental awareness groups.

So everything is coordinated just for CMC and ensure you're protecting our wildlife. I'm big on shopping. It's one of my, um, ways to relax when I'm away and on holiday. Yeah. You mentioned shopping. You've mentioned a couple of shops, but whereabouts, is there a particular area for people to go to, to do the shopping or is it all over the island?

The boutiques are all of the islands, so you can get local arts or local souveneirs anywhere you go on the main shopping areas in St. John's consists also where the cruise ships come in. So that's where the biggest trade is. So you can get. Design the bags, your choose, you freeze your cigarettes, your, um, um, you can also explore the six years.

Well, you found the, also has the Antigo. Market as well. You have the craft market, a food market and a fish market all located within the same complex. So you can discover certain things and also just explore the city as well. So that actually makes a very good day trip just to get to your hotel for a day and down to heritage and cliff keys.

Those are the two main shopping areas for people looking to buy stuff. Nancy, what would be your top tip for somebody visiting Antiga and Bob. Ooh, my top set. I will say don't limit yourself. So I let go on holiday or sit in the beach and see, he is very accessible, you know, anywhere you want to go to is 20 minutes or less.

So come with an open mind and just go out and discover places. You know, you could even just stumble into a lucky piece far one day. And, you know, I did that last weekend when I was here, um, uh, in the public sphere on punches and I was just driving past the. You know, with the owner and thoughts. Um, and I think these memories make the mess souvenir when you shuffled on the holiday.

And I think that's what I'm thinking of has created, you know, we have over 60% repeat business of customers who come once and just come back again. And I think that is mainly the reason why to do it. Uh, but yeah, absolutely beautiful. You know, one of the, if you want to experience like a really. Events come out from the Antigua race week, the end of April, you don't have to be a sailor to participate in it.

You know, the spectator view of it is fantastic and you can just, you know, CMT and old school, 200 sail boats around the Harbor. It was just beautiful. Fantastic. I can't wait to come back soon, hopefully very, very soon. Thanks for joining us today, Joel. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and expertise on all things.

Antiga. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me and see you all there. Soon,

free fact sheet on visiting Antiga with some great hints and tips. Visit my website, travel counselors.co.uk forward slash may dot Swan, hyphen Easton, and request by email. And don't worry if that's a complicated web address, I've included it in the show notes on this podcast. So you can click from there.

Next time on travels with me, we head to Estonia. So to ensure you don't miss it, click follow on this podcast to make sure each episode arrives into your podcast at every fortnight. And whilst you're there, please leave a review. The more positive ratings they show received, the more people get to see and hear about these fantastic destinations.

Thanks for listening till next time