Post-Covid Antiguaaaaah
Following our first post-covid trip in January to the Seychelles, we treated ourselves again and revisited another of our favourite places, Antigua, in May. This time there were no forms to fill out, no covid tests, and travelling was almost normal!
Not much to report other than it was as fabulous as ever! We split our stay this time – I have found that if going for 2 weeks it makes it feel even more of a holiday to spend a week each in two different hotels, so we had the first week at the Inn at English Harbour in the south of the island (which we had visited for lunch last time we were in Antigua in 2013) and the second week back at Galley Bay about 45 minutes away on the north west coast (our sixth time there). They are quite different properties (but equally as fabulous), the Inn being very colonial and on half board with a short boat or taxi ride across to the lively English Harbour and Shirley Heights areas for alternative dining and watering holes, and Galley Bay being more tropical/rustic, all inclusive and more isolated. Both have magnificent beaches, beautiful pool, top notch food and service, and that’s good enough for me!
Weather was very kind to us (I always regard May as a great time to visit Antigua) and the sea was very calm, so our days were mostly spent swimming in the sea and the pool, and just “chilling”. We did venture out a few times over to some restaurants while at English Harbour, and to St John’s for lunch whilst at Galley Bay, and although we toyed with the idea of going to the weekly Sunday night steel drum and reggae bbq party at Shirley Heights (we’ve been several times before and it’s great fun), we could hear all the music from the Inn, so we got lazy, grabbed a few bottles of beers and relaxed on our sunloungers "at home" instead!
As I write this belated report, there are just 5 more sleeps until I’m back in Antigua! At English Harbour we caught the final couple of days of Antigua Sailing Week – or rather we heard the loudspeakers and the entertainment from across the water at the Inn, but we are going slightly earlier this year so hopefully we will see some of the action this time, and just as importantly be there before the lobster season finishes on 30th April! We will be repeating the same itinerary as last year - it was so good we just had to do it all again!
I am a huge fan of Antigua – if somebody told me I could choose only 3 places to travel to I would choose Antigua, the Seychelles and Italy. You’ve had my 2022 Seychelles, you now have Antigua, and upcoming blogs will be for Rome (we visited in October 2022 and I’m still to write that up, and are going back again in July 2023). Contact me if you would like to hear more about these (or other, obviously) destinations.
