Antigua
With 365 beaches to choose from and steady winds it is a favourite of beach lovers and sailors alike. Families and couples looking for relaxation and a little luxury are well catered for with many beautiful hotels and villas to suit all budgets.
My husband Tim and I visited the island for nine nights in March and the sun shone everyday and the temperatures were in the early 30C's although we did get a few tropical showers keeping the island lovely and green.
Our first stop was at the Hawksbill by Rex on the west coast not far from the capital St John's. The hotel has 3 beaches (one is the only naturist beach on the island) and many of the other guests we met had been staying at the hotel for many years. During our stay we met up with friends who had rented a villa on the north of the island near Hodges Bay and we met them on a couple of occasions for lunch at two wonderful beach clubs - Coconut Grove and Jackie O's - neither were cheap but the food and the atmosphere were spot on. We also took a look at Darkwood Beach which was popular with cruise passengers from one of the ships at anchor in St John's.
Next stop was the stunning Inn at English Harbour - a firm favourite of our best friends who have visited on many occasions and based on our personal experience I am not at all surprised. A boutique hotel with a colonial feel it is just a short boat ride from Nelson's Dockyard - a well preserved Georgian dockyard - and English Harbour where restaurants and bars are in abundance and we took the opportunity to sample a couple of these and thoroughly enjoyed the live music on Saturday lunchtime although we missed the party and barbecue at Shirley Heights. We did take a pre-breakfast walk up and take in the view though.
Although we were tempted to stay longer our next hotel was waiting for us and we hired a car for the drive north stopping off at a more reasonably priced bar at Half Moon Bay (the Beach Bum Bar), Nonsuch Bay. We had a quick tour of the wonderful hotel, Devil's Bridge, where my husband tried very hard to get me soaked by the waves and various beaches along the east coast, before we arrived at Ocean Point Resort & Spa. It's an Italian owned and run hotel offering a fantastic buffet and catering particularly well for the vegetarians we met, it offers a range of great day and evening activities.
Our final stop was the much lauded Blue Waters Hotel Resort & Spa. Another stunning hotel where we had the great fortune to be upgrade to a Cove Suite - wow! The resort offers wonderful facilities and we sampled the guided snorkelling on the reef which we reached by Hobie Cat - one of the many the hotel have for the use of guests, we gave the tennis courts, children's club and the gym a miss but I did have a great facial in the fabulous spa and we sampled the delights of all four restaurants.
We were incredibly sad to leave this incredibly friendly island and I am sure we will be back before too long.