Antigua: St John's and English Harbor

Antigua was the first true eastern island scheduled on the cruise out of San Juan. I had almost no expectations (or information) about it.

I love to watch entering a harbor in the morning, if possible, and because I had missed the entrance to Road Town, Tortola, I wanted to be sure I was up for the one into Antigua. Like Tortola, Antigua is filled with green hills. not pancake flat. However, Antigua's main city (and capital) St. John's is extremely large compared to Road Town.

I got off the boat and started a walking tour with the phone map. It didn't take long to leave the glut of tourists and find nearly empty streets ready for exploration. The first place I came across of note was the Antigua Museum. It wasn't yet open, but on a later tour we were told it used to be the colonial courthouse.

On a small hill nearby stands St John's Cathedral. I didn't enter, but walked around it to view different perspectives. The first busloads of visitors had just started to arrive.

Just up from the cathedral is the old government house. There was to be a museum there, but I couldn't find the entrance. Perhaps I was too early. I noticed a lot of old buildings from the 18th century clustered together (some still in use).

After seeing the main historic buildings, I turned back downtown. A lot more people had disembarked and I assumed the shops would all be open.

Overall, the buildings in the old section of St John's were in very poor condition. Only a few had been kept up or renovated. I thought if they all had been, the city would look much more inviting. For places that live on tourism, such basic things like new paint on buildings can make a world of difference for first impressions.

One of the few, private renovated buildings.

Overall my opinion of the town was negative. Not too much had been kept up and the town looked very "poor" with the exception of a handful of renovated buildings.

Then I returned to the port area to see the "developed" (read: re-created) part of the city for tourists. Heritage Quay and Redcliffe Quay were built to blunt the impression of the city for cruise ship passengers (of which there are many), Of the two, Redcliffe Quay is done far more tastefully. Most visitors never walk outside of these two zones.

I returned to the ship for a bite to prepare for my excursion to the other side of the island just after noon. The first glimpses of Antigua had not been favorable. I thought the original old parts of the city were not much to see and the general degree of development on the island was low. It is only near the cruise pier that some effort was made to make the area "beautiful" - and that was all more or less "fake".

After an early lunch (actually second breakfast), I queued up with a LOT of other people (around 50) and we were divided into two buses. We were going to see Antigua's prime historical site, Nelson's Dockyard (a UNESCO World Heritage site). Given how underwhelmed I was with the morning walkabout, I kept my expectations low.

The tour took us through the middle of the island and our guide appeared to be in training as her commentary was often supplemented by the driver (who appeared to have a lot of information on Antigua). All people need to train for jobs, but it is disappointing when they are training on something that may be a once-in-a-lifetime tour (and was not cheap). Doreena (who was very sweet) basically read a script to us, badly. She often didn't know the answers to questions or gave responses not related to the questions. The driver, however, interjected and interrupted her often. We assumed she was new given her delivery and her need to read everything from the official notes.

The "middle" of Antigua looks very much like any developing country on a tropical island. On a positive note, the countryside is very clean (which felt refreshing). So many places with poor development are strewn with trash (because people have nowhere to put it).

Our first stop was atop a bluff at Block House on the opposite side of the island, the site of an old British guard post (providing sweeping views over the nearby sea). The scene is breathtaking in both directions. Far away on one ridge, we saw a long structure that was built into the hillside (using natural tones) - apparently it is Eric Clapton's getaway. We were all impressed, yet none of us had any clue what was coming soon.

On a hill nearby lies Shirley Heights, the site of another old British guard post that had fallen into ruin. Apparently a woman named Shirley acquired it and fixed up the main building. She made it into a restaurant, and on weekends, people drive there from all over the island for wonderful dinners at sunset. They are legendary. The heights provide an excellent view of Falmouth Harbor and English Harbor. I would definitely want to eat at Shirley's restaurant on a return trip to Antigua.

Shirley's restaurant

View of English Harbor

The bus took us back down the hill to English Harbor where we alighted and got organized for the tour through Nelson's Dockyard. The place has been immaculately restored and is part of a National Park (that is strangely not funded by the government). In English Harbor were moored the yachts of the very rich. I felt like we had been transported to Monaco. We were on a lovely island in the Caribbean in a beautiful bay filled with multi-million dollar yachts. The venerable British shipyard there had been perfectly restored. In the hills surrounding were the homes of very wealthy people. They even held international yachting competitions there. It was completely NOT what Saint John's had been.

The tour was short and informative - given by a professional guide on site. We learned about the history of the place and that Lord Nelson had been stationed there as a young man (not in his prime). It was given the name Nelson's Dockyard as an homage to his time there.

As I felt in the Netherlands sometimes, I had stumbled upon a place exclusively for the rich and powerful. It is not promoted (nor is it a secret) - there is no need. Going to English Harbor from St John's felt like moving to Newport, Rhode Island from the port of Baltimore. Of course, I loved English Harbor because of its natural beauty and history, but I also felt Antigua suffered from huge wealth disparities. That gap was hard to get my head around.

February 2026

Our return to the ship was delayed due to traffic and we were a full 30 minutes late. We caused the ship to be late in its departure (they had to hold it for us - we were on a ship's tour). One woman on the bus was having a meltdown despite all of our efforts to explain the ship "had to" wait for us.

I met an NYU retired Med School professor and his wife on the tour and we had a lot of good discussions throughout the day. It felt great to meet someone to talk to who was interested in more than just the beach or shopping at each destination. The number of people who cruise only for the ship and the facilities nearby in each port is substantial.

The sail away was in the late afternoon, so we had good views of the city as well as Fort James at the Harbor Entrance (much too far to walk earlier). The harbor water was Caribbean blue juxtaposed against the lush green hills of the island.

Although my initial impression of Antigua was "beautiful but poor" I then upgraded it to "Hideaway of the Rich and Powerful" (that is located in a beautiful but poor country). The island exactly matched my expectations of an Eastern Caribbean nation.

We sailed south toward Barbados.