Antigua, the largest of the British Leeward Islands had warm, steady winds, a complex coastline of safe
harbors, and a protective, nearly unbroken wall of coral reef. It would make a perfect place to hide a
fleet. And so in 1784 the legendary Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed to Antigua and established
Great Britain's most important Caribbean base. Little did he know that over 200 years later the same
unique characteristics that attracted the Royal Navy would transform Antigua is one of the Caribbean's
premier tourist destinations. The signs are still there, they just point to different things.
The Trade Winds that once blew British men-of-war safely into English Harbour now fuel one of the
world's foremost maritime events, Sailing Week. The expansive, winding coastline that made Antigua
difficult for outsiders to navigate is where today's trekkers encounter a tremendous wealth of secluded,
powdery soft beaches. The coral reefs, once the bane of marauding enemy ships, now attract snorkelers
and scuba divers from all over the world. And the fascinating little island of Barbuda -- once a
scavenger's paradise because so many ships wrecked on its reefs -- is now home to one of the region's
most significant bird sanctuaries.
There are 365 beaches on Antigua, one for each day of the year. The great majority rest inside
the calm, protected waters of the island's Caribbean side. All are open to the public, and so the
challenge posed to a visitor is not how to gain access to the best of them but simply how to locate
the beach that suits one's taste.
Antigua is almost completely surrounded by well-preserved coral reefs, walls, and shipwrecks. The
southern and eastern coasts of Antigua are surrounded by shelfs, providing excellent conditions for
spectacular shallow diving and snorkeling. There is little or no current in most places, and the water
temperature averages about 80 F (25 C). Underwater visibility ranges from 50 to 140 feet, and tropical
marine plants and animals are diverse and plentiful. One of Antigua's best-known offshore sites,
Cades Reef, is now partly contained in a designated underwater park.
Another popular destination is the wreck of the Andes, a three-masted merchant ship that sank in 1905
and now rests in less than thirty feet of water in (ironically enough) Deep Bay. Antigua's dive facilities
are far superior to those available on smaller Barbuda, and so most of the sites that have been
established as dive destinations are Antiguan. The southern and eastern coasts are considered to offer
the most consistent diving; for more advanced divers, the ledge of Sunken Rock on the south coast is a
popular site. Dive depths generally range from 25 to 80 feet and can reach 180 feet; distances from shore
to site are in some cases no more than five minutes and at most 40 minutes away.
For more information on Antigua, see: http://www.antigua-barbuda.org.
Antigua
