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Antigua map
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Embassies & Consulates
Canada
See the Definitive Caribbean Guide to Barbados
United Kingdom
British High Commission, Price Waterhouse Centre, 11 Old Parham Road, St John’s t 462 0008/9
United States
There is a US Consul in Antigua, t 463 6531, but for a US Embassy you need to refer to Barbados |
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Emergencies
Police – 911 or 999, or Head Quarters 462 0125
Fire – 911 or 999
Ambulance – 911 or 999
Hospital – Holberton Hospital 462 0866 |
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Flights/Getting There
Antigua’s VC Bird International Airport has very good air links with both the UK and North America and is a major international and regional hub serving the north-eastern Caribbean. It is the home base of LIAT, the main inter-island scheduled airline for the Eastern Caribbean.
The following airlines currently serve Antigua:
UK
British Airways from Gatwick and Virgin Atlantic from Gatwick
USA
US Airways from Philadelphia, American Airlines via San Juan, Air Jamaica from New York and Continental Airlines from Newark.
Canada
Air Canada from Toronto
Regional
Major carriers Caribbean Airlines (former BWIA) and Air Jamaica touch down on certain routes to the States or Europe from their home bases. American Eagle makes the link for American Airlines from their hub in San Juan.
Regional carriers LIAT use the island as their base and Air Caraïbes passes through en route between the French islands to the north and south.
Charter Airlines
If you are traveling within the Caribbean and want a private charter, then the following local airlines are based in Antigua -
Carib Aviation, VC Bird International Airport, t 462 3147
Norman Aviation, VC Bird International Airport, t 462 2445, m 464 8522
STOP PRESS: Carib Aviation ceased all operations out of Antigua on 12 September 2008 including scheduled services operated on behalf of LIAT. |
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Flora & Gardens
Antigua is a fairly dry island (relatively) but you will see a full array of tropical plants in the hotels and private gardens. During the sugar era, the island was completely covered in sugarcane fields, but the crop came to an end in the 1800s and so there is now a lot of open land and scrub. There is just one area of lush forest, in the south-west, at Fig Tree Hill, where you will find bigger trees and a small feel of rainforest.
The old botanical gardens (once used to propagate plants for planting) are located in St John’s at Victoria Park, close to the East Bus Station. Established in 1893, they were badly neglected and in disrepair until recently, but work has begun on restoration. |
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Food & Cooking
In the hotels in Antigua you will generally be served international fare with a twist of the Caribbean in some of the ingredients. Caribbean fish, some of the vegetables and of course much of the fruit is caught or grown in the area. A couple of the hotels sidestep this formula by offering a different style of cuisine, perhaps Asian or Italian, but hotel dining rooms tend to have a certain uniformity about them, so you may want to head out to some of the island’s many restaurants for a change of taste and scene.
Although many of the hotels are now ‘all-inclusives’ (which tends to deal a death to independent restaurants, because guests have already paid for their food and consequently do not want to go out), Antigua has a big enough population of restaurant goers to sustain a number of good restaurants. There is reasonable variety too, with a handful of smart restaurants, mostly French and Italian, but then also some dead cool spots down on the beach where you can get simple usually Caribbean fare in the lovely setting of one Antigua’s fantastic beaches. As with much of life on the island, there is a fair concentration in the North-west around St John’s and in the South-east around English Harbour, where particularly in season there is a whole strip of lively restaurants between Nelson’s Dockyard and Falmouth Harbour.
There are no cookery courses available on the island, but if you are staying in a villa you might get some impromptu lessons from your housekeeper.
Local Food in Antigua
Antigua has its own food of course, a combination of African traditions adapted to the ingredients of the region. Favourite dishes include duccana and saltfish, which is a mixture of grated sweet potato, coconut and cornmeal flavoured with spices and steamed in banana leaf. It is served with a saltfish stew which has a tomato and onion base.
The national dish is fungi and pepperpot. Fungi is a polenta type paste made with cornmeal and okra which is then cooked in a ball. Pepperpot is a type of stew that includes a small mountain of ground provisions such as yam, eddoe, pumpkin, green fig, plantain (both types of banana), sweet potato, dasheen leaves (not unlike spinach) into which are added pig tails and salt pork and then beef. It makes a hearty casserole which is also highly seasoned.
Another favourite stew is goat water, which is made with goat and is spiced with hot peppers, clove and even cinnamon.
On Friday at 6.30pm there is a long standing home economics programme, Cooking Magic, on the local TV station ABS. The presenter Gwendolyn Tonge, who is now in her 80s, is affectionately known as Auntie Gwen has been teaching the nation how to produce local favourites for more than 40 years. She is also the author of a cookery book of the same name.
Cades Bay Pineapple Station, Cades Bay
It is said that the indigenous black pineapple or Antigua black is the sweetest in the world. It is one of a number of varieties (Joseph Brown, Crabb pine and smooth pineapple) that are grown at the government owned agricultural station. Currently twelve of the twenty acres are in production and the pineapples are harvested (and are for sale) twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Tours of the farm can be arranged through the station manager Fitzroy Parker.
Occasionally there will be an evening of West Indian and Antiguan food in your hotel, but of course there are restaurants where you can find local fare. Some restaurants with good local food include:
Parham Corner, c/o Chef 2 U Events, Parham, t 728 3343, inexpensive
Literally on the corner in Parham, this is a spot where people meet to ‘lime’ (hangout) and enjoy authentic Antiguan food on Friday and Saturday evenings from 9am to 6pm. Run by chef Troy Watkins (who with chef Calvin Francis also operates a gourmet catering service called Chef 2 U Events Ltd). You can try local specialties such as bull foot soup, goat water, souse, barbequed ribs and chicken, and interesting local drinks such as sea moss and linseed.
Home Restaurant, Gambel’s Terrace off Fort Road, t 461 7651, moderate-expensive
Friendly restaurant in the family home of Carl & Rita (she is German and he is Antiguan) in a residential district in the north of St John’s, nice atmosphere. Very welcoming. Rita will come over and chat. Good international fare, but also a particularly good take on local cuisine, including fish.
Commissioner Grill, Redcliffe St, t 462 1883, moderate
Classic West Indian fare and some international dishes, close to Redcliffe Quay. Sees a mixed crowd of Antiguans and visitors.
Grace Before Meals, English Harbour, t 460 1298, inexpensive
Set in a chattel house with white painted walls, floral curtains, silk flowers and plastic table cloths, a simple, cheerful and clean dining room. Seating shared at two long trestle tables and three smaller tables for couples. Family-run by Grace and her daughter (even the youngest child helps out). Good Caribbean fare, conch, chicken, fish, and particularly rotis, including conch, fish, mutton, shrimp, vegetable, chicken or beef, from EC $12. Great for a cheap meal out. Can deliver to yachts.
Caribbean Taste, English Harbour, t 562 3049, inexpensive-moderate
Trusty local fare in a simple setting right in English harbour.
Diane’s Bar, Shirley Heights Road, t 460 1116, inexpensive
Very simple but hearty local food. |
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Golf
There are two golf courses in Antigua.
Cedar Valley Golf Club, Cedar Valley, t 462 0161
North east of St John’s this is an 18 hole par 69, 5932 yards course. Clubs and carts for hire, lessons available. Restaurant, bar and pro shop.
Jolly Harbour Golf Club, Jolly Harbour, t 463 4653
Located next to the marina in Jolly Bay on the west coast of the island, the club has an 18 hole, 5587 yard, par 71 course designed by Karl Litton. Facilities include driving range, clubhouse with restaurant, bar, pro shop and club rental. Clinics and lessons on request. |
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Health & Fitness
Several of the hotels have gyms, but you will also find some independent gyms in St John’s which would be happy to allow you to be a member for a day or a week.
National Fitness Centre, Campsite, St John’s, t 462 3681
Professional gym with free weights, exercise and weight machines with trained instructors. Daily step and aerobic classes. Changing rooms, locker and showers. Open Mon-Sat.
Paradise Fitness, Upper North Street, St John’s, t 562 2950
Air-conditioned gym. Aerobic and step classes, weight training machines. Juice bar, health supplements shop, changing rooms, lockers and showers. Open daily.
Also see under Spas and Yoga. |
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Hiking
There are some good opportunities for hiking in Antigua. The north of the island is fairly flat, and currently does not offer that much. In the south however, there is interest for two different reasons, the flora and particularly the history.
The Shekerley Hills around Boggy Peak are high, open land which has a different flora from the rest of the island. Around Wallings it becomes more like the rainforest of the Windward islands to the south. There is a rainforest trail, which takes you to the dam and along to the remote beach at Rendezvous Bay.
There are also trails through the Nelson’s Dockyard National Park. Of the current five, the most popular one is the Middle Ground Trail, which is also used by some of the jeep tours. This leads from Pigeon Beach past military ruins up to Fort Berkeley. The Clarence House Trail leads from the historic house past a small area of mangroves, and the Jones Valley Trail goes up from Galleon Beach to Shirley Heights, from where the Lookout Trail then runs. The Carpenter Trail is a rocky route from Shirley Heights to Fort Charlotte. These trails were laid out and are maintained by the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua & Barbuda.
As always it is better if you take a guide, who as well as leading you in the right direction can teach you about the extraordinary tropical flora and fauna. Guides and organised hikes can be contacted through:
Nelson’s Dockyard National Parks, English Harbour, t 481 5022, natpark@candw.ag
National Parks offer a number of guided tours including the Behind the Scenes tour (just under 2 hours) of the dockyard with a hike to Fort Berkely. Their Archaeology Tour is more in-depth. It includes the dockyard and then, with jeep transfers, Middle Ground Barracks, Indian Creek, Fort George Monks Hill, Shirley Heights and the Field Research Centre at Dows Hill. The tour takes around 3 hours and requires sturdy outdoor footwear and a good level of physical fitness. Lunch is included. This tour is subject to the availability of the archaeologists and must be requested at least a week in advance. See under Conservation for Archaeology.
The Environmental Awareness Group (EAG), Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, St John’s, t 462 6336
Occasionally the EAG arranges field trips. These can include hikes, usually on 3rd weekend of the month (either a Saturday or a Sunday). |
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History/Population/Politics
There is evidence of human habitation in Antigua for the past 4500 years. Successive waves of Indians made their way north along the island chain from South America, in family groups and small tribes that settled mostly near the coast. The earliest of these were the ghostly Siboneys, Archaic Indians who left some stone implements. They were followed by Arawaks, who arrived at about the time of Christ and migrated through the islands for the next thousand years, living on fish and growing cassava. They have left pottery and a name by which the island (and its beer) is still known – Wadadli. The Arawaks were followed by other South American tribes, the Caribs, who of course gave their name to the whole region. The Caribs dominated the Arawaks and by the time Europeans arrived in the 1490s the two peoples had become mixed.
The island was spotted and ‘christened’ by Columbus when he passed by on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. After arriving across the Atlantic at Guadeloupe he headed north along the island chain, naming the various islands as he went. To Wadadli he gave the name Santa Maria de la Antigua, in honour of a statue of the Virgin Mary in Seville Cathedral.
Over the next century the island was used as a stopover by the Spanish and by the increasing numbers of adventurer and other seafarers, for its excellent harbours. But as the Spaniards had many other more valuable territories in the area they never settled it permanently and it was not until 1625 that there was a permanent European settlement, some British colonizers who had come from St Kitts. The island was fought over for a long while (initially with the Caribs who were keen to keep the Europeans out of the area, and then between the Europeans themselves), but with the exception of a short period of occupation by the French, Antigua remained in British hands until it was granted independence in 1981.
Gradually, because of its strategic value and excellent harbours, it became one of the three most important bases for the British in the area (along with Barbados and Jamaica). The result was that Antigua became one of the most heavily fortified places on earth. You can see abandoned forts all over the island (at one stage there was a defensive structure every mile and half around the whole coast of the island), but the most famous historic area is Nelson’s Dockyard in the South-east, named after the famous British admiral who spent some time there in the 1780s. It is now the only example of a restored Georgian naval dockyard in the world.
Like so many of the other Caribbean islands Antigua started to grow sugar, or ‘white gold’ as it was known in the Eighteenth Century. For a while the whole island was divided up into plantations (you can see how many, by the many old windmill shells where the cane would be crushed). There is a restored plantation that explains the whole story at Betty’s Hope in the east of the island. Sugar cultivation was dependent on slave labour and so huge numbers of Africans were forcibly shipped across. Their descendants make up the bulk of the population of Antigua today. The industry was never a huge success in Antigua and when Slavery and then the system of Apprenticeship were abolished in 1834 and 1838 it folded fairly quickly.
The island went into the doldrums, but in parallel with political movements all over the Caribbean, Antigua began to take charge of its own political destiny at the beginning of the 1900s. Eventually Antigua, Barbuda and Redonda took their independence from Britain in 1981. Tourism is the biggest industry in the island.
Barbuda has been connected politically to Antigua from early days of European involvement in the Caribbean. Originally called Dulcina by the Spaniards, perhaps for its gentle contours (its highest point is only 211 ft), it was first settled successfully by Europeans in the 1660s. Then in the 1680s the Codrington family formed a connection to the island which lasted for two centuries and whose effect lasts even to day. The Codringtons leased the island from the British Crown (rent: ‘one fat sheep, if demanded’) and their name remains in the only town, the lagoon and the tiny airport. The ruins of their estate house, Highland House, are visible in the scrub. There is also a fort, the Martello tower, which overlooks the south coast. The island was put under Antiguan control in 1860.
Plantations were even less successful in Barbuda than in Antigua (just a little cotton was grown) and so the island was used for raising animals and a deer park. The other successful industry was ‘wrecking’, salvaging cargo from ships that foundered on the island’s reefs (sometimes intentionally on the Barbudians behalf apparently, who lured them there with lanterns purporting to be lighthouses). Nowadays Barbuda has a population of 1500 that has its own council to govern its own affairs. The islanders have considerable autonomy from Antigua and have not allowed the island to be developed in the way that Antigua has.
The third island belonging to the group is Redonda, which lies in the chain of volcanoes to the west of Antigua and Barbuda. It is small, very hard to land on and extremely steep – its highest point is 970ft – and so it is uninhabited except by birds, thousands of them. And it was completely ignored for centuries, until some bright spark realised thousands of years’ worth of birdshit was valuable as fertiliser, and so for several years it was mined for guano. Around 1890 it had an annual production of 3-4000 tons of phosphate. The few buildings that were constructed were largely destroyed in a hurricane in 1930, but the island was once developed enough to have a post office and it is still possible to find Redonda stamps.
On the basis that it was worth anything at all, the British annexed the island in the late 1800s. However, there is a rival claim to sovereignty, a weird and wonderful once literary line that passed down from a certain Matthew Shiel, who claimed the island in 1865. The story behind the claim has included literary endeavour (Matthew Shiel’s son, also a Matthew Shiel became a famous novelist and counted JB Priestly and Rebecca West as ‘courtiers’), poetry (the poet John Gawsworth was King for a while), the pub (Gawsworth spent a lot of time there), and most recently a series of claims of lineage and counter-claims, tirades and tantrums and otherwise mature people getting very worked up. All good fun.
Population
The population of Antigua stands at around 68,000. It had been decreasng steadily over the past few years but then jumped recently with the arrival of around 1200 Montserratians who were fleeing their own island because of the eruption of its volcano. Barbuda has around 1500 inhabitants, most of whom live around the only town, Codrington.
Most Antiguans are of African descent. Their ancestors were brought to the island as slaves to work the sugar plantations. There is a small white population and there has been an influx from other islands in the Caribbean, including Latin Americans, many from the Dominican Republic.
Politics
Antigua and Barbuda is a parliamentary democracy after the Westminster model, with two houses, an elected House of Representatives with 19 members (17 of whom are returned by constituencies every five years) and an upper house, the Senate, in which there are 17 appointed members. The country is a member of the British Commonwealth and their head of State is Queen Elizabeth II. Her representative on island, the Governor General, is Sir James Carlisle. The current government is led by the Hon Baldwin Spencer of the United Progressive Party, which was elected in March 2004 with 12 of the 17 seats. |
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Horse Riding
Antigua offers some surprisingly good trails for horse riding, though unfortunately not all operators can be recommended. Whilst out and about you may well notice groups of ribby, forlorn looking horses or ponies tethered to trees (all day long with no grazing and saddles kept on) around some of the busier tourist areas, awaiting their next round of riders. So you might like to take a closer look at the conditions the horse lives in. Also check that you are covered by insurance and there are safe practices (always wear a hard hat, for instance).
Antigua Barbuda Horse Society, Spring Hill Riding Club, t 723 2889, (President) Solveig Nitschmann, solveig@candw.ag
The ABHS is a member of the FEI (International Federation for Equestrian Sports) and an Olympic Association member. It deals with the development of horse sport in Antigua, including dressage and jumping, by organising shows and team travel (regional and international), clinics and fundraisers.
Spring Hill Riding Club, Spring Hill, Falmouth, t 460 7787 / 773 3139, eastonj@candw.ag
Antigua’s national equestrian centre and home of the Antigua equestrian team which competes both at dressage and show jumping, and the ABHS (Antigua Barbuda Horse Society). Spring Hill has BHS (British Horse Society) trained instructors that teach at all levels. Facilities include a ménage and jumping arena. Established in 1987, Spring Hill is a professionally run riding school and their horses are in extremely good condition, well fed and looked after, even though many of them are former ‘rescue’ cases. To visitors they offer a range of trail rides on schooled horses (English saddles) through the surrounding hills and to nearby beaches where riders can swim. A popular ride is to the secluded Rendezvous Bay, which can only be reached by boat or via a trek through the hills. Hard hats are provided, and sensible shoes, long pants and sensible shoes are required. The stables are closed between 11am and 3pm, when it is generally considered too hot to ride out in the Caribbean. |
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Island Hopping
Antigua is well positioned for island hopping. It is a regional air hub to begin with, so there are endless flights heading north and south along the island chain, and this gives you good flexibility. But the island is also well positioned geographically in that it is close to islands that are completely different in nature, some physically different, being mountainous and much lusher, others with a different culture, French and Dutch. Finally, there is Antigua’s sister-island Barbuda, which makes an interesting foil to the larger island.
Visible on a clear day to the south of Antigua is Guadeloupe, a French island with a radically different Creole culture and general way of life. As a French overseas Région, it is much more developed and considerably more prosperous than Antigua. If you know French culture, it is fun to see it through the foil of the Caribbean. In fact Guadeloupe is a whole string of islands which make a fun visit in themselves. These include some extremely charming and dozy outcrops.
Also close by there are many tall, volcanic islands (Antigua is mostly coral-based now and relatively flat). These islands are much lusher, with sizeable rivers and rainforest, and so again they have a completely different feel to them. The simplest island to get to is probably Nevis, which is one of the most charming in the whole Caribbean and has some fantastic small plantation hotels and pretty private villas for rent. Or you can try St Kitts next door to it, which is a simpler and less developed island. To the south, beyond Guadeloupe, is Dominica, one of the least developed islands in the Caribbean area and the one with the most spectacular natural life. The island is well worth a visit for this. Sadly the closest island, Montserrat, which is also utterly charming, has had problems with its volcano recently and is not yet properly back up and running. If you would really like to visit, it is quite possible to do day trips to Montserrat by ferry and by helicopter, see Day Trips.
Last but not least, there is Antigua’s own sister island, Barbuda, which is not actually small, but is far dozier than Antigua and has a much quieter, simpler lifestyle. The island has recently been linked to Antigua on a day trip with the high-speed catamaran Excellence, t 480 1225. It travels most days of the week. Barbuda has some of the very finest beaches in the whole area and it is almost completely undeveloped. See under Day Trips.
Regional Airlines: The Caribbean airline LIAT links the islands in the eastern Caribbean chain and is based in Antigua.
Caribbean Airlines (former BWIA) and Air Jamaica touch down in Antigua en route from their home islands (Trinidad and Jamaica) to the metropolitan centres in the USA and Europe. They are useful if you wish to hop to these major islands.
Charter Airlines and ‘Shared Charters’
A couple of local charter airlines work out of Antigua, mainly serving passengers who have arrived here on a long-haul flight and who need to reach one of the smaller islands in the region (see list below). Carib Aviation flies to some of the islands so regularly that they can offer ‘share charters’, in which you can book individual seats as if it were a scheduled airline. STOP PRESS: Carib Aviation ceased all operations on 12 September 2008 including scheduled services operated on behalf of LIAT.
If you are chartering an onward flight, it is worth remembering that you can charter a plane from your eventual destination as well as from the hub.
Charter airlines that fly to and from Antigua include:
| | Island BirdsIsland Birds is a small and reliable charter airline that is based in the BVI. It has a small fleet of 5 and 7 seater Piper aircraft that are used for transfers, island hopping, day trips and sightseeing from the air. They make regular passenger and sometimes cargo transfers to the BVI, but they are licensed for almost every airstrip between San Juan and Grenada, including St Barths. | | St Barth CommuterA local airline based in St Barths, which offers scheduled flights from there to St Martin/St Maarten and Caribbean private aircraft charters to islands all over the Eastern Caribbean. They have a fleet of five twin-engine planes and five specially trained (STOL) pilots with permission to land in St Barths. | | SVG AirA local Caribbean airline that offers charters to the Grenadines from around the region, often from Barbados, but also from St Lucia and Grenada, even from as far as Puerto Rico. SVG Air has around a dozen 5-19-seater planes and also offers island hopping and air ambulance services. |
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Local Organisers
A local organiser is your link if you want something special arranged on the island, anything from a surprise party or dinner through to a conference for 200. A local organiser can use their knowledge and contacts on the island to create the best event for you.
On Antigua we recommend the highly professional St James Travel & Tours for their concierge services, limousine transfers, group travel, business incentives, weddings and special events. See details of services generally provided by local organisers.
| | St James Travel & ToursSt James Travel and Tours is a leading ground handler in Antigua. Formed in 2000 the company itself is relatively new, but its staff, led by Ann Marie Williams, is very experienced. And it has a very good pedigree, as sister company to St James Travel and Tours in Barbados, a ground handler of long standing. The two branches offer the same services, which includes destination management services, island tours, incentive travel and conferences, wedding planning and concierge services for individual travellers. Although much of St James Travel and Tours’ work is in Antigua, they can also assist passengers in transit on the island. |
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Local Transport
Antigua has an extensive bus network that runs along prescribed routes. Buses reach all the outlying villages around the island, eventually, and it is possible to use it to get to the South-east, English Harbour, but not to the northern area around Dickenson Bay or to the airport.
There are two main bus terminals in St John’s. The East Bus Station, up close to the cricket ground (to the east of the downtown area), serves the eastern side of the island. The West Bus Station, which you will find next to the main market in the south of St John’s, serves western areas and the South (including English Harbour).
Buses run on weekdays and Saturdays from early morning until around 6pm, after which there are far fewer services (lasting a little later on Saturdays). On Sundays there are few buses atall. The buses in Antigua do not run to a time schedule. Rather they leave when they are full, or according to the bus driver’s own mystical schedule. Out in the country you should stand at a bus stop (drivers are not supposed to stop on the open road) and wave. They will stop and let you in if there is room (and sometimes if there isn’t). If you want to be let down, then shout. |
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Medical
Generally the climate in Antigua is pretty benign and there are only a couple of diseases that you can encounter here that are not an issue in Europe or the States. Check that your coverage for polio and tetanus is up to date. There is no malaria in Antigua, but there are very occasional outbreaks of dengue fever, another mosquito-borne disease which sometimes breaks out after considerable rain. You should take normal precautions against being bitten by a mosquito. If you are susceptible then make sure to use insect repellent during daylight hours and after sunset.
Vaccinations are not required for entry into Antigua, though you may with to check with your GP prior to travelling. There is one exception, for travellers who have come from areas with yellow fever, where a vaccination certificate is required from travellers over one year of age.
Hospitals
General Hospital, Holberton Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Highway, St John’s, t 462 0251
Casualty department, maternity, radiology, pathology laboratory, pharmacy, intensive care, surgery, children’s ward and a special care unit for premature babies.
Adelin Clinic, Fort Road, St John’s, t 462 0866
A private hospital where a US$4000 deposit via credit card is required before any treatment is given. Medical travel insurance will not be accepted as payment. Refunds are given if cost of treatments given are below the deposit paid.
There are a number of pharmacies in St John’s open during normal business hours,
Ceco Pharmacy, High Street
Open daily from 8.15am, they offer a full prescription service.
Woods Pharmacy, Woods Centre, t 462 9287
Open from 9am to 10pm Mon-Fri and 11am - 6pm on Sun.
The Belvin Pharmacy, Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbour |
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Music
The hotels and tourist bars in Antigua play an easy mix of international music and Caribbean rhythms - reggae, calypso and even some zouk from the nearby French islands. You will also hear steel bands. Several local bands play the circuit, of which the best known are Burning Flame, LA Kru, Vision Band, Power Union and Da Bhann. Like all West Indians, the Antiguans are great music fans and so you will sometimes find musicians from nearby islands playing and sing concerts.
Traditional music in Antigua is fife music, played with a fife (a sort of flute) accompanied by a guitar, a ukelele, a grater and a huge pipe that acts as bass. The best known Antiguan fife band is called the Rio Band. Currently Antigua’s most famous band is Dread and the Baldheads, which features by West Indian test cricketers Curtly Ambrose and Richie Richardson. They often play at island functions and occasionally at Shirley Heights and in the clubs. Their first album was Another Level, released in 2003, and a second, Dread and the Baldhead Fruits Ah Life... was set for release in early 2007.
De Jam Festival, www.dejamfestival.com
A music festival that normally takes place in early October (23-30 September in 2009), featuring DJs from around the Caribbean and further afield, who perform in exotic settings around the island, on beaches, on yachts and in dance halls. Themed nights, an exclusive boat cruise and a beach barbecue. |
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