“365 beaches, for every day of the year” – with this advertising slogan boasts the 23 km x 18 km islet of Antigua,the last island of our AIDA Caribbean cruise before we will arrive back in the Dominican Republic.
Table of contents
The port info of the AIDA of Antigua
location: Heritage Pier South
Lying time: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
All on board: 6.30 pm
AIDA Port Info Antigua: Download
From the port terminal to the city
In the best weather we arrived in the morning as the second ship in the port of St. John’s. The huge “Regal Princess” was already in the harbour. Since we were curious about how big the ship really is, we googled on the Internet: over 3,500 passengers, 1,350 crew members and a seawalk – a glass floor 40 meters above sea level. Madness! Then the AIDA suddenly seemed so small to us 😉 Ten minutes later, on our other side, the “Jewel of the Seas” arrived, which we had already seen on Grenada. So the trio was complete for today. A 25,000-inhabitant town like St. John’s can look slightly overcrowded when suddenly 7,500 visitors are on the mat.
For today we had not booked a trip in advance, but wanted to decide spontaneously what we do. When we wanted to get ready after breakfast in the cabin and took another quick look outside, we couldn’t believe it … it rained in torrents! And so violent that you only saw a white wall. It didn’t want to stop. So backpack off again, shoes taken off and waited. After 1.5 hours, the sky rose again and the sun shone violently. So nothing like going on, because it was already 11.30 o’clock.
In the port, besides many small shops and boutiques, there is a small tourist information office where we have inquired about the location of the bus terminal.
Over Market Street we walked past the “VC Bird Monument” towards the market hall. There was a lot of fruit & vegetables here today but somehow not to be seen. Opposite the market hall there is also a small fish market.
By bus to English Harbour
At the entrance to the West Bus Station you will find a large overview board with all important destinations on the island and the respective bus numbers. In the info house next to it there was even a sign with the touri hot spots and the price per bus ticket. A really good and transparent system!
The historic Nelson’s Dockyard harbour
The bus no. 17 goes to English Harbour,more precisely to Nelson’s Dockyard. Since this is also the final destination of this route, we were able to enjoy the ride in the small minibus quite relaxed and did not have to pay attention to when we had to call “Busstop” to the driver. The minibuses are used by the locals and so it happened that we were the only whites on the bus. 30 minutes later we arrived at the final stop in the south of Antigua. Only when you get off you pay the bus driver – for us that was just 1.50 US dollars per person. The bus stops almost exactly in front of the entrance of Nelson’s Dockyard – how practical.
Nelson’s Dockyard is a historic port complex and shipyard that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016. In the 18th century, English Harbour was home to the naval base of the British admiral Nelson, who from here also had a steady view of the neighbouring island of Guadeloupe. Due to its natural location, the port was one of the few hurricane-proof ports in the Caribbean.
Today, Nelson’s Dockyard is a large open-air museum and a private marina. We wanted to look at both. Admission is 8 US dollars per person. Since we only had a 20 US dollar bill with us, we could only pay for our tickets with this one. But we didn’t think about one thing before: the note had a crack of 0.5 cm. Scandal! Of course, it was not possible to pay for it, because the bank would not take this note from the museum. That’s pretty obvious. You have offered to pay us in East Caribbean dollars… but we did not have this currency with us. Unfortunately, we had also left our credit card on the ship. Well, and now?
After thinking for a while, we went to the nearest supermarket and asked if we could pay here with US dollars. No problem, but we would only get East Caribbean dollars back. Wonderful! So we bought something to drink (in the hot weather anyway urgently needed) and got the local currency as a change. So we went back to the ticket office of Nelson’s Dockyard and behold, it worked. The former workshops and houses have been beautifully restored and are now used for tourist purposes, for example as a hotel, restaurant, bakery, souvenir shop, etc. In the harbour lay some medium-sized yachts, which stop here on their (world) trips and are partly overtaken.
The Fort Berkeley
A small hiking trail on a hill leads a little further to Fort Berkeley, which is located on a small headland. Here we were completely alone, because the path was not signposted, but gave us this tip by a park ranger from the museum.
The Fort Berkeley
The great view from the Middle Ground Trail
Coincidentally, we stumbled upon a sign called MiddleGround Trail – Fort Berkeley to Pigeon Beach. “Middle Ground” is the name of the peninsula where Nelson’s Dockyard is located and where we were standing at the moment. The path was indicated with a distance of one mile and since we still had enough time, we just set off. The hiking trail was shown to us all the time very nicely with white paint spots, so that one could not get lost at all. Sometimes it went quite steeply up, but when we saw the view, the effort was forgotten again. From a wide variety of points we were able to look in almost all directions. Really nice.
In between we also ran over a few goats, who were looking for their food up here, which is why this way is sometimes called “The Goat Track“. After about 50 minutes we got out at Pigeon Beach and rested here again for a short time before we got back on the bus #17 back to St. John’s.
On the photo you can see a small overview of our current hiking route: Start is the final stop of Bus #17 (entrance to Nelson’s Dockyard). Along the blue route, you can get to Fort Berkley. From there, the Middle Ground Trail starts to Pigeon Beach(red route). From the beach, we then return to the bus station along the yellow route. All in all a nice circuit for 2-3 hours.
Panoramic view of The English Harbour
What to see in St. John’s
In St. John’s we consulted the AIDA Hafeninfo again and wanted to rattle off the rest of the sights of the city. This is on the one hand the Saint John’s Cathedral with a very impressive cemetery full of insaneold tombs (partly from 1720), the well-shielded Government House and the somewhat outdated museum of Antigua and Barbuda.
So slowly we noticed our legs, so we walked back to the AIDA and took some nice photos in the sunset light.
After a delicious dinner we fell into bed after today really tired. Tomorrow we can also sleep out, because this is our last day of the seabefore we go back to La Romana in the Dominican Republic.
Übersicht unserer AIDA-Reiseberichte in der Karibik
Liest man die Liste der Inseln, die die AIDA auf der Route Karibische Inseln 1 ansteuert, denkt man kurzzeitig, es wäre ein Traum: Dominikanische Republik, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Grenada, St. Vincent & die Grenadinen, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua. Elf Inseln in 14 Tagen anzusteuern ist schon eine Hausnummer. Aber das war auch der Grund für uns, diese Route zu wählen. Eine Kreuzfahrt ist wie prädestiniert dafür, die Karibik mit ihren mehreren tausenden Trauminseln auf eine entspannte Art und Weise kennenzulernen. Hier findet Ihr alle Reiseberichte unserer 14-tägigen Karibikkreuzfahrt mit AIDAdiva.
Tag 01 » Dominikanische Republik: Punta Cana - Kurzer Stopover vor der KreuzfahrtTag 02 » Dominikanische Republik: AIDAdiva - Unsere 14-tägige Kreuzfahrt in der Karibik
Tag 03 » Seetag
Tag 04 » Aruba: Tauchen am Renaissance-Flugzeugwrack
Tag 04 » Aruba: Oranjestad - Eine Stadterkundung auf eigene Faust
Tag 05 » Curaçao: Inselrundfahrt, Sehenswürdigkeiten & Fotospots
Tag 05 » Curaçao: Ocean Encounters Curaçao - Tauchen mit Delfinen
Tag 06 » Bonaire: Tauchen im Bonaire National Marine Park
Tag 06 » Bonaire: Kralendijk - Ein kurzer Rundgang durch die Stadt
Tag 07 » Seetag
Tag 08 » Grenada: Tauchen am Wrack des Frachtschiffs Veronica L.
Tag 08 » Grenada: Molinere Bay - Tauchen am Unterwasser-Skulpturenpark
Tag 08 » Grenada: Sankt George's - Sehenswürdigkeiten & Fotospots
Tag 09 » St. Vincent: Kingstown & Vulkanbesteigung des La Soufrière
Tag 10 » Barbados: Wracktauchen im Carlisle Bay Marine Park
Tag 10 » Barbados: Schnorcheln mit Schildkröten in der Carlisle Bay
Tag 11 » St. Lucia: Tauchen in der Karibik mit Scuba Steve’s Diving
Tag 12 » Dominica: Delfine, Whale-Watching & die Hauptstadt Roseau
Tag 13 » Guadeloupe: Eine Inselrundfahrt & die Stadt Pointe-à-Pietre
Tag 14 » Antigua: St. John's, Nelson’s Dockyard & das Fort Berkeley
Tag 15 » Seetag
Tag 16 » Dominikanische Republik: Punta Cana - Seetag & Relaxen am Strand