Immersed in history
07 January 2007 | English Harbor, Antigua
Karin
English Harbor was the main base for the English during Colonial times and Nelson's Dockyard has been beautifully restored. Walking around, it is easy to imagine sailers busy loading/unloading cargo or outfitting ships for the voyage back to England. Although the buildings now house official offices, shops, restaurants, etc., there are signs explaining what would have been happening 250 years ago. The historical area includes a fort and 12 - 15 large buildings, and it is now very nicely landscaped and maintained. I am sure in Admiral Nelson's time the area was far from pristine (and probably smelled awful too). Today we get to enjoy the best of both -- all the history without the mess!
To make the visit perfect we even caught a nice Mahi Mahi on the trip from Guadeloupe, which made Paul's day. Unfortunately, we didn't have any friends to share it with. The "Fishing God" often plays that trick on us -- letting us catch a nice fish when we don't have any fellow travelers to share with. It's not all bad, however, because that means more for us.
Because weather held us up in Guadeloupe for several days, we were only able to stay two nights before heading to St. Maarten where we were scheduled to leave the boat in order to visit family back in the states. However, returning to Antigua it at the top of our list when we start south again.