Antigua - the 'educational' bits!

Down on the south coast of Antigua, there are two large, deep water, natural harbours – Falmouth and English. These are very popular with the large superyachts and merge the traditional Antiqua with the modern cruising community.

Once outside the dockyard, life goes on Caribbean style with the usual bars and street vendors. We love to wander the streets of a new town and find the local markets….so much more interesting (and better value) than the mini markets.

Local buses are the best way to get around. They are, like in most of the Caribbean islands, private people who use their own minibuses to run the routes. There are some timetables, but generally the buses wait until they are full and then set off. There are designated bus stops, but the driver will stop anywhere on route (and sometimes off route!) – just knock on the side and call out ‘bus stop driver’. It is more like a taxi service – a world away from buses in the UK. Another noticeable thing when traveling on the buses is how polite and courteous everyone is. Without fail, passengers joining the bus (including teenagers!) would always greet fellow travellers with a cheery good morning or good afternoon.

One of our bus adventures took us to the main town of St Johns. This was a fascinating place and was definitely a town of two halves. On one hand there was the ‘every day’ town with its small businesses and street vendors; on the other was the ‘tourist’ town with its cruise liner terminal and expensive brand retailers. I know which I preferred.