We didn’t waste our day! We got a taxi (from Dickenson Bay on the far north of the island where the resort is) to the south end of Antigua – a 45 minute drive over narrow streets. We wandered around the National Park there.

We got a quick tour full of history and explaining the names of the buildings and giving us a general idea of what to do and where to go. Most of the buildings were constructed in the 1700s through slave labor.

This palm was planted by Princess Margaret! (The guide indicated that it is a native species – I hope we see some like it out in nature.)

These huge wooden turnstiles (capstans) were built in order to pull masted ships onto their sides in order to clean and repair the hulls. It took months to clear each boat of the worms and other things causing wood rot. Now every Christmas, yachtsmen gather around the capstans for a huge celebration. We saw people taking down the decorations when we were there.

The Sail Loft Pillars were once supports for a building used for sail repair. Ships would sail directly into the building between pillars. Those are not normal sized bricks (see person’s hand and notebook on the left for scale).

After wandering around the park area, we walked up a mountain to see if we could walk to another part of the park called Shirley Heights. We went about a mile, and got some good views of the harbor area, but due to the humidity decided to go back to the main part of the park.

A true flagship! So many huge yachts in one place is impressive.

After a lovely lunch in the park, we walked to Fort Berkeley, which brought us to the Caribbean Sea. I loved watching the waves crashing onto the rocky coast!

The volcanic rock, weathered into rounded forms. You can see the concentric rings around the more resistant center.

Two buildings were on the point, one for gun powder (cannon powder?) storage and the other lodging for the soldier lookouts. They were made from local rock.

The building in front is the lodgings, and the powder storage roof is behind it.

Cannon at Fort Berkeley – looks in great shape. The cannons at the main part of the park were much more corroded. The letters beneath the crown insignia are probably GR for George Rex (King George).

We then hired a taxi to go to Shirley Heights. The driver first took us to a peninsula just to the east of the Heights to show us the sunrise side and Atlantic Ocean, then to the heights to see the sunset side on the Caribbean.

On the eastern side, you can see Eric Clapton’s Antigua home – it looks like it can withstand hurricanes! Notice the white caps in the ocean? Our taxi driver in the morning told us the sea was so strong that three cruise ships that were scheduled to stop in the main town, St. John’s, did not dock. That’s part of why the park was almost devoid of tourists.

Our cab driver in the evening, Renford, was a bit crazy and made us laugh a lot. He grew up near the National Park, and showed us his elementary school and the church where he was baptized. He also told us stories of the places we drove through. He pointed out a 200 year old mango tree, explaining that you can tell how old it is by looking at the fruit. (I didn’t catch it all, his accent was pretty thick.) He also stopped to pick us some lemon grass. He crushed it and bundled it, and gave it to us to smell. Like lemons, naturally!

This is looking back at Berkeley Fort, where we were earlier, from Shirley Heights.

• Lesser Antilles 2020