Life . . . Reframed: Barbados or Antigua? A tale of two islands.

The check-in area at The Verandah Resort & Spa
in Antigua

After a lovely week on the Caribbean beaches of Barbados, we packed our suitcases and headed for Antigua. It’s interesting how we are in the same area of the world, but there is a distinctively different feel to each island.

Barbados left an impression of an established colonial tropical paradise - there is still plenty of visible history in the form of the old-style homes, the roads are narrow but well-maintained, and there seems to be good commercial activity that is not related to tourism. We found the local Barbadians to be polite but, for the most part, they didn’t seem to want to engage in banter or conversation. Conversely we were welcomed with a big smile and "Welcome to Antigua" at customs, and the people have almost all been extremely friendly with big smiles and readily interact with us. Antigua does not appear to have the same thriving economy of Barbados, and we’ve noticed more barbed wire fences & alarm systems, dreadful roads with potholes the size of a car, and some of the villages we passed through were much more dilapidated than anything we saw in Barbados.

A very splashy welcome in Antigua - this somewhat made
up for the long wait to get into our room. They aren't big on early
check-ins here.

Not just the bed - the beach towels, the drinking glasses,
the bathroom towels & tissue - all decorated
with flower petals and leaves. Quite lovely and
I guess it takes time to make the rooms beautiful.

We were tired from a 5 am wake-up, no breakfast and an early morning taxi ride to the airport. (A ride that cost $58 in rush hour, and $80 in early morning - not sure how that works!) The Air Liat check-in host roundly scolded us for not taking the proper access lane to her counter. (note: there was one other passenger checking in!) Although I apologized, she continued to berate us and tell us that 'next time' we needed to do it properly. We turned around, walked back in the ‘proper’ way, and went to another agent. So long Barbados!

Our only negative so far in Antigua has been our ‘early arrival’ at the resort (which we made them aware of when we booked). Although according to the bartender they are not at capacity, there seemed to be no way for us to get into our room prior to the 3 pm ‘standard’ check-in time. We arrived here about 11 am, and had to wait about 3 1/2 hours to get into our cottage, which was a bit inconvenient. However, all the staff were very pleasant and friendly, and so we passed the time with lunch and bevvies on the patio. Island time, baby!

We've spent plenty of time walking around the area - there is another resort close by, and a very small village within walking distance. Across the harbour are a number of grand-sized homes - about an hour round trip by foot.

I don't know what these curly-leaf beauties are called,
but I wish they grew at home. Gorgeous.

These palm trees look like they are growing
out of their own pots.

Around the corner from our resort is The Pineapple Beach Club,
another resort that has recently been acquired by the owners
of the resort we are staying at. The beach is bigger and
has this pretty row of colourful little souvenir shops.

Cactus flowers just coming out - some yellow,
some red - all on the same plant.

A residence across the harbour from our hotel -
there are a number of them, including one
belonging to the French consul. I noticed this
"New Zealand" pine here - so pretty against the sky.

It's a long hill up to the residences across from our
resort. They are all large homes, accessed by
this very poorly maintained road.

The Verandah Resort & Spa is made up of a couple of hundred little duplex-style cottages. We have a lovely large bed/sitting space, a private patio overlooking the ocean at the back, a sweet little front porch overlooking the pool area, and it's a quick walk to the restaurants, beaches and activities. There are two beaches here, and another at the next-door resort - but we are on the Atlantic side of the island, so there is also a lot of rocky shoreline making our favourite activity of walking the beach for miles a non-option. The shoreline of Barbados is fairly straight all around, but Antigua is much curvier with many coves and harbours.

A view of The Verandah cottages and beach
from the Devil's Bridge Road

The largest swimming pool and main patio area in front of
the restaurant. Quiet during the day, but quite noisy at night
with music so if you prefer quiet, take a cottage a little father away.

The smaller beach. There's a little cookshack for
lunch and snacks and a full service bar. It's fun to sit here
and watch the pelicans dive-bombing for their lunch. It's
easy to spot tropical fish from the dock - so it's a good location for
snorkelling as well.

The main beach with all the toys - kayaks, sailboats, paddleboards.
You can sit at the beach bar a few steps up and watch the breakers
at the head of the harbour.

Lots of fun, colourful paintings in the customer-service
areas.

The harbour is very protected from the open Atlantic, and there are lots of beach toys here to keep us amused - stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, catamaran-style sailboats, floating docks and lots of beach toys for the kids. As well, there is an 18-hole mini golf course, pool tables, ping pong, a full gym, tennis courts, shuffleboard and 3 pools including an adult-only pool. There’s no excuse to be bored. The resort is situated on a hillside, and there are a number of golf carts to help guests get around - but we decided we should really walk! As with the resort in Barbados, there are no nasty little wristbands to wear.

One of several beautiful natural wood seats on the mini-golf
course at the resort. Glen is trying to figure out how to get it home.

Mini-golf course. A fun challenge for both of us, although
I think Glen would have preferred the real thing!

It was tricky getting past this anchor to the hole.

Ping-pong and pool tables, rocking adirondack chairs alongside the
golf course for those who want to stay out of the sun.

Loved looking up to this ceiling at the beach
bar. The bits of palm frond wave around in the wind.

Directly across from our resort is the Devil’s Bridge national park - it’s a 10 minute walk out to an interesting rock formation in the form of a bridge over the huge Atlantic swells, as well as an entertaining blowhole.

The Devil's Bridge - looks harmless enough from a distance.

Hmm, on closer inspection, stay left!

I'm told people actually cross on the right side,
but we didn't see anyone brave enough to
try while we were out there.

The waves and blowhole in action.

Abandoned cook shack at Devil's Bridge park.

Walking out to Devil's Bridge from the resort

Looking across to homes on the cliff at the entrance to
the harbour. The Atlantic is pretty wild here, but the breakers
show a reef at the head of the harbour that keeps the water
calm around the resort

We've had a few conversations with ourselves about which place we've preferred. We've enjoyed both experiences. The people in Antigua are friendly and polite where in Barbados they were merely polite. It was easier to get around Barbados with their $2 bus fare, and reasonably-priced tour packages from the hotel. In Antigua the tour packages were more than double those of Barbados, so we opted to just enjoy the areas we could walk to as there is no bus service where we are.

We enjoyed the smaller size and neighbourly atmosphere of The Club in Barbados, but also appreciated the extra amenities and wider variety of food choices at The Verandah in Antigua. The food was delicious at both resorts, but the Verandah chefs win in my book! The beaches in Barbados were beautiful and we could walk for miles - but they were more unprotected from the wild blue ocean. Antigua has smaller beaches and there are no worries about undertows and currents in the protected harbour.

Our room in Antigua is a more generous size, but the maintenance and room service in Barbados were definitely superior. We brought two problems to the attention of guest services in Antigua on our second day (the ceiling fan is too noisy to use at night, and the toilet takes forever to flush). They finally sent someone to fix the toilet on our fourth day, and we still can't use the ceiling fan. They are just so darn nice though, that I can't be upset about it. We leave the screen door open which is a nicer way to sleep anyhow.

We have a few days left here - time to enjoy the wildlife, the plant life and the deliciously warm sun. I'm looking forward to being at home, but can't say I'm looking forward to the cold weather. Hopefully spring and summer are on the way!

These cheeky little birds are everywhere. Always
looking for an opportunity to grab some food -
including flying into our room if the screen is open.
They know exactly where the sugar packets are kept!