antigua

Where Australians fear to tread

Stingrays may be the bad boys of the animal
kingdom at the moment, but it's a thrill to
swim with them. Antigua has a large
population of southern stingrays, which live
to between 30 and 40 years of age.
They have huge spikes in their tails, but only
use them if severely provoked. As I
discovered, they're rather fond of a handful of
squid.

I'm just back from a
press trip to Antigua, in
the Caribbean.
I travelled with three
English journalists who
were: Rupert Wright (The
Times), Max Davidson
(The Daily Telegraph)
and Gordon Miller (The
Daily Mail). Also there
were VIcky Goodall and
Gail of Premier Resorts,
who organised the trip.
We stayed in the Blue
Waters Hotel, not far
from the island's capital,
St John's.

Up close and personal with a young adult male stingray in Stingray City off
the southeastern coast of Antigua. Wednesday, October 18th, 2006

Me on the beach of the
Carlisle Bay Hotel, one of the
most idyllic resort spots I've
ever been to. Pity about the
restaurant service, which was
brutal

This is a lonely boat moored
a hundred yards out from the
beach of the Coconut Grove
restaurant and bar, where we
adjourned more than once.
Believe it or not, it was
raining when this picture was
taken

There just isn't any way to look good walking in a pair of flippers. Really.

Gordon and Vicky Goodall
(from the trip's organisers) get
ready to sleep with the fishes

If I was to pick a theme tune to
represent British attempts to
master the flipper walk, it might
well be Colonel Hathi's March
from The Jungle Book. Here,
Max does his best to get the
hang of them. As we
discovered, he was just
warming up for the conga later
on

Other than stingrays (and mosquitos), there are plenty of interesting animals on the island.

Sailing is a big deal in Antigua, which hosts
one of the Caribbean's main yacht regattas
in November.

View from the shore of the proposed Elle Antigua resort, on the island's most northerly point. Out
to sea, a big rain cloud threatens the boats