beachwalker85

My wife Jamie and I were in Antigua in early February 2020 on the Celebrity Summit,  and we had an exceptional experience on  Galleon Beach. We got off the ship and walked to the end of the pier where all the taxi drivers are located. We were expecting a fairly high pressure situation, but it was surprisingly a very low pressure/low stress experience. We negotiated a round trip (for two) fare to and from Galleon Beach (40 minutes each way) for around $40, which was in-line with what we'd expect to pay for an Uber or Lyft in the states. 

Although the majority of our three hours on Galleon beach was cloudy and rainy, we made the most of it and managed to have a wonderful time. The clouds and light rain actually made for quite comfortable hiking conditions, so upon arrival at Galleon Beach, we immediately set out to find the Pillars of Hercules. We had read that the Pillars could be reached by scrambling on the rocks along the English Harbor coastline, and after a short 10-15 minute rock scramble, we had arrived. The Pillars of Hercules were truly majestic, and exceeded our already high expectations. To our surprise, we also discovered Mermaid Gardens, an equally stunning rock formation. Finally, we capped our day at Galleon Beach off with a some snorkeling, where we found several sea turtles and a sunken ships, and a couple of Wadadlis (the local beer) from the beach bar. 

We really can't say enough about how much we enjoyed this gloomy beach day! To anyone looking for some adventure on their port day in Antigua and for something a little off the beaten path, we would highly recommend a day trip to Galleon Beach. 

Below is a link to the video of our amazing day at Galleon Beach. 

My wife Jamie and I were in Antigua in early February 2020 on the Celebrity Summit,  and we had an exceptional experience that we want to share. We typically seek out active adventures on our port days, but on our day in Antigua, we were both quite exhausted and sore from our hike up the Petit Piton in St. Lucia the day before. We had initially planned on renting a car and doing a self-guided beach tour (like we did in Barbados a couple days earlier), but due to our lack of energy, we decided just to pick the beach we were most excited about (Galleon Beach) and find a cab to take us there. This turned out to be a great decision!

Jamie and I got off the ship and walked to the end of the pier where all the taxi drivers are located. We were expecting a fairly high pressure situation, but it was surprisingly a very low pressure/low stress experience. We negotiated a round trip (for two) fare to and from Galleon Beach (40 minutes each way) for around $40, which was in-line with what we'd expect to pay for an Uber or Lyft in the states. Our cab driver Theo was awesome. He had tons of information about the island (and some good jokes as well) and made the ride seem like a tour. Also, he took no payment until the ride back, so we had no concerns about not getting picked back up.

Although the majority of our three hours on Galleon beach was cloudy and rainy, we made the most of it and managed to have a wonderful time. The clouds and light rain actually made for quite comfortable hiking conditions, so upon arrival at Galleon Beach, we immediately set out to find the Pillars of Hercules. We had read that the Pillars could be reached by scrambling on the rocks along the English Harbor coastline, and after a short 10-15 minute rock scramble, we had arrived. The Pillars of Hercules were truly majestic, and exceeded our already high expectations. To our surprise, we also discovered Mermaid Gardens, an equally stunning rock formation. Finally, we capped our day at Galleon Beach off with a some snorkeling, where we found several sea turtles and a sunken ships, and a couple of Wadadlis (the local beer) from the beach bar. 

We really can't say enough about how much we enjoyed this gloomy beach day! To anyone looking for some adventure on their port day in Antigua and for something a little off the beaten path, we would highly recommend a day trip to Galleon Beach. 

Below is a link to the video of our amazing day in Antigua, along with information for Theo's Taxi service. 

Galleon Beach Day video (with taxi ride): https://youtu.be/Zxv3Q1HcFP0

Theo's Taxi Service: 268-721-9034 or 268-785-9316 

We had a very positive experience as well. We initially had a rental care reserved for our port day in Antigua in early February, but decided last minute that we didn't want to deal with the hassle of driving on the island. We just got off the ship and walked to the end of the pier where all the taxi drivers are located. I had anticipated a high pressure negotiation, but it was surprisingly a very low pressure/low stress experience. We negotiated a round trip (for two) fare to and from Galleon Beach (40 minutes each way) for around $40. The price was in-line with what I'd expect to pay for an Uber in the states. Our cab driver Theo took no payment until the drive back, so we had no concerns about not getting picked back up. Theo had tons of information about the island (and some good jokes as well) and made the ride seem like a tour. Theo's information and a video of our experience is below. 

Theo's Taxi Service: 268-721-9034 or 268-785-9316                                                                                                                      Galleon Beach Day video (with taxi ride): https://youtu.be/Zxv3Q1HcFP0

On 6/15/2020 at 8:09 AM, TTEllis said:

Barbados Scenic Tours we had a once in a lifetime day with these people. Top shelf tour great van great drinks all day, see the entire island. Have a great day we certainly did. Todd

That sounds like a lot of fun, then you don't have to worry about adjusting to driving on the other side of the road (if you are used to driving on the right hand side).

On 6/14/2020 at 1:40 PM, CM1984 said:

 

I enjoyed your video very much.  Thank you.  For us older folks it sounds like we might enjoy Browns Beach.  We would like to snorkel there right off the beach.

Thanks so much for the feedback, that is one big reason we make our videos, to help others plan their travels. Browns Beach was great for snorkeling off the beach. We hope you enjoy it!

We cruised Feb 2020 and looked into hiring a private driver for the day. We found it to be quite expensive and ended up renting a car from Voyager.

If you are willing to rent a car and drive yourself it will likely be much cheaper, but we know not everyone is comfortable with that. The island does use right hand drive cars and drives on the left side of the road. We are not used to that but we got along fine. 

We were able to visit 8 different beaches (Soup Bowl, Bathsheba, Shark Hole, Bottom Bay, Crane Beach, Foul Bay, Miami Beach and Browns Beach). If you are interested in seeing video from driving on the island and each beach we made a video that can be found here: https://youtu.be/44YINUGLPSo