Favorite Antigua Excursion

[lollyny1]

Cruisegal96 - I thought I read that Valley Church Beach has a steep drop off when entering the water, which also makes it a bit difficult to get out of the water. Did you find that to be the case?

[cruisegal96]

Cruisegal96 - I thought I read that Valley Church Beach has a steep drop off when entering the water, which also makes it a bit difficult to get out of the water. Did you find that to be the case?

 

There is a drop but it was not bad & did not cause any issues. I'm a short girl & it was fine. I wish I could go back to Valley Church Beach right now!!!! It will be my first stop whenever we go back to Antigua!!!

[allentownahoy]

Cruisegal96 - I thought I read that Valley Church Beach has a steep drop off when entering the water, which also makes it a bit difficult to get out of the water. Did you find that to be the case?

 

I do find it to be a steep drop off and very hard to get out of the water. Perhaps it has changed in the past year. Either that or we all have different abilities getting in and out of the water. But when I was there I was not the only one struggling.

[cruisegal96]

I do find it to be a steep drop off and very hard to get out of the water. Perhaps it has changed in the past year. Either that or we all have different abilities getting in and out of the water. But when I was there I was not the only one struggling.

 

I'm sure it may change with the wind/tides. We had no problems when we were there 3 months ago, didn't see anyone else having problems either. We loved it!!!

[Hlitner]

So these beaches, mentioned, are fine and usually have plenty of other cruisers. Which is why we normally avoid them :). This is an island with many beaches, and we tend to seek out the one's with few cruisers. Since we also enjoy snorkeling we also look for places where that might be OK (depending on the sea conditions it is never guaranteed). So, there is Darkwood (right on one of the bus lines) which usually is very empty...and does have a beach bar/cafe. We have often just walked to the bus station and taken the bus which costs about $3.25 per person. Another beach (on the other side of the island) that gets high marks is called Pigeon Beach. This can also be accessed by a public bus (I think the fare is about $3.75) but Pigeon is about a half mile hike from the nearest bus stop. But one can often share a large van/taxi with others who are heading to that same area (English Bay, Nelsons Dockyard, etc). Bottom line is many cruisers prefer to be around lots of other cruisers....but some of us try to get far away from other cruisers :).

 

Hank

[blue_water]

We spent some time on Pigeon Beach when taking a private island tour with Lawrence of Antigua. Lovely beach and we were the only people on the entire beach save a couple gals who were topless and probably staying nearby. Bumpkins is a little beach bar with excellent jerk chicken and burgers.

[gaylemh]

Just back from Adventure OTS & we decided to go to Valley Church Beach. It was a very beautiful beach! The water is gorgeous, the best we've ever seen. We took a taxi with another family from our ship so the taxi only cost us $8 pp each way. Otherwise it's $32 each way. We rented 2 chairs w/umbrella for $20. We rented a wave runner for $50/30 min. & had a blast! The Nest Restaurant is located here & the coconut shrimp was very good, prices were average. They offer free Wi-Fi, but we never could get connected. I highly recommend Valley Church Beach if you are looking for a great beach day.

 

Are there restrooms on the beach? How far from where the ship docks?

[ltsally]

Not mentioned here is an excursion I took in late October via Silversea:

 

Horseback riding in the surf. Conducted by a fellow named: SunFire.

 

Participants are given a brief run-through and mount their horse for about a 20-30 minute ride along a trail and to the beach. Separately, they dismount, strip to bathing suits and re-mount the horse for an escorted romp in the surf. It's not a long time, but quite memorable. And great photos!

 

SunFire is a great guy, completely devoted to his horses and to seeing to it that people have a good time. If it's not offered through your ship, his contact number is 770-6305. Enjoy!