Caribbean Beat — March/April 2019 (#156)

home ground
Home to
Antigua
Returning to Antigua after eight years,
Bridget van Dongen couldn’t wait to reexperience
the sights and delights of the
island she’s come to call home. Here’s her
itinerary for a mini-vacation that shows
you Antigua at its best
Eight years ago, I took a chance, and moved with my family from
Antigua to Trinidad. Two months ago, we came back home.
While I wasn’t born in Antigua, I lived here for twelve years from
the age of twenty-four. I met my husband here, and our daughter
was born in Antigua. I became a naturalised citizen. We had a
mostly good life with problems here and there.
So why did I leave? This magazine is one reason — during my eight years
in Trinidad I was part of the editorial team for Caribbean Beat. But I never
stopped thinking of Antigua as home — and, eventually, I decided the life I
wanted for my family was here. The very day we returned, I knew we’d made
the right decision. Since being back, we’ve won a pub quiz, had a curry lime for
old friends, and I had the chance to play tourist with my friend Nikita, visiting
from New York, which helped me to re-acquaint myself with my home.
On Nikita’s first day here, we started with a drive around the island. Starting
from Halcyon Heights, on the hill above Dickenson Bay, we drove through
the outskirts of St John’s, the capital, down to Jolly Harbour, on the west coast.
Antigua’s recently had a lot of rain, according to my friends, so the countryside
is lovely and green, with thousands of pale yellow butterflies everywhere. At
Jolly Harbour we stopped for our first dip in the sea. The colour of the sea on
that side of the island ranges from bright turquoise blue to a milky teal colour
when the groundswells stir up the powder-white
sand. Nikita wanted to stop and relax, and it was
tempting, but I was on a mission. I wanted to get
to Falmouth Harbour by lunchtime, as there was a
specific place I’d been dying to visit.
But first there was the drive around the south
end of Antigua. We drove past Darkwood Beach
and remarked that we had to come back to try
the Swash Inflatable Water Park, anchored just
offshore. Then we turned through Urlings and
Old Road, stopping to purchase some bananas
and what is still, to me, the sweetest pineapple
in the world, the Antiguan Black. Old Road joins
the main road to English Harbour at Swetes, right
98 WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM