Light tackle and deep sea sport fishing could be one of the main ways that the residents of Barbuda make a living after sand mining is finally put to rest. The destructive and irrational practice of large scale sand mining
has been one of the main income generators of our sister island for
decades, and despite engineers' and environmental consultants' best
advice to stop, government has continued to sanction the lucrative yet
unhealthy practice.
Barbuda is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean with dazzling white sand
beaches stretching around most of it's deserted coastline.
Approximately half of the coast is protected by barrier reef, and it's
this reef which has helped to produce most of the island's wonderful sand.
For millions of years parrot fish have chewed algae from coral which
they easily digest. The bit's of chewed coral which are not digested are
excreted as sand onto the sea floor. This essential process for Caribbean white sand
production has made Barbuda one of the most attractive beach
destinations in the region. One of the island's beaches is about the
longest in the Caribbean, and at different times of the year tiny pink
shells wash up on the shore turning the beach pink. There's nothing
quite like it to be honest.
With all of this in mind it's hard to accept that commercial mining of this amazing sand
has gone on without noticeable regulation for decades. It's to the
point now that serious environmental issues are threatening the island's
water supply and more critically the integrity of the coastline. We are
starting to see erosion on some areas of shoreline closest to the mining.
Some environmentalists think that the damage being done is so severe
that it would take hundreds if not thousands of years for it to be
corrected. Coupled with that has been a huge increase in the amount of
parrot fish caught for export to Guadeloupe. Neither practice
sustainable in any way and equally destructive for the beaches.
It would seem that mining the very thing that
makes the island a sought after destination would be a bad decision, but
the decision makers can't seem to find an alternative income generator.
I can see why this has been difficult. Tourism in Barbuda has always
lagged behind Antigua mainly because of transportation.
Without a large airport, there simply has never been enough seats coming
to Barbuda to fill guest houses and hotels in any meaningful way.
Tourism and all of the fun things that go along with tourism like sport
fishing for example, have had it tough forcing the government to keep
the mining of sand going. This could all change in the near future if decision makers are brave enough to entertain alternative business plans.
One of several changes that could happen has to do with Cruise Tourism.
Many of the ships visiting some of the Caribbean's most celebrated
destinations anchor off shore and tender their guests to little docks on
the main land. Without any significant investment this could happen in
Barbuda almost immediately. One or two small ships a week could provide
significantly more employment than the entire mining
industry does in Barbuda. In addition to that, the types of jobs
generated would be ideal for Barbuda's residents who would be able to
conduct both light tackle and off shore fishing opportunities. Barbuda
has all of the top game fish species endemic to it's coastline and
interior lagoon. Species like bonefish, tarpon, permit, barracuda,
jacks, mackerel, wahoo, dolphin fish, tuna, marlin, sailfish and many
others are not difficult to find for Barbuda's experienced fishers. Of
course there is great diving, snorkeling and bird watching too. The
island is a nature lovers dream come true, and there is no end to the
excursion activities that could be designed to make cruise passengers
happy. From an environemtal point of view, cruise tourism as an
alternative to commercial sand mining
is a no brainer. Limited capital investment would be needed to get a
foot in the door and with all visitors coming to the island by tender
there would be very little waste of any sort left by ships. They would
not leave anything on the island except footprints and money. The
potential to make Barbuda the main sport fishing destination in the
eastern Caribbean is there and just waiting for the first ship to drop
anchor. Until that happens white sand is still being exported to Antigua and other destinations to be irrationally used in construction.
Showing posts with label cruise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cruise. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Cruise ship passengers missing our boat
Please be advised that we have left people behind at the cruise ship dock far too many times because they were on cruise ship time and arrived late, so make sure you check what is local time as that is the time we quote and run our operation on. Thanks much.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Great reviews of our Adventure Antigua Eco Tour and Xtreme Circumnav trips
We have had some great reviews come in recently on Tripadvisor. Thanks to those of you who took time . Check them out here:
Baltimore, Maryland
Reviewer
4 reviews
If you want local knowledge, great photo ops, a little adventure, a
great boat ride, and great Caribbean food, all while being surrounded by
absolute beauty than do this tour. The staff is fantastic, the gear is
in great shape and everything about this tour is first class. In over 20
years of cruising this is the only tour my wife and I have done twice.
Thanks Eli and Natalie!
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Chicago, Illinois
2 reviews
Spent the day with Eli Fuller on his Extreme tour of Antigua. Swam with
the stingrays, snorkeled, explored a bunch of different beaches, saw
Nelson's Boatyard, etc. And had a blast bouncing on the waves on the
Atlantic side of the island. Everyone in our group, ages 14 - 60, had a
great day! This is a fabulous tour!
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Minneapolis
Contributor
20 reviews
72 helpful votes
If you want a tremendous way to experience Antigua on the water, look no
further than Adventure Antigua. Last week my wife and I had the
pleasure of joining Eli Fuller and his crew on his Xtreme Tour. During
our 6 hour tour -we snorkeled twice and stopped at two deserted beaches.
The first beach (Green Island) was right out of romance novel. On one
side were kite surfers who provided great photo opportunities. On the
other side we had a wonderful lunch on the beach. The second beach was
later in the afternoon. Again, very isolated and very picturesque. The
highlight was finding some cows that mystically appeared on one end. On
the other end were a couple of topless bathers that I appreciated, but
my wife not so much. :) We cruised into Falmouth Harbour and checked out
the luxury mega-yachts. We also spent time in Sting Ray City. We viewed
the homes of Eric Clapton and Georgio Armani. Eli and his crew really
know the history, the geography, and the secret niches of the island.
This trip is an excellent value. We had the pleasure of enjoying out
trip with a group from Montana who were aboard one of the cruise ships.
They were a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. We were fortunate that the
water was a special shade of blue on the day of our trip. Thank you.
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Reviewer
3 reviews
5 helpful votes
1
person found this review helpful
Reservation made via the Verandah Resort. Picked up by taxi with four
other guests for the drive to the North Coast, where the boat picked us
up at the beach next to the Sandal's resort. Seeing two enormous
catamarans coming to the beach at the same time was impressive. We had
to wade through the water to climb on board. The crew was enormously
helpful taking shoes and bags, and in general helping people up the
ladders. The group was small, 17 people total, and we could freely move
around. The trip was quite interesting with lots of info about the
turtle project on Long Island (and no, Oprah does not own a house
there), the mangroves, the Sahara dust hanging over the main island. I
would highly recommend Eli's website with tons of information and links!
The brown pelicans on Great Bird Island, the quick hike uphill, the
snorkeling, Hell's Gate, more snorkeling and the most fabulous BBQ
chicken I ever had. You have a great neighbor, Eli, if she still makes
the chicken. And great t-shirts - love the logo! The only down point was
that we had to wait 20 minutes in the blazing sun for our taxi to take
us back to the Verandah. And I also would suggest to have maps on board.
So many offshore islands. I had to go to Google Earth to try to retrace
our steps, which was fun too. Thanks Nikki, Noel and captain. Great
trip!
http://www.adventureantigua.com/links.htm
http://www.adventureantigua.com/links.htm
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1 review
We took the Circumnavigation tour on January 10, 2012. Ross was our
captain and Trevor and Natalie were our crew. They were very
accommodating and so knowledgable about their beautiful island. Our day
was perfect, weather was great even with a small rain shower, lunch was
delicious on Green Island, snorkeling at the Pillars of Hercules was
fantastic! Really, we can't say enough! We hope to bring our family back
to Antigua someday and we will absolutely be taking another tour with
Adventure Antigua! We are thinking Eco-Tour next time! Thank you for a
memorable day!
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Friday, January 06, 2012
Some new reviews of our tours just in.
We took the Adventure Antigua Eco-Tour while on our Caribbean cruise
this December. Despite a change in our ship's departure time, they made
sure that we made it back to our ship with time to spare.
The tour is excellent - incredibly informative, educational, and most of all, full of great activities in the water. It takes you around the coastline and into the mangroves; it also includes some hiking on Bird's Island and snorkeling. We had the opportunity to climb Hell's Gate, and this is definitely a don't-miss activity even if you don't enjoy heights. When you're on the top of the gate, you can look out and realize that the next piece of land that you will reach is actually Africa which is over 4000 miles away. The crew is very friendly and willing to answer any questions that we had.
Lunch consisted of BBQ chicken, a green salad, pasta, and lots of juice. There was definitely plenty to eat. On the way back, we got to enjoy some great rum punch.
Thanks for the great time! :)
Another one:The tour is excellent - incredibly informative, educational, and most of all, full of great activities in the water. It takes you around the coastline and into the mangroves; it also includes some hiking on Bird's Island and snorkeling. We had the opportunity to climb Hell's Gate, and this is definitely a don't-miss activity even if you don't enjoy heights. When you're on the top of the gate, you can look out and realize that the next piece of land that you will reach is actually Africa which is over 4000 miles away. The crew is very friendly and willing to answer any questions that we had.
Lunch consisted of BBQ chicken, a green salad, pasta, and lots of juice. There was definitely plenty to eat. On the way back, we got to enjoy some great rum punch.
Thanks for the great time! :)
We took the Xtreme Circumnav Powerboat Tour during our stay at the
Verandah in November and it was incredible! The great facts about the
history of the island, the beaches, snorkeling at the Pillars of
Hercules, the Stingrays!! The tour staff was accommodating, kept the
tour moving at a good pace and had great tidbits to share about the
history of Antigua. And I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but
the lunch they served was DAMN GOOD! Especially the banana bread. Thanks
guys (and Nicola) for a wonderful experience!!
Another one:
Visited December 2011
We booked this tour independently while traveling on the Queen Elizabeth.
The boat was not crowded and provided plenty of both sun and shade. The trip to Hell's gate was great and the climb across the top something that will be long remembered. Our Hosts were fantastic,they provided plenty of information about conservation and the ecosystem of Antigua. The did some snorkeling but didnt see many fish as on other islands.
The secluded beach at Bird island where we swam and had lunch was very nice. Snorkling lessons to those who were not that comfortable were provided.
This a wonderful tour with great photo stops and a variety of interesting locations and activities along the way plus very educational, plus swimming snorkleing and food. I would say this tour is a must do and would recommend it to all.
We booked this tour independently while traveling on the Queen Elizabeth.
The boat was not crowded and provided plenty of both sun and shade. The trip to Hell's gate was great and the climb across the top something that will be long remembered. Our Hosts were fantastic,they provided plenty of information about conservation and the ecosystem of Antigua. The did some snorkeling but didnt see many fish as on other islands.
The secluded beach at Bird island where we swam and had lunch was very nice. Snorkling lessons to those who were not that comfortable were provided.
This a wonderful tour with great photo stops and a variety of interesting locations and activities along the way plus very educational, plus swimming snorkleing and food. I would say this tour is a must do and would recommend it to all.
1
person found this review helpful
We did the Extreme Circumnavigation Powerboat tour during our stop in
Antigua. We had a great time and really enjoyed our experience. We
enjoyed multiple stops including StingRay city and some downtime in
Rendezvous Bay. Eli's staff of Ross, Trevor, and Serge took great care
of us and we felt in good hands the entire day. Would definitely
recommend and can't wait to go back.
Another one:
1
person found this review helpful
We went on the Eco-Tour with J.D., Trevor & Nicola on December 16th.
We couldn't have had a more fun experience, from the wild boat ride
(waters were choppier than normal, but it was a lot of fun), to the
climb on Hell's Gate, to the hike on Bird Island, the delicious lunch,
& great conversations. We were still grinning about it for hours
after dinner. We hope to do more tours with Adventure Antigua on our
next trip to the island. GREAT value!
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