Saturday, February 18, 2012

The Adventure Antigua Team

Adventure Antigua has needed an updated crew blog for some time. Many of the old team have moved on to bigger and better things with skills they gleaned with our team and today we are proud to have another excellent fresh team who have been getting nothing but excellent, rave reviews on Tripadvisor and other online sites.
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I am still here of course and in case you are new to Adventure Antigua, I (eli fuller) started this company using a small open, locally built boat back in 1999. I took a max of four people a day out on a tour i called "the eco tour". The tour is carefully designed to replicate adventures that I got up to with my siblings and cousins in the North Sound of Antigua. That's me on the far left sometime back in the very early 80s.
dad, eli, ali, & nell

Also shown in the image above and in a better one below is Nell Fuller, my sister, and the person who maintains a link between the hotels and our company. Nell has been with Adventure Antigua for years and years and know the internal mechanics of it better than anyone. It's not always easy getting info about our tours to the guests that visit Antigua and Nell's job is a very challenging one indeed. She also takes most of our bookings that come in over the phone. She answers the phone 24 hours a day!
sista 

Also involved in working with the hotels but more involved with working with guests before they actually get to Antigua is Julia Fuller, my sister in law. Julia answers most of the hundreds of emails we get each week and spends quite a bit of time behind the computer as you can imagine. It's been a while since I have seen her on the boat actually (makes note). Here you see her with her son and my nephew, Alexander Jr., a third generation North Sound Fuller kid.

Also not getting on the boats nearly enough is the person who really keeps the business glued together. My mom, Jill Fuller, runs the office side of things. Thank goodness because I am not nearly as good as she is at keeping track of everything that is going on behind the scenes. She is one of those people who finds a few more hours in each day and when she's not working for us she manages to find time to do councelling. Read more about that part of her career here. She also finds time to be an artist too!! See some of her work here.  

moms 
Another family member who is part of the team is Ross Bloomfield, my (slightly) younger cousin. Ross was born in Antigua and grew up on Dutchmans Bay like the rest of us had done and spent his time as a youngster exploring all the islands and reefs of the North Sound. Like most of my team, he is more at home on the beach and in the sea and on land. He spent quite a bit of time in the UK going to school and then came back a few years ago with a Yacht Masters under his belt. He is a great captain and a natural guide showing people his beautiful home out on the water.

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Another skipper on the team is Captain JD Hall. JD is a veteran Adventure Antigua hero like Ross spends most of his free time out on the water. I mean, you know you are in the right type of work when you go boating on your day off and that is what you do when you work! His family has a long tradition of going to sea here in Antigua and I don't think there has been a fishing tournament at any time over the past 40 years when one of the Halls wasn't taking home a trophy. They all learn about boating as kids and JD is probably one of the best at it. He's comfortable at the helm of either a powerboat or a sailing vessel.
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Another Adventure Antigua veteran and one of my oldest friends is Trevor Erskine. Trevor and I spent quite a bit of time racing against each other during windsurfing competitions both here in Antigua and internationally. Trevor is another person who is at home on the water. That being said, you will also see him on land wherever there is a good cricket match going on. Until recently he spent most summers in the UK playing county cricket. On the pitch he's an all rounder scoring sixes and fours with ease and then later will be smashing wickets with fierce bowling. He now plays with the Stingray City gang for Seatons here in Antigua.
He has worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years and is the perfect tour guide while you are visiting Antigua. We are lucky to have him with us in our team because just like when he's playing cricket, Trevor is an all rounder on the tours as well. 
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Nicola Nash joined the team a few years ago and we are so lucky that she did. Nicola is our main Eco and marine biology aficionado. She has represented Adventure Antigua at a recent Whale Watching conference in Panama, sits on the Environmental Awareness Group as a board member, spends heaps of time volunteering at night for the Turtle Project here in Antigua, and is always there to help when there are any eco type things going on. She loves nothing more than snorkeling and being in the water though. Her favorite thing in the world is the octopus, but she's passionate about all the other marine and terrestrial animals. She is our main Eco Tour guide and is perfect for the job as you can imagine. Originally from the USA, she lives full time here on island now.

The other lady team member working on the boats full time is Natalie Fuchs. Natalie also grew up spending most of her time in the North Sound. I remember seeing her take some of her first steps on the beach where I grew up. Dutchmans Bay was where her Dad and I windsurfed most days and Natalie was often there with her brother and her mom. She is an extremely talented and artistic makeup artist and cosmetologist but after quite a bit of perseverance we managed to get her to join the team. She is a natural tour guide on our tours because like JD, Ross and I, she grew up doing this. Showing people the beautiful aspects of our off shore islands, secluded bays and interesting reefs is something that she has done all of her life and you can see her passion when you are on the tour. This kind of "work" is fun for her!  

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Jourdain Smith also joined the Adventure Antigua team recently and has shown to be very dedicated. Jourdain was working with the luxury Galley Bay Resort but wanted to be on the water more. He would see us passing the hotel each day and after getting powerboat course under his belt he approached us about being part of our group. We were happy to have him and like the rest of our team, Jourdain can be found on the water when he's having a day off. He owns a small powerboat which he goes fishing and snorkeling from whenever he gets time off work.
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Noel Dubery is the newest member of the team. I first met him when I was general manager of the sports center in Jolly Harbour way back in 1998. He was a 15 year old kid who spent all his free time on the beach or out boating. When he was 17 he got a good job working as first mate with one of the premier private charter boat companies. It didn't take long before he was skippering and within a short time he was traveling with the owner to work with their day charter operation in Italy during the summers. Within no time he learned fluent Italian. After a few years he went on to work with the St. James club and ran many of their boats but the was the main skipper for Suzie Q, their sport fishing boat. Deep sea fishing is Noel's favorite thing to do and he is an excellent fisherman and boat skipper. Recently the St. James Club decided to get out of sport fishing charters and Noel parted with them to do some marine mechanic courses. We convinced him to come and be part of our organization and Noel is currently working in various positions within our company. He is as comfortable driving the boat as he is snorkeling or guiding. He is a great all rounder and we are delighted to have him with the company.


Itano Bachelor is working part time with us at the moment as he has started a little company of his own. I first met him when he worked at Sunsail's resort on the island here. He is a sailing lover and is an excellent tour guide. He worked full time with us for a few years and is now a great person to call on when we need an extra hand.

Of course there are many others who help to make it possible for us to provide what we feel are the best tours on offer here in Antigua. Thanks to you all!



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:


jevotm
Baltimore, Maryland

Reviewer
4 reviews
5 of 5 stars Reviewed February 15, 2012 NEW
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!
Visited February 2012
Thank you for your vote
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.


Nancy E
Chicago, Illinois
2 reviews
5 of 5 stars Reviewed February 13, 2012 NEW
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!
Visited February 2012
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.


timbuck2
Minneapolis

Contributor
20 reviews

72 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed February 12, 2012 NEW
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.
Visited February 2012
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hidee97

Reviewer
3 reviews

5 helpful votes
5 of 5 stars Reviewed February 11, 2012 NEW
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
Visited February 2012
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.


Zinkmom
1 review
5 of 5 stars Reviewed February 8, 2012
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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www.adventureantigua.com  

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The yachties have discovered The North Sound in Antigua

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My Grandfather arrived in Antigua in the 1940s and set up The Lord Nelson Beach Hotel on Dutchmans Bay in 1950. The North Sound is where he and my grandma raised their 7 children. Then there were grandchildren and now many great-grand kids. The North Sound is where we all grew up and the dozens of little islands and thousands of reefs and coral heads which have scared mariners for hundreds of years were our fun filled playground. Of course The Eco Tour is modeled after adventures that my cousins and I got up to as kids and that tour was and still is the backbone of Adventure Antigua.
For so long charts had red navigational warnings printed on them for this area and most yachts steered clear of the beautiful bays and secluded anchorages, but things are changing.
More and more "stink pots" (mega yacht powerboats) as they are nicknamed are mooring off Long Island's Jumby Bay and I have also seen considerably more cruising yachts anchored up in the lee of Great Bird Island. I'm also seeing way more large luxury sailing yachts and this week I saw the lovely sight of a massive one sailing up into the North Sound right up around Maiden Island and tacking toward the South East side of Long. She was the beautiful yacht Salperton. Seen above, Salperton is the biggest sailing vessel I have ever seen cruising along within the North Sound. It was a fantastic sight and something that I am sure others were impressed with.
EDIT
I wrote the above earlier today and had to go to the Verandah Resort and the St. James Club. On the way back I saw a huge StinkPot cruising right through the middle of Kettle Bottom Shoal. I couldn't believe my eyes. This section of coastline is what keeps atlantic waves from coming into the bottom end of The North Sound, and it's very difficult to navigate through. We always use other deeper chanels to come into the North Sound. I was surprised to see it and as it happens I bumped into my Uncle Nick, owner of North Coast Salvage. He was equally surprised and we spoke about seeing Salperton earlier in the week.
The first big boat I had seen up there in the North Sound was the Maltese Falcon back in Jan of 2007. Seen here it was the biggest yacht I had seen in the North Sound.

A night shot from the same place just below Jumby Bay. 

all lit up

Few followed her until now and it seems as though the flood gates have opened when it comes to mega and super yachts. I guess those that make it up here are surprised at how pretty this side of Antigua is. They are surprised i guess because they have all been coming here for years and staying clear of this amazing spot only to visit Green Island on the East side of the island and Five Islands harbour on the West coast. I expect that within a few years the North Sound will be as busy or even busier than the traditionally favored anchorages. It won't happen without a few boats running into trouble. This area will always be difficult for mariners and even the best skippers with the most sophisticated electronics will make mistakes up here. "Grief on the Reef" happens from time to time and my uncle Nick will be waiting to pull them off in the event that one of these big yachts runs aground.

www.adventureantigua.com

Monday, February 13, 2012

A lovely Review on Tripadvisor about our Eco Tour

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“Fabulous Adventure Antigua Eco Tour”
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/
Visited February 2012

Friday, February 10, 2012

That's not just haze out there people.. it's African dust.

This one is a repost from March 2007. I thought it would be good because today when I got up and look outside there was a blanket of African dust over Antigua. In fact, it's so thick that I can hardly see Jumby Bay, Long Island. I don't know how long this one will last but the photographers won't be so happy today. If you would like to learn more have a read of the following old blog post:

So ya...the purple haze from yesterday's post is all here..

This morning the haze isn't as bad as it was yesterday thankfully, but its still there and we won't be seeing Montserrat today on the south side. "Sahara Dust" also known as African Dust comes across the Atlantic every year blanketing the region in haze. Many people think incorrectly that the haze has something to do with Montserrat's, but the world's most studied volcano, Soufriere, has nothing to do with it. What happens is that high winds blow massive quantities of dust from western and northern Africa up into the sky. Millions and millions of tons a year of it comes across the Atlantic passing through the Caribbean traveling on the same trade winds that brought the original European settlers here. The dust reaches the south-eastern part of the usa too. There is loads of info on all of this on the web these days and after googling "african dust" i came across many articles on it. Anyway, what most of them agree upon is that since the early 1970s the mass and content of the dust has changed dramatically. Yesterday there was yet another terrible report about glaciers melting, but equally scary is how the deserts are growing. Extreme droughts possibly to do with the "green house effect" as well as changing land and water use has resulted in more land losing its vegetation. Of course this results in more dust getting into the air, but that isn't the worst of it. Since the 1970's there has also been a change in the composition of the dust. There is now all kinds of pollutants contained inside the dust and many scientists are now attributing much of the decline in our coral reefs to this increase in african dust. It’s quite logical actually because we all know that when coral is covered with silt of any kind in can die, so with african dust filled with pesticides and all the other nasties covering the coral each year, it’s not hard to make the connection. Poor coral! There are so many things killing it off that i think much of it is gone forever. Sadly, i remember when i was a teenager just 15 years ago snorkeling on huge coral forests teaming with life. See the movie Finding Nemo....that's what the reef was like here back then. All of a sudden we had a few mega-hurricanes and most of the reef was gone. Many people blame the hurricanes which were stronger than Antigua had seen in over 2000 years (a fact that i will talk about another time), but the reef's decline wasn't just because of the storms. If you are interested in reading more then bookmark this link on coral and african dust.

I suppose it will take more time and study to find out all the negative effects of this increase in african dust, but there is at least one positive result. Kind of... Using satellite imagery, the NAOAA people predict when we in the Caribbean will get "african dust surges", and we actually know days in advance when it will be hazy. This is an image of dust coming off Africa.
Check here for more of these images. They have done many studies on the effects of the dust on our weather and have concluded without a doubt that increased levels of the dust can hinder hurricane formation which is wildly interesting to me. Considering the fact that due to "global warming" we are forecast to have more conducive conditions for extreme hurricane formation, it is also interesting that also due to global warming the increase in dust helps to deter these storms from forming. The way it works is that the dust doesn’t come across the Atlantic in a constant stream and instead comes in big waves almost like weather fronts. If good hurricane forming conditions and the dust appear in the same area, then water droplets inside the clouds become too heavy when mixed with the dust and fall out of the sky before they get a chance to become huge thunderstorms. The dust kills the storms before they get a chance to turn into hurricanes. There are many articles on all of this here if you are interested.
Other issues that you may not think about which are due to the dust have to do with the mess it makes. My boats are covered in brown clay like dust after weekends like this. I know that we will have to clean them tomorrow morning because of this hazy weekend.
I am glad i don't have to clean sails! Many of the yachts doing crossings come in with dirty sails and even aircraft have trouble on the leading edges of their equipment.
My eyes have given me more and more problems over the past few years and i sometimes wonder if it’s due to all the time i spend in the outdoors in contact with this increased dust. According to several studies, an increase in certain diseases can also be attributed to african dust. Great!...another thing to worry about right? If you are one of those people interested or worried about germs...check this out: Sorry:) There is another interesting health report on This one too.
Anyway, there is a hell of a lot interesting info to digest on the whole "Sahara dust" topic and i hope you found it as interesting as i said it would be. It’s a good thing it’s not all negative though. That thing about the hurricanes is gonna make me sleep better in the summer. One of the other cool things that can happen as a result of the dust is the sunsets.
haze

They even have articles on that. The pics above are of cool dusty sunsets. The satellite one is of dust coming off Africa.

Thursday, February 09, 2012

Response to recent Tripadvisor review

Hi there, I hear what you are saying about the numbers of the tour, and agree that the tours would be more enjoyable if the 52 foot boat (built by Cooper Marine in the USA and US Coast Guard Certified for 49 people) only took a dozen people. This isn't practical at all for a huge number of reasons including the simple fact that doing business in Antigua is way way way more expensive than doing business back in the USA or in Europe or the UK. Our margins are very small and when we take 12 people out on the boat we make a considerable loss a the end of the 40 mile round trip from the marina.
That all being said, we don't pack 49 people on the boat as the other similar boats made by Cooper marine and passed by the US Coast Guard do in the us. We keep the numbers considerably lower. During peak season there are days when the boat carries up to 31 people (we have seating for 31 without people sitting on the gunwale or on the cabin tops which is where many end up sitting to get better views up in the mangrove areas and off shore islands). There are many days during the season and way too many in the off season where this tour takes half that number by the way. I would rather not add more seats but after these two latest reviews I think we will add more aluminum pipe seats just so people have more options on where to sit and so people don't have to sit next to people they don't know. Dont forget this isn't a private charter though and sitting next to strangers is what happens on our tours unless you have private chartered.
One more thing on the seating. This boat is 52 feet long and 16 feet wide. It is mostly open with plenty of space for more seats. As far as seats per sqaure foot I would bet that we have the lowest seat density of all excursion boats in Antigua. We have competitors who have smaller boats with almost as many passengers and all of the boats our size and larger carry significantly more passengers. We operate a sailing cat the same size that takes 49. All of the sailing catamarans take more passengers. Usually at least one person per foot is the norm. I know of an 85 foot cat taking over 100 people. We don't have a crouded boat. I challenge anyone to go on a boat of similar size to our one during peak season and compare the two. We are significatnly less crouded with space to walk around and move around the boat. Visit our facebook page where we put hundreds of images up from tours that we have done over the past year. You see it looking crouded? Well if you were expecting 12 people on a boat that can carry 49 then yes 31 may appear crouded.
At the end of the day the boat is only a bus to get you to the hike, to get you to hells gate, to get you to our snorkeling spots.
As you can see from the other reviews, most people like the way the activities are split up between eco talks, hikes, caving, snorkeling and sight seeing. Some people want to snorkel only. I had a couple call me yesterday saying that they were only interested in snorkeling and not much else. I told them to rent a car and told them where to go and explore. My tour wasn't for them. This is an eco tour which has the best mix of a bunch of activities that me and my cousins got up to as kids in the beautiful North Sound. I still think that according to most definitions this tour is an eco tour. Some complain that we spend too much time talking about mangroves, turtles, snakes and nesting birds.... Adventure Antigua's Eco Tour can satisfy your every desire. We will always endeavor to do our best to make sure that it was the best day you experienced during your holiday.


“Too many people on the excursion”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed February 6, 2012 NEW
It was advertised as an eco tour with not to many people to give it a luxurious tinge.
There were to many persons on the catamaran, hard for everyone to find a seat.
The snorkeling was very short and to me it wasn't quite sure what eco meant.
The talk about turtles? The tour through the mangroves?
The trip through Hells Gate was great. Friendly hostesses.
Visited January 2012