The North East Marine Management Area - NEMMA

The World Bank and several other international aid donors through the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) set up a project called The OECS Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods Project or OPAAL, and Antigua and Barbuda was one of several countries that received aid. Today was the official launch of NEMMA which is the funded project here in Antigua. As the title of this blog explains NEMMA stands for North East Marine Management Area and it stretches from Beggar's Point off Prickly Pear Island in the North all the way up to Frier's Head at Mill Reef in the East. The United Nations Environment Program describes it as follows:

NEMMA’s vision is to be a self-financing, multiple use (yachting, fishing, tourism, conservation, recreation) protected area that maintains and enhances the natural beauty and unique biodiversity of the area, both terrestrial and marine, supported by an efficient legislative framework and ongoing awareness programs.

For more on NEMMA you can read further here. I can't tell you how happy i was when i heard about the NEMMA because it was something that i have been dreaming of for most of my adult life. In fact, I met with the former Minister of Tourism many times about exactly the same concept during my tenure as president of the Antigua and Barbuda Excursions Alliance. In 2004 the funding for NEMMA was agreed upon and I think OPAAL started sending aid to Antigua for its creation. My fiance did much of the consultant work which made up the plan for NEMMA. The Environmental Awareness Group was also very happy to hear about the project especially because they already have an offshore island project within the NEMMA. The EAG pretty much saved the Antigua Racer snake which was one of the world's rarest if not the rarest snake on planet earth. The project had funding to set up the NEMMA framework and to generally set it up to be run for a year or two on its own while the NEMMA board and the NEMMA manager organize themselves to be self sufficient. It all seemed like a good idea to me and to all involved in setting it up, but there was one problem....... Government buraucracy. The project's funding was intended to be for NEMMA's creation and implementation during the period between 2004 and 2010. We are now in late 2009 and there still isn't a board set up and there still isn't a manager hired for NEMMA. At a recent meeting between excursion operators, The Fisheries Department and the Environmental Awareness Group the Fisheries officer was drilled as to why these essential things haven't happened yet. I don't think any of us understood the answer that was given. Either way today was the official launch of NEMMA. How it was that NEMMA was launched today with no governing board and no manager is anyone's guess. I sat there listening to the speeches by the officer of the OECS Secretariat, two ministers and several other government technocrats and i wondered if they knew that NEMMA was being launched officially in front of the Prime Minister the rest of us without a board or manager. I don't think that they knew. NEMMA is totally useless at this point so why was the launch today. I guess i don't have all the facts on this one and must be missing something. The passionate speech by the Chanlah Codrington, Minister of State within the Ministry of Agriculture (and fisheries), Lands, Housing and Environment was a very good one, and i felt that he understood what this was all about. Later I took Mr. Codrington and a bunch of other people from this meeting on a shortened Eco Tour of the area within NEMMA.

What was way more interesting than all of this though was what we found when Leslie and I arrived in our boat at the Parham Fisheries Complex. As some of you may know from reading my blogs regularly Japan has spend millions and millions of dollars here in Antigua and Barbuda on fisheries complexes. Read more here. Keeping in mind that NEMMA is being funded by OPAAL or the OECS Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods Project which has an endangered turtle on their logo as seen here,

the sight of a freshly slaughtered hawksbill turtle caught my eye. OF course a slaughtered turtle would catch my eye no matter what, but seeing the bloody shell sitting there being photographed by the Japanese Fisheries delegation at the fisheries complex built for Antigua was just too much. Japan spent US $50 million dollars on Antigua and Barbuda's fishery so that we would vote alongside them when it comes to whaling and other such "fisheries" related issues. One such issue is Japan's fight for the Hawksbill turtle to be taken off the endangered species list. They would be so proud of their work here in Antigua i guess..... sadly!

Many people reading a story that told of Antiguan fishermen killing the critically endangered Hawksbill Turtles would be angry at the fishermen, but this shouldn't be the case. When i saw the turtle the fisherman called me over to chat about it.

He was ranting and said the following which i will write without the dialect; "She doesn't want me to spear fish and told me to use nets instead. I keep catching turtles and stingrays and I don't want to catch them at all. This is what happens though, and I'm not to be blamed. IT's her fault!" I asked who he was speaking about and he said "Appleton" who is the chief fisheries officer.

The Fisheries department has increasingly stepped up its fight to ban spear fishing around Antigua and has suggested gill net fishing as an alternative. Even the smartest of fisheries officers seem to think that there isn't anything wrong with gill nets contrary to the position of most other countries around the world. Read my blog on gill netting if you have the chance some day here. Like the photo on that blog, this turtle today seen here was killed in a gill net. The turtles simply can't hold their breath for as long as it takes for the fishermen to come back and check their nets. Without any regulation on the setting of these nets we see them in every cove inlet and bay around Antigua and I estimate that between 200 and 500 turtles are killed yearly on Antigua and Barbuda as a bycatch. We'll never know this for sure though because it's illegal to kill small turtles at any time of the year and illegal to kill any size turtles in the summer months up until August 31st. A fisheries officer came down while we were speaking with the fisherman and told him not to bring the turtles back to shore. The fisherman asked what he was supposed to do with the dead turtles he finds in his nets. He said he had killed 5 of them in the past month and 12 rays. This is just one guy setting his net several times a week. There are others who set them twice a day and six times a week. It is my opinion that the killing of many of these turtles shouldn't be blamed on the fishermen. The blam rests with the fisheries department and their lack of proper management. The chief fisheries officer told a reporter from the Daily Observer that she didn't think that there was anything wrong with gill nets and from the sounds of things is promoting the use of nets to fishermen. There are other very good fishing methods that they could use which are more profitable and more sustainable. Of course apart from the irony of me being part of this crazy situation, I then had to sit and listen to all these speeches about NEMMA and protection of the area. During one of the speeches the endangered turtles were passionately spoken about by the minister. Of course neither he nor the rest of the delegation (with the exception of the Japanese) had seen the freshly slaughtered turtles. While Rome burns we sat there and enjoyed the nice lunch put on by the Fisheries Department.

For the sake of the marine environment, I can only hope and pray that the ministers and the fisheries officers get to work and hire a manager ASAP to get NEMMA properly launched in a more significant way than just speeches.

Biggest Shark i have ever seen!

What was going to be just a regular dry Tuesday afternoon of office work and powerboat design dramatically changed when I received a text from Greg the helicopter pilot. Greg always gives us interesting sightings via text or phone call and keeps us up to date with turtle nests, whale spottings and other fun stuff he spots on Caribbean Helicopter tours. Yesterday it was "Whale shark 12 miles SW Cades...tuna too". I had planned on going to see my mom after lunch and then to meet up with Stevie and Gareth for some golf at the end of the day, but I knew it was still calm and the idea of getting some good shots of this thing sparked my interest. Xtreme was sitting on its boat lift with no work to do, so I called Roddy my main adventure partner. He is also on Greg's "interesting things" texting list had also received the info. Roddy is one of Antigua's main photographers and video guys and runs www.acquafilms.com as well as his photo biz. His main photo and video passion is stuff in the water and like me, he wants to show people the other side of Antigua. "LETS GO", he urged. If you read the blog from a few days ago, then you know we had just been on wild goose chase looking for Suzie the turtle over in Barbuda. By the way, she has now swum around Barbuda according to the tracking software. I wasn't sure that powering off half way to Montserrat was a smart idea. That kind of run isn't cheap and we could end up only seeing blue water and a few flying fish. Greg texted me again saying he'd seen it on two Montserrat trips and that he figured the tuna were a meter long. Ok that was it. I texted a few people who I thought could possibly come with us on short notice. Of course I forgot many people who I should have texted, but within 40 minutes six of us were accelerating out of Jolly Harbour on a course 13 miles to our south-west.
It was choppier than I thought it was but the skies were sunny and clear. When we were a mile away from the GPS point that Greg had sent me I spotted some Frigate birds off to the East and made the decision to go to them instead of the position Greg had given me. As all fishermen know, frigate birds feeding in the Atlantic mean that large fish are chasing small fish out of the water. Frigates can't get wet and will swoop down and pick fish right out of the air as the larger fish chase them. These amazing birds will follow big predator fish for hours sometimes waiting for them to find a school of flying fish or other small prey. As soon as the feeding starts you see the frigates dive down to just above the surface. As we approached the birds they were swooping down which told us there was action below. When we saw the big splashes from the tuna we slowed down and Roddy got geared up to go over the side with his camera gear. Keep in mind that we are half way between Montserrat and Antigua where the water is 780 meters (2,559 feet) deep, you are part of an active food chain when you enter the water. When you enter the water in a feeding frenzy.... you are taking some chances that 99.9999999999999999999999999 % of the Antigua and Barbuda population wouldn't dream of even in their worst nightmares. They are not Roddy Grimes-Graeme though. He's done this kind of thing from my boat many times and some of the best shark footage we have seen has been when we were fishing for tuna once with him. We had hooked a shark and Roddy just jumped over with his video camera and filmed it swimming up to get released and then it slowly swimming away into the abyss.
Just as we got into the frenzied area we spotted the shark. Wow, this thing was big and looked to be about thirty feet long with the typically wide head and very tapered body.

Someone said it had the shape of a massive tadpole. It didn't take a second for Roddy to jump in. The photo above shows one of the Frigate birds and directly below is Roddy in the bottom left side of the image. The land way in the distance is Antigua. "Holy sh%$, you have to see this", he yelled back.
The way this particular feeding frenzy was working was that at the very bottom of the visible food chain was a huge school of krill and I could see the reddish pink colour from time to time in the middle of the chaos. Feeding on the krill was the guy we all came to see. The Whale Shark is one of nature's most amazing species and the biggest fish in the ocean. Like the even bigger whales that migrate through our waters, these big animals don't eat fish at all and only feed on these tiny plankton like creatures.

Yesterday it wasn't just a 30 foot shark that was feeding on the krill, there were also huge schools of two inch long fish which would stay deep when we got close according to Roddy. Feeding on them were the wild schools of black fin tuna that were averaging about five to ten pounds. Also feeding on the small fish and on some of the black fin tuna were the much bigger yellowfin tuna which probably were up to two hundred pounds. Also feeding on both sizes of tuna were the other larger predators like blue marlin and pelagic sharks. Roddy didn't see any bill fish but did see one carnivore which he thinks was a Dusky Shark.
It swam right up to him looking at him with his left eye and then his right and he slowly waved his tail from side to side coming as close as only a few feet before slowly turning back down into the blue. When Roddy, said to come over to him I knew he had seen a "real" shark, because Roddy never needs the boat to be close. Shortly after that all went quiet.

We searched for another 45 minutes for the exciting food chain but couldn't spot a thing. Just after we gave up and started powering back to Antigua, my sister pointed behind us at the huge plume of an ash cloud erupting from Montserrat's volcano. The eruption was pretty big and as I looked back at it I saw a frigate diving out of the sky from way up. With that I made a sharp turn to go back for a second look. This time I jumped over when we luckily found the whale shark. It's two huge remora fish stuck to it's sides added to the amazing wonder that I saw below me. Unlike Roddy, I wasn't going far from the boat. In fact, Mykl said not to as there wasn't anyone else to drive the boat. lol I know why she didn't want me going far and she didn't have to worry. Roddy took some more photo and video before we finally made the trip back home. Roddy had missed some similar adventures in recent years and was so happy to have done this. It was the second time I had seen this kind of thing, but well worth the trip. We can only hope that Greg doesn't lose our numbers!

This very quickly done video was provided by Roddy of www.acquafilms.com to show some of the action. Thanks Roddy for keeping the memory alive!

tell the stories....especially the ones never heard.

You know, i have found it interesting that after nearly three years of writing this blog, i haven't found any other Antiguan bloggers who write regularly. I hope that some of the readers of this blog will point me in the direction of other Antiguan blogs because it would be nice to read them. A journalist recently asked me why i chose photography as an art form. They were interviewing me for Caribarena.com's art section. I told them that i didn't consider myself an artist really but that if my writings and photos were combined i guess i am a sort of artist. Anyway, I told them that the main reason i write and take photos is to show a different side of Antigua. I told her that i felt that too many Antiguans and far too many people who come here only see one side of Antigua. My company, my photography, and my writing is all done with the idea of showing people a different story of Antigua and of Caribbean life.
Today my breathtakingly beautiful fiance who is way smarter than she is beautiful made me look at a TED story on the internet. Mykl is always giving me helping info and advice thankfully. This one is a good one. It's a talk about the single story and how it limits perception. Please have a look at the TED video done by novelist Chimamanda Adichie.

A barbuda trip having fun and looking for Suzie

Yesterday some family and friends took off in this amazing weather we are having at the moment on a day trip to Barbuda. Whenever it's very calm on a Sunday we usually do something like this. Leaving Jolly Harbour pretty late didn't matter that much because we could go faster than normal in the calm seas over to Barbuda. From Jolly Harbour to the spot Susie the turtle had been pinpointed by the satellite tag transmitter on her back was about 34 miles. We were there in an hour and as we got close we spotted a very large green turtle just south of Palmetto Point on the South West of Barbuda. No blue GPS transmitter like the one seen of her in this link.
We slowly cruised around the area of the last GPS fix, but we knew that this position had been received almost 24 hours earlier and the chances of seeing her were slim. When we passed close to the beach we counted a bunch of very fresh turtle nests which all appeared to be smaller hawksbill nests. We then cruised up to another spot which we knew was a favorite Green turtle feeding area. They eat a special type of grass which is quite common in the shallow beds around Antigua and Barbuda usually in about 30 feet.

We saw a bunch of big adult greens there but no satellite transmitter. No doubt these turtles make huge passages to far off lands just as Suzie had done, and I imagined where these guys had been this summer. After another 30 minutes we went up more quickly to another foraging spot close to Coco Point Hotel where we could anchor for some lunch too. Here we saw more green turtles than we have seen in ages. They were popping up for air left and right. Greens seem to take only one breath before going right back down to eat more grass. The hawksbill turtles will usually stay longer on the surface before going down. It wasn't going to be easy to spot Suzie, but we had fun trying while eating our lunch. I snapped a few photos of greens as they came up for air, but i wasn't fast enough to get any good images. No suzie either.

After lunch we went to have some more productive fun beachcombing and snorkeling on the east coast. I love looking through the flotsam and jetsam out there on the windward beaches and i also counted two big green turtle nests and found some lovely shells. My bro who has hardly had a Sunday off in years was anxious to get in some snorkeling so before sunset we went out to the barrier reef and jumped in. Surprisingly we found some lobsters. I was surprised because there is so much over fishing in Barbuda that i didn't think we would see any. It isn't easy these days. Here is one saying cheese for us.

Big John and my bro were not happy to leave them, but we didn't come to catch anything but rather to take photos and explore. After managing to make it out into the Atlantic by passing through a channel in the breakers it felt like it was time to get back to the boat. On the way in we passed some rays which were feeding on the bottom. IT was some good snorkeling and a perfect end to our day on Barbuda. We had to hurry to get out of the tricky reef while i still had some light to navigate. Once outside the barrier reef the calm ride back was a dream. We hardly ever have it so calm, but September and October provide these days and we have to make the most of them. Today we received the latest GPS fix on Suzie and as you can see in this map (her track is in Blue and our track from yesterday is in Red),

she has moved up the coast towards Spanish Point. We would have crossed paths yesterday and i wish we had a more recent fix while we were over there. In the shallow waters off Spanish Point she would have been very easy to spot. Next time!

Happy guests with Adventure Antigua

Not much time to write the blog today but thought you would like this one (thanks tracy):

From: Tracy Porter [xxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com]


Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 5:41 PM

To: Adventure Antigua

Subject: RE: AA-Booking Xtreme Circumnav Confirmation Oct 1st x1





Nell,



I just wanted to write and let you know how much fun I had on the Xtreme Circumnav on October 1st. I went on the eco tour last year and also had a great time. Tony, one of your employees, is such an incredible guy and he actually remembered me from the previous year which was incredible. I look forward to returning to Antigua and hanging out with you all again. Thanks for making the trip so much fun!!





Tracy Porter

Amazing story of how the internationally famous "Suzie" came to Barbuda

My brother Ali, send me some links the other day from a very interesting turtle project. All of my family loves sea turtles and have worked for many years to help these endangered creatures. Anyway, this link told a story about two turtles that were rescued (purchased) from fishermen. It must still be legal there to kill them. The scientists named the adult green turtle "Suzie" and placed a satellite transmitter on her back so that they could see where she went off to.

Most people interested in turtles know that where they live and feed isn't usually the place that they mate and nest. In fact, Mykl just came back from a major turtle study in Bermuda where they have no nesting turtles at all.

Historical records showed that all of the nesting turtles were killed off many years ago. Turtles return to the place of their birth to lay eggs and if you kill them all off when they come up to nest and or take all their eggs.... nesting will stop. That's what happened in Bermuda. Interestingly though, they have thousands of young turtles feeding there which arrive on the Atlantic currents and stay until they near maturity. The study she was on was carefully catching them and taking DNA samples to figure out where they were born. This would also tell them where these turtles would go back to lay eggs. Back to Suzie. Suzie was feeding in the Turks and Caicos islands and the scientists hoped that they would learn where this turtle lived or nested without taking DNA. I'm not sure if they were sure if she had nested in Turks or if she had been living there. I have a feeling that she was living there. DNA only works if you have a common sample from another area to match it with. Many times that DNA has never been taken. Anyway, my brother all the family the link showing "suzie's" movement, and we were amazed to see her swim straight over to the Virgin Islands. My bro and I had made that trip ourselves back in June 1995, and even on a 40 foot boat it wasn't an easy one. Suzie didn't stop there. She then made the voyage up to St. Martin. From there the google tracking map showed her swimming over towards St. Kitts and last night she arrived off the pink sandy beach of Barbuda's Palmetto Point. There are no more islands in that direction, so it looks like she may start nesting very soon in Barbuda. She may lay on average 110 eggs three or four times every few weeks before returning back to the Turks and Caicos. Because of huge variety of things that kill turtles the chances that one of the hundreds of eggs will make it to maturity are not very high. In fact, some scientists say one in ten thousand eggs will reach maturity at 25 years old. That's not too good is it?

This photo below was taken on the same beach over in Barbuda several weeks ago and shows the tracks of a hawksbill turtle. They need coastal vegetation to nest comfortably. In Antigua that's called "bush" and for some reason is seen to be something that must be cut down.
Anyway, Antigua will get some good press out of this one for a change if she makes it through her nesting without being killed. Our fisheries department here on the island is run by people and a government who in my humble opinion don't care about the survival of these turtles. They drew up new laws in their Fisheries Act which would protect these amazing species, but years later it hasn't been passed. It is still legal to kill mature endangered sea turtles after august 31st. We all know that it's peak nesting season at that time. It would be so easy to pass the the act, but this government, like the last one cares little about the environment and nothing about the marine environment. To the ministers: IT’S TIME TO PASS THE FISHERIES ACT WHICH HAS BEEN SITTING FINISHED ON YOUR TABLE FOR YEARS!!!!!!

If you would like to see if Suzie makes it safely back to the Turks and Caicos after nesting please keep checking this website link.

another cool antigua video showing Adventure Antigua too

Why I Love Antigua and Barbuda from CKB Boards on Vimeo.

The True Story of six americans arrested in Antigua

Since this story broke there has been a non stop flow of bad publicity towards Antigua which I suppose is expected if the facts are not brought to light. Why the facts are not being put into the public and more important the internet's watchful eye is simply because Antigua is not very good at PR. The Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Department should have a proper PR department which is set up to out little fires before they get out of control. IT seems as though we here in Antigua always have some smoke on the ground!
The facts I will write here have been gathered from Caribarena.com antiguaobserver.com and The Antigua Sun newspaper, The Daily Observer newspaper and several people who were saw what went down. Most of the stuff that is written in the International press is coming from the people who have been charged.

The guys seen in the above photo which was featured today in the New York Daily News got on the Carnival Victory for a seven day cruise which stopped in Antigua back in early September. When they got off the ship here in St. Johns they were approached by a taxi driver on the boardwalk next to the ship. He asked them if they wanted to go to the beach and told them the rate was US $6 per person to go to Jolly Harbour's Castaway Beach. A few of them told him that he was ripping them off and that there was no way they'd pay that. The cab driver walked away as did the group of eleven young men and women from New York. Three of the eleven stopped and asked another cab driver what the price was to take the group of eleven to Castaways. He also told them that it was US $6 per person each way or $132 round trip in total. The tourists complained and said the same thing as told the last cab driver using words like "ripping us off".

The driver seen here in a photo taken from The Antigua Sun

Said that things were slow and he'd do it for US $5 instead of the US $6. One of the group said they wouldn't pay more than US $50 each way. The driver told them that the rate sheet says US $6 per person and even at $5 per person it was more than they were paying. Finally he gave in and said he'd take them.

According to court reports he took the eleven of them and even made a stop to a local shop for one of the girls to buy a phone card. She came back to the cab complaining how the card was a rip off.

He said he arrived at Castaways and wasn't paid anything. He had to wait there for them so that he could get paid. The stayed at Castaways. For the record Castaways is a beach bar and rest. which was closed at the time. One of the Taxi Association people was organizing a beach party for cruise passengers each week there where people could drink and relax on the beach. After spending time there the eleven tourists came back to the same cab driver and asked to be taken back to town. He says that when they got outside Big Banana Pizzas on Redcliffe Street just a few minutes walk from the ship which was in plain view as in this photo from the same spot, one of the eleven asked how much they had to pay. The cab driver told them it was US $100. Remember three of the eleven had negotiated with the driver. It was another of the eleven who asked how much they owed. Immedeately there was noise and cussing. Some yelled that there was no way they were paying more than US $50 and that they were being robbed. The taxi driver told them that he had already given them a $32 discount on the stated rate sheet charge and that he'd take them to the police if they didn't pay. One of the tourists yelled out "take us to the police". They slowly drove about a US "block" to the police station as there was plenty of traffic and people walking on the streets. When they arrived at the St. Johns Police Station a uniformed police officer was just walking in and asked the cab driver what was going on. He said he could clearly see that there was a problem and told the cab driver to drive into the station's yard. As the cab stopped one of the tourists jumped out and said something like "that fu$%ing nigger is trying to rip us off". With that the officer said he was placing him under arrest for the use of foul language in a police station. With that two others in the gang of eleven jumped between the officer and the guy he was arresting pushing and shoving. A female officer came in to help and was beaten to the ground by several of the eleven. From testimony in court a huge fight played out with five of the eleven INCLUDING THE ONES WHO FIRST MADE THE DEAL WITH THE TAXI DRIVER not getting involved. In fact, they paid their taxi bill and went back to the ship without getting into any trouble with the cops.

The other six have been accused of several charges including assault on a police officer.

They spent a night or two in jail before being bailed out facing their trial. Despite many reports the the contrary THEY HAVE NOT BEEN HELD SINCE THEIR ARREST! Their trial has been rushed through with them even operating on Saturdays. Many Jamaican and other non nationals have been saying that the tourists have been receiving special treatment with this speedy trial. I agree with them but that's just my opinion. I was attacked along with several other employees at the late night bar that i was working at by several thugs from London. These guys didn't want to pay a US $18 bar tab and became ultra aggressive when they were asked to pay up at the end of the night. They ended up throwing bar stools, beer bottles, glasses and glass ash trays at us. We couldn't believe that they could erupt into so much violence over less than US $20. Some people are saying that this isn't possible, but I have seen it first hand. Some are also saying that Antiguan taxi drivers are often trying to over charge people. In this case he undercharged them.

Carnival has pulled its ship out of Antigua leaving millions of dollars in revenue. Why have they done this? I think they have done this because most people on the net don't have the facts and are commenting negatively on the case. Bad reporting by the US media on this thing coupled with all the forum comments has fueled the negative vibe towards Antigua. Then you have the stupid Cruise Association and ALP here locally supporting the six tourists and the US representative too. There is no wonder Carnival pulled out. They were forced to by all the media hype against Antigua. In my opinion, this is one time (one of the few) when Antigua has gotten the bum rap. I keep thinking what would have happened had Antiguan's messed with American cops or if the 6 had beaten up some other cruise shippers here while on the island. If we had let them go without dealing with them imagine the bad press? The whole thing stinks IMHO.

5/10/09 Since i wrote this, 5 of the 6 changed their plea to guilty and saying that they were sorry asked for forgiveness. "The truth shall set you free"

a strange hurricane season

The child in this photo was born during the last storm we had come close to Antigua. In the middle of all the thunger and lightning one night last year , Alexander was born. It's been quiet since then. Let's hope it continues.

By all accounts, we have had the best weather this summer! The winds have been around to keep us cooler than usual, the rains have come occasionally just enough to keep it from getting dry and dusty, the hurricanes machinery has not been pumping out storms, the few that have formed have missed us.

All in all this season has been a very quiet one and perfect for boating. we have done plenty and will do more for sure.

Quick video for a facebook competition

The Antigua and Barbuda tourism department is giving away some flights for the winner of a 2 minute Antigua video. Here is my very quick amateur version:

Some old faces back at Adventure Antigua and more changes too.

With more tours on the market and fewer people on island thanks to the "financial crash" we are probably in the most challenging time of our life as a company. Adventure Antigua turns 10 this December and if there was one thing that has helped us get to this point I suppose it's the determination to always have word of mouth be our main revenue generator. We have always had word of mouth as the main way we get business and the main reason for that is that as a company we have all strived to make sure your day out with us is exceptionally good. We have always said that we are not your average snorkeling tour. We take guys who have snorkeled and boated their entire lives, guys who go to sea on their days off, guys who adore Antigua and Barbuda, guys who are friendly and respectful, and we put them on a boat with you. Nothing in the world makes them happy more than for me to tell them I had a nice email thanking them for a lovely tour. We thrive on good reviews and the trip advisors, and Antiguaforums, and cruise ship message boards have all helped us see these reviews.


Over the past few years we have had challenges where some of our best guys have asked me to let them go off and pursue other things. Some have left the country.. others, sadly, have left this world.

Adventure Antigua, although still the best high end excursion company in Antigua, has recently not been as strong as it wanted to be. Three of our best veteran Adventure Antigua crew knew that we needed some help and offered to come back and work with us.

Leslie, our strong man and loudest man has come back to work on the boats and says he is happier than he's been in years. We all love having him back with us too.

Trevor starts work again today after being off in the UK playing county cricket. As a very old windsurfing friend, Trevor and I go way back. I am delighted that he's come back to work once again with us.

Lastly Captain Shamel has decided to join our team again. Shamel, like m any of the other Adventure Antigua guys cares about our company. It's unusual when someone who is no longer working for the company cares so strongly about how well the company does. Shamel is that guy, and with more boating and tour experience than any other of my crew, Shamel will help me with all the boats and may skipper each of them depending on the day.

We have invested some money into erecting a proper building for all of our spare parts, tools, stocks, and other equipment. For ten years we have been shoving stuff here and there and we have finally made a move to get our gear and maintenance department even more organized.

I had wanted to spend about US $70 K on repowering the eco boat, but at this point I am being forced to hold off on that investment. I wish things hadn't gotten so slow, but it will pick up and the funds needed for the project will be there for next summer.

Of course, some of you know about our sailing program. We have invested some money and time into sailing training for our core poweboat crew. Captain JD and Captain Tony just recently completed a three week day skipper course. Two weeks of book work and one week on a yacht doing practical stuff. They passed with flying colours and are excited about our second sailing vessel's launch coming soon. Yes, our second sailing vessel will be finished and launched soon. I'm not sure when because there is a little thing that may postpone it a bit. That little thing is my wedding. lol I am getting married to my beautiful finance and friend, Mykl. She's an addition to Adventure Antigua that we have needed for some time and has proven to be a fantastic consultant on organizational and eco issues.

The rest of the gang seems to be very happy with these changes and we are having a meeting later today to go over more of our plans. I think that over the past six months my core crew has been under too much pressure holding up our high standards without enough support. They did an amazing job, but I know it's been difficult. With the veterans back on the boats and on the team they will be breathing a sigh of relief and happy at the prospect of out continued success. There is no doubt in my mind that Adventure Antigua has the best tours in Antigua and although there will be changes to the management and structure of the organization, we won't change the way we treat our guests or the way we operate our tours. Coming out with us should be like coming to visit old friends on their island.... a place with hidden secrets that they are eager to show you.

big changes with Adventure Antigua

We are in the slowest part of the season and it's time to take stock and see where we are. Adventure Antigua has had some difficulties and challenges over the past 12 months and we are making some changes over the next 60 days. This coming season will see a rejuvinated Adventure Antigua with new direction, stronger leadership, more experienced crew and newer products.
The first stages of our plan are underway and I will fill you in on some news over the next few days. I'm excited.

Shocking photos and story from St. Johns, Antigua

My company Adventure Antigua operates tours by powerboat around Antigua and often has to collect guests from Redcliffe Quay in St. Johns. Every single time we go in there we pass garbage floating inside the harbour. Commercial harbours around the world are usually nasty and it's fairly normal for some garbage to bypass storm drains and end up in the water. Water running along the gutters and drains has to end up in the harbour, but there should be some sort of grate filtering garbage. In Antigua this doesn't seem to be a priority. These images were taken after an hour of rain in St. Johns back in January of 2007. Both the Antigua Sun and the Daily Observer papers used my images and mentioned the garbage. One of the call in shows spoke about it and generally people were shocked to see all the trash floating around in the harbour. A small fraction is stopped by the coastline around Deep Water Harbour, but most of it goes into the sea. I can't imagine what the east coast of Nevis and St. Kitts look like. They should write to our government on this issue! Dumping garbage into the sea is against International Law and the government of Antigua and Barbuda know that this is happening. It wouldn't take much to put small catchment mechanisms on the gutters preventing the trash from getting into the harbour, and why it's not done is beyond me. Check the photos taken from my boat:

Anyway, this past Saturday September 19th was International Coastal Cleanup Day and we went out to see if we could get rid of some of the trash in the hopes that we could stop it from getting back into the sea. There are a huge variety of living organisms that are harmed by this garbage. The most common way they are killed is by getting tangled in it, but they also are killed when they mistake the plastics for food. Human beings are being harmed as well and more and more of the chemicals in breaking down marine plastics are finding their way into our bodies. In some areas in the ocean up to 50% of the stomach contents of fish have been found to contain plastics. This article on marine plastics breaking down was published today on BBC.

Anyway, on Saturday a group of 18 of us took one of my company's boats out to two tiny beaches near Yeptons and Coconut Beach Hotel. A few years ago i had seen one of the life boats from a cruise ship collecting garbage from there. I guess they were embarrassed to have their guests see this trash on their first Antiguan beach as they entered the country. This is probably yet another thing the wealthy Cruise Association should look at. I guess the huge staff at the Ministry of Tourism could come up with some action too. As we arrived, the rain was coming down sideways and the weather wasn't great. Unfortunately we ran out of garbage bags very quickly. We had taken 150 of them. The trash not only is on the shore but has been washed and blown up the hillsides. It's embedded in the ground there too. What a mess. Although the beaches looked so much better after we attacked them we could see more garbage flowing out of the harbour as we worked. It's won't stop until the gutters and drains are fixed properly (and not just with yellow and blue paint). Check the images we took from Saturday:

Sailing course offered in Jolly Harbour

The Jolly Harbour Yacht Club is offering two types of sailing courses at the moment. One on Saturdays is for kids and is totally full at the moment. The other is for any age group and still has space. IT starts this Sunday and is EC $300 for members and $450 for non members. It goes from 9 am until 12 and lasts six weeks. Learn the basics and then sail on their little "boats". In no time you will be sailing by yourself on a "laser". For more info speak with Pippa Tel: 722 8468
Although Jason has sailed up and down the Caribbean with me and does all the http://www.sailing-antigua.com/ charters with me too, I am going to send him so that he can be trained properly from the basics.

If you would like to get involved in a new sport in Antigua give them a call.

Free boat trip this saturday

As long as you don't mind helping pick up some garbage for a few hours you can have a free boat cruise and even some snorkeling. This saturday is the International Coastal Cleanup day all over the world and Adventure Antigua has been taking part for three years now. If you want to come please contact nell on 726 6355 or email her on info @ adventureantigua.com