good job JD and crew!

From: M SHYMKO
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 3:53 PM
To: admin
Subject: 4-Snorkel Stop Adventure with Lunch

There were four of us - my husband, myself, our son & his fiancee - so there were a couple of age groups involved. We all thoroughly enjoyed the tour. My husband and I have done Stingray City in Grand Cayman but this one was exceptional as the rays seemed much friendlier here. The lunch we had was delicious and we were impressed with how well the crew cleaned up - I don't think you could tell anyone had eaten there. Our son and his fiancee loved the snorkeling and we were all very impressed with the crew. The captain was JD and one of the fellows was Jason - I'm afraid I don't remember the other boys name but they were exceptional. There were a group of people from Italy sitting behind us and they talked all while the crew were giving us instructions and explanations on the tour. The crew all handled the rudeness very well. Much better than I would have - they are to be commended.

In my son's words - "the tour was phenomenal" and I thought you should know how well your people are doing their jobs.

Linda Shymko

This tour was sold by a travel company for cruise ship passengers called Shore Trips. The real name of the tour is the Xtreme Circumnav (round the island). Check the video of the tour here:

whale tale

The night before was silent and starry after I left the Haiti fundraiser, and along Fig Tree Drive after midnight I knew that the next day's adventure would be memorable. We hadn't really planned a big outing, but a trip over to Barbuda was going to be a must. It had simply been too long, and when you have a sunday without any wind Barbuda seems so much closer. Of course 26 miles isn't that far, but the shallow shelf between the sister islands can provide some awefully choppy seas when it's windy. When I got to Curtain Bluff the stars reflected on the still water and lights were visible from Montserrat. Stunnning! I was exhausted after serving drinks for the past six hours but still excited about the prospects that were waiting for me in the morning.
I woke early and looked out the window. Ocean Nomad didn't move at all on the dock below and the water looked like it had turned to ice. Not a single ripple moved anywhere. I sent out a few texts to people I thought would be awake and might want to join us on a Barbuda trip, and quickly had a few replies. Within two hours we were leaving Jolly Harbour and on our way to Palmetto Point. As we passed the hotels on the west coast, I told everyone to keep an eye out for whales. I said it was early in the season, but very possible to see them in these conditions. We didn't see a thing on the way over until about a mile off when all of a sudden we spotted dolphins off our starboard side. These guys didn't want to hang out with us and only briefly showed themselves before going deep. Just after we got to the point we saw another pod of dolphins, but again they were not excited about seeing us. Usually a Barbuda trip involves plenty of snorkeling, beachcombing and other active sort of things, but as soon as the anchor was dropped into the sand below, a  bottle of wine opened up and I knew this trip would be more of a relaxing one. We had a swim enjoying the pelicans that were doing spectacular dives into bait fish nearby. After a few drinks and a bit of time to enjoy the beauty of the long beach we then decided to head up to Spanish Point. Just after leaving anchor I noticed something black break the surface of the water about two miles to the west. I told Roddy that it could only be one thing. Whales! Enjoy his video:

www.adventureantigua.com

The Adventure Antigua facebook page is growing.

We now have 670 fans of the Adventure Antigua Facebook page and the number is growing once again. Check http://www.facebook.com/AdventureAntigua if you would like to become a fan too. I usually try to upload photos and videos there as often as i can. People also can upload their own photos and videos as well as post comments and reviews. I did my first Adventure Antigua Eco Tour ten years ago this month, and I have to tell you it feels good to know that we are still here trying to make sure that people have a great holiday here in Antigua. It feels even better when people tell us that the "highlight" of their cruise or vacation was the day they spent out with us on the water. Anyway, please visit our facebook page and become a fan if you can.

More Whale news in the Caribbean.

Caribbean whaling countries urged to capitalise more on quid pro quo with Japan


By Observer News - Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

A former top regional fisheries official says Antigua & Barbuda and other Caribbean members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) should leverage for more than just fisheries assistance from Japan in exchange for their votes.

The advice comes from Horace Walters who was St Lucia’s chief fisheries officer and a former head of the Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Organisation (ECCO).

Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada belong to the IWC, which was set up in 1964 to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and the orderly development of the whaling industry.

Walters says their support for Japan is a principled position which affirms their own right to exploit the surrounding marine resources, but it must move beyond that.

“I think the time has come to expand the co-operation, not just in fisheries but in other areas,” he said. “Japan has capacity to do all things and whereas they might have concentrated their efforts in the fisheries sector, where we made the request and the request for assistance came from the government, right now, I think that the governments ought to review the requests they make to Japan because our fisheries sector is well established.

“We have the vessels; we have the manpower and the resources are there. So it is up to us to continue to develop the fisheries sector, but then the co-operation can be expanded to include a number of other areas.”

Walters said with Antigua and the other pro-whaling islands being threatened with tourism boycotts, the prospects for Japanese tourists should be explored.

“We should be looking for Japanese tourists,” he said. “We should be looking to bring a Japan Airline to Jamaica and to have a link between Jamaica and the islands with Japanese visitors.

“We should be looking to bring a lot of Japanese visitors to the island, not just Americans or Europeans. That’s not the only area but I think it will be left to the government to decide where they want the co-operation with Japan.”

Walters’ comments come at a time when the anti-whaling lobby in Antigua & Barbuda is again pressing government to turn its back on countries like Japan and Norway – the main whaling nations.

Well you know what I think about all of this. You can read more here.

Whale video taken yesterday

Yes, we were very lucky to have totally calm waters yesterday and ended up doing a trip to Barbuda. On the way there we spotted two pods of dolphins, but they didn't seem that interested in us at all. After we arrived there and had a swim, I saw a black object break the surface a few miles off and figured we were in for a treat. Armed with cameras we arrived nearby and switched off the engines. The mother and calf came alongside and did about five circles around us before swimming off together. We had 30 minutes of fantastic whale viewing both in and out of the water. Several of the people with us couldn't be held back and went snorkeling with the amazing creatures. Here is a movie taken with our little cheap camera. http://www.acquafilms.com/ were on board with us so hopefully they will have some awesome footage to show us soon.

stuff

After we got married in November several people asked us what was the craziest gift we got. It's kind of a funny question, but I suppose most people expect the usual assortment of wedding gifts. We were delighted to have gotten so many lovely wedding gifts, and yes some of them were things we were hoping to get. We didn't realize it at the start of the plans, but people expected us to have a wedding registry. "It's what you do", so we made one.
We didn't even open any of our wedding gifts at first because after spending a night at Blue Waters hotel we flew down to the Grenadines for a week of honeymoon chill time. After we got back it was time to open gifts and try to figure out where to put them. Most were things to use in our house, and as it's not possible to fit them into our rented appartment in Jolly Harbour we had to put them in storage. I am sure many newlyweds have to do this sort of thing, and we now have even more reason to get our house built. That's another big adventure that's waiting to start up.
Back to that funny question about what was the craziest gift we got. We never really had a crazy gift although a tiny James Bond style waterproof video camera called a GoPro was probably the most unusual. Today I finally had a chance to test it out. I didn't use it underwater but as you can see it works just fine:


This camera will hopefully help this blog with new unusual content. I can't wait until it's good windsurfing or surfing weather. The video will give you a great view of some of the things we get up to.
Anyway, the person who asked me the question went back to Holland before we got our truly crazy wedding gift. One of our craziest friends was kind enough to get us a massive 60+ pack of toilet paper. And that's it! The most unusual and wacky wedding gift we received. Thanks Choppa!

a post from the Antigua Tourism Forum:

Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht w/ Eli Fuller (video links)


by jburton on Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:22 am



We chartered the Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht for a day - January 5, 2010. It is "a 40 foot wooden classically built Carriacou Sloop". It was just the two of us, my girlfriend Dianna and myself.



The day was completely awesome. Tour, snorkeling, fabulous lunch, sailing. There was some larger ocean roll this day and that was a hoot. The day couldn't have been more perfect. Eli, Jason, and Daniel were a fabulous crew and group of people to spend a day with. I recommend this charter strongly. It is worth every penny spent.



Thanks for such a great time, Eli. I can't say enough good things about that day.



I'll post more video links as I get it all processed and reviewed.



----



On the Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht with Eli Fuller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX0wYCdQDEc



On the Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht with Eli Fuller (file 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq7BigYmTsU



Perini Navi yacht seen from Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HC4SUMeeW8



Snorkeling - On the Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht with Eli Fuller (file 1 of 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kknUGpG-dgE



Snorkeling - On the Adventure Antigua Classic Yacht with Eli Fuller (file 2 of 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_rCFPWlezs

www.sailing-antigua.com

www.adventureantigua.com

Eathquake relief info for Haiti here in Antigua

Many people emailed us and called us wanting to find out if Antigua received any of the effects from the quake that destroyed much of Haiti main city. We were far away enough not to feel anything at all. In fact we are about as far from Haiti as the US mainland, but as is the case in most countries the sadness has been felt here too. There have been numerous funraisers organized and plenty of info about how to help the vitims in Haiti is available. People here know that it could have happened to them and there is quite a bit of empathy for the Haitian people. There is a big event next weekend in English Harbour which we have donated to and hopefully will be helping out with. I hope to see you there.

Great event at Nelson's Dockyard on SATURDAY January 23rd. Lots of bands playing and much fun guaranteed, all for a good cause.


We need to make much money to help people in Haiti.



PLEASE COME, ALL OF YOU IN ANTIGUA !!



See all details on http://www.antiguanice.com/v2/client.php?id=806&whatson=1#event763

logos now on Dolphin

here is a photo of our Dolphin catamaran now up at The Verandah Resort and Spa.

The launch of our other sailing traditionally built boat.

Our second Carriacou Sloop "Zemi" was launched this past Sunday. Launches only ever happen down there on Sundays for a number of traditional reasons, and it all went well according to reports, photos and videos. I was unable to leave Antigua due to several important meetings (one with Sandals about the future of our relationship with them), so I was especially happy to see all of the photos and video of our boat's launch. For those of you reading this who don't know what this is all about, I will just tell you that each island in the Caribbean designed and built their own version of a smaller cargo boat during the early colonial days. Due to "progress" all of the wealthy islands started purchasing fiberglass and steel boats from North America and Europe and one by one the tradition of building wooden boats from scratch died from island to island. Carriacou in the Grenadines is the only place left that is still using the old designs and techniques to build these fantastic boats. Hundreds of years ago boats needed to be able to carry a huge cargo and to do it fast and this design spec remains. Of course these work boats are still used to carry cargo and to do other commercial activity, but they are for the first time being purchased as private yachts. There are several these days doing charter including our other Carriacou sloop Ocean Nomad. See http://www.sailing-antigua.com/


The word Zemi is an ancient Amerindian name describing usually pyramid shaped object which essentially was a concept, meaning both a deity, or ancestral spirit, and a sculptural object that houses the spirit. Our eco tour boat is called "Arawak Odyssey" and I am glad to have another boat recognizing the people who lived here before the Europeans arrived. Their culture was so rich and was so bonded with nature.

My dad has the largest collection of Arawak Zemis and I will copy one of them for the boat's logo. Here is a collection of photos that was put together by Samantha Enoe. She is the daughter of the designer and builder Alwyn. As you can see the boat was launched without the rig. We build that next and then sail her up to Antigua before The Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. Enjoy the slideshow!

www.adventureantigua.com

Xtreme round the island photos and reviews.

Xtreme round the island tour (circumnav) photos and reviews are always nice. Here is one I copied from the the Antigua forum. Click here.

However radical and wrong they may be....... at least someone is standing up to Japan.

Scientists declare Dolphins 2nd smartest life form

Last night I finally had a chance to see the internationally famous and award winning movie The Cove which documents Japans position on whaling and specifically on the incredible slaughter of 23,000 dolphins a year in hidden cove. It was excellent and you should try to get a copy online here.
Of course Antigua is mentioned in terrible light because of it's support for Japanese whaling. My dad was even interviewed since he was the International Whaling Commission representative prior to Japan's blood money being given to our country. READ HERE. Of course Antigua isn't alone, but it's terribly sad to know that our leaders can be so ignorant. Anyway, today scientists were quoted in the BBC article as saying that new research suggests that Dolphins are way smarter than they had thought and should be treated as "non-human persons".  READ HERE
Keep in mind that when you go to a dolphin park to swim with these non human persons you are not only doing something questionable, but you are helping the slaughter of thousands of other dolphins in Japan. Want to know why? See the film.

Used Day Charter Saling Catamaran for Sale

"Dolphine" a 52 foot Buhler sailing catamaran with twin 75 HP Yanmar diesel engines. She is registered to carry 49 passengers, but could carry more as it's a very very wide boat. The boat has had quite a bit of work done to her recently including an engine rebuild, and is ready for use in the day charter industry. I am not sure of the exact year that she was built but i am guessing some time in the late 90s. This is a money making machine if put to work in the right market. The owners are asking US $150,000 and the boat is available for sea trials at any time. IF you are interested please call me on 268 725 7263 or email me on eliantigua(AT)gmail.com and I can give you more info. 

happy new year from adventure antigua!

Hi there, I'm writing this blog once again from my phone. It seems that recently time has been zooming along faster than Xtreme goes on the way back to the harbour. Last week our Eco Tour boat experienced some engine problems. This kind of thing usually happens on the busiest week of the hear and it wasn't a huge surprise. Our crew sprang into action in an effort to fix it in time for the next day's tour. Even after putting in an almost all nighter the boat wasn't ready for our tour right at the final hour. Without any time to spare, the decision was made to use our new sailing catamaran Dolphin for the tour. The guests, many of whom were on a cruise, took the alternative boat and had a great day out. After plenty more hard work by the crew, the Eco Tour's boat was fixed today and is ready for tomorrow's private tour. Although the end of 09 was quite challenging, the 1st of 2010 started out very well. Our Dolphin boat will start doing tours up at Verandah for that hotel and Pineapple late next week. In these challenging times its people like our regular adventure Antigua team that make it all work so well. In my opinion, Tony, Jd, Shamel, Trevor, Chris, Leslie, Jason, my sister Nell and my mom Jill all put in so much effort to make these tours the best in Antigua. There are many more people out there helping us too. THANKS TO YOU ALL.

new catamaran goes out for a cruise.

A1Marine in Jolly Harbour has spend the past few weeks helping us get the Dolphin ready for tours and charters. Dolphin is Adventure Antigua's new sailing catamaran. Today we are taking her out on a test cruise to see how the modifications work. Tours on the new Catamaran will start up the first week of January 2010. We will have several half day trips and several full day snorkeling cruises as well. The boat will spend most of the week based in Dian Bay on the Verandah dock and will take passengers from The Grand Pineapple Beach Resort and Spa as well as the Verandah Resort and Spa. More info and photos to come soon!
http://www.adventureantigua.com/

Interesting question to us about our tours and my reply

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 10:03 PM, !@!#@#@$$#$%$ wrote:

Hello,


My name is"""""""""""""and my husband and I will be travelling to Antigua from the $%^%$#%$%$. I have been reading your blog and I am very saddened by what it seems is happening to local tour companies there. My husband and I usually go on trips to places where we can try in some small way to support local businesses. We usually stay in smaller places, lodges and eco-resorts. We would like to book with your company precisely because it is smaller and seems to hire more local people. We are sorry we will not be there for one of the classic sailing tours, but have been getting information from Nell about dates and the other tours. (She is very helpful and answers e-mail very quickly.) We are going paddling on the 23rd and thus the 22nd and 24th are days available for us. I was going to book the Xtreme Tour, but I wish to ask about the trip to Stingray City. I am, however, a bit uncomfortable going to a place that seems to fence in rays? I am not wishing to be rude or presumptuous. Might you be able to tell me if they do any preservation work or are affiliated with any such group? The other option for us is the Eco-Tour, but we were reading on Tripadvisor that there is a one-two hour trip once on the boat to pick up people from other hotels. We will already be driving for nearly one hour in and back each way so we wonder if this review was accurate? Thanks for the specifics. It will help us choose tomorrow if you are able to e-mail back.
There are still many people who travel and look for companies like yours. There is a niche for smaller companies with better service and a focus on local development, I think. The information on your blog would be helpful on other sites such as antigua-nice, I think, where I also looked for info, or on Tripadvisor, if you could somehow manage this. I really wish you success in mobilizing locals and politians to act. Ultimately they would be helping, supporting and protecting Antiguans, I think.


Sincerely,
@#@#@!####$$!@ in Toronto

Hi there! Thanks so much for taking the time to email. Two very good questions, but the answers to them may still make it hard for you to decide. Here goes (Xtreme Tour): Stingray City originally used a fence to keep the rays in for several reasons. See here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/antiguan/237351819/in/photostream/


The main one was that it takes a few months for rays to be conditioned A.K.A "tamed" into feeding. They are just like Pavlov's dogs. If they even hear the boat engine they come around expecting food. The guys there fed these enclosed fish four or five times a day until they just were conditioned into expecting it. While this was going on there were several alleged attempts to sabotage the business by another operator close by. The cruise ship excursion industry (which i am happy not to be directly involved in up to now) is even worse than the hotel excursion industry. Anyway, they kept the fence there and ended up putting a security shack there. Each night one of the park's employees would sit in the shack keeping watch. Check the image here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/antiguan/237351703/ They then made a policy of only hiring people from the nearest village where all the fishermen in the area come from and everyone kept an eye out for it. Since then they have removed the shack and have also removed the fence. In the jellyfish season (summer time) moon jellyfish can now come into the area. That was another cool thing about the fence, but moon's are not that bad anyway. For now there is a swim line like you see at hotels which is just a line with floats on it to keep the swimmers contained within a perimeter. The rays are free to swim and go wherever they want, but always return at feeding time to get an easy meal.

A few other things to remember is that southern stingrays are fish which are not endangered or threatened at all unlike tuna for example (many of which will probably be extinct within the next 20 years). However in Antigua, people still eat rays and many are caught accidentally as by catch in nets. You can read more about that here in one of my blogs on netting and another on the North East Marine Management Area which is where many rays are killed (and also where stingray city is). Stingray City does quite a bit of community work including environmental cleanups other things like that. They are always willing to help me in any campaign or activist work that I suggest. They are also members of the Environmental Awareness Group. Anyway, if you need more info on any of this you can email me again.

OK. Info on Eco Tour concerns: The Eco Tour starts in Jolly Harbour at 9:15 am with the first pickup. You tour out through the huge marina and cruise out into Mosquito cove passing Pearns Point. Here you can usually see Montserrat and it's very active volcano as well as Redonda in the west. On clear days you will also see Nevis and on extra clear days you can see St. Kitts and Guadeloupe too. Anyway, you then cruise past the beautiful Five Islands Harbour, Pinchin Bay and then you see the unusual and very interesting Hawksbill Rock just outside the hotel with the same name. Of course one of their four beaches is the famous Nude Beach where you can find Captain JD and Captain Tony getting all over tans each week. (hahahahaha) We occasionally collect there guests here as well as some from Galley Bay. This is at about 9:25 am. Then we cruise out past the next point and past Galley Bay. We get a good view of the beautiful Deep Bay with it's old wreck (Andes 1905) just as we pass Georgio Armani's houses on the point there. From here we either go into St. Johns or directly to Dickenson Bay depending on our reservations. Sometimes we have direct Internet bookings from cruise ship passengers and will go into Deep Water Harbour to collect them. On those days we also occasionally collect guests from the Grand Pineapple Beach Hotel and from the St. James Club too. To get there we have to pass the interesting Fort Barrington which is now part of the national parks of Antigua and Barbuda. We get into St. Johns at 9:50 and are leave at 10 sharp. On the way out of St. Johns we stop and give a little history of the old Fort James which also served to protect the harbour. Great photos here! We pass Runaway Bay and get to Dickenson Bay at 10:15 where we collect the remainder of our guests (including Pineapple, Verandah and St. James Club guests if we didn't stop in St. Johns.) From here we depart in five to ten minutes and cruise up past Sisters island and then Blue Waters Hotel and the Boons Estate, up the coast towards Prickly Pear Island and the start of the North Sound (and marine management area). We pass the beautiful Jabbawock Beach and the Kitesurfing school on our way up to Shoal Point and then up to Long Island (Jumby Bay). We are now in the very protected North Sound. It's here that we anchor up serve drinks and speak about the history of the area and then about the ecology of Long Island and especially about the Jumby Bay Turtle Project. We arrive there at 11 am. If you come to St. Johns then you will have been on the boat for an hour and if you went to Dickenson you will have been on the boat for just over 30 minutes. All of it is excellent sight seeing and i would recommend paying the extra cab fare and going to Jolly Harbour for the start. This way you get an awesome tour of the west coast. Some people just want to snorkel and couldn't care less about history, ecology, or anything other than snorkeling. I understand that and understand why the trip up to the islands may be not that interesting. We have seen whales, dolphins, rays, endangered birds and all sorts of cool stuff along the way to the North Sound. I am eager to see what comes up every time i leave Jolly Harbour. The journey up the coast is beautiful to me, but as you can see from Trip Advisor, its not for everyone. By the way, after drinks and the history/ecology talks we then cruise past the fascinating Maiden ISland which R. Alan Stanford chase my eco tour from all those years ago. Here you can see his artificial barrier reef. Then it's over to the mangrove habitat of Guiana Island. Loads of interesting stuff to see and hear about here. We spend so much time there as kids fishing. Such a cool spot. After that we cruise up in between the little islands like Lobster, Exchange, Rabbit, Hells Gate and all the rest of them passing nesting birds (depending on the time of year) and wonderful picturesque vistas. This is one of my favorite places on earth and so beautiful! Check the map here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3434/3291375692_d5d9d9ac47_o.jpg We are usually passing through these islands on our way to Great Bird Island at about noon. We arrive at 12:15 or so at Bird, have some more drinks and then get off the boat for the nature walk up to the top of the island. It's high enough so that you can see the entire area. Some of the best "holiday style" photos are taken there. I think Antiguanice is putting some up that a guest shot on the eco tour later today. Since your question was about the start of the tour, i will leave it there. You know about the rest of the tour and all the caving, snorkeling and other cool stuff done on eco tour. Hope you had time to read all of this. I think i am going to put it on my blog for today. Thanks for the inspiration!

eli

more news from around Antigua

Rob Breadner and co. have recently started an online media company and have featured several of my eco type blogs. Check it out here: http://www.365antigua.com/green/NEMMA.php


Tonight there is also an interesting video being shown at the Antigua Museum about Aids awareness. Contact the museum for more info.

Adventure Antigua Diversification

Two big changes:

1- For nearly eight years I have been asking the different government representatives that have come and gone for some help regulating certain things about the way excursions are presented and the way they are sold. Minister after minister heard me and others in the excursion business speaking about many things we felt were unfair, but nothing was ever done. Specifically here on this blog we will speak about excursion companies being directly involved with the sales of tours. It's important to first point out that the average sales commission for tours like ours is 20%. That deposit that you pay your rep or tour desk isn't a deposit for the excursion company. It's a commission for the person making the phone call. In some cases we are paying 30% commission and I know others who are paying over 50% for some of their tours. Over the past ten years a few of the largest excursion companies have moved sideways into tour handling a.k.a. "ground handling" and tour sales. It is alleged that Tropical Adventures which is one of the biggest excursion companies has shareholders who are also shareholders of Sun Tours which handles all of the Virgin Holiday repping on the island. Many people complain that Virgin reps here in all the hotels predominantly push Tropical Adventures tours which include The Excellence trips, the Jeep Safari tours, The Tiami or Mystic sailing catamaran, kayaking and other tours. They are the biggest and most diverse excursion company and it was a very smart business move for them to also allign themselves with the biggest handler of tourists coming into our country. I don't know how many Virgin Holidays guests come off those 747 jets but you see their reps with their nice red and pink uniforms in all the hotels. Whenever our boats are slow Tropicals seem to stay full. The excursion companies complain about what they feel in an unfair advantage. Virgin does sell Adventure Antigua, but I know many tour companies that say they get no sales from them. It's like Donald Trump says though.... "It's nothing personal. It's just business"! In order to survive, Wadadli Cats was forced to do a similar thing. They formed a company called NX Tours to run tour desks in the hotels. Many hotels that didn't want to deal with staffing and organizing the sales of tours farmed out their tour desks to NX. At one time they had tour desks all over the island from St. James Club on the Atlantic side to Jolly Beach on the Caribbean. When a guest came to the tour desk and said that they would like to go snorkeling, you can imagine what tour would be the first one presented. This kind of business is common all over the world and locally several other companies followed suit. Recently Bo Tours purchased a catamaran and went from being a ground handling company to also being an excursion company. The next big move was that hotels starting buying their own boats and doing their own tours.
What does all this mean? Well it has many impilications. The first thing it means is that people who come to Antigua will be given a very slanted version of the available activites. The other thing which I have always been afraid of is that the smaller guys get marginalized. Which tour desk or ground handling company is going to tell their guests about a little glass bottom boat tour that costs US $40 and pays a US $5 dollar commission? It's terrible but the reality of presenting tours and selling tours to guests in these islands has changed for the worse in my opinion. Some of these ground handling companies now are coming up with a list of crazy policies which make it even harder for small companies. At the end of the day Adventure Antigua has had to make changes to their policy. My personal position remains the same, but my company's policy has been forced to change. The old addage of "if you can't beat them, then you join them" seems to fit here. A company called Antigua Adventures has been formed to pretty much do the same thing as Bo Tours, NX Tours, Sun Tours and the rest of them. Antigua Adventures is slowly moving into the market by running a tour desk first at Verandah Hotel. The Verandah Resort and Spa is a carefully designed hotel sitting in Dian Bay. For more info on this very cool resort you can check their website here.
For now Antigua Adventures is learning how the tour desk has been operating before making any huge changes. One of the biggest problems on that side of the island has always been the huge additional cost of cab fare. We are working on several plans to make this less of a burden on the guests. The other big problem we have noticed has been that there were so many tours being sold a the resort that people had a hard time deciding on what tour was best. We have cut some tours that the Management of the hotel felt were unsafe and we will also be trying to give the guests the best value for money that is possible while making sure that they are offered the best of the tours available. We are not just pushing our tours, but for a change guests at this hotel may start to hear about Adventure Antigua.

2- Adventure Antigua has always felt that we were going to be different from all the other tour companies by offering tours to small groups. Our biggest boat eventually got to be the 52 footer that we run the eco tour. It was built in the USA to carry 49 passengers, but we designed the layout to keep it around 25 people. Even at 25 guests we had many compaints from the old Eco Tour supporters. Seen here our old eco tour (done on our second eco boat which is now in the Indian Ocean) took a maximum of 10 guests.

Before that boat we had one that took only 4 guests. That's how we started out!! Lunch in the old days was pretty cool as seen here at Bird Island, but not that great when it rained as you can imagine.

Now of course, we have the Eco Tour powercat here:

and the Xtreme boat here:

 and the Classic Yacht here:

What we have found is that there still so many people out there who like the big catamaran tours and this month we have decided to further diversify our business in order to meet that demand. It's not exactly our forte, but after all the lessons we have learnt in what is nearly ten years of operation, we feel that we will be able to offer an excellent sailing catamaran tour. Our newest boat "Dolphin" is currently in Jolly Harbour undergoing some rennovations and should be ready to do it's first Adventure Antigua catamaran cruise before the new year. Plenty photos and info to come! For now here is a little one that kinda gives you an idea of what it will look like:

We are all very excited about this change because we feel that with the addition we will be able to reach a wider group of holiday makers and therfore spread the Adventure Antigua quality around a bit more. IF you have any questions or suggestions about our new hotel business or about our new catamaran..... or anything to do with our company please contact me on eliantigua@gmail.com
Happy Holidays!

Want to help less fortunate kids? Check this one out on thursday....

In the spirit of Christmas, we will be showing our appreciation to individuals and groups within our community involved in charitable and meaningful service along with distributing gifts to children in need.




We are counting on your generosity in the form of donations of all kinds –time and participation, as well as gifts for the underprivileged, or a monetary contribution.

We especially encourage families with children to participate in this golden opportunity for them to understand and appreciate the true meaning of gift-giving at Christmas time

Please contact us by phone (see below for our contact information) BEFORE TUESDAY to pledge your contributions to the “giving” component of our event.



Contact information:

Robin Margetson: 771-3748

Michael John: 725 9595

Josiane Salmon Whyte: 724 3855

Gilda Alexander: 726-6688

Event: SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS 2009
"A Night of Song, Lights and Giving "
What: Fundraiser
Start Time: Thursday, December 17 at 7:00pm
End Time: Thursday, December 17 at 11:00pm
Where: The Holy Family Cathedral grounds next to the Mount St. John hospital.

I will have more info on this tomorrow, but for now think about taking some time out of your schedule to come help less fortunate people out. I have a few friends who are starting a mentoring program out. It sounds pretty cool.