Jolly Beach Resort Family Activities

Jolly Beach is an all-inclusive, so you can use the two large pools and kids can swim over to the bar for virgin pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris. Or, lounge on the beach and when you get antsy, grab a Hobie Cat or Sunfish sailboat and tack within the protected cove. Windsurfing, sea kayaking, and paddleboats are also available. There are daily windsurfing and sailing lessons if you're a novice at these sports.

Jolly Beach Resort's Kidz Club is available for children ages 3 to 12 (they must be potty trained) in the morning, afternoon, and some nights. Counselors bring kids on lizard hunts, nature walks, and practice the latest moves in dance lessons. In the hot afternoon sun, they often retreat back to the Clubhouse for arts and crafts, movies, board games, and Caribbean story time.

Live bands perform nightly belting out the latest Caribbean sounds, be it calypso, steel drums, and the requisite Bob Marley and other reggae tunes. The whole family can dance the night away under the stars.

Close to Jolly Beach, on the south-central part of the island, stands Antigua's biggest attraction, English Harbour. This long inlet, now popular with the Caribbean yachting sect, was once home to the British fleet and naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson. From 1784 to 1787, Nelson kept the French at bay, some forty miles away in Guadeloupe. The restored Georgian buildings and pier are part of Nelson’s Dockyard National Park. A small museum tries to recapture the feeling of being an 18th-century sailor, always ready to battle enemy countries or worse, the ubiquitous buccaneer. Other buildings house bakeries and coffee shops, even an internet café for the homesick sailor.

Up the hill from English Harbour stands a dilapidated fortress called Shirley Heights. It's worth the drive to see the views below of the harbor and the rocky coastline. The lone cannon at Shirley Heights points to the terra cotta roof of a rambling house that's owned by singer Eric Clapton. Indeed, this former British colony is still popular with many Brits on vacation.

For another fun jaunt away from the resort, go sea kayaking, hiking, and snorkeling one morning with Paddles Kayak Eco Adventure, www.antiguapaddles.com. The owners guide you via kayak through protected mangrove lagoons to find starfish a foot in diameter, then boat you over to Bird Island to watch the fast flying frigate bird try to steal fish from the red billed tropic bird. Afterwards, you get to socialize with parrotfish and queen angelfish on a nearby reef. The cost is US$50.

Good shopping can be found at Redcliffe Quay, along St. John's waterfront, where several dozen shops are housed together in a former warehouse. Try A Thousand Flowers for hand-painted linens or West Indies Oil Co for local crafts.