Antigua - flowers, Scenes and History - Caribbean Princess Cruise

As promised here is the last of the photos from Antigua.  These are mostly just flowers and a cute little bird.  I really enjoyed the landscaping at the different resorts along the beach and throughout Antigua.  Everywhere you went there were flowers and birds and I even saw a little lizard!  So here are some photos of what makes Antigua so beautiful along with the beach and the mountains.

The sky and palm trees are beautiful.

I've never seen such big leaves.

Such a pretty lizard!  I've never seen one like this before.

Isn't this a pretty bird.  I had to zoom in all the way because this was a residential place and it looks like they put a bowl of bird seed out for these pretty birds.  I've never seen this bird before but they knew where to get some food.

Pink, purple, orange and yellow along with the many shades of green make Antigua beautiful.

Seaweed found on the beach.

There were a lot of mourning doves, maybe they call them something different.

The hillsides are covered with lush green trees and beautiful homes.

You see people drinking from the coconuts along the beach.

These are such pretty flowers and grow on a big bush.

More pretty shades of pink.

So there you have a glimpse of the beautiful flowers and different wild life I was able to capture while in Antigua.

A little about Antigua for those of you who may like to know more about this beautiful Island.

Antigua is the largest of the British Leeward Islands and boasts one of the Caribbean's most spectacular coastlines with secluded coves and gorgeous beaches.  The hills are dotted with stone sugar mills from the era when sugar was king.  St. John's, the island's capital, offers visitors many boutiques, restaurants and pubs.  Antigua is the keystone of the arc of the Lesser Antilles.  From the shores you can see Guadeloupe, Montserrat, ST. Kitts and Nevis.  The total land area is 108 square miles and approximately 70,000 people live in Antigua.  The official language is English, spoken with a distinctive Caribbean accent. 

Christopher Columbus sighted Antigua on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493 and named the island Santa Maria de la Antigua after a miracle working saint in the Seville Cathedral.  The British mispronounced the name as "An-tee-ga" and it has remained so ever since.

In 1632, Edward Warner under the command of his father Sir Thomas Warner, came across from ST. Kitts and colonized the island as a British territory.  Before this Carib Indians were very inhospitable with the talk of colonization.  It has remained British ever since with the exception by a brief occupation of the French from 1666 to 1667.  In 1674 the first major sugar estate was established by a British sugar planter, Sir Christopher Odrington, who came from Barbados.  The estate was named after his daughter, Betty's Hope.  The island's sugar economy was dependent on slave labor as well as protective tariffs, which maintained high prices back in England.  When slavery was abolished in 1834, the economy collapsed.  Sugar still remained an important industry in Antigua though.  In 1967, led by V. C. Bird, Antigua achieved Statehood in association with Britain, with independent internal affairs and foreign affairs.  On November 1, 1981, Antigua achieved full political sovereignty, with V. C. Bird as Prime Minister.

Next stop is Tortola BVI!  See you there.