46 / 100
44
INTERVAL WORLD Spring 2015 IntervalWorld.com
Huber/SIME/eStock Photo; SIME/eStock Photo
ANTIGUA You’ll know the name, but you might not be sure exactlywhere it is, nor even how to pronounce it. In fact, Antigua
(spoken as
Anteegah
, not
Antigwa
) — along with its sister
islands, Barbuda and tiny, uninhabitable Redonda — is the
archetypal Caribbean destination, a coral-encrusted blip
fringed by fine blond beaches and set in a surreal blue sea.
Characterized mostly by rolling yellow-green hills, the isle is
about 11 miles across and 14 miles from north to south. It
has an odd, amoeboid shape, throwing off protrusions in
all directions, which create magnificent coves and beaches.
Home initially to the ancient Siboney people, thenArawaks and later Caribs, Antigua was bestowed its cur-
rent appellation by Christopher Columbus for the Church
of Santa María de la Antigua in Seville, Spain. It became
a linchpin of British colonial presence in the region, and
home to U.S. air and naval bases in World War II. Partly
because of this, Antigua remains an interest to the U.S.
and U.K. out of proportion to its size. And diminutive
though it may be, there is much to anticipate on a vaca-
tion to Antigua.
REASONS TO BE EAGER FOR
BY JAMES HENDERSON