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Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda Trivia
Antigua and Barbuda are a pair of islands just west of St. Kitts and just north of Guadaloupe in the Caribbean. St. John’s is the capital city, located on the more populated island of Antigua and with a population of approximately 31,000. The local currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar. Perhaps most importantly, Robin Leach of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” owns a home here – if its good enough for “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”, its probably good enough for the rest of us! ;)
Diving in Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda are surrounded coral reefs, walls, and shipwrecks. Much of the southern and eastern coastlines of Antigua and almost all of Barbuda’s coastline are surrounded by shelves – with limited current, temps in the 80F (25C) range, and visibility up to 140 feet, the islands make for some spectacular shallow diving and snorkeling. Depths from 25 to 80 feet are normal and travel distances are almost always within 40 minutes. Underwater plant and animal life is plentiful.
Most of the scuba diving in the area is done out of Antigua giving the higher tourist density and more popular resorts, nonetheless there are some stunning sites off of Barbuda. The Antiguan government is fortunately protecting its marine landscapes, having made the famous Cades Reef part of a designated underwater park. In addition, a three-masted merchant ship known as the wreck of the Andes, ironically sank in 30’ of water in what is known as Deep Bay and makes for a favorite dive site.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Dive Centers
There are 4 dive centers in Antigua with a profile here on iDiveCentral. Please follow the links below for more information on each:
Sandals Antigua Watersports (at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort)
Getting to Antigua
From the North America
There are a handful of direct flights to VC Bird International Airport, located in Osbourn near the capital of St. John’s in Antigua from the North American mainland. These include out of Newark on Continental and New York JFK on American (~dur: 4hr20min), Miami on American (~dur:3hr5min), Toronto on Air Canada (~dur:4hr40min).
From Europe
There are two direct flights out of London again to VC Bird International Airport - Virgin Atlantic and British Airways (~dur:8h40min).
