Just off the North east coast of Antigua are a group of small islands known as the North Sound National Park. One of these is known as Great Bird Island and is a favorite spot for catamaran tours to visit, have lunch and snorkel or just swim in the warm, clear, blue water. Beautiful white sand beaches and, remarkably clear water are perfect for a day out. Great Bird Island is visited by more than 20,00 tourists every year most of whom respect the island and are careful to leave nothing but their footprints! A few have been known to disturb the nesting birds and even start fires. If you plan to visit this lovely island please treat it with respect.

by chris_lori

Bird island is also famous as the home of the Antiguan Racer Snake which is found nowhere else in the world. The snake is completely harmless by the way! Other wildlife seen on the island include the Frigate Bird, the Red Billed Tropic Bird which makes it's nest in the cliffs and the West Indian Whistling Duck. There is a large population of mangroves on the island which act as nurseries for marine life so the snorkeling on the reef close to the island is among the best in Antigua.

Nearby is Rabbit Island which is home to the Brown Pelican and on Long Island a very successful project has monitored Hawksbill Turtles which come onto the island to lay their eggs. These turtles are critically endangered due to fishing practices and some countries, notably China and Japan have caught them to eat. They have also been used for tortoise shell which was used in a wide range of products in the past. Hawksbill Turtles return to the same beach every year to lay around 140 eggs, which hatch at night about two months later, when the baby turtles make their way to the sea.

You can visit Great Bird Island with Treasure Island Cruises, enjoy a barbecue on the beach and hike to the top of the island for a spectacular view of Antigua and the surrounding islands. You can also have fun taking part in their famous treasure hunt.

Dotted around Antigua one can see old, abandoned sugar mills devoid of their sails that were used in the past to process sugar cane into sugar. Nowadays the only restored sugar mill in Antigua is at Betty's Hope. Sir Christopher Codrington was largely responsible for the introduction and subsequent domination of the economy of the island when he introduced new techniques for growing and processing the sugar cane from Barbados. At the height of the sugar trade there were over 150 sugar mills in Antigua giving a highly profitable industry.

Image by stillingen

Antigua became known as 'the gateway to the Caribbean' due to it's position which allowed control of the shipping routes between all the wealthy colonies in the region. The increase in sugar cane production meant that more and more slaves were brought to the island from Africa and the inhumane conditions precipitated the planning of a revolt by Prince Klaas, which failed as it was discovered before it could take place. Thankfully slavery was ended in 1834 and all the slaves were emancipated, unlike on some of the other Caribbean islands where they were made to wait a further four years for their freedom.

Nowadays the sugar mills are largely abandoned and you can see them in various states of disintegration all around Antigua. One however has been preserved and restored. Betty's Hope was one of the most productive sugar plantations on the island and had two windmills which were used to crush the sugar cane. This produced a juice which was then processed into the sugar crystals so desired by the British. A by product of this process is molasses which was further treated to produce rum. The sugar mill at Betty's Hope was restored during the 1990's and the sugar mill there is the only one with working sails in Antigua and has genuine machinery, taken from another mill, that was used for crushing the sugar.

Betty's Hope was originally founded by Governor Keynall in the 17th century but was taken over by the Codrington's in 1674, their ownership lasting until 1944. With the new techniques introduced by the Codringtons and the almost constant trade winds that Antigua enjoys, around 5000 gallons of sugar syrup could be produced from 200 tons of sugar cane.

In addition to seeing the working mill, a Visitor's Centre, located in the building that was used to store cotton, is well worth a visit. There is a pictorial history of Betty's Hope as well as maps, plans of the estate and a model of the site.