Bird House - English Harbour

Charming, One-Bedroom Guest House with King-size bed, Verandah, Bathroom and Private Kitchen, overlooking Super Yachts at Antigua Yacht Club Marina in English Harbour, Antigua. Stunning view. Steps from Nelson's Dockyard. Steps from Pigeon Beach with two beach bars. Nightlife. Gated Community. French and Italian Restaurants. Spas. Housekeeping Services. Friendly atmosphere. A stunning, treehouse-type setting with a king size bed and verandah overlooking the Antigua Yacht Club Marina. There is a fully equipped kitchen with stove, oven, fridge, and kitchen sink and a bathroom with hot shower.... The cottage is settled into the hillside, and the surrounding gardens are lush with fruit trees and tropical flowers. You can sit and have a cup of coffee in the mornings and feed the birds as they come and visit you on your open verandah. One of five guest cottages on the property, Bird House is one of the more superior cottages on the property, along with Cleopatras, because both have hot water showers, and Bird House is located all by itself far away from the other houses in its own building. Bird House is located highest up on the hillside, so it has the most steps, and perhaps the least internet, but it has the most secluded environment, and the best view. It has a fully private kitchen and private entrance way. Pineapple House is a great place to catch up on reading and writing. People who stay here meet people, both within the compound of Pineapple itself and at bars along Dockyard Drive. Pineapple House caters to the crew off the yachts, who take time off between charters to stay here. We also receive alot of guests from AirBNB. During regattas, sailors off the racing yachts prefer to stay at Pineapple House. People dress up at night and dance the night away at music clubs, where bands are known for their guitarists and singers. Pigeon Point beach is a five minute walk, where there is more than one beach bar. English Harbour offers a safe, trendy neighborhood, where excellent Italian and French restaurants are within walking distance. Antigua offers some absolutely stunning, white, sandy beaches and is one beautiful, friendly, safe island. We offer all manner of things to do once you get here. The Bird House at Pineapple House is open late October to late May annually. Come stay with us! Please feel free to walk around the gardens and join us in the main house for sundowners at sunset.... There’s a lounge in the main house, where you can surf the web (if not in your private cottage), and a little gazebo next to the main house gets good internet reception as well, although the light switch in the main house has to be on for the electric outlet to work. Though we prefer not to do guest laundry, due to water scarcity, we do have laundry facilities on property for a small fee. The garden is for everybody to enjoy with guava trees, mango trees, banana trees, and lots of tropical flowers. I am Libby Nicholson, born and raised in Antigua and owner-operator of Pineapple House since 1999. Color, design, and people are my passion. Pineapple House is a friendly atmosphere property, where people arrive as guests and leave as family. The mix of international people on the property makes it personal, as this is a small Guest House. I have a plethora of island information to share with you. If you find activities or restaurants on the island that I have missed or do not know about, please share your experiences with us, as we are always interested to learn more about our beautiful island! We have the house phone for making reservations, and taxis are a moment away... We recommend that you order any hire cars online before you arrive as it is less expensive, and you are guaranteed the car style of your choice. I and my staff are on the property full time; we are here for you anytime. English Harbour is the heart of the Caribbean yachting industry. Home to historic Nelson's Dockyard, an 18th century British naval dockyard, it is where Admiral Horatio Nelson refitted his Ships of the Line from 1784 to 1787. Today it is home to enormous Super Yachts, arriving from Europe from December to May. The two marinas where they berth is right under our view! Antigua Yacht Club is located across the street from Pineapple.... It hosts racing regattas.... Upstairs there is a really fun sushi bar; downstairs a restaurant, open to the public that hosts great rock bands some evenings. Out on the dock there are more snack bars and an outdoor seating area that caters to all the shops. A book store, grocery store, and chandlery complete the businesses found at the Antigua Yacht Club Marina. Moving down the road a bit pass various sky rise hotels, Temo Sports is a tennis center with bar and restaurant, famous for its great breakfasts... Next door is Titi's Rent a Car, but it's much less expensive to rent a car in advance online.... Mad Mongoose is next door, a well known bar and restaurant that offers live music and free wireless. It's one of many popular bars in the area where people off the boats gather with friends late into the night. Along Dockyard Drive is Life Bar and Restaurant, a vegetarian Restaurant... Next door is a clothes boutique and my cousin Nancy Nicholson's pottery shop, Rhythm In Blue.... Nancy is famous for her large, blue, signature dinner platters, and she sells local art and jewelry besides. Treehouse is across the street and offers body massage, pedicures, and facials. There are two scuba diving shops in that area, including Dockyard Divers, run by our good friend Tony Fincham, a one-time Nicholson Yacht Charter captain.....whose favorite dive site is the Pillars of Hercules just outside English Harbour, famous for visits from large, harmless pelagic fish. Cap Horn is a restaurant next to Rhythm In Blue that serves delicious French cuisine. Grace Before Meals comes next, a local place that serves excellent, low-cost Roti. Further along is Abracadabra, a fun Italian restaurant that is open for dinner, followed by Music and Dancing, that stays open late into the night.... Beyond That Is A Real Estate Shop.... Now you enter Nelson's Dockyard, where The Admirals Inn has a delightful terrace, which we recommend you visit for an al fresco lunch or dinner under the stars.... Outside the Admirals Inn in the parking lot is an ATM machine and bank. Galley Bar Is hamburgers and bar. Next is Hotspot, run by our friend Gay Nichols, which Is breakfast and lunch - paninis and delicious salads, eggs and bacon.... Upstairs in the old, historic Officers Quarters is a place called Headquarters, which has delicious wine.... Beyond that there is The Copper And Lumber Store, which has fish Friday, a popular place, frequented by yachtsmen.... In the Powder Magazine across from the Admirals Inn there's a restaurant called Boom, which is a spa, bar, restaurant and pool. Swim in the pool while you have a drink.... With walls 15 feet thick with slits for ventilation, the Powder Magazine is where the British stored gun powder during the 18th Century. It's now an art gallery. There are four Powder Magazines in English Harbour, at Boom, Fort Berkley, Block House, and the fourth is hidden away in the swamp on the road to Shirley Heights. Further back toward the Antigua Yacht Club there's another place....Italian...excellent for lunch...called Rum Baba.... It's really good. We also forgot Trappas Bar on Dockyard Drive; they have excellent meals, a popular place for dinner....Seared Tuna and the like....frequented by locals from town.... All these places are within walking distance of Pineapple House, not to mention Pigeon Point Beach in the opposite direction, where there is another French restaurant...very fancy and expensive but WORTH IT!! There are other places too.... Farther afield, we recommend visits to historic Shirley Heights, Block House, and Clarence House, a long walk or short taxi ride.... The view of the Caribbean Sea and Guadeloupe are not to be missed! Shirley Heights Lookout hosts a popular jump up every Sunday evening, where people gather at 5 pm sharp to watch the sun go down; be warned....the bar serves 150 proof rum! Jacqui's restaurant on Fig Tree Drive is a great place to watch the sun set over the horizon with sundowners; stop along the way to zipline over the rain forest on Fig Tree Drive; swim gorgeous Darkwood Beach. Wadadli Catamarans in nearby Jolly Harbour offers sailing trips to Cades Reef, Great Bird Island, and a Circumnavigation of the island every day of the week for about $100 a person, including lunch. Libby's friend Greg operates Barbuda Express (ferry boat), which offers daily boat rides to Barbuda, where lobster picnics can be arranged on the 20 mile long beach, famous for its turquoise water. During March hire a boat and driver to see Barbuda's amazing frigate bird sanctuary, where thousands upon thousands of frigate birds gather in March to mate. It's fun to go with a group to let the boys arrange a picnic for you on Bird Island off Antigua's Hodges Bay; they have snorkel gear for the reefs there. Since Antigua has 365 beaches, many of them with hotels, it's fun to hotel hop, if you're renting a car. It's also fun to stop at the roadside bars on Fig Tree Drive, hobnob with the locals, and order beers. If you enjoy reading, I recommend 'To Shoot Hard Labour', a memoir by Samuel Smith, an Antiguan working man, who lived 100 years during slavery; get to know many of Antigua's British governors; order the book ahead on Amazon. Visit Betty's Hope (a sugar plantation mentioned in the book) and Devil's Bridge on Antigua's sparkling eastern coast; stop for a swim and a snorkel at Half Moon Bay; have lunch at Harmony Hall and shop at their inexpensive boutique. When you're in St. Johns, a must-visit is the public market; located next to the public bus depot, the public market is a great place to stock up on fresh, local nutmeg, vanilla, spices and herbs, grown locally on the island or imported from Dominica and Grenada, to take back home with you. While you're in St. Johns, we recommend visiting our uncle's archeological museum, called the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda on Long Street; he dedicated his life to researching the Carib and Arawak Indians in the West Indies, and there are all manner of sod houses, tools from 400 years ago, and stories of how these native people migrated from South America in dugout canoes. Of course, a stroll through Nelson's Dockyard is an absolute must, along with a visit to the museum inside the Dockyard to see model ships of Britain's Ships of the Line and artefacts, such as the planters' china, soldiers' buttons, and uniforms; it was our father who swum up the figurehead of the women's bust from the bottom of English Harbour in 1949. During the 1960s cannon balls were to be found everywhere on the hillsides surrounding English Harbour; we have a few 25 pounders to show you at Pineapple House. After visiting the museum in Nelson's Dockyard, have lunch under the Casuarina trees and ruins of the Sail Loft (now an aquarium) on the terrace of the Admiral's Inn. Following lunch, a short hike out to Fort Berkley at the entrance to English Harbour is rewarding and not strenous at all with its mini powder magazine, gun ramparts, and views of Nelson's Dockyard. For exercise, swim from Galleon Beach to Freeman's Beach near the entrance to English Harbour. Take the water taxi from Nelson's Dockyard to Galleon Beach after touring English Harbour first. Stop at the new fun restaurant "Paparazzi" at Antigua Slipway, enroute. One of the most scenic drives in Antigua is the coastal road that wraps around Willoughby Bay on the south side of the island; the best place to start this drive is English Harbour, because the sun shining behind you onto Willoughby Bay shows up the colors of the water best; heading east toward the town of Bethesda, what a photo op! Closer to home, a 5-minute walk from Pineapple House is Pigeon Beach, where there are two beach bars; order beers in the sand at Bumpkins Beach Bar, but have lunch at Catherine's Cafe; it's a fine, French restaurant, expensive but worth every cent. English Harbour buzzes at night with many options for fine French and Italian restaurants, followed by music and dancing late into the night. Rock bands are famous for their lead guitarists and great singers. We also have some reggae. For a scenic and historically-signficant excursion on land, venture on the 10-minute hike to Fort Barrington at Deep Bay, which is just a short southbound sail from Dickenson Bay. Sitting atop Goat Hill, the over 230-year old ruins of Fort Barrington will transport you back in time and reveal spectacular views of Antigua’s second-to-none sailing paradise. Plan to visit the Cades Bay Pineapple Farm, where the succulent aroma of Antigua’s very own rare species of pineapple fills the air. The locally-cultivated Antigua Black Pineapples are said to be the sweetest in the world, featuring a distinctive golden color and lower acidity levels that you must taste for yourself. Dickenson Bay, the island’s most popular and bustling beach – and hub for Antigua’s active windsurfing scene – Dickenson Bay is chock-full of resort hotels, laid-back beach bars, and watersports rental facilities. Just off the coast of the busy bay, discover a few uninhabited islands that are home to a one-mile long coral reef, which makes for a superb snorkeling site. Hire a self-drive car in advance, or let us arrange our driver Omar to take you. THINGS TO DO IN ANTIGUA Barbuda Express Power out to Barbuda with experienced yachtsman Greg Urlwin to see the island's magnificent white sandy beach (20 miles long) and the Eastern Caribbean's largest frigate bird sanctuary (mating season is in March) $75 US/adult round trip day tour Antigua Nature Trip Experience the magic and beauty of Antigua’s tropical ecosystem and embark on an absolutely fantastic kayak and snorkeling expedition. Speed boats, mangroves, kayaks, coral reefs, tropical fish, uninhabited islands, white sand beaches, rum and fruit punch, banana bread, two and a half hours of smiles and an unforgettable experience. Wadadli Cats - Sail Round the Island aboard a party catamaran $110 US/adult Circumnavigation tour Dockyard Divers Scuba dive the PIllars of Hercules at the entrance to English Harbour with experienced yachtsman Tony Fincham $80 US/adult one tank dive / certified divers Rum in the Ruins Rum in the Ruins is a weekly history and archaeology talk about Antigua, English Harbour and the Antigua Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site. Situated at the Dow’s Hill Fortification and Interpretation Centre above Nelson’s Dockyard, you will experience a historic tour by our Heritage expert, Dr. Christopher K. Waters PhD, like none other in Antigua and Barbuda. Learn the details of the daily life in the 18th century, the history of sugar and rum, and the geopolitical context of how Antigua fit into the wider British Atlantic World while watching the sun melt away. Every week features new topics and new stories as we explore the ruins of the Dow’s Hill fortification and the surrounding landscape. The tour comes with our own twist on the historic Planter’s Punch rum drink. Fridays, 5.00 pm at the Dow’s Hill Interpretation Centre $20USD/$50XCD per person inclusive two drinks Reservations Required PLEASE NOTE: due to current restrictions, we can only have 25 people at an event. Please book at Antigua National Park website. Hike the Trails of Antigua's National Park Hike the trails of Antigua's South Coast around Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights, and Block House. Maintained by the Antigua Tot Club. Visit Antigua National Park for a description of the different trails. Tour Clarence House Walking through Clarence House, you will retrace the footsteps of Royal Navy Officers, Governor Generals, and Royalty as they passed along the galleries, observing Nelson’s Dockyard below. This historic building, newly restored to its former glory, is now the interpretive jewel in the National Parks’ crown, showcasing the lives of 19th and 20th centuries military and civilian elites. Set atop Clarence Hill, the details from the renovations are a master class in heritage preservation, while the antique furniture elides Caribbean gentility. Tours are Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30am or 3pm – $20USD/$50XCD per person, maximum 6 people Titi's Rent a Car is within walking distance of Pineapple House, but it is much less expensive to rent a car in advance online.... Driving is on the left. Taxis are plentiful on the island. We use Omar Taxi, a young, clean-cut Antiguan, a careful driver and very nice person... I call Omar for all Pineapple House guests needs.... If you advise your time of arrival, Omar can pick you up at the airport with a sign saying Pineapple House. The cost for a taxi from the airport to English Harbour is $31.00 US one way. Omar carries your bags up the steep Pineapple steps for you.... Public Bus - Public buses run every 15 minutes from English Harbour to the public market in St. Johns. $3.75 EC one way.. There is no TV or air conditioning at Pineapple House; guests are invited for sundowners at the main house each evening. All the cottages are open to the wind, and mosquitos do make their way in. Each bed has a mosquito net and a fan, and there is a Mosquito Magnet in the yard, which we rebait every three weeks. With the exception of Bird House and Cleopatras, there is no hot water at Pineapple House; guests are asked to use water sparingly, as water is scarce on the island. Pineapple House has wonderful ocean views, but there are lots of stairs. Because each cottage has just one double bed, Pineapple House caters primarily to couples; dormitory-style beds are available in the main house for crew off the yachts. Internet is available in the main house and gazebo only; we welcome guests to use the service in the main house. We are open from October to May.