My Honeymoon in Antigua and Barbuda

Fun Fact: My husband and I only knew each other for 14 months before we were married, and we had not traveled anywhere together before our honeymoon. We had a quick, cheap wedding and jetted off to Antigua and Barbuda, a place that neither one of us knew anything about or had heard of before booking what seemed like a great deal on a luxury oceanfront resort.

Let’s start from the beginning.

We were sitting on the couch one day, browsing honeymoon destinations. We had zeroed in on the Caribbean because the region was accessible and affordable, and well quite beautiful to boot! After looking at what seemed like an endless amount of options in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands, we stumbled across Antigua and Barbuda. Neither one of us knew anything about Antigua and Barbuda, but to be honest, I liked the idea because I’m one of those people who likes to go to places that are less traveled, and to me Jamaica and Mexico had were honeymooned to death! Comparatively, Antigua and Barbuda seemed more exotic.

On top of all that, we stumbled upon a rare gem. A luxury resort called Tamarind Hills caught our eye. It was like something you would see out of The White Lotus! It was grand. It was oceanfront, and our room? It wasn’t a room. It was a three bedroom villa, complete with a beautiful IKEA kitchen, outdoor kitchen, infinity pool, and outdoor shower amongst other things! You might be thinking that we were about to drop $15,000 on this place, but we did not. We spent $5500 for five nights. In the Caribbean, a place like this would normally cost a RIDICULOUSLY pretty penny! So what gives?

Tamarind Hills was still under construction in 2018, and may still be to this day. There were plans for a sprawling resort complex to include a restaurant, clubhouse, and investment villas, none of which were built at the time. There were probably about eight units at the time of our honeymoon, so it ended up being a quiet community where concierge service was super quick and accessible. I mean seriously, these people went out of their way everyday to make sure every single detail of our stay was perfection! There were only two guys serving everyone, and they were the best.

This was only the second flight I had ever taken, and the first one I had taken since I was 14 years old. I was pretty excited, and then we landed at V.C. Bird International Airport on Antigua and it was… ROUGH! It was a small airport with lots to improve on obviously. We decided to rent a car while we in Antigua, and we sat down with a nice lady, filled out one sheet of paper and were given the keys to our lovely Toyota Corolla. The lady from rental agency needed a ride to her car, so we let her hitch a ride with us to the employee parking lot. We didn’t even think about the fact that Antigua and Barbuda are an independent nation of the British Commonwealth, and people drive on the left side of the road here. We honestly didn’t think it would be that hard to figure out, but throw in a bunch of roundabouts first thing… and chaos ensues!

That poor lady and I both about died of both fear and laughter as Barton (my husband) drove us around the roundabout the complete wrong way, with multiple incredulous and angry Antiguans raising their fists and naughty fingers at us, honking aggressively. I can’t say that I wouldn’t have done the same. Finally though, we did make it to the employee parking lot to drop the rental car lady off, and we made it to our resort, safe and sound.

Luckily English is the official language here, so we were able to explain away our mishaps to anyone who cared. We made ourselves at home in our new McMansion and headed to the local grocery store, The Epicurean. Apparently Americans use too many disposable grocery bags. We learned real quick that Antiguans ONLY use reusable grocery bags, and there are no exceptions! We made it all the way to the check-out line, paid for our $100 worth of groceries, and were informed that we would be taking our groceries out just like that, unless we bought a few Epicurean cloth bags. We saw the same cashier every single time we went to the Epicurean, and she really could not believe the likes of Barton and I. I’m not sure if we annoyed her or amused her, or both. She did crack one little side smile for us on our last day, so hopefully she was entertained.

One of my favorite days on Antigua and Barbuda was our land and sea excursion with Island Safari Jeep Tours. This included a jeep tour around the island to see some of the most iconic sights on Antigua, a visit to the Antigua Donkey Sanctuary, a picnic-style BBQ, snorkeling, and kayaking amongst the mangroves on our way to Bird Island. One of the perks of taking this tour is the unlimited rum punch provided during the jeep tour portion. It was not only tasty, but it was STRONG! These people were not playing around and were hell bent on everyone having a good ole’ time! So needless to say, by the end of the entire tour, Barton and I were pretty wasted. Luckily they shuttle to and from your resort, so no worries!

At the end of the Jeep portion, they also treat you to a BBQ picnic to help you recover. It was delicious and nostalgic! They served up BBQ chicken, potato salad, amongst other things. You end up enjoying your lunch at the site of an old sugar mill and amongst many 18th Century ruins. So naturally Barton wants to film a tour of the ruins for his nonexistent YouTube show, showcasing his natural tour guide skills. Only these ruins were completely and utterly infested by lizards of multiple types, just basking in the sun on the warm stone, minding their own business. Of course once we realized we were in the middle of 50 lizards, large and small (not exaggerating), we freaked out and sent all these lizards scrambling around us. So yeah, don’t forget that when you do go! After some snorkeling and some educational kayaking through the mangroves, we went out to Bird Island, a very small but intriguing and serene island. It was all such a wonderful experience and I highly recommend!

When we got back to our villa later that day, we opened it up to their elements. We had one of those villas where literally every room had the option of being open to the outdoors, so most of the time we had every single door slid open, including at night. Well, we would start to rethink that pretty soon! We had a pretty badass outdoor kitchen we used every night, and this night we were grilling a Caribbean inspired pork loin. We were in the middle of grilling this pork loin, listening to music and putting down a few Wadadli beers, when IT reared its head out of the bushes! IT was a mongoose and it scurried into the indoor kitchen as I was about to bring a plate of vegetables to the outside kitchen. For 10 minutes screeching and scurrying ensued, each of us with a broom and spatula in hand, herding the mongoose out of the villa. He did not want to leave! Eventually though, he realized he was not welcome, and ran furiously out of the villa. The doors were slid shut that night. I guess my advice would be before staying in an open-air accommodation of any kind, decide whether you truly want to be integrated with all that nature has to offer, because you just never know who you’re sharing it with.

We ran up on many creatures during our time in Antigua, from the mongoose to iguanas to the most massive crab I’ve ever seen carrying his treasure down the boardwalk to our villa. This is the one destination though, that I never saw one fish. I’m not joking. I never saw a fish. We snorkeled, jet-skied, and swam in the incredibly clear blue water at Darkwood Beach everyday… and no fish! If anyone knows what the deal is with that, let me know!

We went to Antigua in the second week of May, and there was also five days of endless sunshine and clear skies, which I am all about! Barton though, really wanted a good tropical rain, and lo’ and behold on our very last morning we woke up to the most perfect, gentle rain that soon cleared up and into a beautiful rainbow. A perfect end to a perfect honeymoon.

If you would like to learn more about Antigua and Barbuda, then check out my guide to Antigua and Barbuda here!

If you need some pointers on what to pack for your trip to Antigua and Barbuda, then check out my guide to packing for the Caribbean here!