English Harbour

The humps of Montserrat hosted sundown out on the horizon, and the clouds held as I had hoped, to light the skies above English Harbour. A peculiar combination of landforms and sea create a sheltered anchorage in the southern reach of Antigua. It was here in 1723 that two ships of the Royal Navy safely withstood a hurricane while 35 others were wrecked; that reputation led to the establishment of Navy headquarters, and the building of the famous Nelson's Dockyard to repair ocean going vessels. The original buildings are still in use today. I knew the shot I wanted, and I hired a taxi to bring me from the north; whatever skepticism I thought I detected for my request to be on a overlook on Shirley Heights at the end instead of the beginning of the day, above the Harbour, seemed to dissipate as the sunset intensified. He glowed with pride to show me this spectacular vista on his island while I glowed with sweat in the tropic heat, trying to capture it. From this lookout, British soldiers once monitored French and other enemy ships making any approach from French held Guadeloupe and Montserrat. I was content to monitor the day's end, as lights came on in English Harbour, already in the lee of sundown, settled into nightfall.

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Filename: English Harbor
Image Size: 4096x1873 / 5.9MB; Antigua Atlantic Ocean Caribbean English Harbour Features Shirley Heights coast island landscape landscape photography ocean rainbow seascape sunset travel
Contained in galleries: Panoramas

The humps of Montserrat hosted sundown out on the horizon, and the clouds held as I had hoped, to light the skies above English Harbour. A peculiar combination of landforms and sea create a sheltered anchorage in the southern reach of Antigua. It was here in 1723 that two ships of the Royal Navy safely withstood a hurricane while 35 others were wrecked; that reputation led to the establishment of Navy headquarters, and the building of the famous Nelson's Dockyard to repair ocean going vessels. The original buildings are still in use today. I knew the shot I wanted, and I hired a taxi to bring me from the north; whatever skepticism I thought I detected for my request to be on a overlook on Shirley Heights at the end instead of the beginning of the day, above the Harbour, seemed to dissipate as the sunset intensified. He glowed with pride to show me this spectacular vista on his island while I glowed with sweat in the tropic heat, trying to capture it. From this lookout, British soldiers once monitored French and other enemy ships making any approach from French held Guadeloupe and Montserrat. I was content to monitor the day's end, as lights came on in English Harbour, already in the lee of sundown, settled into nightfall.