We went to Sunsail's Club Colonna on Antigua for the windsailing and the weather. In December, the weather was glorious compared to the UK - low/mid80s I'd guess, but with the beach location there was always a breeze (well, no point putting a sailing hotel in sheltered water!). If you go you must remember that Sunsail is a watersports holiday company, and that is what Club Colonna focusses on. For watersports, read primarily sailing - lots and lots of cats/dinghies etc which the yachties will know and I didn't. We went for the windsurfing, which is not the key focus, but which has a lot of stuff (check out a windsurfing magazine forum for technical details if you are keen).

Here are my pros and cons:

Pros
- lovely weather in the run up to Xmas
- hotel is Mediterranean style, two storey max, v. nicely landscaped gardens, rambling (you think it's smaller than it is). Rooms are quiet if you are away from the road (which isn't very noisy - like a British B road, little traffic)
- we took an apartment room (no ordinary rooms left) which had bedroom and living room with bed plus TV (US freeview channels)(Antiguan TV is very american!) and kitchen alcove - kettle (I think!), hob, fridge, cups and plates etc. High ceilings, good aircon, balcony on both rooms, one overlooking pool, the other the next bay (the apartment was on a little promontory) (be warned, tree frogs make a huge racket till dawn!)(I mean, too loud to sleep through - and they are tiny wee things). No signs of cockroaches or other nasties. Decor is pleasant, med/carib style, not luxurious, but fine for us - three star I guess. Hot water in shower.
- pool is huge. Freshwater, free form, I'd say c 30 metres across? (but see cons below)
- swimming beach is sheltered and sandy, with little waves and a sea net to keep kiddies in the confines. Lovely soft sand. Very little tide! Surprising. Lots of sunloungers around and you can watch the beach (and the children) from the decking of the bar/restaraunt area next door.
- bar restaurant is on second promotory of the site, between the swimming and the sailing beach, with a sunbathing sandy promotory extending - great views of the yachts and action.
- food is OK. Again, as others have said, not a deluxe place, but perfectly fine for families, their main clientele. Yes, very English with some Carib slants (eg sweet potatoes etc). It's self serve from stations, which is bad if you like posh, good if you like pick and mix and children want lots of different things - and it's definitely 'all you can eat'!
- Food is designed to be allergen free. This is a strong point of the hotel, and families with children with food allergies are very well catered for, so their parents told me. (the nearest hospital is about half an hour drive away I'd guess, though they have a doctor on call - also, given the very middle class clientele, there's probably a doctor amongst the guests for any GP type emergencies.)
- as has been said, the board basis is not total, but this is good as you can take taxis to other restaurants, plus you can buy a la carte from limited menus on non-inclusive nights.

The two BIG plus points of this resort are:

- watersports. It's predominantly sailing, and this is why people go. They do seem to have a lot of stuff, plus a lot of staff to rig/derig, coach informally etc.
- Kids club - it's designed for sporty families, and the kids clubs are great. From c 6 months on I think, with various subclubs per age group. The younger ones are in a nursery, with games/toys/videos/garden walks etc, just like a UK nursery, but the older ones get sporty clubs, with pool games (volley ball, water polo, races etc) and, best of all, watersports in teh sea - lots of taking them out on dinghies etc, even if they are novices. You hand them over in the morning, break for lunch, then back in the afternoon. There's a kids tea as well (fish fingers/pasta/chips etc).

one bonus plus point for me was the Garden Tour laid on by the hotel - one of the gardeners showed a group of us around, and it was fascinating - got a real Caribbean Gardeners World - he told us about the various plants, their flowers, seeds, medicinal properties (they all seem to have some!)(including the famous aloe vero, which he smeared on his arms to show the soothing qualities), and it was absolutely fascinating. Highlight was him shinning up a huge tall palm and bringing down coconuts for us to drink the juice. Really good morning.

OK, cons:

- This is a sailing holiday, so if you don't sail, there's not much else, and it's pretty remote. You don't get a discount for not sailing, and it IS expensive (around £2,000 a week for two adults and a child). If you don't sail, or don't want to, don't go there.
- The brochure says novice sailors/windsurfers are fine. No, they're not. This is NOT sheltered water, this is on the NW coast, and it is ROUGH. There is a perpetual swell, and once out of the harbour, you had better know what you are doing. This is not for the timid who like calm water (go to Dickenson bay, Sandals, Rex Halycon etc - they do easy watersports which the experts sneer at).
- Formal coaching is extra. You can get some informal coaching, but if you want to do a course, you pay more (eg RYA course). There are some free clinics, and a couple of beginner classes, and that's it. I think the key is to be proactive, go and collar one of hte sailing staff, and cajole/persuade them to take you out, pay attention to you etc. No point waiting to be invited to go out. The staff are all sailors, obviously, and actually LIKE guests asking them to take them out as that way they get to sail the kit not just rig it for others!
- The sailing beach closes at 5 which can be irritating as it's not dark till 7, but then the staff have their go on the water.
- swimming beach is small, probably twenty metres long, but it's v. good for tinies for that reason, as it's totally enclosed so they are very safe.
- pool water quality is dubious. (it may be perfectly safe, but it looked doubtful?) It's cloudy, which could be the disinfectant, or the bugs! They warn you that some swimmers get ear infections...we read this as code for they WILL get them.... In general, Antigua is a water-short island, so this may be an issue there.
- some tinies got bugs, where from I don't know. And this could be because parents are taking very tiny babies, just 6 months, and they can't cope. If the babie are ill, they get thrown out of nursery aand parents have to take over, so bye bye sailing....

One particular carp. We flew from Gatwick, on a flight at about 8/9 am. Basically we were up at 4 am to get there for check in. Then there was the Atlancic flight. Then tehre was the touchdown in the US virgin islands for the charter yacht brigade (we flew charter - OK, but charter) (plane packed). We ALL had to clear US immigration....long queue to be fingerprinted and photographed for the FBI, and then back on the plane again for takeoff. No avoiding it. Then hop to Antigua. Land c 7 pm local time, then transfers to hotel, arrive c. an hour after landing maybe. Dead on feet after massive long day, and with small children. THEN THEY GAVE US A DAMN WELCOME TALK FOR TWENTY MINUTES. Unbelievable! Went on and on about the damn dinghies they had blah blah blah and we were exahusted and starving and kids crying. Appalling! They genuinely didn't seem to realise we had ALL been going for nearly twenty hours by then. Utterly stupid and the company should stop this straight away. They also laid on a lavish welcome first night buffett... honestly.

In general, the hotel is well run, but yes, it's laid back antiguan style - some staff are active and efficient, others less so (and it's not whether they are British or Antiguan!!!).

I was told by one family that the 'family rooms' were small, and I think the villas may have no sea view and back on to the road (check).

One nice thing - take a motor boat to the nearby island through the coral reef - they coach you the first trip, then you can take it out for c ten local dollars I think it was, good value. BUT don't eat on teh island! There is a local bar there and the lucnh was $25 US!!!!!!!! Appaling! and totally mingy portions they were clearly eking out in case more people turned up. So take your own picnic.

Getting away from hotel is easy - taxis on Antigua are not expensive and very reliable - it's a small island and I got the feeling they don't muck the tourists around, especially if they book from a hotel. Maybe we were just lucky. We hired a car the second week - cheaper than Greece, more expensive than US - (took forever to be delivered, it was changeover day for flights). Roads are not difficult, but full of potholes, nothing more than a UK A road, and some are obviously B roads. BUT there are NO ROAD SIGNS. Remember this - you have to navigate by map! No signposts saying turn left for St Johns etc. Island can be crossed in about an hour - great beaches everywhere (some good surfing beaches). You can see all the sights in a few days. Island is prosperous, and felt very safe. If you like cricket, this is the place for you - they are fanatical! (World cup hosts coming soon, I think, and they are building lots of new grounds for it.)

Overall, if you want a water activity holiday, and your expertise can match the sailing conditions, and you want your kids to be taken care of or have a great time on the water, and you are not too demanding of elegance and luxury, and you don't mind everyone there being middle class english people (a few Americans, and one rather unfortunate middle aged childfree couple who were horrified it was so stuffed full of kids!), then this is agood place - if you can afford it. And if you can get availabiliyt. It is VERY pouplar in school hols.