My personal holiday planner (really my fantastic girlfriend) booked our holiday to the Cocunut Beach holiday for 10 days/9 nights from the 30th April-10th May.

Having arrived at St Johns airport (met by live music and Rum punch) from London Gatwick we quickly traversed customs and got a taxi the 15 minute or so journey from the airport to the Cocunut Beach hotel which for us no virgin holidays ppl was $20US dollars.

Upon arrival we were met/greeted by the staff in a lovely/quiet part of the hotel reception, once there we quickly checked and went straight to the room which was on the 3rd floor (all rooms have a view of the beach and bay out front. Our room 303B has the worlds stiffest lock, but once you got used to it was a piece of cake!!!!

All the rooms have air con, coffee/tea facilties, safe (free) and balcony with hammock and comfy chairs to sit out on. The bed was comfortable, not to hard.

Having toured the hotel and beach we were happy with the facilites as this hotel is set in grounds with lots of vegitation, with every thing obscured view to give it that close and privateness.

The hotel has two restaurants, one for breakfast/lunch which is on the edge of the beach ; PERFECT (all beaches in Antigua or publicly accessable) and the other throwing distance from that and the pool which is at right angles to the beach.

Breakfast is a selection of all things english, continental and local options, to cater for all tastes of breakfast, me I prefer the continental option and the staff are uber helpful in attending to your needs. Lunch is along the same lines and there is a distinctly carribean feel to the dishes, fantastic if anyone loves FISH as I tried 5 or 6 different fishes I had never had with mixture of local dishes, meat related or otherwise.

Dinner has to be booked in advance (everyday) sometimes there are BBQs with no need to book at all and you have to wear suitable attire, no jeans or shorts. I just wore a shirt and casual trousers, most nights.

The staff once again are very friendly and helpful, CLIFTON the concierge for dinner is very friendly indeed and always gave us a nice table next to the moonlit pool. Food on an evening is superb, with it excelling itself every night, cordon bleu cooking with 3 options for starter, main and desrt (more than 3 ) all locally sourced and cooked to perfection.

Whilst we were there, we did a few excursions firstly we did a circum-navigation around the island thro WADIDLI CATS which is a big , big catermeran that you will see every day come right onto the beach and pick up hotel guest, this is a must as you see far more of Antigua.

The staff on the catermeran are fantastic and there is food and drink all day, snorkelling, visiting and stopping at seculded beaches ( see photos) . Definately worth the $110 US for the whole day. You can book thro' the hotel or thro guy on the beach from Wadli Cats, we didn't and he got tetchy every time we saw him on the beach.

The other excursion we did was to Barbuda ( 32 miles from Antigua) going into the capital in a taxi and then getting a small catermeran to Barbuda, anyone who doesn't like the choppy atlantic then this isn't for you as its 90 minutes away.

There was alot of pasty white holiday makers, but well worth it as its as laid back as Antigua if not more, with some amazing sites; a fantastic bird sanctuary and visits to amazing scenery and sandy desrted beaches.

A must is a tour with the local medicine man ( free) who will take you a round the hotel grounds and surrounding hotels grouds, one of which is desrted and next to the CBC ( its called the royal antiguan hotel and has an amazingly quiet beach which is not used by anyone and is accessable to anyone( only on Thursday afternoon -1600) and show you the surrounding areas history and wildlife.


All in all a fantastic holday destination, made by VERY helpful and friendly staff at a lovely hotel, completely free of screaming children, what more could you ask for!!!!!!