A Tale of Two Chemists: Shirley Heights Revisited

Shirley Heights Revisited

Wed December 20^th, 2023

After breakfast, we dropped the engine on the dinghy, collected our kit and caboodle and motored to the dinghy dock in Falmouth harbor. A quick consult with Google maps put us on the route to Shirley Heights. It was already 11 am, so we had missed the coolest part of the day. There were occasional patches of shade that were very welcome. After what seemed like a significantly long uphill slog, we arrived at the pay station for the National Park (includes Nelson’s dockyard, Shirley Heights and the interpretive center at Dow Hill). We elected to walk up to Dow Hill to watch a video about the history of Antigua. The film was shown in a blessedly cool room. We learned that the island had been named by the Spanish but became an English possession. The secure harbor was the great attraction for the British Navy.

We walked down from Dow Hill to rejoin the main road. From there, we walked up hill to the “Blockhouse”—naturally we had to visit this site! Much to our delight we found a woman with a little stall selling many items including cold drinks. We drank our cold beverages while taking in the views down to the ocean. Retracing our steps we rejoined the road to Shirley Heights. It was back to walking up hill now completely in the sun. Finally, we arrived at our destination. I was astonished to read a sign that reported that these Heights were 490 feet above sea level. My feet and legs did not agree.

A snack lunch was consumed on the terrace, where pic-nicking was prohibited! One member of our party even stepped past the sign saying “Dangerous cliff! Do no go beyond this point!” Perhaps we have a hard time following the rules.... After our lunch we set out of the half-mile path that descends steeply to Galleon beach below. To our dismay, Google maps was now telling us that we had to walk back up hill to join the main road and then retrace our earlier route. More trudging up hill was just what I felt like doing.

We were quite sweaty and disheveled by the time we returned to the dinghy dock. A round of cold drinks followed by showers did much to restore our spirits! We formulated plans for the following day while having dinner. In the morning we would take a quick trip around Nelson’s Dockyard and then set sail for Green Island.

Gloria