In this newsletter:
€ I've been swamped....
€ The Christmas arty party at Island Arts
€ Your discount voucher for Island Arts
€ The island is looking great right now.
€ Record traffic at our main site CineSecrets.com
€ Getting Pumkin closer to getting back into the water - racing crew needed
€ A minor restructure of AntiguaToday
€ Our new AntiguaToday images
€ Agents week & The Charter Boat Show at English Harbour
€ Blue Waters Hotel re-opens, better than ever.
€ Jumbey Bay about to re-open.
€ Much activity at SunSail Colonna.
At Island Arts we have been preparing for the Christmas arty party and exhibition which is featuring many of my new digital paintings, the results of recent artistic experiments based on skills I recently developed as a result of my cyber presences. (We will be hosting exhibitions in Antigua on the last Saturday of January, February and March... possably April too so if you are around I hope you will come and see us for a social drink!)
The island is looking great right now. All the rain that followed the furricane has made Antigua lusher and more tropical than ever with so much new growth that visitors will knever be able to distinguish the areas where foliage was damaged.
My mother has been staying with me for a month. Fortunately everything is back to normal now so there has been no lack of things for her to do during the days but I haven't been able to devote my evenings to updating my sites.
Trafic at my main site CineSecrets.com has been growing steadily over the year, due largely to renewed interest in the Star Wars sagas. My involvement with those movies is well known and many large sites refer to my pages. The release of the trailer for Episode 1 over the Thanksgiving weekend rocketed our traffic to an astounding 489,000 hits that week!!! I am in the process of a major rebuild of the Episode 1 pages and with such a large audience there AntiguaToday has had to take a back seat for a short while.
I have been spending a few days each week restoring Pumpkin, the 28 foot C & C sailboat that I bought as salvage after Georges. My partner Doug and I have disentangled her from the tree (with the help of a couple of car jacks and a few lengths of 6x6" greenheart). We've fixed the rudder and most of the leaks. Our aim is to launch her in 3 weeks if we can get the use of a crane and reinforce the spreaders in that time. (photo at the site soon). Pumpkin was second in her class in last year's Antigua Sailing Week. If I can fix her up in time I will be looking for experienced crew for The heineken Regatta in St. Martin in early March and Sailing Week in late April. Email me if you want more details.
I have a new megapixel digital camera and I'm preparing a hoard of new images for AntiguaToday. One of the major differences between AntiguaToday and other travel sites is that we SHOW you whats new in vivid recent pictures that show you the current state of the island. New images will hit the album very soon including a number of post hurricane sunsets.
There's going to be a minor restructure of the AntiguaToday site. The site is now in the transition from "emergency hurricane news" to "general Antigua update site". There really is little more to add to the "hurricane" section since Antigua is 99% recovered. Since most of the "lastest news" involves events and general information will be moving that section to the NEWS DEPARTMENT (which you will be able to quick access at http://AntiguaToday.com/news ) and revamping the "hurricane news items into an archive that records our past recovery. This may mess up your bookmarks. If so just start again at our front door http://AntiguaToday.com . each department can be accessed by adding a slash and a single word as follows......
http://AntiguaToday.com/news - for general news updates
http://AntiguaToday.com/links - for links to hundreds of pages about Antigua & Barbuda
http://AntiguaToday.com/tour - for a tour of Antigua (short right now but to be expanded shortly.
http://AntiguaToday.com/hurricanes - for hurricane news
Our aim is to make the logic of the site very simple and easy to remember.
I took my new camera down to Agents week & The Charter Boat Show at English Harbour. The show was HUGE this year as the docks heaved with multi-millions of $ of prestine yachts. Photofeature coming to the site in a few days.
Blue Waters Hotel re-opens, and by all acounts they are better than ever. The hotel was trashed by huricane Luis in 96 and the owners considered selling the property as it was. But when no serious buyers emerged they decided that it was time to bebuild and on the first of November their stylish new hotel opened. Since it's a complete make-over there is no question of a "quick fix-up". The hotel is completely redesigned and refurbished.
Jumbey Bay about to re-open too. Jumbey Bay has always been one of the island's most exclusive (and expensive) resorts. Separated from the mainland by a half mile of sea yet protected from the breakers by a coral reef the island housed a prestigeous resort and the spectacular homes of some very wealthy residents. Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous) is amongst them. I haven't met Robin so I was pleased when he emailed to congratulate me on "a superb site". Robin put me intouch with the new management of the hotel Rock Resorts who are well known for running top nitch resorts but to date they have failed to supply any details of the re-opening. With the countdown to opening only 3 days away their staff were observed scrambling to install new engines in JB1, the resort's twin hulled launch and their link to the mainland. I'll be persivering to get more info as soon as I can.
SunSail Colonna haven't sent us any news either but from my terace in Hodges Bay I am treated to the daily specticle of 20 or so small water craft zipping to and fro between the hotel and Prickley Pear Island. The boats are all new and LOOK very slick (they wouldn't let me take one out for a spin unfortunately) and if you are a sailor at heart but with a family to consider you think seriously about this unusual land based sailing holiday. The one drawback at present is that in the process they have made a terrible mess of the Hodges Bay road around the hotel with construction, garbage and inadequate parking. Hopefully they will crear it up soon and it is much more of an agrivation for residents than it is for hotel guests.
That's all for today. See you in Antigua...............
regards
Nick
