Antigua Vacation Rental villa: Jolly Harbour

This was our first trip to the island of Antigua and I must say, it did not disappoint! We were the first to rent the house so there were a few little things that needed to be worked out, but overall we could not have asked for a better experience. The description on the website does not do justice to the views from the house and the beach. The house is located directly on Jolly Beach and within Jolly Harbor. The beach is spectacular. It is beautiful white sand and blue Caribbean waters. It was slow season so there were very few people on the beach. The beach must be at least a mile long and the house is in the middle of it. The beach directly in front of the house is great for laying out or swimming. Castaway's (local bar) is a 3 minute walk down the beach (and is on the beach) and was quite nice. If you want to see the island, I would recommend renting a car. Talk to Iris at Sunny Rentals (the service was awesome). If you would like to take an excursion, I would highly recommend our new friends at Adventure Antigua. Take the Xtreme Circumnav and ask for JD, Chris and Stevie. You will not be disappointed.
The house was clean, modern and well-maintained. Having a washer and dryer was nice. Milton manages the property for the owners and was very responsive and tried hard to make sure that everything was looked after. In the summer (we went in July) it was necessary to use the A/C at night to make the bedrooms comfortable. The rest of the house can be left open and gets good air flow, but we shared the house with another couple and wanted to shut our bedroom door and there is not enough air flow to keep them cool. The outside living area (pool and deck) are absolutely gorgeous. We spent most our time in the pool, in the ocean, on the couch, eating outside at the dinning table or just laying around on the chaise loungers by the pool. If you have a chance to rent this lovely home, I would highly recommend it. We had a great vacation and we are already trying to figure out when we can go again.
Most shops close on the island at 5 pm so be prepared as you will be disappointed to get to town and find everything closed. Food at the grocery store in Jolly Harbor is fairly priced and we purchased breakfast, lunch and snack items (as well as liquor for the rum punch!) here. For dinner there is only one restaurant that we went to that I would highly recommend and that is Peter's in Jolly Harbor. He grills everything and it was wonderful!