Dickenson Bay is a resort area on the northwest coast of Antigua. It's about a ten minute drive from St. John's. The bay itself is maybe a mile long and has spectacular turquoise waters. We spent a week here and I don't believe we saw a wave that wasn't generated by a passing boat.

The southern part of the bay (shown here) is a public beach. The horses aren't always there but they are usually somewhere in the vicinity. The overturned boat is always there. The public beach is largely deserted except for Friday evenings and all day Sunday which appear to be the prime beach times for Antiguans.

Next to the public beach is a section of small hotels and apartments. There are maybe four of these in total with a couple of small restaurants, including Coconut Grove where we took this picture. There's also a small grocery in this complex. Past this is the mega-resort all-inclusive part of the Bay anchored by Sandals.

We stayed at one of the aforementioned small hotels. This is Buccanneer Beach - highly recommended if you're doing the independent travel thing. It consists of 12 rooms and 2 cottages set around a lovely pool area with immediate access to the beach. From here you can walk to anything on or around Dickenson Bay and it's about a five minute drive back to the large grocery store.

The waters of Dickenson Bay are so calm and clear that we were easily able to see fish at a distance and even jellyfish on the one day that a couple of them were passing by. We found this to be a particularly great beach with a young child given the lack of waves and the soft sandy ocean floor.

On the inland side of Dickenson Bay is.. not much really. There's a large salt lagoon separating this part of the coast from the northern suburbs of St. John's and an inlet separates Dickenson Bay from beaches further south.