Superb location at Johnson's Point on the attractive south-west coast with fine sunsets over Montserrat.The two-bedroomed Captain's Villa has a huge garden with a large shade tree and a 180-degree view of the Caribbean. The outdoor breakfast table, where bullfinches and bananaquits come for crumbs, has a lovely view of Turner's Beach.
The Captain's Villa has been much improved since our last visit in 2006, but it still has some way to go. It has a much fresher feel with new white paintwork throughout, both bedrooms now have modern, quiet, remote-controlled air conditioning instead of the old motel-style window-rattlers and the kitchen now has a microwave oven as well as an old-but-efficient gas cooker and huge refrigerator/freezer. For ventilation in the enormous cathedral-ceilinged living room there is just a ceiling fan and window louvres all-round which is not quite enough.
Still desperately needed is a complete kitchen re-fit (30-year-old units have chipped doors hanging off their hinges) and replacement of the equally-ancient upholstery of the otherwise-serviceable lounge furniture. Other villas on the site are in varying degrees of repair. So far, the American family owning the property seemingly can't agree among themselves to commit the necessary funds to bring things up-to-date, which is a shame considering the vast potential of this truly wonderful location.
You will need a car to get around although the friendly 3-Martinis bar/restaurant is just a ten-minute walk along the road (see separate review). A little further is OJ's then Gibson's which serves excellent quality food by candlelight on the beach - at a price. There's a mini-mart at the end of the lane but for most food purchases it is a 15-minute drive to the Epicurean supermarket at Jolly Harbour, where the nearby Peter's char-grill restaurant is recommended. Also try the roadside shacks which turn out very tasty take-aways such as baked chicken with red-bean rice - there's a popular one opposite Gibson's, another near Valley Church and one called Rainbow's End at Bolans.
Two warnings: Stay off the beaches an hour either side of dawn and dusk or the sandflies will get you and their numerous itchy red bites will take two weeks to subside. And avoid night driving - the combination of deep potholes, even deeper gutters, wandering goats and Antiguans driving on full-beam headlights makes it quite a challenge.
For more of my photographs from this area see www.webshots.com/user/aloudon

We just returned from a week at the Pelican Isle Villas at Turner Beach. Some observations:

Pelican Isle Villas: Perfect for our family. On a low bluff, directly on the water. 2BR (1D 2S), kitchen, spacious but starkly furnished living room, daily maid service. Only the bedrooms were air conditioned, but that was fine.

We stayed in the Captain’s Villa, which featured a beautiful lawn overlooking the ocean. Palm and nut trees, tropical flowers, cacti and other exotic flora provided a beautiful foreground for our ocean views, as well as some much appreciated daytime shade. Plenty of comfortable outdoor seating allowed us to enjoy the panoramic view from every vantage point. For our money, I don’t think we could have chosen better accommodations. Our hosts, the Wescotts, were very nice and even picked up a birthday cake for our daughter. We did most of our grocery shopping at the Epicurian at Jolly Beach, which had just about everything we needed.

Turner Beach: On the calm side of the island, beautiful water, great snorkeling around Johnson’s Point and Pelican Island. Essentially deserted this time of year, except for one day when cruise ships were in and passengers asked to be taken to a quiet beach. Even then, there were never more than a few dozen people populating a half mile of sand for a few hour period. Local teenagers frequent the south end of beach. Although they never caused any trouble, we twice found ourselves moving slightly north to enjoy a bit more quiet.

Photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/bertuch

we book pelican isle with tropical reosrts and vacations- www.tropicalresort.com, we loved the place! great beach and we loved the little bar and resturant next door.

We will be back!

Susan and Bob

If you want a self-catering holiday in a relaxed atmosphere and fantastic sea views then Pelican Isle may be the ideal stop for you.

Set on a small promontory on the south west of Antigua the accommodation is clean and comfortable; Michael, the on-site manager, is very friendly and helpful (but not intrusive); and the location and views are superb (from our sun deck we had a sea vista of more than 180 degrees and could see Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Nevis and St Kitts).

Tips - make sure you hire a car and to get the best from Antigua you really need a 4 wheel drive vehicle so that you can get to the remote, secluded bays. Note that this is a quiet part of the island. There are a couple of restaurants that you can walk to along the beach but if you want the bright lights and the loud music then you will have to drive to get there. There is a small shop nearby but we preferred to drive about 3 miles to Jolly Harbour where there is a small supermarket.

Michael gave us the best summary of Pelican Isle - three star accommodation in a five star location. We will go back there again.