May 24, 2010
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Copyright. Antigua Adventures. 2010. All Rights Reserved
Adventure Antigua was started by Eli Fuller who is a third generation Antiguan who lives and plays on Antigua’s North Shore where his grandfather built the Lord Nelson Beach Hotel in the late 1940s.
Nick Fuller Sr. came here to Antigua in 1941 as U.S. Vice Consul. On his second day in Antigua he managed to get someone to take him exploring in the North Sound Area. He got to Bird Island and immediately decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in Antigua. Bird Island has had this effect on many people since then. He and his wife remained in Antigua after the war and raised seven children in Antigua while running their hotel.
The Lord Nelson was the first hotel built on a beach in Antigua and was opened in 1950. It is where Eli Fuller and the rest of the “grandchildren” grew up learning how to walk, swim and talk.
Eli’s Dad, John Fuller who was born in Antigua, went to the UK after finishing secondary school in Antigua where he studied law. It was there in London that he met his wife Jill. They came back to Antigua after he finished passing the Bar exams to start a family. It’s the best place in the world to raise kids!
Eli went to a local catholic school until his graduation at sixteen. In Antigua school finishes at 1:30 PM so there was lots to do afterwards. Eli spent most of his time boating around Antigua and Barbuda. Snorkeling was a favourite among all the grandchildren and Eli was wearing a mask before he learned how to speak.
When Eli was 12 years old he learned how to windsurf and began competing internationally later that year. His first big race was Windsurfing Antigua Week 1985 where he managed to windsurf in the race from Jolly Beach to Montserrat- a 31 mile race across open ocean. For the next four years he windsurfed most days and competed all around the Caribbean.
In 1988 he was given the opportunity to represent Antigua in the games of the XXIVth Olympiad, held in Seoul, South Korea. He was 16 and the youngest competitor in the windsurfing division. The equipment was one-design though, which was not used in the Caribbean and he managed to place 31st out of 45 competitors on the unfamiliar gear.
After graduation from high school he enrolled at Florida Tech where he studied business management while still competing on the international windsurfing circuit. After four years he left Florida Tech with his BS in Business Management and moved to Maui, Hawaii where he trained for the Pro Windsurfing Tour. Eli was not happy on the tour and missed Antigua.
After traveling all around mainland Europe, Greece, Brazil, Hawaii, the Canaries, and the US he had to come to miss the real island life and his family. After coming back to Antigua working in the hospitality industry managing night clubs, a small hotel, a restaurant, a bar and a sports complex he finally found job fulfillment after starting Adventure Antigua. It was a job where he was never stuck inside and was always on the water enjoying the thing which made his grandfather stay here back in the forties like boating fishing and snorkeling. Recently he has expanded his business adding a new boat Xtreme and most recently a sail boat Ocean Nomad, and together with the growing Adventure Antigua Team its now starting to feel like a “real” business.
After 16 years of international competition Eli retired from regular windsurfing competitions after winning one of the worlds most prestigious windsurfing regattas, the HIHO or “Hook in and Hold On” . Since then Eli then started kitesurfing and started a kitesurfing school .
Kitesurfng, fishing, snorkeling, beachcombing, camping, traveling, archeology, photography, surfing and reading are Eli’s interests as well as home life the dogs Lila and Sparky. His love for Antigua, its ecology and history, coupled with life experience makes his carefully designed tours the highlights of many people’s vacation in Antigua.
For more info on the crew who make Adventure Antigua the best Tour company in Antigua by far please visit our blog’s crew section here .
