Edgar Potter has seen considerable changes in the more than half a century since he was a child playing in the sleepy ruins of a 17th-century naval base in English Harbour, Antigua.

Since then, the snug-as-a-bug harbor, which once serviced British warships patrolling the Caribbean, has been transformed into a haven for glamorous yachts, and its former ruins have been restored into a haven for history buffs.

Potter remembers when, over 50 years ago, Commander V.E.B. Nicholson arrived on the island, little knowing that would be where he would spend the rest of his life, and chose the deep, protected English Harbour as a base for his fledgling yacht charter company.  (The entire story is charmingly told by his son.) Business boomed, and Nicholson’s fleet expanded. For decades, Antigua (pronounced An-TI-ga, without the u) has been a destination for wealthy yachters from Scandinavia to South America.

Today, the quais (pronounced keys) in English and nearby Falmouth harbours are a forest of masts atop enormous, luxurious vessels of varying shapes, most topping 50 feet and some approaching 100. Boaters spend hundreds of thousands per week on these sleek vessels. For the less wealthy, it is simply a feast for the eyes to wander along the docks, marveling at human ingenuity and desire for comfort.

The calm protection afforded to yachters today was what attracted the British to Antigua 250 years ago. Although the fierce Carib natives resisted their Western conquerors longer than usual here, the British ultimately prevailed, using the protected inlet as a navel dockyard starting in 1725. In a stroke of insight, the British government realized that if it could overhaul its ships on site in the Caribbean, rather than trekking them back to England for repairs, it could maintain a continuous, powerful presence against its French, Spanish and Portuguese rivals.

Today, one can trace the thriving shipyard, which was mostly constructed in the late 1700s. One can imagine the complex process of careening, in which a ship -- still in the water -- was dragged over onto one side, so that the other, exposed side could be overhauled. The area with its neat, functional buildings became known as Nelson’s Dockyard during the period in the 1780s when the famous Admiral Horatio Nelson was commander of the Leeward Islands.

Ultimately, however, steam-powered ships replaced the mighty sailing vessels that the dockyard served. The area fell into disuse and closed in 1898. End of story -- until yachters, inspired by Nicholson, formed the Friends of English Harbour and renovated the area into the fascinating combination of history and progress that it is today. Reopened in 1961, the dockyard provides placards describing how 18th-century sailors sewed sails, repaired masts and manned the blacksmith’s shop.

Even better, one can observe a working dockyard servicing the many elaborate yachts, which constantly ply into and out of this spectacular cove, offering bustle during the day and deckside parties at night.

For the history buff, the only place to stay is the Admiral’s Inn, housed in a building completed in 1788 to store pitch, turpentine and lead. The former dockyard offices upstairs have been converted into pleasant rooms, many with a view of the beautiful harbor. And you are smack on the cusp of the past and the future.

A few caveats about the Admiral’s Inn: The staff, if efficient, was neither friendly nor particularly helpful. (This was not true of the cleaning help, who were lovely.) The waitstaff (who seemed extremely overworked) took my order, whether at the bar or at a meal, with stoic resignation. It should also be mentioned that that food was fairly mediocre.

But the setting was exquisite, with the beautiful harbor view framed by round stone pillars that once supported a boat house with a sail loft above.

One of the fun things about being right on the harbor was the ability to be boated about, seeing the area from different points of view. The Admiral’s Inn took me across the way to Freeman’s Bay, at the entrance to the harbor, a beach accessible only by boat. There I sunned and snorkeled, visited only by other boaters. And one evening I sponged a ride across the harbor to Pagopoco,    a harborside restaurant offering Italian food from pizza to tasty seafood pasta. When I was done, the restaurant’s dinghy ran me home. (This boat also serves as a pizza delivery system to yachters moored in the harbor.)

You can also walk a brief distance to shops, restaurants and surprisingly, a tennis club, where you can play for an hour for EC $40 (about U.S. $15). There you can explore neighboring Falmouth harbor, with its even more impressive vessels. And I had a wonderful meal at the harborside Life Bar and Restaurant, where the cheerful inscriptions on the wall (“Life is like riding a bike. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling”-- pun intended?) were matched by tasty food and good-humored service.

Other activities can include a trip to the museum, located right in the dockyard, and an easy walk out to Fort Berkeley, which affords spectacular views of the extraordinary harbor and surrounding hills. As Edgar Potter, the longtime resident and an authorized driver for the dockyard, observed while whisking me to the airport, times have changed.

              Happy traveling!