On to the beautiful quiet island of Barbuda!….well, we got a bit North, but not quite there just yet. The winds were forecasted to be a quartering head wind which with our AWS sail system should have been an upwind slog but doable. Unfortunately as the weather does, when we actually entered the Boon channel, it didn’t quite pan out that way and it ended up being directly on the nose. So we started tacking, and tacking again, and tacking some more. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time moving just not a lot of time making forward progress, so we audibled to turn around and head a back a little south to Dickerson Bay (Still Antigua) rather than overnight.
Dickerson Bay, Antigua
We had read the bay was a good cruising spot so we dropped anchor off the large Sandals Resort located there and waited out the night and hopefully a wind shift. With no great way to get a shore, we took the dink over to Kon Tiki, the “World’s Rummiest Floating Bar”. I would disagree with that advertisement however, as the drinks were not very rummy and the bar’s patrons were…a lot . So we headed back over to the boat, relaxed and enjoyed our own rummy sundowners. We had a bit of a rolly night but the anchor held fast in very fine sand.
As the sun rose, we had better winds, so off we went in pursuit of our original destination. We were concerned as we approached the island. Were a few miles out and still couldn’t see it. For the last few months of cruising, we had been so used to volcanos or rocky cliffs and in Antigua’s case, lush green hills. Barbuda was pancake flat! We eventually saw some buildings at the airport and a smattering of resorts came into view. Phew! We thought we were going to outrun the squalls that had been chasing us all day. But alas, as we set up to anchor, the rain and wind came roaring in. After a very wet anchoring, we finished up and low and behold. They sun was out again…figures.
Beautiful Barbuda
Located 30 miles north, Barbuda is the little sister island to Antigua. Together the two islands make up the autonomous nation of Antigua & Barbuda. Barbuda is known to the locals as Wa’omoni, which means “land of the herons”. Fun fact: With a population of 1,634, and an area of 62 square miles (160 km2), Barbuda is one of the most sparsely populated islands in the Caribbean. Not so fun fact: In September 2017, the island was just about wiped off the map when Irma, a Cat 5 hurricane, made landfall destroying over 90 percent of the buildings and causing the entire population to be evacuated south to Antigua. As of 2019, most of the population has returned and they are slowly recovering. Evidence of the hurricane damage was still very evident as we strolled around. All the more reason to visit…give them those tourist dollars.
We anchored in Cocoa Bay just off the beautiful pristine Princess Diana Beach. Formerly known as Coco Point Beach, the stretch of golden sands was later renamed in honor of the late British Princess who loved vacationing there.
The Highlight of our 4 Day Stay
Shak-a-Kai. If you have read anything about anchoring of Barbuda on any of the many boating apps out there, you have no doubt heard of Mr Enoch and his lobster dinners. Everyday he or one of his buddies catches as many lobsters as they can. They carry them ashore and sell them. You usually have to make reservations for one of these lobsters. We, of course, did not, but lucked out! He had a few left at the end of the day and we were able to score them. Truly sea-to-plate, he grills them up for your on his 55gal oil drum BBQ outside of his little beach bar (taking both words quite literally), Shah A Kai along with selling cold beers, soft drinks and a few spirits. Did I mention he loves the butter and garlic…as do we. Do try the Rum Punch…it packs quite a punch. We opted to have them wrapped in tin foil and headed back to the boat for a sunset dinner. IT WAS AWESOME. Enoch is a national treasure there. At least in my mind. You simply must go.
If you want to get super fancy, there is a resort Nobu restaurant a bit further walk or dinghy ride down the beach. But I don’t believe you will get the same experience!
Underwater Entertainment
Later that night with the blue underwater lights on, we watched as huge fish and rays hunted for their dinners. We invented back deck snorkeling b/c we didn’t want to get all salty again 🙂 We even tried some creative fishing with our left over lobster tails to see if we could nab one easily. Not so much. But it was fun!
Perhaps that is what attracted Remora, now known as Ramona, to choose our boat as his new home. Seriously, he didn’t leave the bottom of our boat until we left Barbuda!
A few days later, while I was out chasing more turtles and looking for fun underwater sea life, I happened upon a row of giant underwater concrete blocks. A little unnerving at first, I realized they were a part of a artificial reef placed there to promote growth and as a fun place for tourists to snorkel. Lots of fun little fish to watch swim in circles for a bit anyway.
With the weather patterns changing it was time to make a bigger jump over to the next pair of islands, St. Kitts and Nevis. We opted to sail back down to Antigua and anchor off Jolly Beach again to pick up some fresh eggs, fruits and vegetables and make the jump from there. Besides provisioning, it was a much better straight shot with the prevailing easterlies to get to Nevis.
Up next: St. Kitts & Nevis