Antigua and Barbuda

We skipped Antigua and Barbuda last year. Why you may ask? The answer to that is quite simple in fact: we were sick and tired of going against the wind. Ever since we left the Bahamas it was us against the wind and that's not a lot of fun on a sail boat. Someone once told us “When you get to the BVIs, it becomes easier and it's all downwind sailing from there.” Well, that didn't happen. And to get to Antigua from St. Martin you need to go 75 miles east and upwind. That's about 12 hours with the wind on the nose and pounding into the waves. Not surprisingly then, we decided to pass on that last season.

This year, however, the story is quite different. Going north, from Guadeloupe to Antigua, is a lot easier and the wind angle is a lot better. So we decided to go and visit Nelson's island and its sister, Barbuda.

The first impression I got from Antigua was how different it was from the other Caribbean islands. It's flatter and not as green. The land is made of calcareous rock which has the unfortunate side effect of making the water milky. The snorkelling wasn't great but found lots of protected anchorages and beautiful beaches.

We checked in in English Harbour and after spending a couple of days walking around the very picturesque town and salivating while looking at the mega yachts in the marinas, we started moving east to other anchorages. We spent a few days in Green Island, a beautiful and quiet anchorage, with lots of coral reefs protecting us from the swell and waves. Here Ernesto started taking his first lessons in kite surfing. First with Olivier, from Korrigan and then from a school.

While in English Harbour we saw a few people finishing the Atlantic Challenge. They crossed the Atlantic rowing in these special canoes. Antigua was the final destination. Brave people!

Visiting Berkely Fort, English Harbour.

With the crew of Korrigan, whom we met in Guadaloupe.

Nelson's Dockyard.

After that it was a few days in Great Bird island, at the north of Antigua and then all the way west to Jolly Harbour. We almost circumnavigated the island.

Green Island.

Look who's up on the board!

And wipe out! It's not as easy as it looks...

Great Bird Island, north of Antigua.

Hike up Great Bird Island.

Jumby Bay, north of Antigua

The east side of Antigua is full of beautiful beaches and anchorages, making this island a perfect place to charter a boat and hop from anchorage to anchorage without moving much.

Jolly Harbour

Canals in Jolly Harbour.

Deep Bay. Picture courtesy of Korrigan.

A rare picture of both of us, courtesy of Korrigan.

35 miles north you can find Barbuda. It only has about 1200 inhabitants making it look almost like a deserted island. The first thing to notice about Barbuda is the beach. It starts at the north-west side of the island and keeps going and going and going until the south-east part of the island. The second thing to notice is that water here is clear. Now imagine being in an almost deserted island with miles and miles of beach in front of you.... not bad at all.

Beautiful beach and almost deserted!

The kids spent hours playing here!