We departed Antigua February 11 with CatAway for the 30 mile passage directly north to Barbuda in ENE winds of 20-25 kts. We were all excited about visiting Barbuda for the first time together. Exiting the North Sound we successfully picked our way through the barrier reef surrounding the north and northeast side of Antigua, thereby avoiding going around the reef to the west which would have worsened our wind angle towards Barbuda. Once through the reef and on course, we made 8-11 kts boat speed even with the main at the 2nd reef, arriving at our anchorage on the west side of Barbuda well before lunch.

Barbuda is part of the same "country" as Antigua – but is VERY different culturally, economically, and geologically from Antigua. Geologically, if Barbuda could be relocated to the Bahamas it would fit right in. Unlike its former volcanic sister island and others to the south, Barbuda is a low and flat limestone/coral formation that is not seen from sea until you're already into its shallows. Pink sand beach surrounds it with its western shore dubbed “Eleven Mile Beach” as it is 11 unbroken miles of fine pink sand. Hands down, this has to be the most beautiful beach in the Caribbean. It’s not promoted as such because there are no mega resorts on it to do the advertising. There’s very little on it at all. Good for Barbuda and the cruisers who come here.

To say this island is laid back is an understatement. If you’re looking for happy hours and nightlife, this ain’t your place. For cruisers, a good advertisement for Barbuda could be, “Yes, we have no direct flights.”  Barbuda quickly became one of our favorite islands, and we definitely plan to go back someday. We didn’t get to explore the south end of the island which boasts some excellent snorkeling as the winds and waves were too strong for that activity. We may need to return at a slightly different time of year to visit the southern coastline. Barbuda has successfully kept major developments away from the island because its residents understand how precious their land truly is.

We anchored off of the beach mid-way up the west coast with Ken and Joan on CatAway joining us nearby. There was so much anchorage room here that it’s easy to spread out away from other boats to secure your own private beach (there were only about a half-dozen boats within sight) but we selected a spot that Donna estimated would be near the spot where a water taxi could ferry us to the (only) town of Codrington, where we would be able to clear customs for our eventual departure. We chose not to go ashore the day of our arrival due to the high winds and significant shore break on the beach making dinghy landing a bit dicey – there are no dinghy docks here.    

The beach we anchored off of was just a thin strip of sand separating the ocean from Codrington Lagoon – a huge shallow lagoon connected to the sea by a narrow channel (too shallow to enter) at the north end of the island. The main town of Codrington is located on the “mainland” over a mile across the lagoon from the beach. On our second day we mustered up the courage with Ken and Joan to land a dinghy on the beach, portage it across the sand, and relaunch in the lagoon to go to Codrington. This was the manner described in our cruising guides to get to town to clear in/out of customs. As we were next heading for St. Barth’s, we needed to clear out of Antigua/Barbuda and we had to get to Codrington somehow for that purpose. At the same time, we knew we could coordinate in town a tour of the famous “Magnificent Frigate Bird Sanctuary” which is reputed to be the largest in the world, although we have seen differing accounts, some saying that the one on the Galapagos Islands is the largest. Either way, we knew we would see something spectacular if it rivaled the likes of the protected Galapagos.

Ken and Joan picked us up and off we went, rehearsing vocally what we had discussed over dinner the night prior. We all scouted the shore for a break in the surf that was being stirred by the wind and, feeling like a bunch of daring teenagers--with Ken in control, Dave ready to jump, and all of us ready to get wet--we hit the shore. It was much easier than expected. Just as we were beginning to drag the dinghy across the sand to the lagoon, a local water taxi approached from across the lagoon and we decided to take advantage of the taxi services offered. This was a quite substantial open fishing/work boat with a big outboard and as we started across the lagoon in the high winds and chop in Capt. Solomon’s boat, we were imagining how wet and miserable the ride in a dinghy would have been.

Ashore in Codrington, we strolled the streets looking for the customs/immigration offices (none of our guidebooks gave good directions to them) and admired the well kept town, despite the obviously few economic resources (much fewer than Antigua). The Barbudans, mostly slave descendants, are a proud, independent lot and were delightfully friendly and welcoming. They are working hard to prevent too much commercial tourist development, knowing fully well that they could otherwise reap substantial economic benefits. They want to keep their island pure and simple and are determined to do so. But they embrace minimalist “tourism”, i.e., visiting yachts that don’t require major construction or create other physical impacts when visiting

It was a very pleasant experience being in this very small town of Codrington; we took a relaxing, self guided walking tour as we searched for the customs and immigration offices. We had made arrangements with our “taxi” driver to give us a tour of the Frigate Bird Sanctuary and would meet him in a couple of hours—so we had plenty of time to meander around. Ken was shore side “navigator”, asking several people where “customs and immigration” were located. He got various friendly, but inconsistent answers and directions – sending us in circles. This became understandable when we discovered “customs” and “immigration” to be separate entities located several blocks apart. Ultimately, clearing out was easy and we got to chat a bit with the helpful and friendly officials. We found the Immigration Office first, but were informed that we should visit Customs first, and then return for final clearance with Immigrations. At least we finally got straightforward directions to the Customs Office! 

As it turns out, we had already passed the Customs Office once on our initial wanderings. We just didn’t know it because the hand-designed signpost faced the opposite direction from the direction we faced while walking. Couple that with the fact that the Customs Office was found to be someone’s home--this is explanation enough that it could be “hard to find”. Upon arrival, a small handwritten sign was found on the door telling us the officer would return shortly ("Be Back Shortly/We Aim to Please the Public"), so we waited until his return. He gave us the necessary paperwork to complete and Dave took a seat on his front porch on top of some old tires surrounded by a discarded mattress and boxspring, using the porch railing as a writing desk. We did say Barbuda was laid back, didn’t we? Ken completed their paperwork as well, and Donna went inside to chat with the Customs Officer about the island.

Other than Codrington, there are two small exclusive resorts on the southwest beach that cater to the very rich. One of these, the K-Club, is (according to what Donna found out from chatting with the Customs Officer) where Princess Diana would vacation. She couldn’t have picked a lovelier island hideaway! Many of the local names of places on the island have fascinating histories, for instance, Two Foot Bay is a beautiful beach on the north shore and is said to be the place where an escaping slave put his shoes on backwards to create wrong way footprints in the sand to fool those chasing him.

Then came the best part…..

Outnumbered by Magnificent Frigate Birds

When we enlisted Capt. Solomon for the ride across the lagoon to Codrington, we also arranged for him to take us on a tour of the Nature Reserve of the Frigate Bird in the northern part of the lagoon after our customs/immigration formalities were completed. This reserve is home to over 400 species of birds including the largest Magnificent Frigate Bird nesting colony in the world. And magnificent it was! These rare, glossy black birds have wing spans of up to eight feet. They are so large and heavy that if they inadvertently land on water, they must be saved by fellow birds who are known to immediately answer their cries for rescue and find a way to scoop them up to carry them to safety. Smaller species of Frigate Bird can be seen all over the Caribbean.  

As we approached the nesting area we could see hundreds of the birds circling above a large and extremely healthy mangrove stand on the edge of the lagoon. As we got closer, we began to see the birds sitting in the mangroves, just a few feet off the water. Thousands of them. Closer and closer we got, with Capt. Solomon slowing the boat to a crawl in the shallows. The sights and sounds were fantastic as we entered the mangroves and were surrounded by the apparently unafraid birds.   

Almost within an arm’s reach were multiple females, chicks, and males – the males showing off their bright red pouches under their beaks, meant to attract the females. This was one of the most amazing sights we’ve seen in the islands. Our pictures don’t do it justice. We learned that we were still in the mating season, which was why we could see both males mated with females, as well as males that were still “looking for some action” through their demonstrated puffing! Many females had already given birth and we saw plenty of darling chicks! Other females were still tending to eggs in nests.

This was a fabulous time of year to see the entire gamut of their lives. In April, the males actually depart (migrate from) the area and leave the females to tend to the young ones, so people visiting after their departure would miss the spectacular display we were witness to until the males return the following year for the next mating season. What an absolute thrill this experience was!

After this visit to the “rookery”, Capt. Solomon returned us to the west beach, where he had originally met us. Enroute, Dave and Ken brainstormed how to mimic the obviously effective red pouches…..

We managed to re-launch the dinghy successfully through the shore break without getting too wet and invited Ken and Joan aboard Pas de Deux for a homemade pizza dinner. A Magnificent day it was. Vowing to return next year, we departed Barbuda together early the following day, February 13th, headed for St. Barth’s.