A change of cruising plans and Barbuda

                                                                                                               17/4/2012 

There is still so much to see and enjoy within the Caribbean, before rushing up to the USA! (The seemingly non stop radio networking yada yada of cruisers from those shores might also have influenced our thinking!)

Whatever! We decided having seen some of the magnificent Classic yachts, congregating for the Antigua Classic, that we just had to stay on, to witness this once in a lifetime opportunity of seeing this “celebration of sailing” !

This also meant that we had about 10 days to spare, before making our way back to Falmouth, to find a suitable anchorage, and to research all the best viewing points. So it was off to Barbuda!

Jervon and ourselves stocked up with provisions at Jolly Harbour, and went on to Deep Bay from where we sailed to Coco Point, Barbuda. We both made good time and were anchored off the pink beach near the Coco Beach Hotel, and inside the reef, by lunch time. Barbuda is a very flat pancake like island just over half the size of Antigua, but with a population of only about 2000, mainly living in Codrington. As a result, we enjoyed the wide open spaces, with hardly a person in sight!

The sad aspect, again, was the nearly empty Coco Beach hotel, and the enormous K Club resort, further along the bay, which was once the playground of the rich and famous, has been boarded up and closed for the past 7 years.

From our very selfish perspective, it was great! No people, jet skis, glass bottomed boats, and plenty of reefs to explore. We met Andre and Alison on “Ratcatcher”, another RSA couple who had done the Cape to Rio race, and were now enjoying the Caribbean. They collected a whole bunch of green coconuts from the laden palms around the K Club, and we were the lucky recipients of 10. The coconut water makes a thoroughly refreshing and nutritious drink when chilled, and diluted with a little rum!

We sailed up around Palmetto Point to Low Bay, on the 11 mile beach , which stretches from the Reefs in the north to Palmetto point.  

We snorkeled over the reefs there, and looked at the prices on display at the very up market (but empty) Lighthouse Hotel Resort. The cheapest bottle of wine was US $ 90 and there was one for US$ 1000 if you were feeling flush! Beers were $8.00. There is apparently a reasonably priced restaurant across the lagoon in Codrington, but a water taxi boat to take you the 2 miles over the lagoon will cost $40 before you look at the menu. The strip of land which separates the sea from the lagoon is only about 50m wide, at Louis Bay. (So named after hurricane Louis washed away the strip of beach for a while) It used to be quite easy to man handle one’s dinghy over the spit, and visit town for provisions or a restaurant. The water taxi owners have now built a fence along this narrow strip to force the yachties to use water taxis! 

A visit to the Frigate Bird Rookery (2 miles up the lagoon) will also cost you $60 to go with a compulsory guide, but you still have to get to Codrington by water taxi first! Needless to say we gave it a miss!

 Walking along the beautiful beach, one can clearly see the millions of fragments of pink shells, which give the beaches their pink hue in the sunlight.

We loved our visit to Barbuda, and were sad to leave. We managed to pick a good easterly to romp back to Jolly harbour, where we again stocked up with fresh foods at the supermarket. Two days later, we motored the 11miles to Falmouth in calm conditions, and luckily found ideal anchorage positions off  Pigeon Beach, before all the other yachts  flocked in to watch the Classic Race Week from 19^th to 24^th April.