The Caribbean region has always been a favorite holiday destination for the rich and famous. Around Christmas time, entertainment magazines are filled with paparazzi images of Hollywood celebrities and other…
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Antigua & Barbuda are two islands that form an independent country in the lower half of the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. Antigua is the larger of the two and is almost twice as big. Barbuda is a very low lying sandy island 30 miles to the north.
Nelson’s Dockyard is a must do
In pre-Columbian time Arawak Indians lived on the islands farming and fishing until the much more aggressive Carib Indians invaded. Even though Christopher Columbus spotted Antigua on his second voyage, the Spanish chose not to settle on either island since there was no fresh water. It was not colonized until the British came to Antigua in 1632. 50 years later Christopher Codrington settled on Barbuda setting up a game reserve on the island due to the poor soil. The British held the islands until they were granted independence in 1981.
Helpful Info
Population – 101,000 (99,000 on Antigua and 2,000 on Barbuda)
Money – shares the Eastern Caribbean dollar with 5 other countries and 2 British islands (fixed at US$1 = EC$2.70)
Language – English
Religion – 77% Christian
When to go – Dec-June is most popular. Summer is nice also, but a little hotter and more humid. Hurricanes most active Aug-Oct.
World Heritage Sites – 1 – Antigua Naval Dockyard
Country formed – Independence from United Kingdom on 1 Nov 1981
My Visit
You simply cannot beat the Barbuda beaches
I sailed from St Barts to Barbuda on my six-week Leeward island cruise in April 2017. After a week or so we sailed down to Antigua and stayed in Falmouth Harbor on the south side to take care of some engine troubles and pick up crew.
Likes, Dislikes, and Recommendations
One of caves on Barbuda
Barbuda is a wonderful laid-back island. It is very sand, surrounded by reefs, and offers fantastic anchorages….unless there is a ground swell. At those time it is not where you want to be. On the southern half especially make sure you have a good chart, good sunlight, and are good at eyeball navigation. I have two hints for you. First, most people do not know it, but you can check into the country at Barbuda as long as you give 48 hours’ notice by e-mailing customs@ab.gov.ag. Second, once on the island use George Jeffery as your guide to the frigate bird colony, water taxi across the lagoon, and all-around guide.
Another shot of the historic Nelson’s Dockyard
Coming from very quiet Barbuda, Antigua will feel like a metropolis, but it is a still a great island. You will find any yachting service you need along with provisioning and good flight connections. With anchorages all around the island, it can be a worthy cruising ground and I look forward to exploring it more. A secret I learned from other cruisers is to not check in/out at English Harbor. Always use the facility at Jolly Harbor to save a ton of money.
You can get even more helpful hints by watching the travel videos I am made for Antigua & Barbuda below. Also, you can read what all I did there in my blog posts located below the video.
All Blogs From Antigua & Barbuda
Back in the begining of August I shared an article I wrote and submitted to several sailing magazines. Well turns out Multihull Sailor chose to publish it in thier fall…
[Shane – this week I broke up an article I wrote summarizing our cruise for some sailing magazines. The first part was on Sunday, the second part was on Tuesday, and…
[Shane – on Sunday I told you how I wrote an article and submitted it to some sailing magazines, but I was letting my readers read it first. This is…
[Shane – this is an article I wrote and submitted to several sailing magazines to see if they would be interested in publishing it. Of course, my readers do not…
This is a question you will ask a lot in the eight countries that use the East Caribbean dollar (EC$). All eight of these countries are former British territories, except…
As many of you know, you don’t really get any exciting moments while sailing other than seeing other boats and if you`re luckily some dolphins might come to say hi….
After silent, calm and peaceful Barbuda, Antigua is more like a city. Still there are only a few people around especially during the day time, in the night time due…
I hope you read yesterday’s blog about this amazing World Heritage Site. Well today’s photo of the day features the newest building in the dockyard, but that still makes it…
As you read in the last blog, we finally got the port engine working again and Melek and I wanted to see a little bit of Antigua before we needed…
Yesterday I wrote about the engine trouble we had and what all was need to be done to get it to run again. Now that it is fixed it is…
Melek and I wanted to see Barbuda as part of our cruise around the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean and instead of sailing to Antigua and then up to Barbuda…
Today is our last blog about our week in Barbuda and I want to spend it telling you about our last anchorage on the southern coast. Gravenor Bay stretches from…
Melek chose today’s photo of the day because she says “how cute” everytime she sees these guys. We saw them everywhere, but I believe these two were at the Corington…
On Tuesday I gave you directions to two different caves and the Codrington plantation house. I also told you to come back and I would give you directions to the…
Today’s photo of the day is the view from the top of the cliff I promised you yesterday. Do you remember reading how we climbed through a cave from the…
Last Thursday Melek told you about our adventure of biking across the island of Barbuda to see some caves and the windward side beach. Today I want to give you…
If you come back tomorrow I will tell you how to get to the cave featured in today’s photo of the day. In fact there will be two caves and…
On Thursday I told you about our first day in Barbuda and the adventure we had! Today I will continue with the second half of that day as after a…
Today’s photo of the day is a sample of our tour through the frigate bird colony in Barbuda. It is the largest colony in the entire Caribbean. Melek will write…
Today’s photo of the day is 11 Mile Beach on Barbuda. This is on the northwest side of the island at Low Bay. It is the best place to visit…
Our second stop on our cruise through the Leeward Islands was Barbuda. Actually it is his third and my second one, if you want to know why I say that…