A graveyard for boats of all sizes! Surrounded by coral reefs and coral heads! Be sure to go round the shoals. Only approach during daylight! All charts are out of date since Hurricane Irma last year. The pilot books want to keep you away from Barbuda but we went there. And why?
We were floating off Great Bird Island in Antigua, enjoying the sun and exploring the coral reefs when Heidi mentioned that she would enjoy trying a lobster. The Internet said that Uncle Roddy on Barbuda did the best lobster so we knew where to sail to. The pilot books really list a lot of great reaons not to go near the island but also say that it is great when (if) you get there.
We sailed the twenty five miles carefully avoiding Horseshoe Reef, Diamond Shoals, Codrington Shoals and Palaster Reef. A few tacks saw us anchored off Cocoa Beach which is “Wow!” The sand is white, the sky is blue and the sea is unbelievable. No color can describe the transluscent water we were foating on. And the beach is empty. Off to the right a few guests enjoy their luxury tents and get flown in and out by seaplane but the rest of the beach was just for us. At sundown some wild horses galloped past just to add movement.
We asked a local about Uncle Roddy’s but it didn’t survive Hurricane Irma. There are other restaurants in town but that is 12km away and no way can we land our bikes on this steep beach. So we tried Plan B.
Next day we sailed round the island avoiding all the reefs and shoals and anchored off the huge sand bar that blocks access to the town. Irma ripped a huge hole in it so the plan was to take the dinghy through that. Once we were in the dinghy and saw the swell and waves thrashing at the break we returned to the boat and worked out Plan C.
Sails up again and round to “Boat Harbour” where the ferry docks. The pilot book did mention that there is a lot of coral but the reality was frightening. Coral heads ahead and to the left with a reef to the right on the first attempt and a reef behind us when we finally found a place to anchor. We checked the anchor and the surrounding coral and then we took the dinghy to the beach and towards the music. Today is Easter Saturday so there was a party on the beach with extremely loud music, ice cold beer and …
… lobster. Absolutely amazing, tasty, mouth watering lobster. Great food at local prices served by smiling ladies.
Mission acomplished.