On to Barbuda

We finally left Antigua on Tuesday morning! A short trip to Barbuda, which is about 30 miles north, although leaving from the south side of Antigua added miles, as did avoiding the various shoals surrounding the Barbuda coast. So in total it was a 41 nautical mile trip (47 land miles). 

It was windy, 20 knots or so, sometimes more, which helped during the passage but made the going slow after leaving English Harbour, because we were motoring directly into both wind and current, as well as 3-4 metre waves.

Barbuda is a lot quieter than Antigua. It is half the size, with only 1,600 inhabitants to Antigua’s 90,000, plus the locals have fought against large tourist developments. We are anchored just off the beach on the south coast, a few hundred metres northwest of Cocoa Point. 

On leaving here, will head northwest up to Sint Maarten. From there, south to St Eustatius and Saba, both also Dutch-speaking islands. The advantage of these islands are that Covid restrictions are very light because they class Antigua and Barbuda as low risk.