We left Falmouth Harbour and went exploring – Nonsuch Bay was our first stop – Green Island. There’s not much there, but it’s strangely relaxing. We were anchored behind a reef – no land in front of us until we hit Africa – and there was no swell – all taken down by the reef! We enjoyed a couple of nights there with our new friends Tom and Suz on Nomad and Peter and Patty on Serendipitous. We also enjoyed a spectacular sunset – first really good sunset in the Caribbean.

Sunset – Green Island Antigua

We then moved on to Barbuda – a new island but part of ‘Antigua and Barbuda’ about 30 miles north of Antigua. It was a lumpy sail with not much wind – but we sailed the whole way, trying different sail combinations along the way – and enjoying quite a long time with spinnaker.

Barbuda is a very flat island – max height just 125ft so we didn’t see it until we were really quite close. We anchored by the longest beach I’ve seen in my life! It’s also the location of a failed resort that Robert Dinero is attempting to buy and re-establish. It’s an enormous resort with about 50 chalets right on the beach – which is called Princess Diana beach – since she apparently stayed there a few times.

Miles of Beach

Pristine Beach

Interesting Signage at the Airport

Sunset – Barbuda

Getting to the beach proved challenging in the dinghy – quite a surf rolling in meant you had to time it just right and then pull the dinghy up the beach – not easy! More difficult however to launch it – and we ended up getting overwhelmed by the surf and both ended up in the drink! Fortunately, the dinghy remained right side up and a second attempt managed to get us going.

We plan to move a little further up the coast tomorrow in search of a Frigate Bird colony. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a tour by boat up there.