BARBUDA

We had a good sail however a bit rough from Antigua to Barbuda.  We landed a King Mackerel which was big enough for 5 meals.  As we were pulling in the fish, some shark bit the tail off.  Good thing it didn’t get the whole thing!

KING MACKEREL (WITHOUT TAIL)

Barbuda is a low island whose highest point is 125 feet above sea level.  There are about 1800 inhabitants.  The island is over half the size of Antigua.  There are endless pink beaches, one being 11 miles long.  Ashore, donkeys and horses roam wild. 

The Barbudan people were originally imported as slaves by the Codrington family who leased the island from England, beginning in 1685 for one fat sheep.  The Codringtons used it mainly for growing livestock and root crops for their estates in Antigua and as a hunting ground for the Codingtons.  Consequently, the Barbudans were not closely supervised and retained a tough independent spirit.  When emancipation came, they stayed on the island, living in a cooperative way.  Land is held communally and there is so much that no one fights over it.  It has been the key to the Barbudans keeping control over their own island.    Since there is no individual land ownership, land cannot be sold to outsiders.  Many Barbudans see no benefit to changing their traditional life-style for one of being dressed up and employed to wait on tourists in exchange for the dubious benefits of better roads, more cards, and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Today, the main settlement is called none other than Codrington. 

We toured the Frigate Bird Sanctuary with George who is on the front cover of Chris Doyle’s Cruiser’s Guide, 13^th Edition.  George grew up on Barbuda and loves showing people his Island.  The Frigate sanctuary is a protected area and can only be visited with a guide and rightly so.  It is a magical place with thousands of Frigates.  This colony of birds was featured in National Geographic magazine. 

US WITH GEORGE

GEORGE ON CHRIS DOYLE'S FRONT COVER 

Here is some information about Frigates:  Frigate birds may live for 40 years.  They have 1 egg every season (once a year).  The male stays with the newly born bird for about 4-5 months.  At that time the young birds can start flying and the female takes over caring for their young.  Female birds have white breasted feathers.  Male birds are all black.  Male birds try and attract a mate by blowing up their red pouch on their chest.  Frigates have a wing span of about 6 feet although they only weight about 2-3 pounds.  They have the greatest wing area in proportion to their weight of any bird.  This comes at the cost of being ungainly on their legs and they are unable to take off if they become submerged, therefore, they avoid landing in the sea. They eat flying fish mostly.   They can stay in the air for days at a time. 

I saw a baby out of its nest and without hesitation, George went into the water and gently took the bird and placed it back on the nest.

THE WHITE BIRDS ARE BABY FRIGATES

MALE FRIGATES TRYING TO ATTRACT A FEMALE (LUCKY FOR US, IT WAS MATING SEASON)

 We then visited the Darby caves:

DARBY CAVE

PETROGLYPHS INSIDE THE DARBY CAVE

COCOA POINT BEACH, WHERE WE ANCHORED FOR A FEW DAYS (Notice, nobody's on the beach)

There were big swells from the north coming into the anchorage making it just a little uncomfortable.  So, we moved to Spanish Point anchorage which was far more protected by the numerous reefs.   You could hear the loud roars of waves crashing over the reefs all day and all night long.

WINDWARD SIDE WHERE WAVES WERE CRASHING ON REEFS

Here, the water is the clearest we’ve seen since the Bahamas.  There are numerous reefs and many healthy, so I wonder why there wasn’t many reef fish?  No worries, we saw a basketball size octopus that seemed to want to hide into a conch shell however, it was way too big for that shell.  As we kept snorkeling, I saw lots of sand being stirred up clouding my view.  I knew something was going on so I swam towards the cloud to see a huge eagle ray stirring up the sand to bury itself.

We went on a long hike to find an old sand mine.  Wild donkeys and horses drink fresh water from the old sand pits.  Here, we found many donkey and horse bones.