We finally said goodbye to Antigua and sailed up to Barbuda. We had been there once before but were looking forward to having a bit more time there. Antigua and Barbuda are part of the same country but couldn’t be more different – Barbuda has only 1600 residents and miles of lovely sandy beaches. It was badly damaged in Hurricane Irma and most people were evacuated, but they are doing their best to rebuild.

We dinghied into Princess Diana Beach (apparently she really did go there!) and connected with Enoch at Shak-a-Kai bar on the beach. He cooked us an excellent lobster dinner and then coordinated our plans for the next day. With so few people on the island, everyone knows everyone else! The next morning we were on the beach at 8 to connect with our taxi driver. We drove into the main (only) town Codrington to check out with customs and immigration, then went over to Two Foot Bay on the east side of the island where there are some interesting caves which used to be an Arawak settlement. The Arawaks were the original inhabitants of these islands but have sadly completely disappeared.

The highlight of the trip was a guided tour to the Frigate Bird Colony. We were fortunate to go with George Freeman, who is considered the best guide! After a 4 mile boat ride up the lagoon, we suddenly turned into a clump of mangroves and found ourselves totally surrounded by Frigate Birds. Males were puffing up their red chest pouches to impress the females; mated pairs were making nests; and young birds were perched looking for their next meal to be delivered. They seemed completed unfazed by us. On the way back, we were hit by a squall and got drenched, but quickly dried off.

The next day it was time to move on to St Barth so we got an early start. We were finally sailing downwind, but we got hit by several rain squalls and all ended up totally soaked yet again! It was still close enough to the Christmas and New Years holidays that St Barth was packed with superyachts full of the rich, famous and beautiful. Being none of these, we only stayed one night, but we enjoyed a stroll around the capital, Gustavia. This was a complete contrast to the remoteness of Barbuda, with boutiques, fancy restaurants, busy streets and people everywhere! We’d love to go back again and spend a little more time.

From there it was a quick hop to St Maarten where we checked in on the Dutch side and said goodbye to Rachel and Richard. Maybe we just never found The Scene in Simpson Bay, or perhaps our previous three islands were a hard act to follow, but we didn’t love St Maarten. The anchorage was uncomfortable, we had guests to meet in the BVI, so we left at sunset and made an overnight passage to Virgin Gorda.

Princess Diana Beach in Barbuda

Shak-a-Kai restaurant – motto: If you are wearing shoes, you are overdressed! Just my kind of place. Enoch cooked dinner for us, arranged a taxi, and then spoke to the immigration officer to make sure he’d be there the next day to clear us out. We highly recommend this place.

View from the Indian Caves at Two Foot Beach

Frigate Birds in the lagoon

View of Gustavia in St Barth. Notice all the super yachts! We are entertained that the island at the back is called Sugarloaf! We can’t agree whether we should refer to this island as St Barts, St Barth or St Barths – any opinions?