Beautiful Barbuda!

Beautiful Barbuda!

Somehow that seems like an understatement. You have to see this pristine, unspoiled island to believe it. I suggest you mix yourself a rum punch, put on some island music and sit back in a comfortable chair. We're taking you to Barbuda!

We first heard about Barbuda, oh about 25 years ago. We were watching "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" and they were featuring a new resort called The K Club that had recently opened on Barbuda. The resort looked beautiful but it was the long stretches of undeveloped, pink sand beaches that we remembered some 25 years later. We were excited to finally get here!

I think that when most people dream about going cruising, they picture themselves anchored off of a pristine, unpopulated beach with nothing but waves lapping on the shore, the sounds of the sea birds, the beauty and the solitude. The reality is there aren't too many places left like that. We found all of that in Barbuda.

Pink Beach north of Coco Point on the west shore of Barbuda.

This picture is not color-enhanced. The sand is a soft pink color and feels like powdered sugar.

No, there wasn't anyone around to take this picture. Prop the camera up on something and set the timer.

The beach in front of the Coco Point Lodge which was already closed for the season.

The K Club which was featured on that show all those years ago is now closed, the once beautiful resort falling into disrepair.

The only other living things we saw all day. Oh yes, there were some wild horses that roamed down the beach around sunset.

After Pink Beach, we moved a few miles to the north to anchor near Low Bay. A few days later the sailing vessels "Metalia" and "Wildcat" pulled in. We met John & Marie and Chris & Pam in Grenada last year. The 6 of us decided to take a tour of the Frigate Bird Rookery, the town of Codrington and do a hike to some caves on the east coast.

First a little bit about Barbuda. Lying 30 miles north of her sister island of Antigua, Barbuda is 14 miles long by 8 miles wide. Unlike the more mountainous islands that surround her, Barbuda is flat. It is difficult to see from offshore until you are very close. The population of about 1,600 seem to fiercely protect their island from development.

Inside the Codrington Lagoon is the Nature Reserve of the Frigate Bird. According to our guide, Clifford Joseph, Frigate birds come from all over the Caribbean to nest here. The Magnificent Frigate Bird can have a wingspan of up to 8 feet. They can fly at speeds of up to 22 mph and at heights of 2,000 ft. But oddly enough they can neither walk or swim. Clifford told us that if a bird accidentally lands in the water, 2 others will swoop down and clip it's wings lifting it out of the water. They are aggressive birds that we often see stealing the catch from other sea birds. Clifford says he sometimes has to fight them off when they try to steal fish from him as he empties his traps. But they have earned their name as they are a magnificent sight to see gliding through the sky.

This is a type of jellyfish found in the lagoon, one that doesn't sting.

Because the males leave after mating, all these pictures are of females and their young.

Marie, Chris, Pam & John with Clifford and Wendy in the background.

The photographer, thoroughly enjoying himself. It was a beautiful place!

Next, we were off to see caves on the east coast of the island.

Jim, Wendy and Chris grabbed the seats with the view. Wheeeeeeeee!

Our guide, Calvin Gore telling us a little about the area. A naturalist, elected official on the Barbuda Council, tour guide and owner of thoroughbred racehorses, Calvin was a very interesting guy.

Back in the town of Codrington we stopped for a lunch of fresh Barbuda lobster and goat stew at Jackie's restaurant. Jackie lived in New York for awhile but home kept calling to her. Barbuda seems like it would be an expensive place to live but as Calvin told us, "What we make, stays in our pocket. We don't have all the temptations of things to spend our money on."

A waterspout forming out to sea.

Another beautiful beach. Are you tired of it yet?

This is the narrow strip of sand between the ocean and the lagoon. The fence was put in to help hold the sand, which washed away during a bad storm.

Clifford (our guide in the lagoon) applied to the government for this piece of ocean front property 30 years ago. Smart guy! No one but a Barbudian can own land here and it gets passed from one generation to the next.

If you are cruising the Caribbean, Barbuda shouldn't be missed!

Montserrat

We finally made it to Montserrat. We’ve sailed by twice before and were fascinated by the combination of beauty and the destruction that we knew the volcano had caused. We wanted to stop and see the island up close

Montserrat is known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean because of the lush green hillsides and because it became a haven for Irish Catholics fleeing persecution. Montserrat is the only country apart from Ireland that observes St. Patrick’s Day with a holiday and a week long celebration.

Montserrat is probably best known for two things, the rich and famous that used to visit and own homes here and the Soufriere Hills volcano that drove many of them away. First, a little about the rich and famous.

In 1978 Sir George Martin, best known as the producer for the Beatles, opened AIR Studios in Montserrat. Many world famous singers and bands recorded here. They included Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffet, The Police, Duran Duran, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Phil Collins and many more. Then September 17, 1989 Hurricane Hugo struck the island damaging 95% of the buildings on Montserrat. The recording studio was never re-opened.

The islanders rebuilt and then on July 18, 1995 the volcanic activity began. Over the next few years Montserrat would be racked by irruptions. The beautiful capital city of Plymouth was buried in ash. Montserrat was once an island of more than 11,000 residents but now only about 4000 remain. We took a tour of the island with guide Joe Phillip.

The Montserrat Cultural Centre.

Joe showing us around the cultural centre. We toured with the Aussie's from S/V Bristol Rose. They were lots of fun.

Checking to see how my hands match up to Paul McCartney's.

(Better not tell him my maiden name is Mills!)

View of the Little Bay anchorage from the cultural centre.

You can see by the map that more than half of the island falls within the “Exclusion Zone.” This area is usually off-limits, depending on the level of volcanic activity that is occurring. Because of that, we didn’t get to see the ash-covered town of Plymouth, once the capital of Montserrat. But we did get to see it via a film that we viewed at the observatory. Imagine a church that is buried so deep in ash that only the steeple is visible!

Joe often stopped to show us “before pictures” so we could get a perspective of then and now. The changes are amazing! What's really amazing about this picture is that there is an irruption happening and no one is paying any attention! I guess when there were more than 2 a day, they just got used to them!

This is a view of the mud flow down the island that buried many homes and a bridge.

There are homes all along the side of the volcano. They fall within the exclusion zone and are no longer inhabited.

Rain turned the ash to mud. The mud flowed down the mountain to the sea, burying everything in it's path.

A rock from the volcano. It weighs next to nothing.

Joe is showing us a before picture. This was the intersection of several roads, a river and a bridge. it's now all buried under 30 feet of mud.

Here's a before picture of a beautiful 3 story home......

...and here's the after. Only the top part is visible.

An interior shot, the room is buried in mud.

This picture shows mud up as high as the archway between the 2 buildings.

That's Joe's van and the roof of a house.

Ash flow on the east side of the island.

In contrast, the remaining part of the island is very beautiful. A new capital is being built in Little Bay on the northwest coast. The people of Montserrat continue to make a good life for themselves.

We left Montserrat on Tuesday, May 26th for the sail to Antigua. By going to Montserrat first we had a much better point of sail to Antigua. We arrived in Jolly Harbor on the west coast where we cleared customs (quick and easy which is contrary to what we had heard about Antigua) and spent the next two days doing the usual provisioning, re-fueling and filling water tanks. Then it was on to Barbuda, a long-awaited destination for both of us. We’ll explore Antigua on our way back south. Stay tuned for Barbuda!