Antigua isn’t pronounced as it looks, its Anteega. It was discovered by Columbus in 1493, abandoned by the Spanish due to a lack of water and subsequently occupied by the English. There are several spectacular natural harbours. The locals are super friendly and the landscape appears a lot dryer than many of the other islands that we have visited resulting in minimal agriculture. It isn’t as pretty as our recent destinations.

We motor sailed most of the way to Antigua but this didn’t stop us playing with a large pod of dolphins. It has been a while since we have seen dolphins so it was a real treat. As we approached Jolly Harbour, our AIS system altered us to friends’ yachts Tourterelle and Oysterbar. Once we anchored we could also see Sameera. As our dingy (Helios) was on the deck for the passage, Ian and Anne kindly took us to shore so we could check in. I completed the formalities visiting the Customs office, followed by Immigration, then back to the Customs office and finished at the Harbour office. A little bureaucracy and time compared with the super-efficient multi-function snack bar type check-in/out at Martinique and Guadeloupe. The next stop was the yacht club bar, where we caught up with a few more friends. Storm Breaker who was having farewell drinks and dinner (Sarah and Peter, Sarah was heading back to the UK, Peter is staying on for a while longer) . We also got to catch up with Olga and Karen (Oysterbar) and Billie and Jade (White Ibis). It was a reunion plus the bars extended happy hour ran for 2 hours :-)

Ian and Ann came back to Aura for a BBQ dinner thanks to the great supermarket at Jolly Harbour. It has been nearly three months since we last saw them in Barbados so we had a lot of catching up to do. As it turned out it was the first of many over the next week.

We had anchored outside of the harbour in the shallow bay, in the distance we could see the smoking volcano of Montserrat. Jolly Harbour is a man-made canal housing estate that reminded us of Noosa except it is a little broken and un-kept. A high roller may have had a big win as the grand looking casino as it is now closed and starting to look very run down.

Our outboard was having issues following refuelling at Deshaies. It was maintenance and repair time, I replaced the spark plug and fuel filter without luck. I then took Helios to the beach and I attempted to clean the carburettor without luck. Rolland (Sameera) arrived to lend assistance and we repeated the process. He also supplied a tank of new fuel. Unfortunately this was without success. The following day we took Helios to the local outboard technician and Kim and I took the opportunity for a local bus ride around the island. The tech repeated the same process however he had a magic spray can of carburettor cleaner, a fine wire tool plus high pressure air. This seemed to fix the problem and the tank of fuel was dumped.

Our tour took us to the capital St Johns where 4 cruise ships dominated the town harbour. It’s a typical Caribbean town, friendly locals but a feeling of nothing really special. Maybe it was because it was full of cruise ship tourists. We continued our journey to the southern ports of Falmouth and English harbours. Today the harbour is well positioned for both super and charter yachts. These harbours are rich in history; we walked the fortification, the dock, visited the museum and enjoyed a simple dockside lunch. We made our way home and planned our next port of call…Barbuda.

Where is Barbuda I hear you ask?. Actually I’d never heard of this place and I thought my general knowledge of the Caribbean was reasonable ….obviously not.. Reports from fellow sailors sounded positive so after a rolley night at anchor we made the easy 25nm passage north.

Unlike other islands that we’d visited this year, Barbuda wasn’t visible until we were less than 5nm away. It isn’t very high above the sea level and does not appear to be volcanic. It does have striking golden / pinkish sand, vivid blue water and picture perfect palm trees. Plus there is no one around…the place is empty. For a moment I thought we’d been transported to the Pacific. So to expand on empty, there were maybe 8 yachts in the anchorage including Tourterelle, Sameera, Neelia, Oysterbar and a brief visit by JiYu. We also had a resident turtle that had an adversity to having his photo taken. Our pilot book noted a beach bar and a resort. The following day on our morning beach walk revealed the nearby resort was in operation however a second resort had been closed for over a decade. After having a chat with a local, we learnt that James Packer owns a holiday home around the bay. Robert De niro spent Christmas on the same stretch of beach though it was not clear if he was staying with James or has his own holiday house. . He also informed us that this was a favoured holiday destination of Princess Diana and they had renamed the beach after her.

We motored our way a few miles to a bay on the east coast. It was equally as beautiful and closer to the main village. The visiting yachts were spread over a much wider distance. There was ample powder sand and blue water for everybody. The beach bar and resort are both closed. We pondered as to the reason in this perfect picture postcard location. The sign at the beach bar “land available for rent” so if you’re in need of a lifestyle change call Clifford on 0726-5686 (see photo).

The following day we took Tourterelles’ dingy to the beach, across the sand dunes over to the lagoon that faces the village of Codrington. Fortunately they have a soft bottom RIB and an electric outboard both are light. We arrived at Codrington and tied up at the fishing/town dock, good construction and facilities for the local fishermen. This Japan built/donation is in contrast to the balance of the village. This is the only village on the island, we understand it has a population of 1700. It was Sunday and the place felt like a ghost town. As we walked the streets, we realised that a number of church services were underway hence the lack of people. We wondered the streets looking for a café that might possibly have internet. The place reminded us of a small country town in the outback of Australia. We came across a snack bar that sold cold bar and a few random items. We asked him where we could find internet and he said we could use his personal Wi-Fi. So we bought some cold beers and reconnected with the outside world…it had only been four days.

All good things must come to an end, the next day Ian, Ann and I headed back to Codrington to check out. Another walk around town, Customs and Immigration are location on opposite sides of the town. A straight forward and friendly process. Kim stayed on board to rest her back and prepare for the night passage to Sint Maarten. It is a 75nm passage, you could do it is a day but it would mean arriving right on dusk. Not worth the risk. We had an afternoon nap and Kim was woken to the generator turning off. On further inspection, it appears that there is no power going to the LCD display. Oh well another job for the list.

And we just found this picture on the iPhone....post dinner entertainment, the wonderful Jenga gift from Flic in use, every mono-hull yacht should have a set!