Monday, March 24, 2014

Antigua to Barbuda

11 Mile Beach
March 18th.  We pulled up the anchor and set sail for Barbuda at 8:30 am.  Currently it takes us about 1 1/2 hours to prep to sail.  We had dinner aboard sv Right Turn the night before, so none of that prep got done until morning thus the 8:30 departure.  But that is just fine as we had a lovely time at dinner.  Thanks Mike!
Low Bay looking south
Winds were 13-15 with gusts to 18.  We were beam to close haul at times on starboard tack. Seas were lumpy and uneven hitting on the beam to aft.
Low Bay looking north
Even though Barbuda is only 25 nautical miles north of Antigua, it is flat, flat, flat so you really don't see it until you are upon it.  There are many submerged reefs and coral heads so we were careful to read and re- read the cruising guides and Active Captain as well as consulting the chartplotters, Garmin mobile Bluechart and paper charts.

We decided to anchor on the west side of Barbuda in Low Bay.  This is home to the famous 11 mile long beach.  We dropped anchor at 15:45.
Anchored off the beach
It's a bit weird as the beach runs north to south and with easterly trades, you simply pull straight into the beach and anchor.  It's 16-13 feet nearly all the way into the beach so it seems like you are literally beaching your boat when anchoring.  We felt much like a powerboat pulling straight into the beach and chucking the anchor out.  Weird.  There are approximately 15 other yachts but with 11 miles, there is plenty of room.
Sunset our first night in Barbuda
*Kala, you are going to LOVE running on this beach.  I hope your parents on vs Terrapin take you here.  

1 comment:

  1. You are so right! She is going to love it. Can not wait for her to run until she can't run anymore….she's going to be begging us to take her back to the boat :)

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