Beautiful Barbuda

Before we left Nonsuch bay I went snorkeling around Bird island again. Visibility was a bit better at some places, but I still had an uneasy feeling, all alone in murky water. It was still worth it, there were some pretty things to see...

I'm not sure what this is, I guess some sort of coral, need more time to study my books. There are some Christmas worms on it, in similar color as coral.

These are Porous sea rods (I guess) with white Christmas tree hydriods  attached.

There are many healthy brain corals there, on the edges of the bigger one there are two Feather dusters.

On Sunday we sailed to Barbuda. We were quite late, so the sun was well up in the sky and the visibility was good. Which was what we needed to sail out of Nonsuch through Spithead channel towards north. The sailing was bumpy and fast, with some rain here and there. It was not the best ride we had. On top of it we didn't catch any fish. But Barbuda was beautiful as always, white endless beaches in bright afternoon sun, and I was so happy we came.

Late in the afternoon we had a visitor, a booby (strmoglavec) landed on our dinghy. He was not shy, we could come quite close, just the light was fading so the photos are not too good.

In the night the swell crept into the bay and in the morning there was a lot of sand mixed with the water. Not a good time to go snorkeling. But it was a glorious Caribbean day with bright sun and blue skies and we enjoyed it thoroughly. We swam, read books and had holiday. And guess what - in the afternoon I heard the familiar chip chip - and there were three ospreys circling above the lagoon. What a pretty sight.

On Tuesday there was less swell and I tried snorkeling, but the visibility was still very bad. In the afternoon we decided to go ashore to pick some coconuts.

This is me rowing our dinghy. It rows really well.

Captain and myself on "crowded" beach.

Coco point anchorage.

The waves have formed the beach into small hills and canyons

It is really not sand, it's broken shells and corals

Right behind the beach there is a small private air strip (behind the fence). As we were there the small airplane started landing.

Ok, it is nothing like Princess Juliana airport in Sint Maarten, but it was still fun to watch.

On Wednesday the water was clearer again, so I did some snorkeling again. There were a lot of nice things to see right below and around our boat.

In the afternoon we dinghied around the south-east corner to check on Spanish Point, it is said to be the calmest anchorage in Barbuda in a swell, but very tricky to navigate because of all the reefs and corals. There was a lot of wind that day and we were soon completely wet. From the dinghy Barbuda looks really flat.

We didn't dinghy around whole bay, as the sea was really choppy, so we didn't check the anchorages. But we stopped at one of the reefs to do some snorkeling. The reef was mostly overgrown by algae, and the prettiest thing we saw was this Hawksbill turtle.

On Thursday, after one more nice snorkeling, it was time to sail back to Antigua. I was sorry we had to go and I hope we return to Barbuda soon, maybe for a bit longer stay. We left at about noon, weather on the way was nice, wind just right for easy and quick sailing, and the waves were very small and round for this route. We were in Deep bay in less than four hours. Today we are sailing on to Jolly Harbour, we have some shopping to do. After almost two weeks of "wilderness" in Nonsuch bay and Barbuda, we are thoroughly out of fresh food. And on Sunday we are picking up some friends of ours, that are coming to sail with us for next two weeks.