Thursday, August 29, 2013

Barbuda. Still beautiful.

On our way to Barbuda we stopped at Long Island and anchored in front of Jumby Bay Resort. We were the only ones there and the anchorage comfortable. Jumby Bay Resort is pretty exclusive and though we swam ashore and walked the beach, there was no welcome mat out for us to come in for a drink or meal. (We asked.) No problem.... we had a nice enough view right where we were.

Well defined squall line over Jumby Bay
The last of the sun lights up a cloud 
As always we were looking forward to being in Barbuda, so we left Long Island behind and headed north. Being such a flat island, it doesn't look like much as you approach.

Barbuda ahead
Usually we anchor along the beach at Coco Point just west of the Coco Point Lodge, but this time we worked our way in a little farther south to a spot that's surrounded by reef and still deep enough for our shallow draft. We anchored just off a small sandy beach that rounds the corner of the shoreline before it turns up toward Spanish Point. The changing light gave us different scenery throughout the days. I took far took many shots and edited down to just these few.


Aside from the potential for hurricanes, which are forecast practically as soon as thunderstorm activity picks up off the west coast of Africa, the weather here this time of year is magnificent. The anchorages are calm and the trades are a pleasant 15 to 20 knots. And, since most sailors don't hang around the northeast Caribbean during hurricane season, we often have the anchorages to ourselves.

We had company a few times during the week we spent in Barbuda and we got to know them over drinks.

Monique & Vivienne from m/v Raw
Monique and Vivienne are from Martinique but live in St. Martin now and they zipped over to Barbuda with their husbands for a long weekend. We met them walking along the beach and later they hailed us from their boat as we dinghied past to ask if we could take them back in to the beach.

Their husbands had gone off in the dinghy in search of conch and hadn't come back to give these two a ride back to the boat from the beach, so they ditched their clothes and hats on the beach and swam back to the boat. We gave them a ride ashore to pick up their things and they had us up for a Ti Punch as a thank you. While we were there, Vivienne's husband called to say they'd run out of gas and were being helped by a local fisherman who came to their rescue. Yikes. It turns out that Monique and her husband own one of our favorite French grocery stores in St. Martin! (We told her we LOVE the cheeses they carry....)

A charter boat came for a day too and we met the captain, Bernard, and his guests, a German family with roots in Trinidad, now living in Singapore, whose daughter is in boarding school in England. Whew.

Bernard came by for a chat about the forecast
Bernard borrowed our machete after he saw Skip hacking open.... I mean, deftly slicing open... coconuts on the beach. We all got plenty of coconut water and meat and thankfully no one lost any fingers (or toes) in the process. Farmer John in Dominica would have been so proud.

We met with a fruit we wanted to eat! 

Barbuda remains one of our favorite islands no matter how often we visit. It's stunningly beautiful and serene and we just can't get enough of it. The water is crystal clear and warm, the sand is powder soft and bright white with shades of pink and the beaches go on literally for miles. Once again, the photos say it better than I can...

This conch was really here; Saralane in the distance
Me, happy.
Magnificent squall approaching
Sea stars were everywhere
Saralane in Barbuda
Full moon over Coco Point
Enjoy this post; it's the last of the lovely Caribbean water blog posts for a while. We're bound for the boat yard....

7 comments:

Cindy Barnard said...

That last series of photos on Barbuda are just drop dead amazing. You made me take my fingers off the keys and just gaze. What must it be like to.....well....BE THERE!? Whew. Beauty all over the place.

Lili said...

Love your Barbuda photos! And I envy you for being there. We're now home for a month and a half and I already miss the Caribbean colors, the sea and snorkeling. Did you sail to Barbuda through Horse Shoe Channel?

Lovely photo of Black-crowned Night Heron in your previous post!

Miles said...

Need some ideas for places to stay on Barbuda you guys. Hioping we will see you stateside. The rockfish are active here and willing to be caught. So I've heard... In baby-waiting mode here for the most part. Talk soon. Bien Viaje.

Kim said...

Maddie - your pics of Saralane are so beautiful!! How fortunate that you get to spend time doing what you're doing...xoxoxox

Bob & Janice said...

As always your photos are magnificent! So glad you got a chance to get back to Barbuda before you went State side - you'll need those great photos to remind you of the calm and beauty while you race around in the US. Hope things go well for you both there!

GalleyWenchTales said...

totally awesome pics Maddy, and like Lilli, we totally are envious of you being there as Barbuda was one of our favorite places.

We are stateside, working jobs through hurricane season. Cam't wait to be out again!

Miss ya!
Wayne

s/v Skylark said...

Hey Maddie and Skip--Great photos! Miss you both. Happy Holidays! s/v Skylark (Ed, Elizabeth & Luna)