Barbuda was beautiful, a quiet anchorage in turquoise water with miles of deserted white sand beach. The beach was steep to and on the other side was a large lagoon. Across the lagoon was Codrington, the capital of the island, though in reality, little more than a small village.
The only way across the lagoon was by water taxi and it took us so long to get a response from the radio that at one point we thought we would have to leave the island having only seen the long beaches and distant views of the capital.
Eventually we managed to get a response and arranged a taxi across the lagoon and a trip 4 miles up the lagoon to visit the largest frigate bird colony in the world.
Barbuda was badly damaged by a hurricane two years ago. All the islanders were then evacuated amidst fears of a second one. Although this never materialised, they were not allowed back for a month, during which time the rain had got into the houses, all of which were roofless and damaged, and ruined any surviving possessions. Two thirds of the islanders have now returned and building work has been extensive but there is still much to do.
A large beach side hotel remains an untouched ruin.
Our trip to the frigate bird colony was one of the highlights of our Caribbean trip. There were thousands of birds, from young chicks to yearlings to mating pairs( we were lucky as it was very late for mating). Apparently the frigate birds all left the island just before the hurricane, but thankfully they have now returned.
After 3 nights, it was time to leave Barbuda, However, the winds seemed a good deal stronger than forecast. As we had no internet on this anchorage, and no signal on the mobile, we called our daughter, Heather on the satellite phone and got an updated forecast. With a prediction of 30 knot gusts, which was what we were experiencing, we decided to postpone our overnight sail to St. Barts by one day.
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