Towards a new country – Antigua and Barbuda

March 14-19, 2021

After a month in Dominica it was time to sail to the next country, which for us would be Antigua and Barbuda. Before leaving Dominica we took an exit test which was necessary to enter Antigua and Barbuda.

The sail from Dominica to Antigua was very calm, it was not much wind during the sail and behind Guadelope the wind died out completely so we out on the engine for a while.

We arrived to Antigua just before lunch and went to do the check-in procedure. It was no quarantine needed for us and once we had all the paperwork done we took a walk around English harbour. In English harbour Nelsons Dockyard is located, an UNESCO World Heritage site. The area is full of buildings from the colonial era and is very pretty.

When we arrived to Antigua there was a curfew in the night and restaurants were only allowed to serve take-away. So we didn’t get to see this area in its full potential I guess, not a massive amount of happy hours as the cruising guides says it usually is.

Once we got to Antigua we wanted to sail to Barbuda as fast as possible. As it is quite uncertain time we didn’t want to miss it in case there would be a lockdown or something like that. But the winds were not very favorable so we decided to do a stopover in Deep Bay on the north west coast of Antigua. We have heard and read that there is a cool wreck in the bay that we wanted to snorkel on. But when we arrived to Deep Bay the water was very murky, couldn’t see anything in the water, unfortunately. It was also quite rolly and during the night our hook to the anchor snubber line broke…

As Deep Bay wasn’t as nice as we hoped (we were probably there at a bad time, other days it might be better) and winds to sail up to Barbuda were not so favorable as we would like we decided to go into the marina in Jolly Harbor for one night. In the marina we were able to charge up our batteries and we also took our first proper shower since Cape Verde!!

Video from our sail up to Antigua and some footage from when we stayed in English Harbour.