A Georgian Dockyard and an Empty Beach
Two islands in one country with almost nothing in common: Antigua’s reef-ringed coast and the only intact Georgian naval dockyard in the world, then a boat north to Barbuda for seventeen kilometres of empty pink sand and a frigatebird colony in the lagoon.
St John’s and the north
The capital is small, Georgian-gridded and dominated on ship days by the cruise berths. The Museum of Antigua and Barbuda in the old courthouse is the best short introduction to both islands, including the land question on Barbuda.
English Harbour
Nelson’s Dockyard is the only working Georgian naval dockyard surviving anywhere, UNESCO-listed in 2016, and its own interpretation now states plainly that it was built by enslaved labour over a century. The sail loft pillars still stand without their loft.
Shirley Heights
The old gun battery above the harbour has the view down onto both English and Falmouth harbours. On Sunday afternoons it holds a barbecue and steel band that has been running for decades and is genuinely as much local as visitor.
The east coast
Devil’s Bridge is a natural limestone arch cut by Atlantic surf at Indian Town Point. Half Moon Bay is the best beach on this side and one of the least developed. Betty’s Hope, a restored sugar estate with its twin windmills, explains what the whole island was for.
To Barbuda
Ninety minutes by ferry or fifteen by small plane. Codrington is the only settlement, and it is still visibly recovering from Hurricane Irma in 2017, which damaged or destroyed most of the buildings and led to the island’s complete evacuation.
The frigatebird colony
A small boat across Codrington Lagoon to the mangrove where several thousand pairs of magnificent frigatebirds nest — one of the largest colonies in the world. Males inflate scarlet throat pouches the size of a football, and the boats approach within a few metres.
Seventeen kilometres of nothing
Low Bay and Princess Diana Beach on the west side run for something like seventeen kilometres of pink-tinted sand with essentially no development. That emptiness is the subject of a live legal argument about whether Barbudan land remains communally held.
Back, and out
Return to Antigua by air or ferry for the international connection. If there is time, Stingray City or a snorkel off Green Island fills the last afternoon.
Good to know
Barbuda has very limited accommodation and services, and the ferry does not run every day. Confirm both before committing to the leg.
Much of Barbuda is still rebuilding from Irma. Expect construction, gaps in the settlement, and a conversation about land if you ask — which is worth having.
Hurricane season is June to November, peaking in September. Irma was 6 September.
Shorter or longer?
Antigua only — dockyard, Shirley Heights and the east coast.
A short flight south to the island whose capital was buried by the Soufrière Hills eruption in the 1990s — the exclusion zone is viewed from the observatory.
Late April, when English Harbour fills for one of the oldest regattas in the Caribbean.