One Friday in March Louise and Helen Thornley joined their Mum and Dad for a week’s sailing, snorkelling and sunbathing. They’d been looking forward to clear warm water, endless blue skies, all day sunshine and constant trade winds. What a shock they got.

It all started off fine. We hadn’t even got out of the marina before Louise was at the wheel.

Helen decided to break herself in more gently.

Next day was even better. Louise decided that sitting around like Helen looked like a good idea.

But of course sisters always have to out perform each other.

The weather looked good, the trade winds were doing their stuff and we headed off to Barbuda. We had 30 miles to go so we even put up our trusty whisker pole which was so good on the Atlantic crossing. Time to settle down to a brilliant sail.

And then the weather decided to misbehave.

First the wind dropped , then the clouds built and then the rain came. Definitely not in the forecast.

Now Barbuda is a large low lying island almost the size of Antigua. It only has a population of around 1800 and nearly as many wrecks as people. Being low lying you cannot see the island until you are within 5 miles. By that time you are already among its notorious reefs, so it’s not a place for the faint hearted. The pilot book says only approach Barbuda in good light and put someone in the rigging to watch out for the reefs.  We arrived in heavy rain with most of the crew hiding downstairs!

But we survived and got the anchor down safely.

Now the Thornley girls had just come from the UK’s worst winter for ages. They‘re tough - unlike their mother who’s been softened up by cruising in the Caribbean. So when the weather went pear shaped guess who ran for cover!

Next day was no better so we dinghied ashore and went to visit the frigate bird sanctuary. This is the biggest colony of frigate birds in the world. Barrie being a twitcher started getting excited and started twitching. Amazing to see – but not as amazing as the birds themselves. They hang out in the mangroves in a large lagoon in the middle of the island. Barbuda is unusual in that the capital Codrington is not on the coast – it’s inland on the lagoon. That’s mainly because the low lying coast gets too battered by hurricanes.

Frigate birds or man of war birds eat fish but don’t fish themselves because if they land on water they find it virtually impossible to take off. The clue is in the name. They pick on other birds who have caught fish, harass them until they drop their catch and then scoop the prize in mid air. Clever !

That’s unkind – there were some upside down jelly fish in the lagoon which were worth looking at.

The poor guys with the red throat pouches were trying to attract mates. Unfortunately it was the end of the breeding season so it was definitely last year’s fashion. Better luck next time guys.

They only lay one egg per year so if it all goes pear shaped …….

After that it was back to the boat – but first we had to get past the island’s defence force.

Back at the main port

Of course there is other wild life on Barbuda.

We didn’t see Barbuda at its best. The weather was unkind so we ran back to Antigua and did a circum-navigation of the island.

We found a posh little place called Davis Bay on Long Island. We soon lowered the tone by parking there overnight.

All too soon the week was over and it was time to say goodbye. The weather had been unkind by Caribbean standards. But that’s sailing for you.