Barbuda, position 17 37N, 61 52W. We arrived and anchored off Barbuda today after motor sailing the 30 miles from Deep Bay, Antigua. I chose an anchorage which I was close to the road that gives access to the main town (Codrington) but after spending over an hour walking along a deserted beach, an inland lagoon and a mangrove swamp looking for the road we gave up and returned to the boat and as I tied the dinghy to the boat, the extension to the painter parted and the dinghy started drifting off. After a spectacular belly flop, I scrambled onto the dinghy only to look back to see Ian smiling and holding onto the kill cord for the engine. Fair play to him, he dived in as well and we soon had the dinghy back alongside the boat and Martin enjoyed his first swim off the boat in the Caribbean earlier in the day!

After a fairly uncomfortable night at anchor, the wind was blowing the right way to go back to Antigua, and so we started our return trip there.

We had high hopes for our visit to Barbuda but it is not visitor friendly in terms of facilities and perhaps the best way to visit this unspoilt island is to take the ferry from Antigua.