We anchored off of the 7 mile beach, and visited the 11 mile beach. While we were there a north swell build up to about 13 feet, which crashed onshore. Jake and I swam ashore to body surf two days in a row. We are still cleaning sand from our ears a week later, marvelous fun.
The waters around Barbuda are teaming with fish life and the coral is outstanding. We landed a tuna on the way up and had 5 hard strikes on the way back to Antigua but landed nothing.
Barbuda also houses one of the 4 frigate bird mating colonies in the world. The season was in full swing when we visited, with the males puffing their throat area into huge red balloons to attract the females. Birds everywhere.
The most charming thing about Barbuda, however, and probably directly correlates with the magnificent wild life we observed, is the people. There are only 1,500 people living on the island, the vast majority descendants of the Corrdington slave estate. Barbuda, having no good natural harbor and poor soil for cane growing was forsaken by the British, and leased for the price of "one fat sheep" to Lord Corrdington. After Lord Corrdington passed away the estate was given in common to the slaves he was using on the island. They heirs continue to hold the land in common, with no private ownership today. Development is frowned upon, the locals have gone so far as to push the construction site/vehicles of a to be foreign hotel over a cliff into the water, stopping the development permanently.
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