A week from English Harbour: Nonsuch Bay, Barbuda, Deep Bay
Antigua has bays all the way around its coast and the most historic marina in the Caribbean, Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour. The route runs up its windward side inside the reef, goes 30 nm north to flat Barbuda with its empty pink beaches and frigate bird colony, and comes back down the leeward coast. About 95 nm: two open-water legs of five hours, the rest one to two hours.
Day by day
Nelson's Dockyard (English Harbour)
- English Harbour17.007, -61.764
Take over the yacht after 17:00 at Nelson's Dockyard Marina, forty minutes from V. C. Bird airport. The marina is the Georgian naval dockyard itself, a UNESCO site: stone storehouses, capstans and superyacht masts overhead. Dinner is right in the dockyard.
English Harbour → Falmouth → Green Island
- Green Island17.070, -61.670
Out of the harbour past neighbouring Falmouth Harbour, then up the windward side inside the reef into Nonsuch Bay and Green Island. Flat turquoise water behind the reef, kitesurfers on the shallows and a trade wind blowing straight across the anchorage — breezy, but without the sea.
Green Island → Barbuda
- Low Bay, Barbuda17.588, -61.830
The passage north: five hours of open water with the trade wind on the quarter. Barbuda is so low that you see the palms before the land, and the reefs around it need good light — come in around midday, reading the colour of the water. The anchorage at Low Bay is eleven miles of pink sand with nobody on it.
Barbuda: Codrington Lagoon
- Cocoa Point, Barbuda17.545, -61.780
A short move down the beach to Cocoa Point. Yachts don't enter Codrington Lagoon — a local boat takes you in to the frigate bird colony, one of the largest in the Caribbean: thousands of birds in the mangroves, the males with their red throat pouches inflated. The afternoon belongs to the pink beach.
Barbuda → Jolly Harbour
- Jolly Harbour17.071, -61.890
Back south to Antigua's leeward coast and into Jolly Harbour, a marina village with a supermarket that makes restocking easy. If the light is good, stop for a swim off Ffryes Beach on the way.
Jolly Harbour → Deep Bay
- Deep Bay17.111, -61.880
An hour north to Deep Bay, a near-empty horseshoe beach with the barque Andes, burned in 1905, lying in six metres in the middle of it — snorkel straight from the anchorage. The path up to Fort Barrington on the headland looks over the whole west coast.
Deep Bay → English Harbour
- English Harbour17.007, -61.764
Along the south coast with a lunch stop at anchor in Carlisle Bay, and into English Harbour by mid-afternoon: fuel and handover. In the evening, sunset over the harbour from Shirley Heights; a night aboard in the marina, flight home the next day.
Coordinates are approximate, for the harbour or bay. Paste them into Google Maps or a chartplotter, and check the chart and pilot book before you moor or anchor.
Good to know
- Season: December to April, at its best from January to March. The trade wind blows from the east at 15–20 knots and it stays dry. June to November is hurricane season. Antigua Sailing Week takes place at the end of April, when English Harbour and Falmouth are full.
- Weather: Barbuda is an open passage and an anchorage with no shelter from a northerly swell. When the swell from the north is over two metres, swap it for Antigua's north coast — Great Bird Island and Dickenson Bay — and the week becomes a loop of the island of about 70 nm, with the same nights in Nonsuch Bay, Jolly Harbour and Deep Bay. The charts around Barbuda are inaccurate: approach the reefs by day only.
- Formalities: Antigua and Barbuda is one country, so there are no customs between the islands. English Harbour and Falmouth lie within a national park, which charges yachts a park fee; the base usually handles the charter boat's paperwork and cruising fees. Some fleets restrict Barbuda — check the cruising area when you book.
- Logistics: V. C. Bird airport (ANU) is 25 km away, about 40 minutes to English Harbour, with direct flights from London. Do the big shop on Antigua: Barbuda has almost no shops, and the next supermarket is in Jolly Harbour.
When to go and what it costs in the Caribbean
Median € per berth per week from the agent's latest check, monohulls; each month's page has both boat types, a chart and boats departing that month.
Discounted boats in the Caribbean
All boats in the Caribbean
How long is the Antigua — Barbuda route and where do you stay overnight?
7 days and about 95 nautical miles in a loop, starting and finishing in Antigua. Overnight stops in order: English Harbour, Green Island, Low Bay, Barbuda, Cocoa Point, Barbuda, Jolly Harbour, Deep Bay. The longest leg is day 5, 32 nm.
When is the best time to sail the Antigua — Barbuda route?
The Caribbean season runs December to April: dry, with a steady 15–20-knot trade wind. The most expensive weeks are Christmas, New Year and February–March. June to November is hurricane season: boats are cheaper, the weather riskier; May is a transition month. The fleet is mostly catamarans, booked 4–8 months ahead. By the agent's latest checks (monohulls), the cheapest month is October: a median of €510 per berth per week. The most expensive is February, at ≈€778. The most boats with 20% off or more are in November: 11%. The agent checks the current month and the next five; each month has its own page with the numbers.
How much does a yacht for this route cost?
A whole boat in the Caribbean for a week starts from €1,790 in the agent's current selection: the cheapest discounted week departing in the next three months. Prices per berth by month are higher up the page; the boats are under “All boats in the Caribbean”.
Do I need a licence to charter a yacht?
For a bareboat charter (no skipper or crew provided), yes: a skipper's licence and, as a rule, a VHF radio certificate. Without a licence, we add a skipper, paid separately from the boat price.
What's included in the boat price?
Just the boat, for a week. Usually paid separately: transit log and final cleaning, fuel, marina fees, the security deposit (or deposit insurance), a skipper, cook and hostess if you need them, and extras (SUP board, on-board Wi-Fi, coffee machine, child safety netting).
