Fascinating Barbuda
We made a stop in Barbuda the other day, remember? I don't think we were expecting to see much else than the famous pink sand beaches, crystal clear waters and maybe a frigate bird sanctuary which the island is so famous for, but our visit turned out to be everything but just that.
Barbuda is the second largest of the three islands in the Antigua&Barbuda nation and with its small area of 160 km2 (61.933 sq ft) and the highest top being only 38 meters (125 ft) there isn't much on the isle. People come here to snorkel the reefs, to hunt the deers, to rest on the wide-stretched pink sand beaches and to get away from it all. There has earlier been a few more luxurious hotels here to attract high end clients to the tranquil surroundings, but today there is only one resort left on the island (on the top right on the picture above) and when you first arrive here you get a feeling of total desertion.
There is a population of 1500 people on this colorful low land and most of them lives in the capital, and only city, Cordington. The name Cordington comes from the first English brothers who leased the island from the British government back in 1685. The Cordington family produced food on their new land and they also used the island to transport slaves to their sugar plantations over in Antigua. Most of the Africans who came to Barbuda as slaves are known to have come from the Ibo, Yoruba, and Ejo tribes of Nigeria, from Ghana, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. The Barbudians assert that the reason for Barbuda to still carry the name of their slave owners, is that one of the white brothers had a secret relationship with one of the black women sent to the island to work and that this very brother was involved in the murder of the British Governor Macknight the year of 1746 when all slaves got released.
We were anchored on the W side of the island (see above) and just like many sailing visitors do, we carried our dinghy across the beach to the lagoon on the E of the picture so that we could get to Cordington for making our clearance and check out from the country before leaving towards St Marteen.
The beach we crossed and the lagoon on the other side. Cordington is to the far right in the picture, a 5-15 minutes dinghy ride.
As we had imagined this island to be somewhat empty, and because no one had ever spoken about the colors of the actual town, we got very surprised when we got off the dinghy in the little fishing harbor and got greeted by a bunch of kids hurrying to buy fruits and snacks for their lunch break. They were so beautiful in all their colorful school uniforms and they were such friendly and curious little people. Giggling they asked if they could be in my picture and who am I to say no to such initiative.
Lovely boys. One obviously very shy. You see the one to the far left? He really cracked me up with his amazing facial expressions, I have a couple of photos of him where he changed posture and face from one to another in a twist.
We met a beautiful woman while waiting for the customs to open, she was one of the most friendliest people we met thus far on this Caribbean tour. Evelyn, as is her name, spent almost an hour with us while we were waiting in the steaming sun and she told us her story about the island, some history about the slavery and that her grand-grand parents were some of the first ones that were delivered here from Africa in the 1600 century. I read some more of the interesting history of the island after our meeting and found out that her surname appears in all of the early documents of the slave trading on the island.
Evelyn told us about her two daughters who she had sent to Canada for studying medicine and about her lovely grandchildren. Mrs Evelyn had spent most of her life in England and Canada and she was a very smart and well educated lady who now spent her days designing clothes and fabrics in her home here in Barbuda. She also gave me one of her favorite recipes consisting of land turtle, and before she left she hugged me and asked me to send her this photo taken of us. Her address being only her full name, Cordington, Barbuda - easy as that, why would one need street codes and postal numbers when the population practically all know each other and there are only around 400 households to deliver the mails to.
Evelyn told us about her two daughters who she had sent to Canada for studying medicine and about her lovely grandchildren. Mrs Evelyn had spent most of her life in England and Canada and she was a very smart and well educated lady who now spent her days designing clothes and fabrics in her home here in Barbuda. She also gave me one of her favorite recipes consisting of land turtle, and before she left she hugged me and asked me to send her this photo taken of us. Her address being only her full name, Cordington, Barbuda - easy as that, why would one need street codes and postal numbers when the population practically all know each other and there are only around 400 households to deliver the mails to.
One interesting feature on the island, something that didn't really fit amongst the rest, was the huge amount of Asian people in town. Not that they can't be there as for that I don't have any complaints, just that it wasn't quite what one could expect of a tiny West Indian island. We asked around a bit to try to figure out what interest they could have here and some told us they were here to help rebuild the fishing harbor, others told us they had arrived to deliver buses and to help rebuilding the school and other establishments, all those things which Barbuda itself can't afford but what is greatly appreciated to get help with. That far all good, but later on we spoke with another Barbudian man who told us that the Japanese also were there to fish whales from the surrounding waters and in order to get the authorization from the nation to fish the humpback whales in the sea surrounding Barbuda, they come there offering to build all those things the island desperately needs assistance with.
There has been a global ban against whaling in the Caribbean since 1986 but the affairs continue to grow and some islands with poor education and not much money are indirectly forced to agree on the pressure. Schools, infrastructure and fishing harbors are necessary for them, so how could they ever say no if someone comes to offer them all of what is needed for their every day life? The government of Antigua&Barbuda who seem to have the knowledge and intelligence for more does probably have additional (financial) reasons to support the japanese whale hunting but of that I do not know more than this. Here is some additional information of the whale hunting in the Caribbean if you're interested.
This whale hunting is apparent in many of the smaller islands in both here in the Caribbean and the Pacific waters and the Asians are still able to continue with their hunt of the whales and other fishes. A tragic and devastating truth for the nature and if a stronger global pressure from more governments aren't put into action, this will probably continue till the oceans are wiped out of the coveted spices. Just what's happening with the tuna in many parts of the world.
We're crossing the lagoon once again to get back to out boat. Here is some local fishermen hunting for lobsters. The guy at the bow spies the lobsters from above and when one is found, the big guy in the back jumps in to catch them. It is around 2-4 meters (6-12 ft) to the bottom.
Back on the pink/white sand beach.
And the turquoise waters...
This little trip to Barbuda was one of the most fulfilling journey's we've done thus far in many respects and Barbuda got a very special little place in our hearts after only being there for as short as two days. The island had most definitely the warmest people we met so far on our journey across the West Indian islands and I can't wait to get back to meet them again and to explore the woods and waters which we didn't have the time for this time around. I hope that all of you who have the chance will take it if you're ever around, to visit one of the most interesting, beautiful and welcoming places in the Caribbean sea. /T
Both Alex t-shirt and my dress and are from Permanent Vacation.
