Antigua, Jolly Harbour and Deep Bay – The island of 365 beaches

Strong North Easterly winds have stopped us from progressing North to Barbuda.

We thought a ‘change in scenery’ would be nice, so we sailed up and around the West coast of the island to Jolly Harbour.

It was a great sail through shallow protected waters.  We passed a multitude of coves with ‘picture perfect’ white sandy beaches.  You can clearly see why this island is such a popular tourist destination.

We found the anchorage very pleasant at Jolly Harbour.  It was surrounded by lovely beaches and great places for us to go for a hike.

The harbour inside is a ‘hub of activity’.

It is lined with homes that have their own yachts parked out front.

There are mooring buoys for visiting yachts in the middle of the well protected harbour and a large marina at the end.

There is a chandlery, some shops, restaurants, services and a big grocery store.

(Sorry about the lack of photos.  The computer is seriously on its last legs and will not spit out most of the photos I have saved.  I will try to see if I can add them at a later date)

Unfortunately this all leads to a lot of traffic in and out of the harbour.  This would not be too bad if boaters stayed to the marked channel, but most seemed to enjoy touring through anchorage instead.  It made us a little nervous at times to swim or kayak near the boat.

We also got a little sick of being ‘ogled at’ by packed tourist boats as they passed only meters from our cockpit.

We are a sail boat so, if you don’t like the neighbours, just sail on.

So we stocked up on groceries and sailed a little ways further north to a quieter anchorage to wait out the weather.

Deep Bay turned out to be a much quieter place.

Lined by a big beautiful beach, backed by an extensive inland lagoon, and towered over by fort ruins to explore we were lucky enough to be joined by friends we made along the way.

This made for a fun BBQ on the beach for ‘The Spoilt Child’s’ Birthday.

Enjoy your sundowners!