Five Islands Harbour Antiqua

On Tuesday 3^rdApril we planned to leave Antigua in the late afternoon to sail overnight to Sint Maarten. Nicky and I zipped ashore (or wanted to but were constrained to a slow putt-putt by our poorly outboard) to get a couple of extra things from the excellent supermarket and then to clear out from Antigua with Customs and Immigration. That was all done by 10am and so we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing in the next bay north, Five Islands Harbour.

Motoring round from Jolly Harbour to Five Islands Harbour

Five Islands Harbour gets a pretty lukewarm write-up in our pilot book but our friends, Lars and Susanne on Sea Wind,had told us that it’s a great place to stop. We were intrigued and so headed out of the Jolly Harbour anchorage, picked our way carefully between 2 of the ‘5 islands’ and turned right into the bay. A passage of just 2 miles.

There were just a few yachts in the bay and none at the beach that we chose to anchor off, so we had it all to ourselves.

It was a peaceful spot to while away the day swimming, snorkelling and generally just ‘liming’. The sea around the islands and on the sandy beach was a lovely colour, the skies were clear enough to get a thumbs-up for sunbathing from Charlotte and we even saw a few lobsters when we snorkelled off the rocky headland. It was a lovely place to relax before an overnight passage.

Five Islands Harbour, Antigua