Codrington - Docking
Anchorages:
Yachts must anchor outside the lagoon at Codrington. In an easterly wind the north side of the cut is a little less rolly. The bottom is sand and holding is good. On both north and south sides of the cut, the depth shallows very gradually as you approach, making it easy to find a comfortable depth. Ask a local if you are not sure where to anchor.
It’s a long, uncomfortable dinghy ride into the watefront.
The cut (the opening to Codrington Lagoon) is marked by a very basic buoy (resembling an old fishing float or round fender with a couple of bleach bottles attached, pink-ish colour). This marks the safest entry point and is quite hard to find given the amount of breaking water all across the cut.
Instead of using your own dinghy, you may prefer to call the boatman (Kevin +1 268-732-2643) – cost $40US for the round trip. Kevin also does tours to the frigate bird nesting area.
Anchoring inside the lagoon is not recommended. There’s not a lot of tide swing, even at springs, to help you, and depths in the lagoon vary greatly.
Do not anchor to reefs, fish in the restricted areas or use jet skis, spear guns and other destructive equipment.
The best anchorages are at Spanish Point and off the west coast.
See the Antigua and Barbuda Marine Guide for recommended anchorages.
Cocoa Bay
At the southern end of the island, Cocoa Bay has been recommended by cruisers as a good anchorage behind a reef. The pass is at an angle and can be tricky however there is a good spot to anchor just off the Cocoa Point Resort.
Low Bay
Beautiful, but only in settled weather as it does have a tendency to suffer from swell (see Related User Comments for information about anchoring here).
11 Mile Beach
About 32 kms (20 miles) north along the coast is the pink sanded “11 Mile Beach” and from here one can visit the mangrove lagoon and the Frigatebird colony (November). Be sure to visit the colony with a local guide as you will learn a lot about the island and the local culture. It is forbidden to go by yourself with the dinghy to the sanctuary.
Palaster Reef is a national park and fishing with a speargun or rod is not permitted.
Charts of Barbuda have been reported as unreliable because of coral growth, especially on the south side of the island.
Barbuda – Blue Halo Project
https://www.waittinstitute.org/blue-halo-barbuda
The legislation is in place now for the protection of the fishery and ecosystem of Barbuda. This means restrictions on anchoring, fishing, diving etc. See this noonsite report for details.
Last updated: January 2024
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Related to following destinations: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbuda, Codrington
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To check into Barbuda, first must send
email to comptroller of customs
requesting permission. Do this 48 hours ahead of arrival. Email
Raju.Boddu@ab.gov.ag, copy to
Customs@ab.gov.ag.
Upon arrival you should WhatApp John at +1 (268) 464-
5012 to make sure he is at the office.
Let him know you have recived
permission from the Comptroller of
Customs. When you check in at
Barbuda, you will pay no fees, but will
be instructed to pay them when you get to Antigua at the Port Authority office.
We anchored in clear sand north of the opening to Codrington Lagoon, a bit north of the collapsed resort. Good holding, but a bit rolly (in E winds).
We dinghied in to the dock area in Codrington, but don’t recommend it.
There is a single pink-ish buoy (hard to find) marking the entry, with waves breaking across much of the opening.
When we went back in to clear out, we instead called the boatman who had conducted us on a tour of the frigate bird nesting area, Kevin (+1 268-732-2643). His high-bow boat is much more appropriate for handling that crossing than a low-slung, underpowered dinghy. $40US round trip.
CSSN News- WARNING Dangerous Dogs Barbuda
CSSN has received a report from a witness to a dangerous situation in Barbuda. Two cruisers who had been kiting had just packed their things into the dinghy to return to their yacht when they were aggressively approached, harassed and nearly attacked by 3 large and very aggressive dogs. This is a remote area with no road access or persons living nearby, described as the sand spit close to the wrecked/abandoned Lighthouse Bay resort, near Low Bay.
We spent five days in Barbuda in April 2019.
Cocoa Bay is a stunning beach. It is worth sailing to Barbuda just to see so much beautiful empty beach. The holding was very good in sand. Others reported being hassled by security when they walked along the beach in front of the hotel. We just got a friendly wave. Seaplanes land directly in front of the hotel. The only way to get to Codrington is a taxi which costs US$80 return.
Low Bay is in front of the bar at Codrington Lagoon. The holding was very good in sand. Trying to land a dinghy on the bar was an adventure in the swell. Hurricane Irma blasted a breach in the bar which is slowly silting back up. Others took their dinghys through but the swell from outside hits the wind here and it was a bit “iffy!”. We took the dinghy to the bar and had a water taxi pick us up there. Water taxis listen on VHF16 and/or 68. We used George Jeffrey (phone 788-7067) and highly recommend him. He has lived on the island all his life and is a great source of information about island life, wildlife and politics. He also took us to see the frigate birds and the lagoon.
Boat harbour is coral. The coral reefs shown on Navionics are there but there are also lots more coral heads. The buoys are no longer there but just east of where they are marked appears to be relatively free. That was where the locals recommended but also told us a catamaran was wrecked this year. We only stayed an hour or so as it was very swelly. If there is a party on the beach then that is the place to eat lobster as they were delicious and not expensive.
The island is not recovering from Hurricane Irma. Codrington is still largely in ruins and the bank, post office and most other things remain closed. It is very depressing to see the town dieing.
From https://oceancruisingclub.org – 1 December, 2017
For those cruisers who wish to help onsite in Barbuda….we just received the contact info for the Waitt Institute’s Volunteer Coordinator. Contact Renee Desuza at 268-732-0183 by phone or Whatsapp to discuss specific needs and logistics. Volunteers needed to clear debris, fix fences, repair homes. Cruisers anchored in Low Bay can dinghy to Codrington through the breach in the lagoon. https://www.facebook.com/waittinstitute/
A request to cruisers from Shayna at Waitt Institute: We are having trouble getting boats to transport our scientific divers and equipment to Barbuda from Antigua, to do a scientific assessment of the underwater environment of Barbuda after Hurricane Irma. We will need several trips between Antigua and Barbuda to move people and gear.
Also having trouble working out logistics for running a compressor on Barbuda, as there are no generators large enough on the island. If any boats have a compressor for dive tanks that would be immensely helpful. Please contact Shayna Brody at sbrody@waittinstitute.org or message Waitt Institute on FB.
Further details from SV Aftica (based in Antigua):
We are anchored at N17 38.670, W061 51.359 in 17’ of water.
The population of Barbuda is gradually drifting back although I suspect that a proportion will never return.
The islands’ central electricity supply is not yet running and the RO water plant is not online. Samaritans Purse are running a small RO plant to provide potable water for residents and this is running flat out – they are doing a great job. One or 2 small stores have some groceries and soft drinks etc. Cube ice is available. There is gasoline and diesel available (occasionally) from the gas station – both the stores and the gas station have small generators. Both Lime and Digicell cell phone and internet coverage are a available (this message is transmitted from our onboard 4GLTE wireless router via Digicell 4G.
My recommendation is that yachts should visit (currently) only if they are completely self-sufficient for the duration of their stay – this is the recommendation I have made to the various charter companies with whom we are in touch. I also believe that Barbudians would not appreciate visitors wandering around with cameras photographing their misery.
Spanish Point, Gravenor Bay, Cocoa Bay, and Low Bay can all be visited but be aware that the Barbuda Express and various other shallow draught vessel are accessing Codrington via Low Bay.
Codrington airstrip is operational but I suspect only for chartered flights.
Posted on main Antigua/Barbuda page:
This is the SV Aftica, currently anchored at Low Bay, Barbuda. There are no restrictions. There has been some sand shifting but we had 10-12ft of water east of 9ft Bank. There are two breaches in beach between Low Bay and the Lagoon – use the north one (just south of LightHouse Bay Hotel) to dinghy into Codrington – the ferry (Barbuda Express) and fishing boats are using it. DO NOT USE THE SOUTH BREACH.