Port Guide | Antigua and Barbuda | Dive Deep

Barbuda

Isabella Moreno | Editor

Published on 2025-11-15

Welcome to Barbuda, dear seafaring vagabonds-a Caribbean outpost that laughs in the face of mass tourism (and secretly hopes you'll keep it that way). You've docked for a few precious days at the sleepier sibling of Antigua, a place as charmingly understated as its glowing pink beaches are flashy and fabulous. Barbuda stretches out before you with a relaxed shrug-this isn't the sort of island where your cruise director will shove loudly patterned souvenir T-shirts down your throat, but rather a paradise where wild frigatebirds dramatically swoop overhead, and the residents calmly go about their lives, utterly unimpressed by your luxury expedition attire. Historically, Barbuda was a prized hunting ground of the Codrington family in the colonial era, who evidently weren't big on sharing, as they leased out the island for a solitary fat sheep annually. Today, thankfully, the locals are far more welcoming-and the sheep much leaner. So hop off your floating neighborhood, swap your designer sandals for flip-flops, and sink your toes into Barbuda's shimmering pink sands along Princess Diana Beach before heading inland to spot frigatebirds in their natural reserves. Relax; you've earned your right to wander, discover, and raise a rum punch to being gloriously underwhelmed-after all, paradise wasn't intended to come with traffic jams and gift shop queues.