Skimming across the shallow glassy sweep of seven-mile-long Cod-rington Lagoon, our flat-bottomed skiff barely creates a wake. Calvin Gore cuts the engine and poles us silently to a rope barrier buoyed around a mangrove forest that stretches to the horizon.
"This is the biggest breeding ground for magnificent frigate birds in the Lesser Antilles," says Gore, a native Barbudan. "If you see frigates on other islands, they were probably born here." The sanctuary draws ornithologists and day-trippers from sister-island Antigua, 27 miles away. But for overnight visitors, the birds are only a diversion. It's the beaches and blissful isolation that lure travelers to Barbuda.
Sand and solitude here are one inseparable entity, profound in its curative quality for modern angst. Whatever Barbuda may lack in nightlife or, for that matter, paved roads, it makes up for with its finely textured seaside grains. The island has so much sand that it's the leading export, shipped throughout the Caribbean to replenish eroding shorelines. Even so, visitors to one of Barbuda's three exclusive resorts or its handful of guesthouses aren't getting shortchanged.
One sand strip stretches unbroken for 17 miles. Resorts have been known to send boats to trail guests walking the practically endless strand, just in case they find themselves too far and too tired to get back. Usually, the courtesy is reserved for the likes of Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Sylvester Stallone and other celebrities.
It's easy to understand how someone could get so carried away with a simple stroll on the beach. The sand here is nearly perfect, and miles of it shimmer pink from crushed conch and clam shells that wash up from the prodigious reef system fringing the entire island. The tranquil waters and unmatched aesthetics were the impetus for the construction of the first resort 40 years ago.
"I searched the entire Eastern Caribbean," wrote the late William Cody Kelly, millionaire founder of Barbuda's Coco Point Lodge. "Every island from Puerto Rico to Trinidad. This was not only the finest beach I had ever seen, but it also answered all the requirements for a water sports resort."
The appeal hasn't changed. Besides housing frigates, Codrington Lagoon provides world-class fishing for tarpon and bonefish. Encircling reefs offer countless sheltered snorkeling sites and nearly 200 shipwrecks, many never explored. But even with this bounty, the essence of a Barbuda vacation is about having a great stretch of beach to yourself.
Stroll for a few miles. Collect some tiny pink shells. Turn around. Follow the footprints in the sand. Odds are they'll lead right back to your room.
Posted online 04/02/04.
