While we were anchored off Lobster Island in NE Antigua, we could take the dinghy to surrounding islands and snorkeling sites to explore. Much of the water is shallow and has coral heads that you can’t take your boat into, so taking a dinghy is the only way. Since this is the East side, it gets the full brunt of waves coming from the Atlantic. There is also a shelf around Antigua and where it gets shallow, you will get the Atlantic waves breaking on the shallow water. So one day we took the dinghy out to that area of the shelf to check out Hell’s Gate. This is the farthest East rock formation that is taking the brunt of the Atlantic. We didn’t want to get too close because it can be dangerous and it was fairly wavy and windy already. But I did want to get a pic. Also, we anchored the dinghy in a place that didn’t look like it had coral and hopped overboard. Some fantastic snorkeling if you can handle the waves.

Hard to get any better than this.

This beach is pretty idyllic – clear water, nice beach, not a lot of people, nothing on the island (except birds) and snorkeling from shore if you feel like it. (Sometimes you will see people (tenders from larger boats), bringing parties over here for lunch.)

We hiked to the top. Very easy and short hike up. Beautiful 360-degree view and can see out to the great Atlantic with all of its fury as well. You can barely see our boat behind Lobster Island if you look carefully (and know what you’re looking for).

Towards the Atlantic.

At some point during our stay on Antigua, I got an email from a guy we had met in the BVIs, saying that there was a big swell coming to Antigua and to take it seriously. So we scheduled to stay at the protected Jolly Harbor Marina during the swell. The night before we went in, we stayed out in the outer part of Jolly Harbor at anchor. It was swelling a little where we were, but I had plenty of chain out on our anchor, so I felt pretty comfortable (even though I couldn’t see the anchor in 10 feet of water because it was so churned up, which bothered me a little bit). Another cat pulled in and anchored next to us before the sun went down. The next morning we went into the marina and the harbor-master put us at the end of the “T” dock. After we had docked, another cat came in on the other half of the “T”. Turned out they were the cat next to us at anchor the night before. They were apologizing to us saying that they had made a bunch of noise at 3AM in the morning because there anchor had dragged and they had to get up and reset it in the dark. We hadn’t heard a thing. Turned out the be the nicest couple from Canada. We spent several days in the marina and got to know them pretty well. They had actually decided to cut their sailing season short because Canada airlines had decided to no longer fly to the Caribbean due to COVID and they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to get back home. Very long story, but we got to know them pretty well and even sailed to the NE of Antigua with them where they hauled their boat.

This shot is from the outer harbor of Jolly Harbor, Antigua. Jolly Harbor is about half-way up the west coast of Antigua. The entire harbor is fairly shallow, with a dredged channel in the middle and all the way into the marina.

The outer harbor can get rolly in big swells, and it was shallow – about 6 feet when our draft is about 5 feet – which made me very nervous. And, the water wasn’t clear enough that I could see the shape of the bottom, so I really didn’t like staying here. I believe we moved shortly after this pic was taken to a location further in the harbor because I was nervous about the bottom and we were told the swells were going to get real bad.

I don’t remember where this shot was taken. It must have been the west coast of Antigua, but I don’t recognize the location.

Falmouth Harbor is a major harbor in the south of Antigua. Right around the corner and within easy walking distance of English Harbor, Falmouth is much more populated and popular (English Harbor is very narrow and doesn’t have much room to anchor. This was very useful back when England was trying to keep their boats safe, but not so much now.).

This is the hub for superyachts in Antigua with a large dock and many boats docked (probably 2 or 3 dozen superyachts). It is also shallow enough that you can anchor almost anywhere. In addition, it doesn’t get swelly very much, so is fairly comfortable.

A lot of restaurants, trinket shops, and some limited supplies. Interestingly, no real good grocery store. I guess they want you to eat out.

A shot from our anchorage in Falmouth Harbor. Falmouth Harbor is right around the corner from English Harbor, within easy walking distance. It is pretty crowded as far as anchorages go and we were anchored fairly close to the opening of the harbor so weren’t as protected from the swells as many further in. It is also fairly shallow where we anchored, about 7 feet deep, where our keels go down to about 5 feet, so after moving around and tides, not much room to spare under the keel. Very clear water, lots of turtles, some rays, and starfish right off the boat. Could easily see the bottom.