Barbuda day trip by ferry

The crossing is the hard part. Barbuda is about 90 minutes north by fast ferry, which is a long time in a lumpy sea, and the captains cancel when the weather turns, so anyone prone to seasickness should come prepared. Sea Bridge Ferries (the old Barbuda Express, same boats under new management) sails every day with a catamaran and two monohulls that also carry cargo. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it leaves from and returns to Jolly Harbour on the west coast.

Boats dock at River Wharf on the south coast, a long way from Codrington, the only town, but an easy walk from almost empty pink-sand beaches. River Beach has a Martello tower behind it, a British lookout fort from the 1800s. There is one main road, and getting around means a guided tour or a resident with a car or boat, which is how most day-trippers see the island. The usual stops are the frigatebird colony in Codrington Lagoon, reachable only by boat, where more than 5,000 frigatebirds nest and the males inflate red throat pouches during the autumn courtship; the ruins of Highland House, the Codrington family home on the island's highest ground; and Darby Cave, a sinkhole more than 100 metres across with palms growing inside, where a local guide is essential. The pink shells that colour the sand are thickest from October to May.