The Boon Channel – Northern Antigua

Friday morning we had banana pancakes in the cockpit and then took off for Boon Channel and over to one of the reef-protected islands.  Coming up to Long Island we started to lose our power and black smoke started coming out of the exhaust.   We quickly found a spot to drop anchor and killed the motor.   Problem was a almost clogged fuel filter.  Fuel in other countries is not always filtered and can create gunk and all sorts of issues.  We did not have a backup filter at the time so we just cleaned it as best as we could.  This seemed to be the solution and for now we were back in business.  However cautious.We found our permanent anchorage further in around Lobster Island and set off to do some snorkeling around Great Bird Island where nesting birds  filled the Leeward side of the small island.   It is a bit of a tourist attraction and now it is forbidden to go on the island or to get too close with your dinghy

Saturday we woke to overcast skies and daylight savings time.   After motoring through the one narrow, winding channel out to the open sea, we sailed wing-on-wing using the whisper pole almost all the way to Barbuda, our next stop.

Bird Island Channel – They say is best left to people with local knowledge….well, that did not stop us!