Day sailing? Antigua or Babados

[Jeanine&Jim]

Does anyone have info on which would be the best port for a day sail Antigua or Barbados?

Thanks

[jckvpa0]

I would be interested as well. Would love to go on a catamaran !

[Life in Antigua]

You can get private sail boat or catamaran in Antigua great place for sailing much calmer waters than Barbados.

[erniesband]

As far as we're concerned, the best 2 excursions in the Caribbean are in Antigua, Eli's EcoTour and his Xtreme Circumnav excursion. We've been to Antigua 6 times, and have done one or the other of Eli's tours 5 out of the 6 times (EcoTour 4 times, and since the Xtreme is relatively new, that one once). They're both full days on boats, and there is nothing similar to either excursion on any other island we've been too (and our Empress was an 11 day with 9 islands). You spend the day on one of Eli's comfortable power boats. On the EcoTour you snorkle, climb on Hell's Gate, hike on Bird Island, see the mangrove area and off-shore islands in the North Sound area, and get lots of interesting info on the island and it's ecology. The Xtreme, as the name suggests, circumnavigates Antigua. On the way, you go to Stingray City to swim with the rays, visit Green Island, get a water-based tour of English Harbor, snorkle at the Pillers of Hercules, and have a beach stop. Both tours include a great, homemade lunch, and plenty of liquid refreshments, including Eli's famous rum punch (although neither excursion is a booze cruise). Eli's website is http://www.adventureantigua.com, and there's a video of the Xtreme on Youtube (

). The crews on both are great - friendly, informative and take great care of you. The day is really enjoyable on either excursion. Plus, you're never in a crowd. No one else goes to Hells Gate, and they manage to avoid anyone else going to Bird Island, going when the other excursions (or only one other) is there, and pulling up on the opposite side of the island.

 

I'd be glad to answer any questions.

 

On Barbados we've done several boat tours. Our favorite was Silvermoon II, it's a catamaran excursion, similar to many, but a notch up from most. Very good lunch, crew, nice boat. The snorkeling and turtle stops can be crowded, but that's not their fault - there are a limited number of places to snorkle, and only one to see the turtles, lots of people that want to snorkle and swim with the turtles, and a limited window of opportunity during the day to get everyone there, from all the excursions that do this. The guys on Silvermoon do their best to give you a very good experience, though, and even reversed the order of events on our tour to try and avoid the worst of the crowds.

 

Jodi