Easily Missed First Sight of Barbuda
It was 7:40am. Giddy excitement had long ago shifted to restlessness and agitation. We’d been at sea for just over 100 minutes of what we thought would be a 90-minute ferry ride from St. John’s, Antigua to Barbuda. All around us, though, was wide open seas. Had we drifted off course? Were we lost? None of the regular passengers on board seemed the least bit concerned, so I fought hard to appear equally nonplussed. Inside me, though, the butterflies happily fluttering about my stomach moments earlier were now replaced by knots. Where was Barbuda?! Just as my hidden anxiousness was about to burst out, I saw it: the thinest of thin lines of sand stretching across the horizon that I had ever seen. Indeed, I knew that Barbuda was really flat before, but seeing just how amazingly flat it actually really is did come as a surprise. If you didn’t know where you were sailing, it’d be pretty easy to miss, which would be a shame considering all the uncommon charms this special island has to offer.