Discover Antigua and Barbuda

170 square miles Highest point: Boggy Peak, 1,319 feet

A lone egret stalks through the mangrove forest of Antigua’s North Sound

Photo courtesy Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority

A kayak trip is the best way to explore the red mangrove forests of Antigua’s North Sound Marine Park, dotted with islets. Great Bird Island is the only place in the world where you’ll find the rare (and harmless) Antiguan racer snake, whose numbers are gradually increasing. Thirty miles north, Barbuda’s Frigate Bird Sanctuary in Codrington Lagoon boasts the world’s largest population of these impressive seabirds, with an estimated ten thousand birds. And the sea cliff that runs along Barbuda’s eastern shore offers a rugged hike with numerous caves along the route. Look out for the Darby sinkhole, seventy feet deep and three hundred in diameter, containing a small forest of palm trees and ferns, home to wild deer. Two miles away, Dark Cave contains a vast underground pond, home to tiny translucent blind shrimp, adapted to the almost total absence of light.

The famous pink beaches of Barbuda owe their hue to countless eroded seashells

Photo by BlueOrangeStudio/Shutterstock.com

Barbuda’s Codrington Lagoon is home to the world’s largest colony of frigatebirds

Photo by Temmuzcan/iStockPhoto