by Melanie Reffes
CODRINGTON, Barbuda, Feb 11 2016 – Time passes so slowly here you may think your watch has stopped working. Barbuda is where you can truly escape it all; to experience the Caribbean like it once was before all-inclusive plans and swim-up bars. Sometimes confused with Barbados or Bermuda, Antigua’s little-known sister island 27 miles to the north is a stand-alone standout with stunning vistas from end to end. Long after Princess Diana put it on the map for 15 minutes when she escaped the glaring lens of the paparazzi to stroll the beaches with the two young princes, Barbuda remains a portal to an era when frigate birds ruled the roost and eco-resort wasn’t yet in the vocabulary.
Depending on whom you ask, between 1,500 and 2,000 people live on the island, 20,000 frigate birds live in the sanctuary and no more than 100 beds for heads are available in three hotels and a smattering of small guesthouses. Ridiculously picturesque, the low-lying coral island is vintage Caribbean with no-name roads that lead to the beaches and a capital city that is more like a village than anything else. For a small isle, there are plenty of historic sites. If you must pick just one, Martello Tower on the south coast is hard to miss and was built by the British in 1745 with an elevated gun platform and walls as thick as a fortress.
Read the complete article here: http://experience.usatoday.com/caribbean/story/best-of-caribbean/2016/02/11/beautiful-barbuda-why-you-should-visit/80191596/
