Island Escape Barbuda

23/10/2022

16/10/2022

Montserrat - Are you ready for us?
Check out this video of our sea trial over to Montserrat yesterday.

This is a short video of the test/trial run to Little Bay, Montserrat on the Island Escape Ferry (Based in Antigua).The Island Escape is a large 150 person f...

16/10/2022

We will be running to Barbuda on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week leaving downtown St John's at 7.00 am and returning from Barbuda at 4.00 pm.
Book via our website www.islandescapeferry.com or call 268.736.6607

15/10/2022

In preparation for our return to service to Barbuda on Monday, the Island Escape today did a sea trial training run over to the neighbouring island of Montserrat. With blue skies and calm seas, this was a beautiful run over there.
Maybe one day we will be doing this run on a more regular basis. Watch this space.

13/10/2022

The Island Escape Ferry will be resuming services to Barbuda on Monday 17th October. We will be leaving the dock in downtown St John's at 7.00 am returning from Barbuda at 4.00 pm. Our service will be running on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Fares EC$250.00 Return (US$95.00) or EC$135.00 (US$50.00) one way.
For reservations call 736.6607/08 or book online at www.islandescapeferry.com

04/09/2022

20/07/2022

The Island Escape is currently at the North Sound Marina receiving her beautiful new Caterpillar C32 main engines. It is expected that she shall return to servicing Barbuda in the next few weeks.
The company is looking forward to the Fall 2022/Spring 2023 sailing season with plans to add Montserrat to its schedule a few times weekly.
Stay tuned for more updates.

19/06/2022

Dear all,
As the owners of the 150 passenger luxury ferry “Island Escape” we have decided to invest in the latest model Caterpillar C32 ACERT main engines to make the vessel nearly new again and by extension more reliable! It is now time! Our old engines were getting “long in the tooth” at 16 years old but boy did they give us years of great service! I think a burial with a full-colour guard is in order!
So while the new engines will give the ferry better speed upward to 27 knots. With their new technology, they will cut our fuel consumption even at the increased speed and you have all noticed what gas prices are now every time you have to fill up, oh my!
The other good news is swapping two engines for two new ones is not as long a process as removing them for a rebuild which can take months. We anticipate once the new ACERTs arrive it will only take about two weeks for the change and trust me, it will be well worth the wait. One hour from A to B…. I think that's the ticket.
Please look here for further updates on how we are coming along. Thank you for your patronage.
Capt. M.A. Rosandich

03/06/2022

It is with regret to inform everyone that our newly repaired and upgraded main engine continues to give our chief engineer fits as if it has a mind of its own! Our incredibly good crew was aboard until the very wee hours of the morning today when I asked them to retreat to get some rest. ADOMS inspectors did attend the “Island Escape” early this morning to do an inspection and quick sea trial with every intention to be able to send it on its way. To that end… it is my belief if the issue is resolved ADOMS will return even if over the weekend as they have done before, so we have not given up the ship just yet, so to speak. However, it appears as of this hour we are going to miss the Barbuda Caribana Festival. We sincerely apologize but good things happen to those who persevere.
Let’s see!

24/05/2022

15/05/2022

Check this out>>>

13/05/2022

13/05/2022

The "Island Escape" is an official sponsor of the Barbuda Caribana Festival which will run Friday June 3rd thru Monday the 6th. During the event we are offering a special round trip fare to those wishing to partake in the fun as noted below. Let's go... The number to call to reserve your place is (268) 736-6607, using WhatsApp for those wishing to text in your reservation but please indicate the number in your party, the date and the return.📱 Thank you...

13/05/2022

13/05/2022

12/05/2022

Island Escape is a proud sponsor of the Barbuda Caribana Festival.

11/05/2022

28/04/2022

Island Experience Tours Ltd. is an official sponsor of the Caribana Festival coming in early June 2022. It is envisioned the “M/V Island Escape” will be operating on all four days of the event. Standby for further updates.

12/04/2022

Island Escape update:

Dear All,

Well friends, it appears the entire business community worldwide is experiencing parts and material supply shortages and/or shipping delays and we in the marine industry are not immune to it as being one of them.

To this the Island Escape’s ownership decided to utilize the downtime while we complete the vessel’s engine upgrades to also perform it’s “annual” jet propulsion maintenance as a matter of time management. I think this is called “killing two birds with one stone”, so to speak.

This decision only made sense instead of looking at taking ferry back out of service in a few months to preform the jet servicing, especially in consideration of the costs associated with dry docking a second time in so few months.

So while it was our sincere hope to be seeing all of you aboard again as you travel to visit friends and loved ones in observance of Passover and the Easter holiday regrettably our return to serive is delayed. The good news is the jet parts have arrived and will be on thier way to the “Island Escape” via AmeriJet this week.

Please stay tuned here for further updates and again, we wish everyone a joyous Easter! Thank you…

04/04/2022

Dear All,



As things go and and as previously noted, “anything made by man is prone to malfunction” and as luck would have it the only facility in Antigua capable of hauling the “Island Escape” out of the water to enable us access to the starboard engine space to make repairs to that propulsion engine is the Antiguan Sliprail in English Harbour. “Yes folks, their rail system is undergoing its own repair and is out of service until the fall”.



But wait… “necessity is the mother of invention” so with the kind assistance of Mr. Huge Bailey Jr. and others offering us use of their heavy machinery we were able to haul the ferry from the water at his boatyard in Crabbs last week. This had to be very carefully engineered but it was a success (pictures attached). This however took more time in order to get everything in place and has delayed the vessel’s return to service by another week.



Note: All the upgraded replacement parts supplied by the engine’s manufacturer associated w/ the recall have arrived in Antigua and are in the hands of our chief engineer thanks to the assistance of PLH’s freight forwarder “AllSource Exports Corp.” based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Confidence is high we will reconvene service to Barbuda on Good Friday, April 15th 2022. Seems fitting! 🙏



Please look for further updates on our page. Thank you…

03/04/2022

Island Escape ferry update:

Dear All,

As things go and and as previously noted hereto “all things made by mankind are prone to breakdown” and as luck would have it the only facility in Antigua (based on the Escape’s size) capable of hauling the “Island Escape” out of the water to enable us access to the engine space to replace the factory defective engine parts is/was the Antiguan Sliprail in English Harbour.

Yes folks, their rail system is undergoing its own repair and is out of service until the fall.
But wait… “necessity is the mother of invention” so with the kind assistance of Mr. Huge Bailey Jr. and others we were able to pull the vessel’s stern out of the water at his boatyard in Crabbs this week. This had to be very carefully engineered but it was a success 🤝👏👏👏 (pictures below) while this has delayed the vessel’s return to service by another week.

Note: All the main engine parts supplied by the engine’s manufacturer to affect the repair have arrived in Antigua and are in the hands of our chief engineer thanks to the assistance of PLH’s freight forwarder “AllSource Exports Corp.” based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Confidence is high we will reconvene service to Barbuda on Good Friday, April 15th 2022. Seems fitting! 🙏

Happy Easter to all…

27/03/2022

Dear all,

Update: Please be advised it was the decision of “Island Escape’s” ownership not to rush the ferry’s return to service to Barbuda by only replacing the one failed component part experienced last week in one of our main propulsion engines but to replace all 12 rather than risk another breakdown. The replacement parts are on the way via AmeriJet this week and confidence is high we will be back in service next week on Wednesday, April 6th 2022. Please stay tuned.

Epilogue: For those of you who follow us on Facebook who may be more interested than the mundane notice above and who are a bit more mechanically savvy than the average bear the “Island Escape’s” main engines are the Caterpillar C32. Each produces up to 1800 horsepower and are cheap @ at only $250,000 USD ea. 🙈

Note: When the “Escape” was delivered in 2008 it was one of the first to be commissioned with these “state of the art” electronic engines. But like much new technology they had their fair share of “growing pains”, i.e in this case it’s pistons. This has now been corrected.

Moving forward, while the “Escape” has been and continues to be a reliable vehicle it was learned last week it still had her original pistons. Hence ownership’s decision to replace them all.

Once our very good chief engineer completes his task confidence is high we will obtain many good years of dependable service from them.

20/03/2022

Dear All, Man is infallible and as such anything made by man is prone to failure.

It is with regret that we must inform the public the “Island Escape” experienced a mechanical problem on Saturday while doing maintenance of all things. No joy!

In the least we will need to cancel Monday and Wednesday’s service while the parts required to repair the vessel and return to regular service are flown in.

Please continue visiting us here for further updates. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.

11/03/2022

We regret to announce that we have a full boat out of Barbuda tomorrow (Fri 11th March) with no spaces available to the public. We do sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. That also means we will not be able to take anyone in the morning that hopes to return the same day, only one way guests.

08/03/2022

The Island Escape will be heading to Barbuda on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week moving forward. We leave Antigua at 7am and we leave Barbuda at 4pm. Please call 736 6607 for more information. Price is $200 ecd per adult for a round trip.

05/03/2022

We will be having an event on board Island Escape Tomorrow (Sun Mar 6th) for anyone still interested in joining us. Sip - Ahoy!