A Sunny Sunday in Anguilla

How's this for a beautiful beach?

Anguilla is a low lying island somewhat off the beaten path. Most cruisers sail from the BVI directly to St. Martin/Sint Marteen. Anguilla is only a few miles from St. Martin and can be seen without binoculars. It is one of the Renaissance Islands that include St. Martin and St. Bart's. Anguilla is British and has an interesting history. The native Anguillans were not happy being governed by St. Kitts so a rebellious group attacked St. Kitts - aided by two American mercenaries. It turned out to be a fiasco with a shoot out at the police station. No one was hurt, but after that St. Kitts never wanted to challenge the Anguillans! After some Americans helped finance Anguilla's recover in 1969, Britain was afraid the island was being taken over by the Mafia so they invaded. Armed men only found small boys and goats and were embarrassed. After it all died down, the Anguillan people got what they wanted: to be under the administration of Britain!

Elvis' Beach Bar

The cruising guides suggested Anguilla was exclusive to the rich and beautiful and was not interested in cruisers anchoring off their island. However, we found that not to be true. Upon arrival in Road Bay, we welcomed the sight of beautiful turquoise water and white sand beaches. And they were very welcoming to us! And we are certainly not the rich or famous!

The area known as Sandy Ground at Road Bay is a beautiful beach, and like most in the islands, is lined with beach bars and restaurants. Just as in Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, the bars take turns throughout the week providing great music. The beach here is white sand and turquoise water just like you see in the travel brochures!

Good listening at Johnno's

Since they have several beautiful cays for cruisers to explore, they limit the overnight anchorages to just two: Road Bay and Crocus Bay to the northeast. You are not allowed to anchor overnight in any of the marine park areas: Sandy Island, Prickly Pear Cay and Dog Island. And you need a cruising permit to visit those areas. Since we were not planning to stay long, we did not cruise to the marine parks, but would definitely come back again to do so.

Sunday Jazz at Johnno's    

We spent Sunday afternoon exploring Sandy Ground and the Salt Pond behind it. Johnno’s had great music so we found a couple of seats, unfortunately right under the speakers! Dennis enjoyed a nice lunch while I tried not to think about food after my night of sea sickness during the overnight passage. Then it was a walk on the beach and around the small community and back to the boat for a night of rest and recovery. Several days of relaxation were welcomed as we settled into “island time”