Anguilla

 It felt good to be on British territory again. The only port of entry is Road Bay, Sandy Ground. Everyone was friendly, including Customs and Immigration. Having read that it cost 100EC dollars a day to stay overnight in the other anchorage at Crocus Bay and 15US dollars a day for daytime mooring at the outer islands, we decided to stay in Road Bay, where there was no charge. There were plenty of beach bars and restaurants. We sampled Ripples, Roy’s and Johno’s – all good. In addition, public toilets and showers were provided and you could help yourself to non-drinking water. The only drawback was the supermarket had closed and it was a two and a half mile walk to The Valley, the main town on Anguilla. A local guest house sold us a loaf of bread. We chose it, but it turned out to be a fruit loaf, which tasted just like hot cross buns – lovely on its own, not so good with ham and cheese.

Road Bay, Anguilla.

The next day we walked to The Village. There was little shade, the sun was hot and the traffic was surprisingly heavy but we were saving the taxi cost of 14USD each way. We were directed to the lovely, air conditioned library, where we were given a map of the island. Lakes World Supermarket is well stocked with everything and soon we were facing the return trip with heavy rucksacks to carry. With only half a mile to go, we were grateful when a BMW driver stopped to give us a lift.

Sandy Ground, sea to R and Salt Lagoon to L.

As you know, we like hiking so the following day we set off for the highest point, just 230 feet above Road Bay. Don’t laugh! The sun rose higher in the clear, blue sky and once again shade was hard to find. A local man called Maxwell, chatted to us and took us into one of his houses that he lets out. The view on his 40ft wide balcony straight out over the Atlantic Ocean was stunning. There had to be a short cut down to Road Bay and after a few failed attempts barred by prickly shrubs, Jeremy found a path which we later learned was used by locals to lead their horses down to the beach.

The view from Maxwell's house.

There are no public buses on Anguilla, so we hired a car for the day. Maurice is a taxi driver who also hires out cars, so we used him. We paid 35USD for the car and 20USD for a local licence. Actually, we paid in Eastern Caribbean dollars as this was the last country that we were visiting that used this currency. Our little Nissan had only one fault: the air conditioning was not working. Maurice had driven off in his taxi before we realised. Off we went with the windows open to the west end of the island. Here there are plenty of top end resorts with apartments right on the beach. Next stop was the beautiful Shoal Bay East, which we nearly did not see as there was a 5USD parking charge. We found another route down and walked on the pristine, white sand which fringed the turquoise water.

Shoal Bay East, Anguilla.

After we’d done an unscheduled circumnavigation of the cement works, we were close to the east end of Anguilla, where we found an undeveloped bay called Junk’s Hole. What a gorgeous place – a few coconut palms waving in the breeze, about eight other people, white sand, blue sea and Nat’s Beach Bar, where we had lunch. Our day ended with another visit to the supermarket to stock up with heavy stuff.

We spent our last day having lunch in Johno’s at Sandy Ground with four Britsh people from a yacht called “Low Profile”. 

Jeremy tries to move the front wheel off his foot.

The 90 mile overnight sail to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands was good. Our AIS was working well but our tricolour navigation light on the top of the mast was not working. Fortunately, we have an all round white light, which meant the ships and yachts could see us. Guess who’s going up the mast to repair the tricolour?

Nat's bar at Junk's Hole, Anguilla. It was a nice lunch too.