Anguilla - Road Bay
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Wed 1 Apr 2009 01:18
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Anguilla - our target northerly destination. The coast of
Anguilla is only 5 miles to the north of St Martin, but the main anchorage is on
the northern side giving a total passage of about 10 miles. The wind
was light, but enough to give a boat speed of around 5kts with just the working
genoa up and a passage time of just a couple of hours. Most of
the islands run north/south and so have a windward side on the east
and a leeward side on the west. Anguilla is angled from north east to south
west, so has no protected side. The net result is that you have to swap sides
depending on where the wind is coming from. The main anchorage is Road
Bay and we dropped anchor there just in time for lunch. While crystal clear
water and a lovely bay and beach, it was more crowded with local boats, tugs and
other small commercial boats than we had expected, so we ended up
anchoring a fair way out. It was a beautiful day and we explored ashore, having
checked in with Customs. Anguilla is still a British island and
quite small with a population of around 7,000. You may remember that
Britain sent troops there back in 1969 when they thought the Mafia had
taken over the island. Customs occupies a building right on the beach - a
big wide beach running all around the bay. The whole place was very quiet and
seemed to be drifting along at its own slow pace. The locals were very friendly
and when we asked when the shop would open, the owner
was found and it was opened just for us.The updated weather
forecast predicted the northerly swell would return later the next day
so, with no good protection, we only stayed a night and headed back south
to St Martin after lunch the following day. From here on in it would
be south all the way, meandering through the islands until reaching
Trinidad.
 The north west coast approaching the anchorage at
Road Bay
 Road Bay
 The beach at Road Bay, looking south
..........
 ....... and the beach looking
north
 The main jetty/dinghy dock, in the centre of the
bay
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