Yesterday we enjoyed a cracking sail across from Virgin Gorda to Anegada.  It took a couple of hours and was over too soon.  A beam reach across turquoise seas with the sun beating down and 14 knots of breeze.  Perfect!  We went in convoy with Olympe, Blase and Temula B, which was great fun.   Jon and Mel were off to a racing start in Olympe, then Blase and Temula B, followed by the late family (us) who spent too long in bed that morning!  However, it was the right order to leave in (taking account of waterline lengths) and we arrived in close succession.  There is not more than 20 metres of water the whole way across, gradually growing more shallow as we approached Anegada.  The island has an extraordinary reef and the entrance to the anchorage is notoriously difficult and very shallow, with only 20cm of water beneath our keel.  We motored the last bit very slowly, with a person on the foredeck scanning for shallow coral.   In the end all four boats arrived without touching.  Sighs of relief all round. 

 

 

Anegada is very different from the other islands, being flat and low - really it is just sand and palm trees, held together by the coral reef on which it sits.  Our first sight of it was the tops of palm trees - a contrast with the approaches to the other islands in the BVIs.

 

Once we were anchored up we headed to the beach en masse.  There were 14 of us.  The children ran on ahead.

 

 

And the adults followed on...talking...

 

 

It is striking how big the sky is here.  There are miles of deserted white sandy beaches and the sand is so fine it is like icing sugar.

 

That evening we all ate out at the local restaurant and finished up on Temula B.  We agreed it had been a great day.