St Martin and Anguilla

Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Fri 1 May 2015 18:59
18:12.02N  63:05.68W
 
Tuesday 21 April to 1 May 2015
 
The first few days back in St Martin were spent doing the usual things, buying bits from the chandleries, re-provisioning and checking weather forecasts on the internet.  It was a delight buying cheese, pate and other food from the French supermarkets again.  The shops themselves don’t look much but the quality is always so much better in the French islands.
 
Two men visited all the boats in the anchorage by dinghy promoting a 50% off deal for day visitors at the nearby Fort Louis Marina.  This made it very reasonable so after a few days at anchor we took them up on the offer.  Once tied up we made the most of the available mains electricity to vacuum the inside of the boat, including unscrewing and lifting some of the cabin sole boards.  When the fridge insulation work was done a few weeks ago a lot of old and new foam had found it’s way between the gaps and had proved impossible to remove.  Lin also washed off all the salt off outside from our bumpy trip from the BVI’s.  Laundry facilities were good and cheap so their machines took a hammering and we took advantage of their internet as well.
 
After a productive couple of days of tidying up we went back out to anchor in Marigot Bay.  Most of the boats hadn’t moved in the last couple of days and it became clear that many were waiting for the unusually prolonged period of southerly winds to disappear, as we were, so that they can head south down the island chain before the hurricane season starts in June.  We have booked to lift out at Grenada Marine, right at the south of the chain, having been disappointed at the cost and quality of the services in Antigua.
 
We had been in Marigot Bay for over a week and the southerlies look set for a little while longer so on Wednesday 29th we decided on a change of scene and sailed north to Anguilla which is only 6 miles away as the seagull flies.  The island is about 14 miles long and nearly 3 miles wide and the trip around the western tip along its north coast to Road Bay is about 13 miles.  It was a very pleasant sail in smooth seas and we anchored soon after 11.30am. 
 
Our friends Rob and Rhian from ‘Beyzano’ had sailed up here from St Kitts’s the day before.  Their plan is to sail on to the BVI’s,  the Bahamas and then the US for the summer and the following year.  That is on our list of possible destinations in the next year or two but it is likely to be a couple of years before we see each other again so after clearing in we met them ashore for a nice catch up and farewell lunch.
 
The following day we explored Road Bay and the road at the back.  Like a lot of Caribbean islands there is quite a contrast between the tourist facilities and the reality under the surface.
 
 
This is looking past the dinghy dock along Road Bay:-
 
m_Anguilla 30-04-2015 12-23-41
 
 
 
and this is beside the road at the back looking towards to salt pond:-
 
m_Anguilla 30-04-2015 10-51-24
 
 
 
 
One of the popular bars on the beach is Elvis’.  He advertises the place with a sign on the side of a van at the roadside.  The flat front tyre suggests the van hasn’t been anywhere for a while:-
 
m_Anguilla 30-04-2015 10-51-49
 
 
 
Anguilla is making an effort to promote its heritage a little and recently restored a pump house which was used to clean the salt removed from the pond.  Salt was supplied to the nearby islands until recently and this pump house was in use until 1986:-
 
m_Anguilla 30-04-2015 10-53-22
 
 
Not much more than a shed really but at least they have made the effort and tidied up this bit.  After a stroll down the lane we returned to the beach and met an English lady at The Barrel Stay restaurant.  Jill and her husband have lived here for 10 years running the restaurant having come from Berkshire, not very far from where we lived and worked.  She was very helpful and after a long chat booked a hire car for us for the following day at a very reasonable price. 
 
Feeling honour bound to support them we booked a table that evening for dinner.  The meal was extremely good, the best we have had all season, but the credit card was melting under the strain afterwards.
 
 
Road Bay viewed from The Barrel Stay during the day:-
 
m_Anguilla 30-04-2015 11-16-42
 
 
 
On May Day, when all the shops were of course shut, we picked up the car for our tour of the island.  Apart from Road Bay the only overnight anchoring spot is in Crocus Bay.  Our road trip helped us to see that, whilst nice, Crocus Bay didn’t offer much for a boat.
 
 
 
The next stop was Limestone Bay where a couple of elegant house had been built on the beach:-
 
m_Anguilla 01-05-2015 10-16-09
 
 
 
A dodgy man admiring the houses:-
 
m_Anguilla 01-05-2015 10-16-32
 
 
 
And on to Shoal Bay where a lot of villa building was taking place behind the long beach, for a coffee stop.  Then back towards the west again to Rendezvous Bay on the south coast.  This is the longest bay on the island but a lot of Sargasso weed had arrived on the beach which was keeping people away:-
 
m_Anguilla 01-05-2015 12-58-17
 
 
 
Another view of Rendezvous Bay with St Martin faintly in view in the background and lots of weed floating beside the beach:-
 
m_Anguilla 01-05-2015 12-58-30
 
 
 
Then farther west to Maundays Bay which was dominated by the exclusive Cap Juluca resort followed by a return to the north coast to make our way east again.
 
Our dusty chariot for the day:-
 
m_Anguilla 02-05-2015 09-15-42
 
 
 
Meads Bay on the north coast was next and we stopped for lunch at the Straw Hat restaurant at the Frangipani Resort.  As long as you eat in the restaurant these beach beds and umbrellas are free so we did the tourist bit for an hour or two in the afternoon:-
 
m_Anguilla 01-05-2015 14-53-16
 
 
Finally we returned to the boat in Road Bay for dinner aboard.
 
 
If you have persevered this far you may have formed the impression, as we have, that Anguilla is an island of many lovely beaches and high end resorts interspersed with some scruffy areas.  That said, the island has a peaceful feel to it and from a sailing viewpoint the anchorage in Road Bay is attractive and a nice place to be.  We learnt in various conversations that the 12,000 inhabitants include a number of expats who have lived there for 10 years or more so it seems also to be an attractive place to live.  For us it is a lovely island to visit by boat but couldn’t imagine living here.