Anguilla

Karma Daze
Chris and Penny Manley
Wed 7 May 2014 21:03

Sunday 27th April – Thursday 1st May

Anguilla is a very pretty island with beautiful sandy beaches.  We did the normal taxi tour of the island and visited several.  Not crowded and some not accessible by boat as they are protected by reefs.

The waters around Anguilla are a marine reserve with several reefs with small islands that can be visited for a small fee.  If boats stay in Road Bay – one of 2 anchorages that you can stay overnight – then there is no fee.  But if you want to go out to one of the outer anchorages you have to buy a cruising permit plus a further fee for visiting the marine reserve.  As we couldn’t stay in these anchorages over night we decided to visit Sandy Island which is the closet one to Anguilla.

We sailed slowly to the anchorage and picked up a buoy, and then took the dinghy ashore to the small bar/restaurant.  Walked around the island and then had lunch.  Late afternoon we sailed back to Road Bay and reanchored.

Wednesday April 30th we left Road Bay at 10.00 for and overnight sail passed St Maarten, and St Barts to Jolly Harbour, Antigua to meet up with “Spray” again.

The sail was very pleasant – one tack all the way.  We were called up by 2 tankers, one midway between Statia and Antigua  to inform us he would be passing on our starboard side; the other outside St John’s Antigua, informing us that he would be manouvering to do some tests and could we pass to his stern, which we did.

We also managed to catch a fish! Much to our surprise using the bait supplied by Monty in Dominica – a mahi-mahi which we returned to the sea.

We arrived in Jolly Harbour at 07.30 and tied up to one of the buoys rather than going into the marina.

 

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Sandy Island

 

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Enjoying lunch.