Anegada "18:42.933N 64:23.323W" - by Richard
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Fri 1 Apr 2011 11:16
Life's a beach, reprise.
Yet another island, yet another beach. But what a
beach this island has - almost the entire coastline is a beautiful soft white
coral sand beach. The island is about 10 miles long and two miles wide but
unlike the rest of the BVIs which are volcanic in origin, Anegada is a coral
island - literally. It is all a coral reef situated at the northern edge of the
Caribbean tectonic plate, lifted out of the sea by some movement of the earth's
crust. The highest point is a full 11m above sea level.
Here is Alison at the oddly named Loblolly Bay on
the north coast. Next land is the UK, 4000 miles away.
And here is your correspondent, pondering whether
or not to return to gainful employment in the UK (for perhaps a whole
millisecond).
Cycling back from the beach. The road is the
limestone bedrock (ie the uplifted reef surface) with a bit of sand sprinkled on
top to smooth out the bumps.
This is the countryside - flat naked limestone
reef with very thorny dry scrub ekeing out a living. Occasionally you can
find a brain coral boulder lying on the surface, almost as if the tide has just
gone out.
And finally, here is an interesting lizard picture
without which any Blog is somehow incomplete, don't you agree? This is of an
anole shedding his skin, as all reptiles have to do from time to time. As
he peeled he was tearing the old skin off and eating it because it's full
of useful nutrients which he can't afford to waste.
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