DAY 24 - January 20th 2014 - Saba Rock
Met Donna and Jack at the Bitter End for coffee and then headed over to Biras Creek, this is an exclusive resort that Kellie bought 6 horses over by ferry from San Juan in 2009. After checking out the horses and calling Kellie to tell her that they look great, the conditions are still excellent and the horses well cared for. We headed for the hotel part and checked out the villas, pool and meeting places at the top of the hill. Then down to Fat Virgins Café for lunch, Jack had decided to stay in the pool and met us with the dinghies at the Café so we did not have to make the walk back to the hotel. On our way back we did a drive-by of the new Marina at this end of the bay and then headed out to check out some of the big yachts and to our surprise there we saw the Silver Shalis, if you remember we sort of followed them down the coast from Charlottetown to Boston our first year. When we saw them in Halifax, I had chatted to the owner and then in Boston had a long chat with the captain who said if we ever saw them in the islands, drop by. Well it is a bit intimidating in a dinghy alongside a 185 foot yacht so we just circled and left. Too bad we are not brave enough to take them up on the offer. A quick visit to the store at the Bitter End for ice and home, a short day but fun.
DAY 25 - January 21st 2014 - Anegada - 18 43.279N:064 23.131W
Before heading off to Anegada this morning our buddies from What If dropped by, we had not had a chance to visit with them yet but hope to later on this month. As we pulled or should I say Doug pulled up the anchor while I cheer him on we notice a mass exodus of the Gorda Sound, five large motor yachts and dozens of sailboats. We counted at least 15 heading to Anegada, a good sail, for a change we really did sail and Doug even took the wheel for fun. A couple of hours and we were anchoring in the beautiful huge bay of Anegada, not sure what it is called. Our Rose was already there in the bay and came by with menus for Neptunes: which was our restaurant of choice this evening. Thought it a good idea to have an early supper and as we approached the dinghy dock they were getting the lobsters ready, needless to say I did not eat lobster. I will say no more on that subject but a really good evening was had by all.
DAY 26 - January 22nd 2014 - Anegada
We rented a six seater van today to tour the island and it was everything I imagined, when we were here in April we did not tour as the weather was awful but today was lovely. Anagada is basically just a rock with reefs all round, a lot of cows and goats roam wild, I wondered how do they know whose is whose. The north side of the island is one whole white sand beach with super snorkeling, we stopped at a few different places and then the last one where we snorkeled and had lunch. I found the undertow very strong and did not go as far as the others but still saw some nice fish, not in the abundance that I have experienced in Mexico, I am still searching for that here in the Caribbean. This reef is quite shallow and you worry that you are going to scrape yourself on the coral as the current drags you back and forth, the others had gone out further where the swell was not so bad. Eventually Donna and I gave in and headed for shore and waited for the others before heading in for lunch. The quest here is to find Flamingos, apparently they are getting quite extinct or at least staying in places that are not accessible by tourists. Jack being the adventurer that he is convinced us to go off roading at the East end of the island, where we ended up traipsing across a desert in the blazing sun, well actually mud flats but that does not sound so romantic. We searched and nothing there, so headed back and of course Jack continued and by the time he got back to the van he excitedly said "look what I found" we checked out his photos and yes he found "white Egrets". But he had us thinking. After a few miles we went down another road that ended at a little bay with lots of dead boats, a conk graveyard and a fisherman who said that there was a whole flock of Flamingos (also called a Colony or Regiment, which makes sense as they all look uniform and line up together) at the very far end on the island but we could not get there. As we headed back across this little bridge, Donna yelled "Flamingos" and yes there they were about a mile away across a lake but definitely were Flamingos, a small flock but we saw them. We felt that our mission was accomplished and headed home tired from the wind and nearly getting lost in the desert but happy.
DAY 27 - January 23rd 2014 - Anegada
A quiet day, stayed on board, was too windy to go and take dinghy to try and find the Flamingos. Cleaned all the drawers in the Galley and scrubbed the stove and then a pedicure, facebook, solitaire and totally chilled and tried not to think of the awful cold back home. Photos to come, waiting for better internet to download the new software.