Day 3--Meads Bay, Anguilla

Marigot harbor, St Martin

Meads Bay, Anguilla

Blanchards on the beach

Today's adventure takes us to the British West Indies island of Anguilla. Known for its pristine beaches, it's about 20 minutes from mainland St. Martin by ferry. Now, here are some very important travel tips for anyone thinking of doing their own Caribbean adventure: transit is expensive. Many of the guide books recommend renting a car to get about, but the drivers down here are batshit crazy. Or, as one of our cab drivers (a nice old man named Uldridge Brooks) said, "They don't know how to die. They are like Tom and Jerry, you know?" He was referring to the motor scooter drivers weaving in and out of cars. So anyway we elected to take a cab to the ferry. So here goes: cab ride to and from Grand Case--$40; ferry ride to Anguilla--$80 round trip for two people; taxi ride to one of the beaches--well, it depends on what beach you want. Most people went to Shoals Bay, which is regarded as the best, but it's on the northern tip, so the cab ride is $26 one way. We didn't bring plastic (always bring plastic) so we elected to go to Meads Bay, which was closer and only $18 one way (not sure about the cabs, but the ferry only takes cash). As you can see from the pictures above, it's pretty darn nice. Not many people and extremely pretty. However, the waves were very severe today, so no snorkeling was going to happen. John managed to go for a swim, and managed to ride the steep waves fairly well, and only almost drowned once (or twice). However, there was not much else to do but lay around, be a lazy lima bean, and get a tan--or in our case, a selective sunburn anywhere the sunscreen neglected to be. The sun down here is very unforgiving, and so is our pasty white Irish skin.

For lunch we ate at Blanchards on the beach which served some very tasty and very overpriced food--a Mexican bowl and two bite-sized tacos. But the atmosphere was outstanding. Lisa brought along a fresh mango we got at a local market yesterday, and it too was outstanding.

We got home about 6:00 and went for dinner at one of the Lolos restaurants. Lolos is the name of a series of restaurants on the island that serve mostly grilled foods with cole slaw, local-style cuisine, at a reasonable price. But the trip into downtown Grand Case has lost some of its charm. This area is not very pedestrian friendly. And since everyone seems to own a car (and many of the tourists are renting them), it can be extremely congested. We'll alter our meal menu over the second half of the trip.

Tomorrow we are going back to Anguilla, this time to Shoals Bay, depending on the weather and ocean conditions. Saturday we may go snorkeling off Creole Rock here in Grand Case Bay, and then hopefully spend a nice relaxing evening in our fantastic hotel room. A little relaxation--isn't that what a vacation is all about?

A demain!

John

Here's some video of Lisa with the waves today. Listen with the sound down since the woman sitting two chairs down from us wouldn't stop talking.