May 27, 2006
Leaving Oyster Pond is through a narrow entrance then out past a series of three red pole buoys to port in order to miss the reef there. We turned north in steady 16-18 kt SE winds and relaxed as the broad reach propelled us at 6+ kts past Orient Bay and Tintamarre Island and into the Anguillan channel. My home for the duration was a 2001 Oceanis 411, a 42’ Beneteau with three double staterooms, two heads and roller furling 120 jib and mainsail. Her name was Pisang Goreng, continuing in the tradition of my always getting strange or stupid charter boat names. This one means Bananas Flambe in Indonesian. Last year I had one named Arytenoid, which I think is some kind of rectal surgery, and another time one called Fruitcake, which made us laugh every time we used the VHF: “Bitter End Yacht Club, Bitter End Yacht Club, this is Fruitcake…..”
Broad reaching and tacking down wind along the low and construction laden south coast of Anguilla was smooth and interesting. We had excellent views of the famous ultra resorts, Cap Juluca, Rendezvous Bay Hotel, Altamer, Covecastles and CuizinArt as we passed only a few hundred yards offshore.
We passed close by both Boiling Rock and Anguilita and tacked once in smooth waters on our way to Road Bay along the northwest shore of Anguilla. But first we wanted to snorkel on low lying (about 5’ high) Sandy Island sporting a shipwreck and a beach bar only. There we grabbed one of approximately 25-30 moorings and were the only sailboat there. A long snorkel and a swim through thousands of 1-2 inch non stinging jelly fish to the solitary beach bar for an $8 rum punch punctuated the day. Peggy saw a shark in the coral reef but otherwise the snorkeling was average with low visibility among the multitude of reefs.
We anchored in 13 feet of water in Road Bay, better known as Sandy Ground, a pure sand bottom bay lined with a few bars and restaurants as well as one of two ports of call (the other being Blowing Point) for Anguillan cargo and container ships. For dinner Peggy, who lives on Anguilla, treated us to a Barnes Bay upscale restaurant called Oliver’s Seaside Grill. There we had a rare Stingray appetizer and Kingfish, Lobster Creole, Mahi Mahi and a cinnamon red pepper flake shrimp pasta that was one of the most uniquely flavored dishes I ever had. Other than Oliver trying to convince me that the 2000 Silverado Sangiovese wine was the same thing as the 2001 Silverado Zinfandel I ordered, it was a wonderful way to end a wonderful day. (We ended up with a slightly cooked 2002 Cuvaison Pinot Noir instead.)
Having learned that May 30 is a national holiday called Anguilla Day, I decided to make sure I was anchored in Road Bay for the festivities. (As it turns out, one can only anchor overnight in Road Bay or nearby Crocus Bay; the other anchorages are day only and are protected marine parks.)
May 28, 2006
My morning swim was cut short as I spotted beneath the Pisang, two 3-4 foot light gray white bellied sand sharks. Now I am not afraid of sharks as a general rule, but cowardice became the better part of valor, I decided, since there was more than one! But things quickly returned to normal as a two foot turtle cruised past the dinghy.
I had a short meeting on the island with business associates and invited them back to the boat for a drink. It turned out that John, who is Dutch, had single handed a Bahia 46 from Holland to New York to Aruba about 5 years ago, taking 36 days in all. Apparently he caught his fiancée in bed with his best friend and got so mad he jumped in his boat and has never returned to Holland since. After they cleaned me out of a 12 pack of Kronenberg beer, we made plans for John and his new girlfriend, Ingeborg, to join me later in the week for 3 days sailing in Anguilla and to St. Martin when I hoped to pick up Scott, my friend from Florida.
When I returned them to the dinghy dock, I learned that a practice race in 28 ft. traditional Anguillan sloops would be held about an hour later. After procuring a ride aboard one brightly colored boat called NWO, for New World Order, the wrestling league, I grabbed the camera and had a front row seat aboard one of these wild over canvassed crafts. Their masts are 59ft high, the boom is 39 feet long, I estimate the sail area of the main to be well over 1000 feet alone, and the ballast consists of movable 100 pound iron bars and 100 lb bags of sand, several of which were later emptied as the wind decreased.{mosimage}
We left the beach in next to last place but halfway down the first leg, a dead downwind wing and wing shot in about 12 kts of wind, we gained the lead. Just before the leeward buoy rounding, however, we were caught by 3-4 boats and due to a horrible position at the mark where the boats got so close I reached out and grabbed the main sheet tackle on a boat called Superstar among much yelling and cussing, we quickly fell back to 11 of 12 again. After some clever upwind tactics, we earned first place until the wind died on our last tack deep in the bay and a boat called Light and Peace crossed the line just in front of us to take the horn.
Watching the local sailors pulling sheets by hand with little mechanical help, seeing jib tracks nailed to planks on the bottom of the boat and shifting and even removing ballast was a blast from the past and a refreshing reminder that the joy and love of sailing captures people of all skill, income and technological levels. They invited me back to sail the long around the island Anguilla Day race but I think that hiking out offshore without lifelines, squished among 17 other sweaty crewmen, and ducking a 39 foot boom might not be in the cards for this 48 year old former racer now full time cruiser.
The evening brought another beautiful sunset as I grilled cheeseburgers by myself following a short swim and prepared for my first night alone. Venturing out into local waters is very expensive in Anguilla; Customs and Immigration charge you $38 per day for a vessel under 20 tons, (Pisang is 17.3 tons) for every day you cruise in Anguillan waters, unless you stay put in Road Bay. So, if you just go out for a day sail from Road Bay and return the same day, you still pay the cruising tax. They also hit you for $15 per day to explore the marine parks which includes every other place worth visiting. No wonder only 3,000 cruising boats visited Anguilla in 2005. The Customs girls took to calling me “lonely boy” since I was sailing alone and the nickname spread along the beach before I left.
May 29, 2006
Amazing, everything went according to plan today. I sailed solo off my anchor at 9am, leaving Road Bay behind and rounded the corner to Crocus Bay. There I sailed back and forth along the coastline admiring the cliffs and watching the birds dive bomb their breakfast. I then sailed on to a mooring in front of Little Bay, a picturesque tiny beach framed by rock cliffs. There are only five moorings, anchoring is not allowed as it is a marine park, but it didn’t matter, I was the only one there. A long swim placed me at Pelican Point, bisecting Crocus from Little Bay, where I hugged the cliffs admiring a plethora of fish, swimming in huge schools, ranging from minnows to snapper size and representing all colors. Two large fish, each about 3 feet long, followed me for a spell. A brief respite on Little Bay beach, accessible from land only by a thin rope down the rock cliff, and then I snorkeled through some shallow rock tunnels and pathways where more fish frolicked and basically hung out.
Sailing off the mooring and heading for Prickly Pear at 12:30pm, about 6.5 miles due west was next. This was pleasant and leftover hamburger served as lunch in route. I arrived at 2:15pm and immediately sailed onto the last of three moorings as the others were taken, again, with no anchoring allowed. I grabbed my mask and took the dinghy around the corner into one of the most beautiful reef lined lagoon-like spots with a gorgeous white sandy beach that extended around the east side for some distance. There are two beach bar/restaurants but they were both closed due to low season. While the snorkeling was average compared to Little Bay, the deserted island was awesome. Luckily there were two cats anchored inside the reef, because I desperately needed someone to apply suntan lotion to my back, one of the deficiencies I had not anticipated when sailing solo. Lynn, from South Africa, helped me out while she waited for her charter guests to return from their reef drift snorkel.
A mild upwind sail in 13 kts of wind to Road Bay followed and I anchored among the local fishing boats and custom cruisers many manufactured by the local Rebel Marine Yard. Tomorrow is Anguilla Day and I made sure to be anchored out of the race start area this time and found good holding in less than 10 feet of water. A quick trip ashore for juice, a newspaper (Barry finally passed the Babe!) and bleach, (the forward head or holding tank has a persistent odor), then a shower and time to watch another great sunset. For dinner I barbequed tuna steaks and cracked open a bottle of 2004 Mark West Pinot Noir, careful to only consume half. Tomorrow I expect the beach to be an all day party and I want to participate!
May 30, 2006
Anguilla Day. The beach start began from the middle of Sandy Ground with 15 boats competing just before 10:00 AM, the normal Anguillan delay of almost an hour. Winds were 12-16 kts depending on which side of the island and I opted not to participate. Instead, I pulled up a chair at Johnno’s beachside restaurant and hung out with my book. {mosimage}
A few minutes later a young couple, newly wed and staying at the CuizinArt Resort, struck up a conversation with me about Anguilla and the race. Soon we were in the cockpit of the Pisang for a beer then a nice snorkel on the north side of the bay. Their story was unique in that they came to get married in Anguilla specifically asking their parents not to come from Pennsylvania and Texas. Reasons included that the groom’s parents, now divorced, were either too controlling or too wacked out on booze and smokes, take your pick. Nonetheless, the mom and aunt and uncle showed up and crashed the wedding to the consternation of the 25 year old newlyweds. I never heard of the mom crashing her son’s wedding before and they were quite upset about this as she also went ahead and insisted she dance with her son to a song she forced the band to play.
Around 3pm I joined up with Peggy and her friends on the beach which was now completely packed with thousands of Anguillans celebrating their Day of Revolution, from the 1969 mini war they had with St. Kitts/Nevis to remain with Britain as a colony. Scores of kid were jumping from the dinghy dock, bands and DJs played along the beach and beer bottles were strewn about.
There I saw some local friends, Vince and Samantha, who had their MacGregor 26 sailboat beached in the middle of all the action. While saying hello, out of the main hatch popped several bikini clad models from the Angel Fire Modeling Agency. Always at the ready with my camera, I made sure to get several shots of them decorating the beach and boat. We were the center of attention as passers by oggled and offered all kinds of enticements all to no avail. I think it would be a good idea to return to Anguilla after my trip with my photographer friend to shoot a “Girls of Anguilla” calendar.
The beers and rum and gingers kept coming as we were among the last to leave the beach that night and soon we were all crashed out fast asleep at Peggy’s. While no sailing occurred today, it was nonetheless a day to remember, now if only I could….
May 31, 2006
A little fuzzy this morning with an open day ahead. I remember giving my number to a couple of the models inviting them to sail with me today but don’t expect a call. After answering emails on my phone, there was a nice breeze so I sailed off the anchor about 10 am and noticed I had missed a call with no caller ID. I sailed the 2 miles solo to Little Bay and enjoyed an hour snorkeling all by myself with no boats or people to be seen.
I had not kept the frig up enough to keep the frozen food frozen so I had to bbq two defrosted sirloin steaks and two tuna steaks for lunch. While cooking, the phone rang and it was the models calling for the second time! They wanted to know where to meet me for the sail but before I could answer, the line went dead and they never called back and their number did not show on caller ID. Like they say, timing is everything!
I returned to Road Bay about 4pm, cleaned the boat then had a business meeting. Still tired from the previous night, I am writing this before having a tuna steak sandwich for dinner then will study my sailing options for tomorrow before going to bed early. On a catamaran full of Austrians anchored no more than 25 yards to starboard, four straight naked female showers were performed on the swim platform as the sun sets. Tomorrow, John, Ingeborg, and their friend Sacha will be joining me for at least three days with Sasha considering staying until June 9 as it looks like Scott will be a no show.