Loblolly Beach

We have definitely slipped into a schedule dictated by the rising and setting of the sun. We’re usually up and eating breakfast by 7am and if dinner isn’t finished by 8pm we’re asleep in our plates. Today was our most energetic day by far and so writing up this at 8pm is a far stretch so we’ll see how coherent it is.

Getting low on dinghy fuel we decided to move the big boat up a bit closer to the landing docks for today. This put us in better range of the restaurants for dinner tonight as well.

But first, we decided to see the famed Loblolly beach on the north shore of the island and we wouldn’t restrict ourselves to the local open-air taxi service. Mopeds looked fun but a bit pricey for three, and a car or jeep just seemed too easy, so we decided on bicycles.

Anegada has an elevation change of perhaps 10’ so cycling the cement roads is pretty easy – just remember to ride on the left. Once we reached the settlement where most of the 180 residents live, we turned off on a sand track which led us up to the north shore and a beautiful stretch of pink and white coral sand beach that rivals the resort beaches of Dominican Republic, but better as there was almost no-one up there. The reef that surrounds the island, actually is the island, comes right up to the beach in places and is supposed to be a spectacular place to snorkel. Unfortunately, the surf was up and there is quite a strong current so we found it a bit of a challenge, but nothing daunted we headed out. We decided that Leinster Bay was a much better location, especially when we came face-to-face with a 3’ barracuda who eyed us up quite casually.

Lunch was a very civilized affair of roti (for Jim and Catherine) and a seafood sandwich (for Henry), served up at “Flash of Beauty” on the beach. At home, this and many of the open air restaurants look like very sketchy establishments, but if you sit yourself down you are served a delectable home-cooked meal served with pride. Today’s was no disappointment.

The ride back to the anchorage was very hot and a stop along the way on the sand-flats was called for to cool off.

As this is our last evening in Anegada, we decided to partake of the traditional dinner at a beach-side restaurant for lobster and seafood. We returned to The Whispering Pines to be greeted by Nayasha, the waitress we’d met previously, and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.