Anguilla

Friday, December 14 – Tuesday, December 18

We arrived in Anguilla just as the sun was setting on Thursday evening. We hoisted our Quarantine flag and anchored in Road Bay that evening. Friday morning, we woke up and went to shore to check into Customs and Immigration.

Anguilla is different from the other islands that we've visited thus far. It's very quiet, clean, and fairly flat (much different from St. Martin). The highest elevation is 180 feet. The main island is surrounded by several little cays which have been deemed marine parks and are protected by the government. There are only two anchorages where boats can anchor overnight, and there's a fee to visit any of the anchorages outside of Road Bay and a fee to visit each of the marine parks. We spent our days in the marine parks and came back each evening to anchor in Road Bay or Crocus Bay.

Friday – Sandy Island Marine Park

Our first day, we sailed to the Sandy Island marine park which is the closest marine park to Road Bay anchorage.  It's basically a deserted island with a small beach bar.  The island was very small with only a few palm trees, and the water was crystal clear. We anchored off shore and took the dingy onto the island. We had a great day walking around the island, throwing the football on the beach, and snorkeling around the reef that surrounds the island. There was a shipwreck just off the coast (a Lagoon 440 catamaran that had just crashed there a few weeks ago). We snorkeled around the wreck for a while which was inhabited by tons of fish, sting rays, and eels. 

Saturday – Prickly Pear Marine Park

On Saturday, we sailed over to Prickly Pear marine park which is about a 45 minute sail north of Road Bay. We tied up to one of the park moorings and took the dingy to shore. The island was completely deserted – we were the only people on the island all day. We spent the day enjoying the beach, snorkeling, diving, and exploring the island (this one was a quite a bit bigger than Sandy Island).

Later (outside of the marine park) we caught our first lobsters of the trip!  They made for a really great dinner that evening.

That's Gene sitting under the umbrella - our own private island for the day!

Kalalau on one of the park moorings.