2130, March 26, Anegada Island

Galeaux (Voyage 50) at full sail

So today, we are getting a real taste of the BVIs at Spring Break. The incredibly innovative playlist of Souls Calling, a catamaran marked Denver Colorado – has so far consisted of "I'm on a Boat" – twice – with special sing along emphasis on the "motherf'in" part. Nice for our kids. That was quickly followed by Gangnam Style, Party Rock, and we're now into the Black Eyed Peas, "Tonights Gonna Be a Good Night". Hmm, I'm not so sure. All played as loud as their stereo will go, in the most crowded anchorage I've ever seen. Oh well, we knew things would be busy here, and sure enough, we're experiencing it first hand.

It started with us getting off the mooring in Leverick Bay this a.m. around 9:30. We took a quick tour around Gorda Sound to see some of the notable spots like the Bitter End Yacht Club and Saba Rock, as well as some pretty impressive super yachts. We then joined the BVI 500, as we sailed across 2 ½ hours of open water to Anegada Island. At one point we counted 50 other boats around us. Despite all the boat traffic, we had a great downwind sail, and Sara and I seem to have finally figured out how this boat sails. We made good time to the moorage at Anegada (oh, now they're on to "I'm sexy and I know it".)

"Oh, George, can you go to the store and get some bread?"  "Sure.  Just be a tic.  I'll take the helicopter."

Best emergency exit. Ever.

Anyway, not surprisingly, once we got here, all the mooring balls were full, so we headed around the mooring field to the back, and prepared to set an anchor. As soon as we turned to set an anchor, a semi-official looking guy in a yellow shirt dinghied out and pointed us away from where we were going to anchor, and showed us to another spot. Not knowing any better, we assumed he was someone in charge, and followed him. (OK, now they're back "On a motherf' in' boat". Seems to be a fairly limited DJ. Not a lot of originality there. At least they are clearly aware that they are, in fact, on a boat).

So, anyhoo, we followed Mr. Yellowhirt to the point where he thought we should drop anchor, and even though it seemed a bit close to some other boats, we went ahead and dropped the anchor. After a few tries and some figuring out how the windlass and anchor snubbing gear on this boat work, we finally were anchored securely. It took a while though, and we provided some good entertainment for the boats around us.

Unfortunately, a few moments after we were finally anchored, the incredibly tanned skipper on the boat behind us started looking very pointedly and disapprovingly at us, as he stood on his foredeck in his speedo. Eventually, he let us know we were apparently sitting overtop their anchor, and they planned to leave at 7:30 tomorrow a.m., so we could either move now or first thing tomorrow. At that point, the last thing we wanted to do was up anchor and try again, but we honored tradition, and respected his request to move, going through the whole anchoring rigamarole again. It went a bit smoother this time, although there was a strong wind which made the boat tricky to handle.

Once we were finally anchored, the official looking guy in the yellow shirt came back. I thought he was going to talk to us about why we moved our boat, and didn't anchor where he showed us. But instead, he invited us to have lobster dinner in his restaurant on the beach that night. Turns out, all his guiding us around had nothing to do with making sure we got anchored well. Instead, he was just out working up business for his restaurant. It didn't really matter though – he had seemed sincere in his efforts to help us, and we did want to have lobster in Anegada, so we told him sure, we would be over later tonight, and we called his restaurant and booked in for all 9 of us.

Finally, with the boat firmly anchored, we went for a quick swim, mainly to dive on the anchor and confirm it was well dug in. It was, so we got out, dried off, and headed ashore to grab a taxi over to Loblolly beach, one of the open beaches on the Atlantic side of the island. We had a beautiful hour and half there snorkelling  swimming, walking on the beach, and enjoying the $8.00 virgin daiquiris they served up at the bar.

Cousins on Loblolly Beach

We headed back to the boat around 5:30, and just had time to change and head back to the beach for lobster dinner at the Whistling Pines restaurant. It was really good, and they served huge Caribbean spiny lobster, salad, and baked potatoes. The kids all loved the chance to try the lobster, and they all did really well with it. It was very different from the North Atlantic lobster we see in Canada. All the meat was in the tail, and there were no big claws. It was rich and fishy, but delicious.

One lobster tail.  One.

Then, it was back to the boat after a long day, to tuck the kids in and try to get some sleep. We'll see how that works out. Maybe in the morning when we leave, we'll let the kids play the neighbours a tune on the conch shell we bought in Leverick Bay.