Sandy Island

About a mile and a half north-west of Raod Bay and Sandy Ground (where the Sailing Club is) you can find Sandy Island. After a hurricane took the palm trees away a few years ago, the name fits the place even more.There was an old wreck sitting on the nortern corner. In the shallows and tide pools on either side I found lots of fish, crabs, and snails.
Because of the way the old ship was leaning, you can see blue sky right through the cabin doors.
There is one building here, and they serve food and drinks on weekends I hear. They weren't open the Saturday I went, and with how quiet it has been the last month, I'm not surprised.The island is surrounded by a reef, and you want to approach the beach from the side opposite of the Anguilla mainland. Eli and I didn't know that, so we had some close calls in the motorboat upon entering and exiting, but all's well that ends well!
I even got a dinner out of the experience, but that story is for another time. 

Eli arrives, sand and sail

Eli found this cave on the east end. The waves gnashed a bit too much to venture inside, but it was very colorful to watch from outside when the turquoise water recoiled from the shelves of urchins and sea creatures. The sand was so aerated and soft that you could sink in almost to your calves

Here are some of the youth sailors I'm teaching on the AYSC's Optimists. They're sailing south in Road bay, towards the 'big wharf' where groceries, cars and other things make their way to Anguilla. The previous week was tricky because it was the first time the wind didn't come directly out of the East. The wind comes from the east so consistently, that it was pretty funny to watch the young sailors adjusting their standard sailing routes. It was as if they had to alter their entire world view. Up is down, left is right! 

Iguana Cave: Part 1

To get to Iguana Cave you need to start at Katouche bay, cross through a little marsh, hike up the trail through Anguilla's "Rain forest," go up some (very) old steps, and mosey through a few cacti. Otherwise, you can start at the top by the road, but it's pretty hard to find unless you mark the spot by hiking the trail upwards first (*hint hint* two sticks in an 'X' 15 feet before the bulldozer). A beautiful beach to start at! Please don't take the coconut trees, as requested by the sign.
Every hole-- every single one-- had a little crab that would positively freak out when I walked by! There must have been some crustacean nervous breakdowns that day as I ran aroud chasing every little animal I found. Hermit crabs, Land crabs, Cattle Herons, Damn huge crabs...
Steps to Iguana Cave! I still don't know who made them- let me know if you have any ideas. Frontrunners right now are the English (who mined Phosphorous from caves in Anguilla) Arawak indians, and lastly: very enthusiastic naturalists who decided to maintain the trail for future generations.
Me! At this precipice, peaceful wasps were buzzing around the plants as songbirds were echoing across the valley. Quite a beautiful part of Anguilla. Shortly afterward I found the (very dark) Iguana cave. Next week I'll remember to bring a flashlight and investigate the interior.

Green flash... Pshaw

This sunset literally brought people out from their houses like it was the first time the sun had gone behind the horizon. Neighbors grabbed cameras, exclaimed how amazing the colors were, and owed and awed like it was a fourth of July fireworks display. I snapped a couple photos from my balcony, and these colors aren't touched up. Though more scientific, that Pacific 'Green Flash' can't have anything on this.The view from my balcony. Seriously, you could count to ten, and the purple ocean had changed back to a different hue of violet, and the waves were crimson. Every minute the sea mixed the blue water with the reddening sunset and all around were unbelievable shades. I said to my neighbor I wouldn't have believed it if someone tried to describe it to me. Hence the photo.

Island 92

"The hottest music in the Dutch West Indies."

"Your Classic rock source in the North Caribbean."

"Rock, Blues and good time radio."

"Broadcasting from atop St. Peter's hill, St. Maarten, DWI."

Probably the worst slogans ever, but they play a lot of things I didn't expect to hear: The Doors, Cream B-sides, Moody Blues, CSNY, T-Rex, live Grateful Dead, and the Talking Heads.

Limestone Coast 2.1: Salt Spray and Junk

Walking toward the coast, the spray from the breaking waves and the turmoil of the channel make a hazy mist that glows in the late afternoon sun. I noticed the sun's rays scattering behind Greg here as we left the cacti and scrub to navigate the sharper rocks.

The spray is so fine that you don't notice it until you taste the salt that settles on your lips as dust left over from the evaporating water droplets.

Me wearing sunscreen & red!

Towards the end of the hike, we came across what appeared to be the aptly named 'Junk's hole.' This is the spot where 'junk' from here to Africa washes ashore, due to the local currents and reefs. Amongst the coral, sponges and sea fans were plastic bottles, fishing nets, sandals, and all sorts of floating man-made debris. The garbage was definitely the exception to the rule on this all-but-uninhabited end of the island, but it was still a reminder of the everlasting nature of our actions and carelessness.

It was an odd cross-section of typical garbage, and I started thinking about what wasn't washing up, and why. Then I realized that all the aluminum cans, plastic bags, and batteries probably go straight to the bottom of the water where they cause far more damage.

Limestone Coast 2: Windward Point

Hiking out toward Windward point on the East side of Anguilla. There we find more wonderful rock formations, old coral and strange little creatures in places that otherwise look quite desolate. This reddish material kept popping up, along with long slabs of rock like this one that must have been forced up by some kind of geological pressure.

The side of windward point that faces south gets battered by waves. One finds fish, snails, crabs and other marine aliens in the nooks and crannies of this sharp landscape.

The gnashing seawater that rolls over the sharp rock looks kind of like a big salty cappuccino. I said I'd find one on Anguilla for you, right R?

Limestone Coast

Strange things come from limestone. I turned my back to the sea and noticed this horizontal rainbow of earth, trees and sky. It felt like mars or iceland or nevada except that I was sweating and could hear the ocean roaring.

Ladders to Cavemen

These are views down into and up from from "The Fountain"-- a cave in AXA. There's no way to describe how immense it was- but if you look closely in the second picture (which only shows the top half of the descent), you can grasp the height by observing how small the rungs in the ladder look. The roots come through rock one foot thick, and stretch 40 feet straight down to find water and soil in a cave I can only describe as feeling as big and open as my high school basketball gym.

This is one of the Amerindian petroglyphs, created a long long time ago. Do you see the guy's face?

This one below is of a god figure called Cap Juluca I think, although it reminds me of a Munch painting

Just a really cool drip formation. Bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a rotweiler. A stalagtite-ite?

Madison beer down here?

I was at the supermarket, shopping for dinner, and I was surprised when I found this. It's beer cheese made from bavarian lager, made by Capital Brewery, the Madison beer company! That's a picture of the Wisconsin state capital on the cover. Now I'd be even happier if I could get Wisconsin beer down here, but this will certainly do. Very strange to find a Madison product that I'd never seen in Madison.