Anagada:
Lat: 18º 43.4N
Lon: 64º 23.4W

Virgin Gorda:
Lat: 18º 30.6N
Lon: 64º 23.3W

We spent the last two nights anchored off the island of Anagada in the British Virgin Islands.  Anagada is a sparsely populated island, only about 300 people live here.  Here is a view of the main road at the height of rush hour….

Once upon a time, in the dim dark ages of sailing, before every boat had a chart plotter, the local charter boats were not allowed to go to Anagada because the reefs were dangerous and the channel in to the anchorage was difficult. (NB:  Those “dark ages” were the last time I was here in the BVI!)  Now, the island has many more visitors, because at least some of the charter fleets allow there customers to visit. 

On entering the anchorage, you have a choice:  yellow morning ball or white.  It looks to be almost exactly evenly split between the two.  The yellow ones belong to the Anagada Reef Hotel, and the white ones to another local business.  $30/night. 

Our first night we had dinner at Potter’s. All of their business is from arriving boats.  They have a large dinghy dock, and no parking lot for cars. You have to place your order, either in person or by radio, by 6:00PM, and dinner is served at 8.  THE local speciality is lobster.  It is grilled over an open fire, and is smoky and delicious.  The decor is “customer decorated”.  It seems everybody who visits adds their own layer of graffiti to the walls.  Each restaurant along the beach has a large pen along side their dock where they store their lobster supply.  Some of them are HUGE.  The preferred bait in the traps is goat hide.

Dinner on the hoof…

The view from Potters Bar

Anagada is geographically quite distinct from the other islands in the area which are all high volcanic islands.  The highest point on Anagada is 23 feet above sea level.  It is surrounded by reefs which have claimed over 300 ships in the last couple hundred years.  At least one Spanish treasure galleon still hasn’t been found. Approaching Anagada we could see the turquoise color of the reef reflected on the bottom of the clouds long before we could see any trace of land. 

If you look VERY closely at this picture you can just pick out the land.  It is hard to see clearly in the photograph, but the undersides of the clouds over the shallow reefs (to the right in the picture) are a distinctly different color than those over deep water.

Our second day at Anagada, we sailed to the deeper water off the north side of the island to try to catch some pelagic fish.  We had no luck on the tuna or wahoo we were hoping for, but did well with Black Jack (a new fish to me, I had never even heard of it!) and Barracuda.

Tonight we are at the outskirts of one of the busy anchorages by Virgin Gorda, a “must stop” place for just about every charter boat working its way around the archipelago. Tomorrow we are going to the south side of Virgin Gorda, where the charter boats are not allowed to go, for a bit of piece and quiet.