Anagada, BVI

End of the chain.

11 days ago we anchored in the south western most anchorage in the BVI. Today we are safely anchored in 10 feet of water at the north eastern most edge of the island chain. The coral island of Anagada. To say we've seen it all would be a lie. We've dabbled in and out of anchorages along the south of Sir Francis Drake Channel and plan to set sail tomorrow to dabble in what the northern coast of Tortola (and associated islands) has to offer.

Anagada is isolated. The feeling comes not from the distance from the mainland (It's a mere 10nm or so), but rather the exposure to the elements. Maxing out at a mere 20 feet above sea level, Anagada provides protection from only the swell, as the trades rip over the desolate island and straight through a leeward anchorage. Furthermore, the shallow grade of the island extends into the seaward front at a similar angle, creating treacherous shallows, and nerve racking coral breaks. Our first confrontation with such shallows occurred in the 'channel' where the sounder pinged 6.2 feet. 0.2 feet more than our draft. The nights anchorage peaked at 10 feet as we watched the boat swing over coral heads inches below the keel. Lucky for a low tidal range.

Perfecting our anchorage to ensure a sound nights sleep became somewhat of an activity. Snorkelling the perifery of the anchorage allowed us to find the deepest water. After agreeing the boat was 15 or so yards off centre, the boys set to moving the anchor to the ideal spot. The weight belts went on and with anchor and chain in hand, and a deep breath in body, we were running the anchor along the sea floor. Fair to say this won't be the first time, I reckon.

Update: we hit that coral head on the second night. Twice. Shhhh don't tell. It was a gentle bang just as we were drifting off to sleep. Then another an hour later. Still confused as to how it happened, but at one point our sounder read 3 feet so we must have been swinging over something gnarly! Maybe next time we'll find a bit more depth...

Our exploration of Anagada was waylayed by the oncoming of holiday syndrome. Nearly two weeks in, our bodies have begun to adapt (or react?) to boat life. I'm casually sleeping back to back 10 hour nights, with plenty of daily activity but very little intensity. My walking legs, trained (solely) in two years of carless Sydney streets already feel weak at the sight of a decent length footpath. Not even a strong cup of Joe can get the fibres buzzing. So when the first touch of land was proposed as a jog, motivation dwindled. After some persuasion, a short dinghy trip and a touchdown onto the softest sand the world has to offer, I was not ready to endure 7-8km of endless white sand running. If only I'd adventured with less active people.

The next day we hit the roads as wreckless hoons on scooters. Probably not dissimilar to a scooter you would hire in any developing country, these deathtraps were astoundingly unsafe. Flat bald tyres, a permanent left steer bias, no electronics and questionable brakes; I've never felt so grateful for a helmet prior having a crash. Pot holes, cattle and goat were also amoungst the safety hazards on our radar. The island felt largely abandoned aside from a small tourist industry which was fed by a respectively large lobster industry. Just one of the half dozen restaurants on the island would feed 65 people lobster that night. At $40-60 per main we'll wait to catch our own thanks. However, it would've been rude to say no to a few beers at the bars on the water. So we squeezed that in to our hectic days schedule and watched the sun go down. Then we remembered that we needed light to see the reefs on the way back to the boat, so that made for an interesting trip.Read more