Saturday – Shoal what will we do today?

We must be on vacation, because each day we are moving a little bit slower in the morning.  I made a run to Geraud's again for breakfast treats as we lounged around just enjoying the cool breezes and each other.  We decided our destination of the day would be Shoal Bay.  The beach, which I used in the header of the blog, shows up on many of the top 10 beaches in the world.  This rating is well deserved.  Over the years many folks have asked us why we always go to the Caribbean to the beach vice Nags Head, Ocean City, or Virginia Beach.  A picture of Shoal Bay may answer that question better than anything I can write down.

So we were off to the beach, but decided to take the long way and do some sightseeing on the other side of the island.  Driving on a island that is long and skinny is pretty easy, and if one gets lost it does not take long to rectify the situation.  The one thing that everyone must remember is it is in the “British” West Indies.  KEEP LEFT!  The rental car companies are nice enough to even put on your windshield.  One would think this would be difficult to adjust yourself to drive the car on the side you are accustomed to, yet operate vehicle on the opposite side.  Well let me tell you from my point-of-view, a person who is ambidextrous and suffers from dyslexia, it makes all the sense in the world.  I just get in the car and drive away – no problem mon! 

The hard part is trying to keep your eyes on the road as you drive pass these amazing views and sights.  Our roundabout journey took us through small villages where children played in the streets and the animals roamed freely. 

Transiting through one town we saw a very large crowd gathered outside a church.  The church had overflowed out the doors, in the parking lot, and across the street.  Traveling about another 100 yards we saw these very attentive goats on the front porch of small house taking in the events down the road.  Later on we learned it was a funeral for a very old man that had lived in the town all of his life. 

I wonder if this was the man’s house, and the goats understood things would be different in the future.  I guess that is a pretty heavy topic for a beach blog… 

It is time for a little Anguillan trivia! You never know it may just come up as category on Jeopardy in some future show.

The National Food of Anguilla:

The National Tree of Anguilla:

The National Animal of Anguilla:

As for the animal answer I would say WRONG!!! I think the island animal should be:

Shoal what did we do today?

Well it involved, white sand, blue water, meeting some new friends, chairs, an umbrella, a Presidente or two, Mahi sandwiches, and lots of time with my sweetie. 

Let the decompression continue…

Our dinner experience was one of extremes.  We had asked some locals where they go for good meal.  They all had different recommendations, but one name popped out and that was E’s Oven.  The restaurant is located on the main drag before you get to the Sandy Ground roundabout.  The place was deserted, which is normally not a good sign.  The wait staff of one was very attentive, and from the moment the first item came out the kitchen we knew we had Done Good!  The chef’s treat, was marinated grouper with an island slaw that was magical.  I skipped the first course, but my sweetie had a pumpkin soup that cannot be described.  I ended up having to steal a few spoonfuls.  Janet had coconut crusted grouper sitting in a bed of white beans and cubed potatoes.  The oven roasted chicken is where I headed on the recommendation from the locals who sent us here.  Amazing!  Half of a chicken was sitting on a heavy sauce of vegetables, herbs and spices.  Of course if you remember from the trivia above there was a side of rice and peas.  A bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Chile to accompany the meal and we are ready to check this one off as great evening! Oh yeah - much easier on the wallet.

The Viceroy looking from Carimar

We decided to skip dessert and head to one of the high end hotels, The Viceroy, for a digestif.  Honestly we were curious.  There was a large Indian Wedding at the Viceroy that basically took over the establishment with the festivities.  Enquiring minds want to know!  We arrived in our white Toyota Yaris, unlike the groom who had arrived at noon on a white horse and service began.  We later found out that they had searched high and low for a white horse and there is one only one solid white horse on the island.  A member of the staff jokingly said, they gave up looking for the elephant a donkey or goat would be much easier on Anguilla to find.  The place was happin’ but we pretty much got ushered to the beach bar and could not see the activities.  The word on the street was that the bride’s hairdo for the reception got messed up, and at 9 pm she still had not arrived for the party.  I think it was going to be a late night at the Viceroy, but for not for us we headed back to Carimar to check our eyelids.

 

In closing I have to post this picture of a small Rum Shack in Scilly Cay that really says it all – How much better would the world be if we could just keep it this simple?

NEWS FLASH......

While driving this morning an Elephant has been sited on island!  More later if the elephant walks, we now return you to whatever you were doing.... Thank you