Backroads Anguilla

 

What defines a good bike trip for me? Good food, interesting people and polite drivers.

We were surprised to find an island with such a friendly biking atmosphere. We were even more surprised thatwe managed to extract both of our folding bikes from Two Fish, load them onto the dinghy and get them to shore without any cursing or mishap. Of course, Steven, the local taxi driver was at the dock overseeing the operation and offering much advice.

 

 

On what other island would a taxi driver be so encouraging to two people who were about to bike rather than ride cabs? Even the customs people were enthusiastic about our explorations. “Just one little hill and then it is all flat”, the woman said. I beg to differ. It is amazing how cars don’t see hills the same way I do. The only unfriendly exchange we witnessed on Anguilla was during the local youth sailing races. Two boys were rounding the mark when one threatened to punch the other in the face if he didn’t get out of his way. I guess they didn’t have a protest flag on board.

Day one reminded me a bit of Ireland; there were green, lush mountains and buckets of rain. Rather than stop for a pint, we opted for kebabs at On Da Rocks at the eastern end of the island. While it was tasty, unfortunately the bay was not in a good snorkeling state that day. We seem to be in the Leeward Islands during a windy month.  The windy conditions inspired another stop on the way home at Ooh La La café for a freshly squeezed grapefruit and ginger juice.

 

We saw quite a few House of Assembly Candidate posters on the road. Anguilla is a UK overseas territory so its nominal head of state is the Queen but the Chief Minister (currently Hubert Hughes) is the head of the government. It seems to be fairly competitive between the three main parties (symbol): Anguilla United Front (lighthouse), Anguilla United Movement (tree) and Anguilla Progressive Party

(key). There were also a variety of posters for Independents with birds and fish for symbols. Anguilla established its push for independence on May 30, 1967, when they sent the St. Kitts Police Force packing from the island. Britain intervened and it wasn’t until Decmber 19, 1980 that the negotiations ended and Anguilla became autonomous.

 

After a great day on the bikes, we headed back to Two Fish. “That’s odd”, I said, as we approached her. “It looks like we are being held by the anchor chain, not the bridle.” My first though was that I

hadn’t let out enough chain to allow the boat to transition the bridle. However, we soon realized that the bridle had broken and that we needed a quick fix before the boat became damaged. Fortunately, our chain lock was on, preventing the chain from pulling on our windlass. Quick-thinking Jason suggested that we rig a bridle from our bow cleats with two lines. He made some loops through the chain with kevlar line and we led a line there and back from each bow cleat. We realized that the odd motion from the previous night was probably caused by the bridle line chafing against itself. We would need to get a new bridle at our next stop, but for the moment we were fine.

 

Our next ride was to the western end of the island.

At a lookout point, we met some locals who were happy to break up their usual morning to chat with us.

Jason spent some time learning about local industry and boat building from an eighty-two year old man who used to deliver salt to Trinidad. He would do deliveriesacross the West Indies with no motor and no GPS on a homemade 63-foot schooner. I chatted with a woman who was born on Nevis, traveled the world, and was hoping to spend her seventy-sixth birthday there.

Time for another snack on our way west, but this time it was a bit of a disappointment. I understand when supplies are low and you can’t provide something on your menu, but why taunt me with a specials list of 10 english muffin egg sandwiches and then tell me that the Kim Chi breakfast sandwich is not available because you don’t have any English muffins? The scenery made up for the food setback as we caught a glimpse of St Maarten on our ride. It is funny how the sea always looks calmer from a mountain viewpoint.

Dinner did not disappoint in atmosphere or food. Elvis’ is a well known restaurant on Road Bay and as such, I figured it would be “eh”. It turns out that Elvis is a great guy with a good word and

handshake for everyone who enters his establishment and his fish tacos are excellent. So good, in fact, that we went back the next night. There we were treated to a spotting of the famous “green flash” at sunset and the story behind the Russian sailboats that had entered the harbor.

In true Snackroads tradition, it seems that I have focused more on the food than the biking. It really is a great place for a bike ride.