This is part 2 of our my trip report from late May. Amazing trip and I liked this part of the trip the best. Anegada was just amazing.

Wed 5/25 - Left Tortola at about 5pm on a little 9-seater prop plane. The flight was great. 15 minutes of great scenery. We were the only American tourist on the plane. When we got to Anegada it took a little corrdinating with attendant...but we got a retal car in about 30 minutes or so. Drove to Neptunes Treasure which was only 5 minutes or so from the Airport. Randy welcomed us and we quickly went over the details of dinner (have to put your order in by 4pm...but Randy made an exception for us)...and he showed us to our room. No keys needed here. The room was really great. A huge bed...a little fridge...a bathroom...and some kickin A/C. The room was so comfortable. We put our stuff up and headed over to the bar. Randy was so welcoming and a great bartender. Sampled several drinks and made our way to a table for dinner. Singing Sally was waiting on us. She's such a pleasure. If you havent heard...the food at Neptunes is absolutely amazing. Very reasonably priced as well. That night Shelle had the tuna and I had the swordfish. Blew me away. Great atmosphere...service...and food. The Soares family that owns Neptunes has a few members of the family that are also long-liners. That makes for a great supply of fresh fish. We finished our meal...met some of guests...chatted with all of the folks at the bar...then made our way to the bed.

Thurs 5/26 - Woke up around 9 or so. We found it very easy to sleep part of the day away in our room at Neptunes. The A/C was so cold...it was tough to get out of that bed. Loved it. Went over to get coffee and some breakfast at Neptunes. Great simple breakfast of eggs..sausage..etc. We then made our way to Cow Wreck beach. Fun driving those road. They are dirt about 50% of way and you rarely see other drivers. To get to Cow Wreck you drive around in what seems to be a the SouthWest of the US...cactus..yucca...then...paradise. When you walk out to the beach at Cow Wreck..it will take your breathe away. Amazing. We set up shop under a thatch beach shelter (sick of the sun by now). Shelle gets ready to lay in the sun..while I immediatly get a drink from the bar. Had to meet Alex. Extremely friendly guy. We talked about TTOL, Walker, Big Jim, and all of the celebrities he sees at the bar. I noticed we were listening to country music..and I had ask why. It was that Kenny Chesney album everyone talks about in the BVI. I had to admit...I liked it. I usually hate pop country. Alex told me about how Kenny C. come by quite often and how he always where's odd clothes. Funny stuff. Finished up my drink and got suited up for snorkelling. Alex told me the best snorkelling is our near the breakers. I went out to check it out. The snorkelling was good. I headed out past the breakers as Alex instructed. I was getting really deep and I was a long way from shore. Decided to head back in and see if anyone else wanted to go out that deep. A little creepy being alone that far away from shore in deep water. Came back in for another drink and some conversation with Alex. Only about 20 or so people at Cow Wreck that day...and everyone was very friendly and amused with their surroundings. A very magical place. Took another less-adventurous snorkelling adventure with Shelle. Good snorkelling but not as easy to get around at Loblolly. Better beach at Cow Wreck though. My #1 beach so far. At about 3pm we headed over to Little Bit Taz (the grocery store near ARH that Alex's family owns) and picked up grocerys for lunch, snacks, and lots of Carib for the room. Went back to Neptunes and put in our order for dinner. Tonight we were having our fist Anegada lobster. Chilled in the room a bit listing some music...mixing up some rum drinks with the rum we brought from Tortola and some juice we got at the store. Headed over to dinner. This became sitting at the bar for an hour or two then slowly making our way to a table. Randy hooked us up with Garfield Faulker so we could schedule a bonefishing trip the next day. Garfield said his brother Kevin would be taking us out at 8:30am the next day. That night we had dinner with Richard and Hector. The guys from San Juan that took some time off from the family life to get some serious fishing in. These guys really had the fishing bug in a bad way. They were up at 6pm and fished for the rest of the day..and night. They were on the dock at Neptunes every night..as it had lights and was a great place to fish. Sharks, bonefish, tarpon, snapper, and more sharks. Anyway...dinner was great. Shelle and I both had the lobster. It was great...but not worth the $40 per plate. Don't get me wrong...that is the going rate for lobster..and it was extremely fresh and very tasty. Just not twice as good as the amazing fish dishes they have at Neptunes. Regardless....we enjoyed it very much and enjoyed our company equally well. Rich and Hector were great guys. After dinner Shelle went read her book while I meet up with Rich and Hector for some sharf fishin on the dock. They were all over the place but fairly picky fish for being a shark.

Fri 5/27 - Got up and went out back of Neptunes to Pams Kitchen. I got a cinnomon roll and Shelle went over to the restaurant for coffee. Kevin met us at the doc in his little skiff at 8:45. We loaded up the boat and headed to the east end of the island. This area has the best bonefishing flats. Once near the giant pile of conch shells (the conch fisherman put there shells in the same spot) we cut in to the mangroves and cut the engine. Within just a few minutes we were seeing bonefish. We instsepted a large school about 15 minutes into the trip. Over 100 fish. I got within casting distance and presented a little fly (crazy charlie) at the edge of the school. Got a follow and a take. Fought the fish for a few minutes before I lost it. Those little hooks just come out. We would pass by and circle on this school a few more times before I hooked up on nice 6lbs fish. Crazy how much they fight. I would get it close to the boat...it would run...close to the boat...it would run...lots of fun. Finally got it in...my first bonefish. As luck would have it...the camera was fogged up and I ddin't get a picture. You can barely tell there is a fish...but I kept the pics anyway. If I didn't catch another fish all day...I was happy. It was quite a workout for such a little fish. After seeing me having so much fun...Shelle decided to pick up a casting rod and try to hook one. We gave up on the big school and moved on to another part of the flat. Garfield told us to look ahead on the flat to the cloudy water. Turns out...the cloudy water is a school of bonefish blowing the sand around..looking for food. Once we got close to the cloudy water...Kevin had Shelle cast into the leading edge of the "cloud". She hooked up immediately. She just started screaming...and so did her reel. Those fish just take off when they're hooked. We hit several more "clouds" and hooked up on fish every time. Even hooked a jack in one of them. Very exciting stuff. When you saw a cloud...you knew you could count on fish. The time passed quickly. Before we knew it...it was time to head in. We had only booked a half-day..but it was plenty. The sun gets to you after a while. Kevin took us by ARH to settle up on the finances...and then dropped us off back at Neptunes. We were pretty beat from the day..so we took a little nap. That afternoon..we walked down to Pamato Point. Great beach. We also drove down to The Settlement. This is the most populated part of the island..and still...pretty sparse. We spent some time at the bar before heading over to Anegada Reef Hotel from some drinks before bbq dinner at Little Bit Taz. Had a few drinks...talked to some interesting locals trying to sell us land...then headed over to Little Bit for dinner. Interesting scene. Like the roadside fund raiser type bbqs. Lots of food..and a lot of variety. $12 for as much as you could fit on a plate. Great food. Shelle, me and Mickey (Wendell's grandson...Alex's nephew...etc) had a great time at dinner. It's so funny how many kids I befriended while in the BVI. Some how kids know I like kids. We liked dinner so much...we went up for another plate. They charged us $7 for a second full plate. Great dinner and nice folks. Thanks for the suggestion Walker!!!!! After dinner...we headed back to the room for lights out. An amazing day. Walker was right...I think the bonefishing trip was the highlight of my trip to the BVIs. Very exciting..and an amazing animal. Wow.

Sat 5/28 - Woke up and just eat breakfast in the room. Got packed up and headed for Loblolly Bay. We drove by the day before and it seemed kinda crowded. Very few people here today. Loblolly is the primary spot the sailboaters are taken to. If any place is gunna be crowded..that's it. We head down to the beach and find a spot to set up shop. I immediately put on the snorkelling gear and head out. I'd heard a lot about snorkelling here. Could wait to get out. Shelle and I hit the water. Great snorkelling. Shelle eventually had to head in...just when she went in..I saw a large nurse shark swimming across the reef. Good thing Shelle didn't see it. She's scared of sharks. Very cool. The shark didn't want to have anything to do with we. Took off before I could get a pic. I continued to explore the coral until I got ready for a drink:) As I was heading in I was joined by a nice sized barracuda. I was a little spooked as I had a lot of little fish following me around..and I figured the cuda was interested in the little fish. I tried to scare it off...but it kept following. It eventually went it's way. Came back in and went up to the bar for a few beers. The bartender was very cool. From South America. I explained how I was having trouble diving in the dense water. My fat-laden body just wanted to come right back up. Hard to keep my fins under too. He suggested a weight belt and let me use his. We finished our drinks...put in our lunch order...then headed back out for more snorkelling. The weight belt helped a lot. I was able to keep my fins under and could dive a lot better. Was able to swim right up on a few nice fish. One nice snapper that was sitting at 20 feet. Snorkelling at Loblolly was top notch. So....I was heading back in snaking my way through the coral and when I cam up I noticed I was down near Lavanda Breeze/Flash Of Beauty....I also noticed an odd site on the beach. Lets just say..it was big...white...and had a crack in it. After letting my eyes adjust a bit...I realized what I was seeing. It was a couple having sex on the beach. Really. I guess they didn't see me as my flippers were well under water due to the weight belt. Classic. I didn't want to get out of the water and interrupt...so I put my mask back on and swam up the beach a bit. I couldn't beleive it really. There were quite a few people around. Made for a good story anyway. I made it back to the Big Banana and we had our lunch. I had the broiled snapper...Shelle had crab cakes. It was a pricy lunch but it was dinner quality. Great food. We finished dinner and headed back to Neptunes. Shelle took a nap while I fished for sharks with Kia (the yougest of the Soares family. I think she's nine and this little girl has a serious fishing bug. When I made it out to the dock, she had a chunck of swordfish on a big hook trying to catch sharks. Funny kid. That evening the rest of the Soares clan showed up on the long-line boat. They had been at sea for 4 days fishing. They brought in tuna, swordfish, and king macks but not a productive trip according to the guys that were fishing. Tonight we're having dinner again at Neptunes. We ended up eating most of our meals there. Really can't go wrong. Amazing food. I had asked Linda what I should order as my final meal at Neptunes and she suggested triggerfish. So we made it to dinner and settled in for some Neptunes heaven. Shelle had the tuna again. The triggerfish was amazing. Pan fried ..then soaked in a sauce of some sort. Heavenly. Best meal I'd had in all of the BVI. We finished dinner then headed back to the room to finish up all of the booze before we headed back the next day. After several rum drinks...I figured it was time for fresh coconut. I had found a freshly fallen coocunt a day or two before. I "borrowed" the machete at Neptunes and hacked the top off. I knocked it over and spilt the milk..so I had to get another so we could make drinks with the milk. I found one down the beach a bit that was in a tree but close enough to grab. I wont say what establishment it was in front of but it made for some tasty milk. We made several drinks with it. And ate the meat out of the first one. Really nothing like fresh coconut. Love it. We enjoyed the coconut..woke up Randy and Linda during the coconut butching...but it was so great. Slept well with tummy full of coconut.

Sun 5/29 - Today is our last day. Flight at 5pm to Tortola.
Our plan is to play at Cow Wreck again today. We have checkout at 11am as there is some one else getting our room later that day. We go over to the bar to take care of the bill at 10:30 and have our last dark & stormy. No one in the bar so we make it ourselves. Such a great drink. While we're enjoying our drink...Dean Soares show up with a truck load of conch he caught that day they they plan to clean at the docks. The drinks are great and the conch is quite entertaining. We decide to bail on Cow Wreck and watch them clean conch instead. It really was interesting. We had many dark and stormys watching the conch festivities. Eventually we have to make rounds and say goodbye. It was really very sad. I think I cried. Randy, Linda, Kia...and the rest of the Soares family really feal like family while you're there. It was truely magical. We say our good byes and head for ARH for something to eat before we catch our flight. We have fried chicked and french fries...the only thing they could throw together at that hour. Have our late lunch and a few drinks..then make our way to the airport. We stop in to Dean Wheatley's to drop the rental off. He dropped us off at the airport. We catch our flight to Tortola no problem. We catch a cab at the airport to the Beef Island Guest House. It's actually within walking distance of the airport. Great spot. Simon broke away from the party outside to welcome us and showed us to our room. No A/C and very hot...but he gets us a fan. We had outside to get a drink. Ended up sitting at a table with a family from Atlanta. The father had fallen and potentially broken some ribs so they were hangin at the Loose Mongoose waiting to hear from him. The Loose Mongoose was a great place. The entertainlment was this guy who could play anything from blues to raggae to Hendricks to the Greatful Dead. Crazy stuff. Very good night. Met lots of good folks. Love the Mongoose. The father of the family we're hangin with eventually shows up. Turns out..nothings broken. We retired to a very warm room . We were spoiled by the A?C at Neptunes. Didn't sleep much that night.

Monday 5/30 - Woke up pretty early to catch our 8am flight. Simon had breakfast and coffee waiting on us. He also offered to drive us to the airport. It's less than a mile away but it would have sucked to walk. Very good host. Would stay at the BIGH again for sure. Thanks Simon!!!! Our flights are fine and we end up in San Juan with a long lay over before our flight back to the states. We planned on taking a cab to Old San Juan to check it out. We catch a cab and head toward Old San Juan. San Juan looks very run down on our way to Old San Juan. We are a litte apprehensive of what we're in for. We tell our cab driver we have no idea where we're going...and we just want to walk around. He doesn't speak much english and just drops us off at a good restaurant. We thank him..settle up...then hit the street. He dropped us off at a restaurant called Aquaviva but it's too early for lunch. We just start walking. We end up on the outside of the city and it's very cool. All of Old San Juan is in a big fort and there is a paved path around the perimiter. We got rained on...and Shelle wasn't happy. There are only a few entrances into the city from the trail so we were trapped. Got wet but it was really neat. We backtracked and went back into the city. Walked some stores..saw some crazy tourist merchandise...and found a spot to go in and get a beer..and dry off. We waited there till lunch time and then headed to the restaurant where the cabby dropped us off. Shelle had second thoughts as it looked fancy and we were in t-shirts and were soaking wet. We decided to go the spot across the street. While going in that spot ...Shelle struck up a conversation with a local girl. She said to not go to this spot and to go across the street...where we were planning in the first place. We go over to Aquaviva and ask if we are dressed appropriately and they tell us to come on it. We sit down...and order up ceviche. I had heard that ceviche is huge in San Juan so...when in Rome. It was fantastic. We ended up eating three bowls of it. Shelle had never had it before. Great spot. After lunch we find a cab to take us back to the airport. No problem. If anyone has several hours to occupy in San Juan...Old San Juan is very cool. We had a great time there. We made it back to the airport and caught our flight to Denver.

An epic trip. Thanks again to all of the TTOLers that helped me put it together. I really can't say enough about the folks at Neptunes Treasure in Anegada. They make you feel like family. We will be back as soon as we can. Thank you Randy and Linda!!!!!!!!!! Tell Kia we said hello. Here are the pics.

http://community.webshots.com/album/365563430OPdOpQ