Just arrived back home yesterday from 4 days on Anegada, 2 days on Tortola and 10 days in Puerto Plata, Dominician Republic. (boy did I screw up!)
Day 1.May 9, 2005
My wife and I arrived Tortola via San Juan PR 9:20am. Rented a car and spent the day driving around Tortola. Stopped in Roadtown to pick up a fishing licence for fishing the flats on Anegada. I was advised "if you are fishing the shoals, no licence is required", "If you are fishing from a boat you MUST have a fishing licence" The beaches on Tortola were BEAUTIFUL , you realize what TTOL'ers are so proud of.The roads were not as pleasant but an exciting challange just the same (if ya know what I mean) We caught the 5:00pm Clair Aero flight to Anegada Island. It is amazing to be withinin 10 minutes of landing and still not be able to see the island because it is so flat. In fact,It is so flat there, if your dog ran away from home you could look out the widow and see him running two days later. Our rental car was waiting for us at the airport thanks to Randy . Getting to Neptunes Treasure was a breeze. There, Randy met us, showed us around his beautiful place,then left us to the peacefullness that Anegada was all about. A BIG HI and a BIGGER "THANK YOU" to Randy, Linda, and of course, Singing Sally and staff (we know your watching) for a truly great stay.
Day 2. We spent the day driving around the island visiting all the fantastic places we had read about right here on TTOL. From "Flash of Beauty" to "Cow Wreck Bay" and every side road in between.
We visited the Settlement and stopped at Faulkner's store for a few supplies. This was my excuse to check out the bonefish flats. That evening we dined on the patio while Singing Sally entertained us with her songs.
Day 3. Morning could not come early enough as I prepared my fly rod and wading gear for a days fishing. We stopped at the bridge on the road that led to the Settlement for easy access to the flats. The sand bottom of the flats was solid making for easy wading. I searched for 3 hours with my un-trained eyes in hopes of spotting and casting to the ellusive "ghost of the flats" the bonefish. I was visited by the occasional reef shark but a wiggle of the rod tip in the water would send them scurrying away. I spotted one bonefish but he spotted me first and vanished into thin water.
Malou was waiting for me on shore, after 3 hours of wading in knee deep water I returned to dry land. Malou said that she saw something "Big" chasing the small fish around in the pool just below the bridge. Three casts later I felt a solid jerk of the rod and something big headed upstream 30 lbs of silver Tarpon cleared the water, gill plates wide open and then it was gone. A cold beer settled my jangled nerves so back to the Neptune for a shower and several "dark and stormy's"
then a pain killer to enhance my afternoon nap.
That evening it was dinner on the patio, the "swordfish" was fantastic. Another pain killer and thoughts of fishing next morning lulled me to sleep.
Day 4
This morning the wind was up before me with a cold front moving through the area. The wind along with the clouds would make for tough spotting, Malou decided to sleep in so off I go, back to my beloved fishing spot. The wind whipped across the flats making visual hunting as impossible as it would be to cast. I hugged the shoreline to try to take advantage of the calmest water, a few mangroves also helped as wind break. My eye caught a movement off to my left. There he was, a bonefish about 60' upwind from me, tail flashing in the morning light.Marking where he was I quietly backed out of the water and walked the shoreline to put the fish on my down wind side for a better presentation. Again I saw his tail sticking out of the water about 20 yards away. He swam within 10' of me turned and swam away. I managed a cast but all he wanted was deeper water.
In the afternoon, we again visited the beautiful beaches on the windward side. Amazing to see so much white sand with nothing but the pelicans to keep you company.
Evening found us in the dining room of Neptunes for a long awaited lobster feast and a chilled bottle of white wine. Huge lobster cooked to perfection!!!
Day 5
The weather still remained unsettled so we choose to stay close to Neptunes. I spent some time on the wharf with flyrod in hand, hoping for one more crack at a bonefish. 2 large bonefish lay about 30' from the dock in 3' of water. They each had to weigh 10lbs to 12lbs. I cast every fly I had in my tackle box at them, but these fish had seen it all before. They were only interested in the lobster innards when Randy cleaned
a dinner order. Man, they are only used to fine dining on lobster, no wonder they are so big.
That afternoon we sadly packed up and said our good byes to the wonderful people at Neptunes Treasure.
We caught the 5:20pm Clair Aero flight back to Tortola, spent a relaxing evening at the "Loose Mongoose/Beef Island Lodge" and took in the "salts" who were stranded in the bar while the heavens opened up with droplets as big as dimes.
While we didn't go sailing or motor cruising, we enjoyed meeting the local people, the safe freedom to roam, and the beauty that the islands have to offer from afoot.
A sincere thanks to all the good folks we met and a Great Big THANK YOU to the regular TTOLers on this site who with their patience, knowledge, and insight helped made our vacation unforgettable.
