On the plane in ROC at 7:20 AM and have to wait on runway for 10-15 min to let traffic around Philly clear up. Arrive at Philly and circle for another 10-15 min for same reason then land at C26 and have to run like mad to catch our SJU flight at A18. Arrive in nick of time for 9:34 flight but sit at gate and not airborne until 10:15. Pilot makes up all but 10 min and arrive in SJU to hot sunny skies. SU Air combined our Philly flight as well as a Charlotte flight’s luggage so it was a 45 min wait for luggage but we were in no rush since we were spending the night in Old San Juan at El Convento.
If you have never stayed at Elconvento, it is a real treat. You can check out the website for the description and when the photos are up you can check them out also. There were a couple fo cruise ships in town so it was a bit busy but they left the next morning and things got quiet again. Checked out around noon and headed to SJU for Island Bird flight to Anegada at 1:00. Very strange that the kid at the counter thought it was “no more than 2 hours” in flight, to which I replied I could be in Grenada in 2 hours. Then asked a Cape Air pilot, yes we know they do not fly there but one would think you would want to be aware of the runways on other islands in case of an emergency, but no a chance. Next was the Island bird driver from the terminal to the plane, he was clueless, then finally Ed the pilot, 96 miles 35-40 min. At last we found someone who actually knew that there was an island called Anegada and how long it took to fly there. Plane got of 20 min late due to DEA dogs sniffing all the baggage, even the charters.
What a great flight! Ed took a low route and the sights were amazing! Anegada is spectacular from the air. Ed was gonna buzz Cow Wreck, apparently he knows them and they know him, but did not want us to think he was screwing around with our lives I guess. Landed, got stuff and the immigration/customs guy was not there, but he “would catch up with us” when we left in 6 days. DW was right there with the rental and off we went with little if any directions. Did not take long to figure out you really do not need any directions. Went right to Cow Wreck and surprised Lauren, she thought we were coming over on the ferry should have had Ed buzz them), no problem though and took us right over to our cottage.
Finally, in the island (a long wait since January when we booked it). Relaxed a bit then headed over to the Ferry docks to meet up with our provisions from Bobby’s on Tortola. The ferry was tight on time, the provisions were all in order but Bobby’s neglected to inform me that I owe Smiths fright on the deliver, I had no problem with that, just that it initially appeared that I was trying to avoid paying it since I just dove in like everyone else and grabbed my stuff then loaded it up. At any rate I paid my $4/box and drove off into the sunset to Cow Wreck and dinner.
Got all the stuff put away prior to sunset and stuffed a bunch of caribs in the freezer, watched the sunset and then……….the onslaught began. Along comes cows (11 of them) and skeeters (bazillions of them) and no see ems, which I envision as looking like the Langoleers from the Steven King movie. The bugs were so aggressive that Lauren wrapped them up and we took them “home” to eat.
The rest of the days were spent pretty much doing the same thing, watching the sunrise, walking the beach, eating, drinking, swimming, watching the Sunset. The pelicans were a source of amusment and entertainment watching them dive all day into the water for fish. One day we saw some small sharks in the same area of the pelicans and they were dijon mustard color and 2 to 3 feet in length, like the ones in some of Walkers prior pictures. Water was tooo rough most of the time to snorkel which is why we never got down to Loblolly even though we had a car. And……why go to another beach when we had paradise at Cow Wreck. Very few people around, we got in on Wed 11/7 around 2:30 or so and the only other renters in Walkers cottage left Friday AM. Very few daytrippers also, the most of them were on Sunday and that was maybe a dozen. Found out my Verizon cell phone worked without a hitch but on roam even though I did not call Verizon to extend my service prior to leaving. Ate at Neptunes, and Palmetto Point and did not think food was anything to rave about.
We pretty much drove the entire island which was pretty cool and found the local stores in The Settlement where, amazingly enough, we got bottled water of the 20 oz size for only a $1/bottle. I go to a Bills game and pay $4 for the same thing.
It was hot, it was sunny, it was paradise!
We were to leave at 1:00 with Island Birds Monday 11/12 and being the sheep that we have trained to be we were at the airport early at 12:30. Not a soul and only evidence of life was the steaming cow crap lining the walkway to the gate into the “airport”. Around 15 min later three guys show up in a vehicle and it was the customs/immigration guy who was MIA when we flew in, he stamped our passports. The exit tax guy, who actually took our papers upon arrival (multi-tasking) and on of DW’s people or relatives to pick up the rental. Island Birds came shortly therafter with the pilot, Marshall as well as the owner who was on his way from EIS to SJU to do some stuff. What a great guy he was, hand held us all thru the process in SJU then even escorted us to get a cab for another night at El Convento.
Mind you, this is not an island for everyone. It is isolated and could be considered remote, there really is no night life or day life to speak of. This is a beautiful beach and relaxation island. I would had loved AC at night and more eating options in buildings as opposed to out in the open due to the skeeters. I also had reservations about writing a trip report since I did not want to encourage people to ruin it. Did I mention the bugs, heat, humidity, sand roads, cows and associated poop, the price of gas ($5/gal) and the isolated location?

Pictures to follow in a day or so…………………Walker I over provisioned and left some liquid refreshments in your fridge, cheers!