Wrecking With The Cows

Cow Wreck Beach, Anegada, British Virgin Islands

Original Wrecked Cow

Having Iris along with us on this trip has led to a couple interesting experiences.  One of the surprising problems that we didn't anticipate was the reluctance on the part of the local taxis to take her along.  Since this potentially put a crimp in our site-seeing, we ended up looking for alternative methods to getting around.  On Anegada, one of the tried and true methods of local transportation has been Jeep rentals, where Jeep is a catch-all term for a small SUV. I think ours was a Mitsubishi.

Excitement for the day:  a new hammock!

So today, we decided that we would rent a Jeep and explore all that Anegada had to offer.  First stop The Settlement, to pick up an additional bottle of Chloramphenicol ear drops.  Not much to see there.

After getting resupply on the ear drops, we decided to check out Loblolly Bay, one of the two highly recommended beaches on the island.  The place was sorta deserted, but the beach was spectacular.  We thought about suiting up and going for a snorkel, but when we got closer to the beach, we realized the sea was a bit rough.   Hmmm...  back to the car.  We were also famished, so chickening out of snorkeling wasn't too hard a call.

A girl and her dog walks off into eternity on the endless beach.
Well, maybe not eternity, but for at least a half hour.

Back into the car with an eye out for the flamingos that inhabit the island.  Turns out that you kinda have to be a local to know which of the many small sand/dirt tracks will lead you to where you can get a glimpse of them.  We didn't see a one after an entire day of criss-crossing the island.  Bummer.

We found out later that the Anegada wildlife authorities are fiercely protective of the flamingoes, and don't want tourists to molest them in any way.  Apparently that includes looking at them and/or taking their pictures.

A girl and her dog returns from the endless beach.  Thirsty,
no doubt.

The other famous beach on Anegada is Cow Wreck, which apparently gets it's name from a ship full of cow bones that wrecked near the beach back in the late 1800's.  For many years after the wreck, cow bones would wash up on the beach, or so the story goes.  We saw no cow bones on our beach trek, but it is one of the most beautiful beaches in the BVI, and perhaps one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  Stunning.

One nice thing about this trip was that Iris has really blossomed into the beach dog.  Wades into the surf, runs along beaches.  She's nicely adapted...