The Renée Review

February 17, 2006

Sunshine today! We woke early in an effort to view the flamingo population of Anegada. This flock is as bright a pink as anyone can imagine. We took the dingy to the dock and walked until we reached the brackish ponds where the flamingos live. To our dismay, they were way on the other side, sticking out like pink thumbs, mere dots on the horizon.

After Tracy Schwegman and Jessica Sharkey served us a large breakfast, we slathered up with spf50 and returned to the dingy for some time on Anegada’s famed Loblolly beach. Mark Schwegman & Justin Smit loaded up 2 portable chairs, towels for all, chilled beverages, packaged snacks, fins, snorkels, masks, smash ball and a volleyball. As if the gorgeous sand and water weren’t enough!

Once we reached the dock of the Anegada Reef Hotel at Setting Point, we shopped their cute boutique for some necessary items and hopped in Tony’s Taxi for the short 15-minute ride to Loblolly. Tony is a vigilant, attentive driver and the original taxi on the island – he’s been driving for 30 years. On his dash is a circa 1950’s hula girl that sways and jitters with every bump in the road. Tony was born on the island and pointed out every structure with great pride. We joked about our failed attempt to find the elusive Anegada pink flamingo and Tony said, “If you like, I’ll take you to a place I know about for flamingos later this afternoon,” chuckling “no guarantees.”

Anegada is not an island of great visual interest and is best known for its 13-mile beach. Unlike its sister islands, Anegada is flat and desolate, though there are lovely wild orchids that bloom throughout the year, most prolifically, according to Tony, during the month of May.

At Loblolly, we found a lovely cove of deserted beach that had a vast sandy bottom, great for wading in the shallows. Moreover, there was expansive coral reef, allowing us to swim easily and snorkel with the kids. This is an excellent spot to chill. The beach is of crushed coral – not as fine a grain as on Virgin Gorda or Peter Island, but pleasant underfoot and a beautiful blend of pink and white. This little chunk of heaven was marvelous.

Tony returned at our pre-arranged time and we were all hopeful that his flamingo place would prove fruitful; it was! We saw two separate flocks of about 30 flamingos each. They were gorgeous with vivid color. The thrill was seeing them in flight and watching them land. Flamingos really are graceful despite their gangling awkward appearance.

On our return ride to the dock, Tony stopped his taxi, gathered bunches of wild orchids, presented them to Simine Tepper, Marlo and I, and said, “Welcome to Anegada.” This was a simple thing, yet the kindness from him was innately genuine. The orchids astonishingly smelled of honey, a strange thing for orchids, which typically, outside of the chocolate orchid, do not have a scent.

Again, we returned to superb food prepared by Tracy Schwegman and were able to relax while the yacht Panache motored back to Virgin Gorda. I popped in a movie “The Girl With The Pearl Earring,” Simine half watched while playing solitaire, Larry Tepper decided to nap and Marlo, Eric and Ryan Tepper played games and created a pretend “Toon Town” school charter. Paul used this opportunity to discover his body coordination for showering while underway – probably the equivalent of showering inside of a moonwalk; one of those blow-up bouncy castles the kids love to jump inside of.

Tonight we anchored at Mountain Point, an amazing bay with incredible water, snorkel reef and sweeping vistas. Jessica Sharkey was able to serve dinner outside on the fly deck where we laughed a lot and enjoyed each other’s company.

Paul, Larry, Simine and I ended the day with a mean game of Spades and turned in after midnight. What a glorious day!