Island Rains

Today we stayed anchored at Anegada, an island formed over old coral reefs instead of volcanic in origin like its neighbors, to play on shore for the day. After taking the dinghy in, we waited for a taxi under the shelter of a tree heavy with bright pink flowers as clouds moved and shifted overhead, intermittently dropping rain. It was quite a colorful scene between the pastel colors of the buildings around us, the thatched roofs, the shifting clouds, the white sand, the aquamarine water, the bright pink flowers, and the rusted barrels used for BBQ grills. At last our truck taxi arrived and off we bumped over the dirt road across the flat, scrubby island to Loblolly Beach. Arriving right at lunch time, we ordered lunch at the Big Bamboo restaurant and lazed around in hammocks, in a very islandy way, while we waited for the food. After lunch we set out for the beach where snorkeling is supposed to be spectacular. The beach, lined with benches under palm-thatched umbrellas, was gorgeous. The variations in the color of the water over reefs and sand was spectacular. The weather was a little cool (I know that sounds silly when compared to the weather at home) and windy so we decided to wait until the last hour before the taxi would pick us up to snorkel. Jason, Pika, and I sat in the sand and marveled at our surroundings while the boys set to work in the sand. Thunder in the distance and rain interrupted our beach activities and we took shelter under a palm-thatched umbrella waiting for it to pass. The rain paused and it looked like we may have some clearer skies heading our direction so we went for a walk to pass the time until they caught up with us. When we got back the sky was darker than ever so we decided it was now or never. We all hopped into the water and snorkeled around, leaving chihuahua on the bench on a fluffy towel. After about ten minutes in the water the wind picked up and it was starting to storm so we climbed out of the water and returned to the sad, wet chihuahua on the bench. At this point a torrential downpour started and I am pretty sure we became even wetter than we already were. We packed up and headed full tilt into the wind back towards the shelter of the restaurant with our fellow soaked beachcombers. As we all piled under the shelter of the open-air roof, there was much amusement as the dry patrons stared at the dripping, water-logged crowd that had just joined them. It didn't look like the weather was going to let up so we hopped into the back of the truck, me still in my bathing suit, wrapped in a soaked towel, for a shivery, bumpy ride back across the island. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the boat drying out and drinking tea.

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