Epic Anegada Post - 2015

A few weeks ago we returned from our second trip to Anegada, a small island that is part of the British Virgin Islands.  The good thing about a second trip here is you are likely to take less pictures.   Things don't change that much since there's really not a lot of development on the island.  There were two new restaurants, a bar re-opened, and one of the hotels started setting up 7 safari-style tents on the top of the cliff overlooking the beach.

Check out some of our posts from last year to see some pictures and get our general descriptions of the locations:

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Anegada overview
Cow Wreck Beach
Loblolly Beach

Last year's video:

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Getting There

What a mess.   We originally were booked to fly out on a Saturday morning to Charlotte, then change planes to San Juan, and then change planes again in San Juan to fly to Tortola.  We would stay overnight on Tortola and take a small (9-seat) plane to Anegada the next day.   The flight schedule kept shifting, which always messed up our connections.  We ended up flying from Chicago to Miami on Friday, staying overnight by the MIA airport, getting an early flight to San Juan, and then flying over to Tortola.

We spent the Tortola day at the Tamarind Club, a small hotel on the East End that had a great bar and restaurant.   Lots of fun!

The next morning we got to the airport before 7:30am as instructed for our 8am flight to Anegada.  At 8am no one was at the VI Airlink desk.  We of course start panicking.  Luckily, the lady at another airline desk told us they were never on time.  A few minutes later a woman with a VI Link shirt comes over carrying a toddler on her hip. She hands us a slip of paper and tells us to proceed to security.  We go through security with a hand-written credit card slip as our boarding pass.  That's not the most bizarre thing.   She came and got us on the other side to escort us to the plane, which was an easy walk from the door.  However, we had to get into her car, with the kid in the backseat (no car seat), and ride over to the plane.

Our flight lasted about 10-15 minutes and we lucked out with a clear day for some great views.   One nice thing about the flight is the cost is not that much more than the price of the ferry from Road Town.  We have more scenes from the flight in the video.  Our flight back was a little worse.  We had to land at Virgin Gorda first and go through a few rainstorms.

Getting Around

We rent a car for the entire time we are on Anegada.  We use D&H Jeep Rentals.  The "D" stands for Dean and he is full service.  When he heard the plane fly over his house he got in the car to head to the airport.  He showed up about 4 minutes after we landed.  We rode with him to his office and filled out the paperwork.  we were given the car we rode over in, a Subaru with the driver side on the right.   On Anegada they drive on the left.  At first Dave thought this would be too weird, but it's the same configuration as a boat so it wasn't hard to get used to.  The car was actually from Japan with a lady's voice giving us some kind of notice in Japanese each time we started.  The radio was Japanese format so the FM bands did not match up with the bands we use on this side of the globe.  We relied on AM, which most of the time meant church music.

Staying and Playing

We stayed at Neptune's Treasure, which is on the south side of the island near the anchorage and ferry dock.  Neptune's is a small 9-unit family-run hotel that has a great bar scene and full service kitchen and bakery.  We received a very pleasant room on the second floor that overlooked the bar and the anchorage.  Usually we would walk along the beach that Neptune's Treasure sits on, but there was a massive invasion of seaweed that made sitting by the beach unpleasant let-alone walking through it.

This was early in the trip.  By the end of the week all that sand was covered in weeds.

Remember there's not too many activities offered on the island.  Diving, snorkeling, sail boarding, and kite surfing are available, but we did none of that nonsense.  We almost rented paddleboards... Our typical days started with a car ride either to Cow Wreck or Loblolly.

If we went to Cow Wreck the first thing we'd do is read our books for a while then get in the water with some beers until lunch.  Then we'd eat at the Cow Wreck Beach Bar (ALWAYS the fish burger.  They make a great fish sandwich with either broiled or fried flounder - either way it fantastic), go back to the chairs and read some more until around 4pm.  Our next stop would either be the Anegada Beach Club for Bushwackers, Anegada Reef Hotel for their fun Happy Hour, or our hotel for sunset and Happy Hour.

The water color would change from a light blue to a green as the sun changed position 

We brought these floats from home and hauled them around in our car.  We left them for the kids that belonged to the owners of Cow Wreck Beach Bar.

On a cloudy morning we took a three-mile walk from Cow Wreck towards Keel Point.  We did not run into another person.

Found this weird trash thing along our walk

Around 3:30 the cows come home

We prefer Cow Wreck to Loblolly because Cow Wreck has less rocks and the water is typically calmer.  Loblolly was also a bit of a further drive for us.  Since it's a little farther, you get fewer people at Loblolly.  By fewer, we mean a dozen people at one time in one place.  Since there are three bars on Loblolly people tend to spread out more.  The most popular place is Big Bamboo.   Great menu with lobster, shrimp, and BBQ items.  Crazy Richard, a hippy that comes down for 5 months from Traverse City, Michigan and sleeps under a bush, juggles for tips and will burn your name into driftwood with a magnifying glass.  This tends to draw a crowd.  The staff here (like at most places) is fun and friendly.  Flash of Beauty is the other lunch spot on this beach.  Our favorite feature there is the honor bar/fridge.   Say hello when you arrive and let them know you are going to take beers during the day, pay-up at the end.   Most of the places will run day-tabs for guests.  The final bar, which we think is named Potter's II, just opened up a few weeks ago to serve beverages only.

Loblolly Beach from Flash of Beauty

A crowded morning

By Big Bamboo

Holly makes fun of Dave for using the pole......

But the results are this...

Big Bamboo keeps their lobsters in traps and grabs what they need throughout the day

Small lobster.

We would spend a lot of time walking Loblolly in the morning exploring the rocks near the beach where tiny fish were trapped in their crevices and unusual mollusks hung onto the rocks.  We found a treasure trove of sea glass and collected quite a bit during two treasure hunts.

Happy Hours

Bushwacker

Around 4pm we usually are ready to stop lazing around the beach to start lazing around a bar.  Most restaurants want you seated and eating no later than 7:30 so you had to pack it in at some point.  We typically would grab Happy Hour drinks at Anegada Beach Club, mainly because they had awesome bushwhackers and reliable wi-fi (we know of only 4 wi-fi spots on the island).  Another favorite was the Anegada Reef Hotel.  Since they were close to the ferry dock a lot of people would stop there before heading on the ferry or onto their boats.  It was always lively and they played good soca music.

We also enjoyed our hotel's happy hour.   We would either sit near the water or at the bar.  Mark, the owner, often told stories about growing up on Anegada in the early seventies.

Took this on a cloudy night from Neptune's.  Instrgraming the photo gave it a nice quality.

Potter's was the home of the nightlife on the island.  After we had dinner there one night we moved to the bar and watched as the new bartender from Anegada Beach Club was moonlighting (or this is his full-time job) as a DJ playing a mix of reggae, current hits, and wedding favorites.  It was fun to watch a French teenager get excited about winning a bottle of rum in the limbo contest.

We visited Pomato Point Restaurant twice for drinks, but mostly to go sit on the beach outside their doors and take in the west-side view of sunset.  The first visit there were eight others on the beach.  The second visit, just us.

Dining

Last year we ate most of our meals at our hotel, Neptune's Treasures.   It was easy and most of the menus around the island are very similar.  Big lobster, several fish entrees, shrimp, and other various island favorites can be found everywhere.   This year we went to three places!!!  We ate two meals at our hotel, one meal at Potter's by the Sea (they are known for their Lobster Alfredo), and five at The Wonky Dog.  Yes, The Wonky Dog is our new favorite place.  The owners are super fun and friendly and the food was fantastic.  The Wonky Dog is not the typical Anegada restaurant because its chef-owner Peter is actually an honest-to-goodness trained chef.   Culinary treats!  We had everything from jerk chicken pizza, to cracked conch, to lobster, to bacon corn ice cream.   Goodness all over.   Their multi-course Valentine's menu was fantastic and featured an optional wine pairings.  Oh, and dinner is served at tables on the sand near the water.  After dinner one night we were the last ones left and ended up having some champagne and singing karaoke (yeah we don't do that usually).   Really fun.

Anegada is definitely not for everyone.  It's a pain in the neck to get to.  There aren't big resorts, chain restaurants, or many activities or sites to see.   Visitors have to be comfortable with a very relaxed pace, rigid dining hours, and limited selections for groceries and other sundries.   If you can handle all that along with beautiful beaches, minimal crowds, friendly people, and great food it may be a place worth visiting.  We will be back.

Here's this year's video.  We focus a bit on driving around the island so you see more than just the beaches:

Walking in New Orelans - Part 4

(Catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 here)

The morning after Holly and Stan ran the New Orleans Marathon we started walking down Toulouse toward Decatur (again). We wanted breakfast and figured Monday's lines at Cafe Du Monde would be shorter than a weekend's line. This was true, but our group wanted more of a real breakfast vs just fried dough. After huddling up around Yelp! and adding a pedicab driver into our mix, we determined breakfast would be had a block away at Stanley. We didn't know this until now but many publications rave about their breakfasts. We all agreed it would be a great way to start the day. 

 While at Stanley we started a partial plan of the day. We had no idea our walking map would end up looking something like this:

We walked-off the huge breakfast by heading over to The French Market. This is an open-air pavilion that houses a food court of-sorts (think South Street Seaport or The Reading Market) and a flea market. You can pick up Cajun food items, hand-crafts, t-shirts, CDs, sunglasses, and other assorted junk. Dave was kept at-bay from buying the Pakistani stone cups (looked great for Tequila).

Once we finished touring the market we figured we could finally tour Lafitte's properly. Let's face it, this was really an excuse to get a beer before noon. We took Rue Royal over before crossing up to Bourbon. We took our time to take-in the decent weather and classic French Quarter architecture. Many of the residents were gearing up for Mardi Gras by decorating in similar fashion as one would do for Christmas.

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is dank. It was built in 1722 and is believed to be the oldest building hosting a bar in America. At 11:30 in the morning it was bright enough to be able to take in the history and the decor of the building.

After finishing our drinks (again, we forgot about to-go options) we went down a block to continue our tour of Rue Royal. After a few blocks we headed back down to Decatur and into Cafe Du Monde for coffees and beignets. These were hands-down better than Cafe Beignet.

After the snack we toured the Jackson Square area and St. Louis Cathedral before continuing our Rue Royal trek. We stepped into a couple of galleries and souvenir shops along the way. One of the cooler locations we stopped in was Cohen Antiques: home of antique maps, currency, and weapons. A lot of history in that store.

Time to eat again. We headed to our 2pm reservation at Nola, an Emeril LaGasse restaurant in The Quarter. Holly and Dave ate here 17 years ago and came away with great memories. Today it is still just as good. Three of us had the BBQ Shrimp and grits and the other salmon. That is bacon with the shrimp.....it's getting a big picture.

A familiar activity this trip was walking off our meal. We headed down to Decatur to see what that part of the street looked like. As we got closer to downtown the feel of The Quarter was shifting to a city feel. We turned up one of the streets so we could see the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone. The intention was to have a drink at the revolving bar, but all the seats were full. We admired from afar and left the building (after using their very nice restrooms) to wrap up the Rue Royal tour. One of our final stops was Bevolo: makers of fine hand-crafted brass lamps. We got to tour the showroom and talk with the craftsmen. The conversation centered around food.

It had been at least an hour since we consumed anything so it was time to grab a beer. We walked down Toulouse and headed towards Crescent City Brewhouse. In the timeline of the craft beer movement CCB was on the scene very early. They had the formula of an early brewpub: Nice food and a few beers made in-house. Nothing experimental or on-trend. They may have had the same offerings when we were last there 17 years ago.

We headed over to Pat O'Brien's for a final few rounds of hurricanes. The weather wasn't horrid so we spent our time in the patio section (but still under heat lamps). Since we hadn't eaten for at least 180 minutes (except for free bags of popcorn at Pat's) we formulated a dinner plan. Not too far away was The Gumbo Shop. We were entertained by Jerome, a very pleasant waiter, and treated to an excellent meal of varying gumbos and BBQ shrimp. After the meal we were served a killer bread pudding.

We walked back to the hotel and spent a final few moments together in the hotel bar. Stan and Pam were leaving very early in the morning while we had an early evening flight out the next day. After parting ways Holly and Dave crossed the street to Tropical Isle for some live music. At first we started listening to the rock band, but then moved to the next room for the Cajun band. It really was nice to be in The Quarter where music was ever-present between the bars and high-caliber street performers.

We spent the next morning lazily packing, watching TV, and having some bench time in Jackson Square. We had a short walk to our brunch location: The Court of Two Sisters. Brunch is a buffet served in the courtyard while a jazz trio plays. Very pleasant location but the food needed a little help. The buffet area where you got your food was dated beyond being quaint. The actual inside of the building had layers of throwback all over the place.  We had some time to kill before we had to leave town so we stopped in for a final sampling of southern beers at Chartes House. This was a place that we would always pass on the way to another location and we'd say something like "that looks like a cool little place for a beer". All the windows slid open to give it an open-air feel and with temperatures near 70 that day it was a perfect way to say goodbye to New Orleans.

March Charity of the Month: Stillbrave

Charity of the Month is the way Team Tizzel is helping to support some very worthy organizations. As part of this program, we dedicate a post to a charity that we will sponsor through the month by donating Holly's training run money.

February: We supported BlazeSports.  Their goal is to help others gain confidence and independence through adaptive sports. We've witnessed their direct impact on the lives of a family we know. We will be donating $125 plus a matching gift to BlazeSports through their online link at www.blazesports.org.

March's Charity:

Stillbrave

www.stillbrave.org

A friend of ours in the D.C. area suggested we choose Stillbrave for our monthly project. She has volunteered at several of their events and had nothing but good things to say out their work and their founder, Tattoo Tom.

From their website: Stillbrave’s mission is to provide non-medical, supportive care to children with cancer, and their families. They are committed to helping the families of children battling cancer in any way we can. So while they are fighting the toughest war of their lives, Stillbrave will fight their lesser battles, so they don't have to. Stillbrave not only here to support children with cancer; we are here to help ease the burden of the family and the caregivers who are fighting battles of their own.

Tattoo Tom lost his daughter to childhood cancer and has made it his life's mission to help give children and families strength and support during difficult times.

Stillbrave has several projects underway, one of which is preparing backpacks for children to help make their chemo sessions more comfortable and less scary. Tom will be running a 200 mile ultra-marathon in September; dedicating each mile to a child whom is undergoing treatment, or whom has lost their battle. There is a video on their website documenting his 100 mile ultra last year. His commitment to these children really comes through in the video.

Check out their Facebook page for more stories.

Use the yellow button below to go to Stillbrave's donation page and be sure to watch the moving short documentary about Tom's first 100 Mile Ultra posted below.