Captain Don decided that this trip to the British Virgin Islands should be different from the last. He wanted to go to Anegada. As we had not gone to Anegada before, the charter company required that we take a captain along for the ride. We picked him up at the North end of Virgin Gorda and headed toward Anegada. The day was very calm, so the sailing was slow. The mood on the boat was strange, because captain Don did not want another captain on the boat and we had done enough bare boat charters that we really didn't need a captain along. This was our seventh bareboat trip as a group. Oh well, more beer!
The hired Captain directed us to the very West end of the Island, then we proceeded East inside the reefs to a secluded beach. We were the only boat anchored in the bay. Lisa - true to form - was reading in the travel guide. She found a restaurant in the bay and discovered that you needed to radio in before 4 PM to let them know if you were going to have dinner. Seemed odd, but we followed directions. Later that night we figured out why. We were the only patrons at the restaurant that night....
About 6 pm we rolled off the boat into the dinghy and headed in to the restaurant. It was a very cool little building. It was open through the middle (basically just a roof over the top, and the kitchen was on the West end of the building. A small bar was built into the East side of the building wall. We ordered dinner, and then settled into cocktails. Our crew drifted in and out of the bar as the sun set. It was a hot evening, with a very warm breeze. Some sat inside with easy access to the bar, others in beach chairs out by the beach. This restaurant was literally ON the beach, which was very cool. It was also about the only building in the bay at all. We are talking about hundreds of yards of pristine beach with maybe one other building along it. A very....very....very relaxed and remote setting.
Dinner arrived and we had all sat down to eat. everyone was having a great time. The sun had set, and it was early dusk. The only light in the area was coming from inside the restaurant where we were eating. Remember - open in the middle on both sides (North - South). This was providing a great breeze. It must have smelled great outside the restaurant as we were eating. Everyone was laughing and carrying on. All of a sudden we realized that there were 9 of us (instead of the eight that came to shore). It wasn't staff at the restaurant either... A Donkey had walked in to the restaurant from the North (inland side) and was slowly meandering through the building. Absolute silence. I swear everyone was thinking at the same time "am I halucinating?" Out the Donkey walked on to the beach... Everyone breaks into laughter. First time I ever ate dinner with a Donkey.
We finished up dinner and headed in to "The Settlement" looking for night life. Not a lot was found, but we already had our story for the evening!
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