Last morning in Anguilla

Since this is a travel day, I want to post early so I don't have to think about it when we get home tonight.  Not much time for anything creative, so just a few shots from the morning.  I wanted to spend more time going around the island taking photos of the houses and buildings.  I love the colors and design.  But of course the beach beckoned, so I didn't get around to it.  Here is one of the colorful storefronts that was beside our breakfast spot this morning.  I'm also posting a few images of the lovely villa we rented.  And finally, we were met everyday by the goats grazing in a scrubby lot across from our villa, so I wanted to take a few shots of them to remember them by.  Next post.....back home.

One final sunset

I took tons of photos today, but my computer is running slowly and I'm wanting to enjoy this last night on the island so much that I don't have much time to edit and post.  So, one final sunset from Anguilla (our prettiest since we've been here) to finish out our last night on vacation.

Cove Bay

Today we finally had a day with calm waters and we spent it at Cove Bay with lunch at Smokey's.  It was nice to have cool breezes and good swimming.  Here is a photo of Smokey's, a couple of black & whites of the beach and one HDR for good measure.  I didn't have a tripod, so the HDR is a little fuzzy, but I'm having fun playing around with the technique.  As you may notice, this gorgeous beach is basically deserted.  For a long time today it was just me and George and one other couple.  It got crowded when two more couples showed up!  Smokey's offered Thanksgiving turkey with the trimmings today, but I opted for the BBQ ribs since it just didn't seem like turkey and dressing would go with my rum punch!  

Palm Grove - (hey Mikey - it's a food photo!)

To start with, a sunset shot from Sandy Ground last night.  I love Sandy Ground and seeing all the boats in the harbor made me wish we were back on The Dove with Larry, Fiona, Pam and Edward.  Today we went to one of our favorite spots - Palm Grove - for lunch.  Nat and his son Theon took great care of us and were the perfect hosts.  The restaurant is at the far eastern side of the island, down some sandy roads, so it helps to know about it before you venture there.  But once you're there, it's the best grilled lobster on the island cooked up and served by the nicest folks you'll meet anywhere.  After lunch I was complimenting Theon on the johnny cakes and he asked if I wanted Nat's recipe.  Of course I did, and so Nat wrote it out for me.  When I mentioned that I thought the quality was more about the technique than the recipe, he took me back in the kitchen and showed me how to fix them.  If you've never had a johnny cake, it's a little bit like a flat bread hushpuppy, and Nat makes the best ones ever.  After the cooking lesson, he also told me that if I lost the recipe I could always find it on Bon Apetit!  And here I was thinking I had some recipe treasure that no one else had!  Nevertheless, I doubt many people have had a personal johnny cake lesson with Nat himself.  Here are some pictures of Nat's place and the wonderful lunch we had there.  Mikey, I couldn't possibly take a photo of food without thinking of you!  I also included one of me on the beach with a rum punch.  George took this one, but this is the only one of me on the trip, so I just wanted to prove that I came along too.

Crocus Bay day

The sun returned today and we took advantage of it by lounging around at da' Vida's at Crocus Bay most of the day.  I like my little Panosonic point and shoot.  It's got a nifty little Leica lens and takes great photos.  The only problem is that in the sun you can't see anything except your face reflecting back at you in the monitor.  So composition is a total guess.  I suppose that's what they mean by the term "point and shoot", since that's all you can do.  I got a few to post however, since a beautiful day on one of our favorite beaches seems to make a nice image without much help from me.  My favorite is the old structure down the beach a bit.  It looks like an old house left in shambles by some long ago hurricane.

Anguilla sea and sky

Three photos for today.  Last night after I posted George and I went down to the little beach below our house so I could take some photos of the sunset.  We've had quite a bit of wind and rain, so we haven't been dry too many nights at sunset.  The first image is an HDR photo I put together from three photos, 2 stops apart  right as the sun was setting, when I still had a lot of light but too much contrast.  The second image is a long exposure photo (I think this one was 45 seconds) taken when it was almost dark, just using the remaining light from the sun and the rising moon (a "blue moon" by the way).  The sea was very choppy but in the long exposure image, the waves smooth out almost flat.  When this image is enlarged, it has an ethereal quality I like.  If we have another good night I might try it again and go for a much longer exposure.  This was the first photo like this I've taken, and I enjoyed the experiment.  The third photo was from this morning.  The sun was brightly shining at our house, but a dark storm was battering St. Martin across the way.  I like the abstract nature of this image.  By the way, this was a color image, not b&w, but all the colors faded away in the bright reflections and the dark clouds.  We're hoping for a little more sunshine tomorrow.

A day at the beach

We spent most of the day at Mead's Bay soaking in the sun (and showers) and having a wonderful lunch at Jacala's.  What's much better than sitting with a good book on a beautiful beach?  Also, we saw some fun things we seldom see:  a gorgeous four masted sailboat (wish it had been under sail); a man and his son - who must be named Griswald - I've seen women dressed identically to their little girls, but never a man and his son; and finally, when we stopped to get gas, we could have also gotten our car "fragranced" for only 75 cents.  George wanted the pina colada, but I wanted honeysuckle, so since we couldn't agree, we just skipped it.