Getting Lost and Star-Spotting (Days 5, 6, & 7)

I met Tia Mowry, her husband Cory and their son Cree today while I was on Sandy Island! It was the highlight of my day I’d say. Today, I also went farther out in the ocean than I’ve attempted going since I arrived. I still harbour a fear of just floating out to sea and not being able to swim back. I was able to go further out because there were so many people around, including Tia. Anyway, we arrived to the tiny island by boat around 1:30, ate some amazing seafood and just hung out in the aquamarine waters. The sand here is so beautiful with pieces of coral everywhere. I’d like to say that I bonded with Tia, but that would be an untruth. She was real chill and commented here and there on various light conversations. I, in the meantime, tried not to be too star-struck. It was a beautiful day overall. I met two women from the Bay and we bonded instantly. It was nice to meet fellow Americans.

I haven’t written in a few days because I lost the password to my WordPress account and it locked me out. I forgot I had Two-Step Verification and it’s tied to my phone service which of course doesn’t work here. I sent in a form and scoured all kinds of help forums to no avail. But for some odd reason, while waiting for the boat, I decided to do a search for codes within my email archives and lo and behold, I had stored the backup codes. So I’m back.

Over the last two days, I have done little writing and little reading, but quite a bit of driving and exploring the island. On Monday, I kinda got lost while heading to the Heritage Collection Museum. I ended up at a cafe and decided to perch there and do some reading. I met my friend at her work and drove home with her. On Tuesday, I attempted to go to the Museum again and succeeded this time. It was overwhelming. Colville Petty is the historian who has made this his project. For a small fee of $5, I had the entire 4-room house to explore. I spent an hour there but would like to go back. Some of the artifacts confirmed for me just how intricately linked the African culture is to Diaspora.

On the way from the Museum, which is on the East End of the island, I decided to stop in Island Harbour at the beach facing Scilly Cay, another island off the coast of Anguilla. It was beautiful and I met the owner of the restaurant, On Da Rocks and we chatted a long while. We had quite a bit in common: he had grown up partly in St. Thomas and Anguilla and NYC and had a Master’s in English. Y’all know how I feel about wordsmiths. It was refreshing.

I continued back downhill and ended up at Shoal Bay. I stopped for a few seconds to take some pictures. It was getting dark and I really should have headed straight home but I was so proud of my adventures that I wanted one last look at the water before I headed inland. You can’t see the water from every point on the island. Unlike today on Sandy Island when I could truly tell I was on an island and was surrounded really 360, by water. Being on the mainland doesn’t feel like that because even though 17 miles seems short, it is not really and there is quite a bit of vegetation so it interrupts the views of the water in various places.

So on my way back down into the center of town and over to the West End where I live, I took a wrong turning and I was lost. I stopped a lady and she gave me directions and I was back on my way. However another wrong turn had me heading to the location where trash is dumped, but because it was dark, I couldn’t tell. The lady had apparently turned around after giving me directions and followed me to make sure I would make the next correct turn. So when she realized where I was headed, she honked a few times and motioned for me to pull over. She then had me follow her all the way to my home on the West End. She said it was Island friendliness and she had to make sure I was safe.

It’s been a great couple days and I’m glad I am back online to keep writing. I missed Pride and I will be missing the 4th, but I think I have more than enough beach to make up for them.