Cindy and I decided to stay in Anguilla through the end of Holy Week so that we could fully immerse ourselves in the commemoration and celebration of this most important week on the Christian calendar. We rented a car last weekend so that we could attend Palm Sunday worship at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in The Valley. We found the service so acceptable that we decided to stay in Anguilla for the next seven days so as to be able to attend other services.

One of Cindy’s favorite trees – The African Tulip – by the side of the road.

Sunset in Road Bay

We again rented a car for three days, from Thursday to Sunday, so that we could worship with the fine folks at St. Mary’s. On Thursday evening, we attended the Maundy Thursday service, so called from the Latin “mandatum,” meaning commandment. It was at the the Last Supper that Christ gave the new commandment to his disciples — That they love one another. Then, from noon to 3 p.m. on Good Friday, we attended a service in which the seven last words of Christ were remembered in homilies and hymns. I find it it so moving to sit in church and consider these sayings for the three hours which correlate with Christ’s final hours on the cross. Then on Saturday night at 11:30, we attended on of my favorite services of the year, the Easter Vigil. I’ll never forget the first one that I attended in Sarasota while we lived aboard in Bradenton. The service begins in absolute darkness, the darkness which fell on all when Christ was crucified and buried. Then, the Easter Candle, representing the light of Christ, makes its way down the center aisle. Soon the place is completely lit, signifying the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The service lasted until almost 1:30 a.m., at which time we drove back Sandy Ground, hopped on our dinghy, and returned to Beatitude. We love being a part of a liturgical church, where we, in some mystical way, participate in Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

St. Mary’s before Maundy Thursday service.

St. Mary’s at the beginning of Maundy Thursday service

St. Mary’s after Maundy Thursday service. The altar stripped bare anticipating Christ’s betrayal and suffering.

Easter Vigil

I would be remiss if I led you to believe all we did was worship and attend church in Anguilla this past week. Having a rental car meant that we could drive to the other gloriously beautiful bays lined with white sand beaches and restaurants right on the sand. We definitely visited our share.

Our view from DaVida Beach Bar on Crocus Bay

Lunch at DaVida

My flower among the flower’s at DaVida Beach Bar on Crocus Bay

I’m about to be attacked by a ferocious cat! (At Smokey’s on Cove Bay)

Cats, Dogs, Chickens in every restaurant!

Enjoyed some great Honey-BBQ baby back ribs. 🙂

What a sunset at Smokey’s!

Outside CeBlue, home of great pizza on Crocus Bay

Pizza at Ce Blue

We are also quite pleased with our almost two weeks spent at anchor. Our energy management was very good. We only had to run the generator once (after a mostly cloudy day), meaning our solar power kept up with our energy needs pretty well. And we survived on our two tanks of water (96 gallons total) for two weeks. Since our watermaker is out of service, we had little choice but to make do. And, we did fine. We washed our dishes in salt water and rinsed them in fresh, which was fine. We sacrificed our daily showers for showers every 2 or 3 days, but we were in the water swimming almost every day. That gives us confidence going forward in our ability to handle energy and water needs for a more extended time.

After just 5 hours of sleep on Saturday night, we rose early to make the 18-mile passage to a new island and a new country, Sint Maarten. More on that next time…

The 180-foot 3-masted barque, Picton Castle, which has made 5 world voyages.

The Picton Castle in background, my lovely wife in the foreground in Dali.

Last Sunset in Anguilla