~~~ Part 4 ~~~
After a leisurely breakfast and unhurried morning, Elizabeth and Henry drove to the Heritage Collection Museum. Along the way they passed small cinder block buildings with elaborate concrete railings, intermittent bursts of flowers (bright magenta hues of bougainvillea, pale pink blooms of the local cedar trees, and fiery red blossoms of flamboyant trees), and the occasional goat foraging the roadside scrub.
At the museum they were greeted by a friendly curator who started them off on their tour at the section on Amerindians. Amerindians, they were told, had lived on Malliouhana, the native name for the island, from perhaps as early as 1300 BC until perhaps the time of European arrival in the Caribbean. More certainly, the Taíno Amerindians (sometimes referred to as Arawak) had arrived before 500 AD and were no longer found on the island when Europeans colonized it. Henry and Elizabeth learned that remains of Taíno settlements and ceremonial sites had been found on the island, including pottery, sacred zemis, and petroglyphs. The museum covered two ceremonial sites extensively.
Fountain Cavern (also known as "The Fountain") near Shoal Bay, they read, was one of Anguilla's many underground caves, with two small karst groundwater lakes that were used as a source of freshwater. There, archaeologists found more than 30 preserved petroglyphs, including a 16-foot-tall stalagmite carved into the shape of the Taíno god Jocahu (Yúcahu, "giver of cassava"), and thousands of ceramic shards. The Amerindian use of the cave was dated back to around at least 400 AD until around or after 1200 AD.
The second and more recently discovered site, Big Spring, in the village of Island Harbour further east, was thought to date back to 900-1200 AD. It was a collapsed sinkhole with shallow freshwater springs, containing over 60 petroglyphs. This was a critical source of water for the Amerindians (as well as for later settlers until almost the present day).
Henry and Elizabeth examined the many photographs and artifacts from these sites that were on display in the museum. They also saw a rather different cave discovery: this one, likely from Cavannagh Cave in Katouche Valley on the northern shore west of The Valley, was the remains of a blunt-toothed giant hutia, an extinct species of an enormous chinchilla-like rodent. Hutia were estimated to have weighed as much as 400 pounds.
"I guess we're lucky that hamsters are small," Elizabeth said to Henry, thinking about Mr. Whiskers, Jason's pet hamster.
"No kidding," Henry replied, immediately understanding her reference. "If we'd had one of those, it would have had to live in the stables."
"Better in the stables than in the house. But, still, I would not be cleaning up after it!" Elizabeth insisted.
"Oh, yes, you would have. You'd grumble about Jason not doing his chores, but secretly you'd find it relaxing to clean up after a giant rodent."
"Productive, not relaxing," Elizabeth clarified, as they both chuckled at the image of their family maintaining a horse and hutia rodent farm.
Moving ahead in time, they learned about the European settlements of the island beginning in the 1600s. Although Columbus had sailed near enough to Anguilla in 1493 to have given a name to neighboring St. Martin, he made no clear reference to Anguilla. It wasn't until 1631 that the Dutch, who were just settling St. Martin, built a fort on Anguilla at Sandy Hill Bay. It was destroyed only two years later by the Spanish. Then in the 1650s, British settlers came to Anguilla from St. Christopher (present-day St. Kitts), where they had established a settlement since 1624. For the next two decades Anguilla was under regular attack from both Amerindians and French settlers from nearby islands. The French would continue to attack intermittently until the end of the 1700s, but were never successful in wrestling control of the island from the British.
The British settlers established tobacco, cotton, and sugar plantations, relying on the forced labor of enslaved Africans. With poor soil and little rain, plantations were relatively small and unprosperous compared to those on many of the other Caribbean islands. Emancipation took place in 1834: 28 years before emancipation in the US, Elizabeth quickly calculated, thinking about the odious yet inescapable history of so many Western Hemisphere nations. Even their own beloved horse farm in Virginia had probably been part of such a plantation.
It was the next area of the museum, the last century's history of Anguilla, that Henry and Elizabeth found the most fascinating. Anguilla had been administered by the British along with Antigua for many years, and then subsequently along with St. Christopher and Nevis. As that tri-state union gained more self-governance, Anguillians saw that they were merely trading being governed directly by Britain for being governed by St. Kitts, which was in turn being governed by Britain. St. Kitts, though small, was far larger and more powerful than Anguilla and didn't have much interest in Anguilla's concerns. Particularly fed up with their dealings with St. Kitts' officials in 1967, Anguillians staged the so-called "Anguilla Revolution", ultimately repelling the St. Kitts Police and declaring themselves independent from St. Kitts. However, almost no one was willing to recognize their independence.
This state of affairs lasted until Britain's inordinate and almost comical invasion in 1969, dubbed "Operation Sheepskin", or as satirized by the press, "The Bay of Piglets". Concerned about having a lawless territory - rumor had it that Anguilla might be under control of the Mafia or other gangsters or US business interests - Britain deployed a few hundred paratroopers and marines to reclaim the tiny island. The 6000 Anguillians offered no resistance. Because in fact, they'd actually wanted to be British all along; they just wanted direct association with Britain, rather than indirect association via St. Kitts. Somehow, the British invaders had missed that memo. No ties to gangsters were ever found, and Britain ended up looking momentarily foolish. In the end, Anguilla got its desired separation from St. Kitts, and unlike St. Kitts & Nevis which subsequently became an independent nation in 1983, Anguilla still remains a British territory.
Henry and Elizabeth looked at photographs and news coverage from the revolution and invasion. Elizabeth was especially drawn to the photos of Anguillian children with the British military and policemen. In one, two boys, probably no more than 10 years old, were sitting on a wall, looking pretty chummy with a group of policemen. The boys were both wearing the policemen's hats, which were far too large for them. A similar photo showed an Anguillian boy in a paratrooper hat sitting with a paratrooper. A third photo showed a shirtless paratrooper posing, surrounded by four boys. Yet another photo was of a Christmas party the policemen threw for the kids.
While Elizabeth knew the situation was more complicated and probably less rosy than those specific photos made it look, she found it inspiring to see, as she had often seen in her career, how kids are natural ambassadors and how people find commonality and bond in even the most unlikely situations. She thought back to her own Christmas party, where she had, at least temporarily, bonded unexpectedly with Senator Carlos Morehon, and how Alison was now dating his son Lucas.
Lost in her own thoughts, Elizabeth realized she had fallen behind Henry, who had wasted no time moving on to the next exhibit. Ah, of course he hadn't: it was on religion and Anguilla's churches. When she caught up, Henry was talking animatedly with one the curators, asking many questions. Elizabeth watched Henry, not really paying too much attention to the details of their conversation, which at some point had shifted from churches to Rastafarianism and Robert Athlyi Rogers. A quick skim of the exhibit in front of her informed her that he was an Anguillian preacher and Garveyite who had started the Afro-Athlican Constructive Gaathly religious movement in the 1920s and published The Holy Piby, a bible that became an influential text for Rastafari. While Elizabeth had some knowledge of Rastafarianism in Jamaica, she didn't really know about it in the context of other Caribbean islands, and she joined in their conversation to learn more.
Once the curator left them to greet another visitor, they toured the remaining exhibits on Anguilla's carnival (Summer Festival) and local musicians, hurricanes, and other facets of Anguilla culture. The time passed quickly, and when Elizabeth and Henry were through with the museum, they were surprised to realize they had spent a couple of hours there. It was definitely time for lunch and snorkeling at Shoal Bay.
Twenty minutes later, Henry parked in a lot on the east side of the two-mile-long beach, and he and Elizabeth reapplied sunscreen to their faces. They exited the car and headed towards the water and turned right, walking along the wide stretch of white sand to the nearer end of the beach. They took in the cottages and villas on their right, and the light crystal blue ocean on their left. In the distance, the water was deeper indigo, and small waves broke along a coral reef that sheltered the bay. There were a few small boats in the water, but it was otherwise empty.
They passed a sparse row of palm trees, and the beach took a sudden almost ninety-degree turn right. From the point that jutted out, much of the north shore of Anguilla was visible: sandy beaches, contrasting with limestone coast, and dramatic oceanfront properties. Around the bend was yet more perfect turquoise water mottled with patches of darker blues, and they could see some exposed rock shelf poking out from the water. There was strong evidence of beach erosion, with the sand dropping off steeply where there weren't any tree roots to hold it in place.
They turned back and explored the other direction of the beach. After passing a handful of beach bars and restaurants, they decided on a casual outdoor joint, where they ordered rum punch and burgers with a side of fried plantains.
Henry and Elizabeth retrieved their swimwear and snorkel gear from the car while waiting for their food, and after lunch they changed in the bathrooms at the restaurant. It was still early afternoon and the sun was bright, so they both opted to wear rash guards. Elizabeth wore tight-fitting swim leggings as well, so she was almost entirely covered. Henry put sunscreen on the tiny bit of her neck that was still exposed and rubbed it in. His hands felt heavenly, and she moaned her approval.
"If I take my rash guard off, you'll sunscreen the rest of my back, right?" she asked.
He chuckled lightly. "Shirt stays on. No sun victims on this trip, remember? Wait until tonight, and I'll give you as thorough of a massage as you want." He ran his fingers tantalizingly down her sides and then wrapped his arms around her.
Since the shirt was in fact better sun protection, and more importantly, since she knew he could make better good on that promise in their hotel room than on the beach, she resisted the temptation to do more than briefly lean back against him before they peeled themselves apart.
They headed to the water and waded in slowly. They adjusted their masks and put them on, and Henry started to put his fins on clumsily. "It's easier if you go out at least waist deep," Elizabeth advised, heading further out herself. Henry followed, finding that she was, of course, right, not that he had doubted her. After Elizabeth had freed some stray hairs that were caught and leaking into her mask and after Henry had taken some practice breaths to get used to the snorkel, they began to swim towards the nearby reef.
The water was clear and everything underwater appeared magnified. The sandy bottom gave way to patches of coral and rock, and they drifted with the current parallel to shore. At times they wouldn't see much, and then suddenly there would be dozens of tiny fish chasing each other, or a bright blue school of tang in the shadow of a sea fan, or a colorful parrotfish nibbling on coral. Elizabeth and Henry stayed close together, excitedly signaling to each other whenever they saw something interesting. They looked up periodically to see how far down the beach they had migrated.
At some point they were over sand again. The water became a little cloudier over the sand, but it meant they didn't have to worry about hitting any coral and could stand and take a break from swimming. They removed their snorkels so they could talk. "How are you doing?" Elizabeth asked.
"Good," Henry replied. "You were right about me needing a new mask. This is a lot better than the last time we went snorkeling. It hasn't leaked once."
After resting for a few minutes, Elizabeth pointed a bit further out where there was some motion on the surface of the water. "Is that a turtle?" Henry asked.
"I think so!" Elizabeth replied. "Let's follow the edge of the sea grass." She was eager to spot a sea turtle underwater, and Henry was more than happy to oblige.
They swam for a while without seeing much, and Elizabeth was about ready to suggest they head in, when Henry waved frantically to get her attention. And there she saw it: A large green sea turtle grazing lazily on the sea grass! They moved closer cautiously, not wanting to startle the turtle. It looked so relaxed, gliding along the grassy floor. Occasionally, it would slice its front flippers through the water with minimal effort and then push them back to propel itself forward or to steady itself against the current. It stretched its neck out of its hard plated shell to grab clumps of grass off the seabed. About half the time, the clumps of grass floated away, which caused Elizabeth to giggle into her snorkel. At one point the turtle looked up and turned to face her, a seemingly skeptical expression on its face. (Did turtles always look skeptical?)
Henry watched as the turtle raised its front flippers high above its shell and then pushed them down with some force, starting to ascend. It repeated the motion, somewhat like a bird in flight. While the top of the turtle's fins were speckled, he noticed that their undersides were solid and pale. The turtle spiraled upwards, looking around in all directions. Henry was amazed by the level of detail he could see on the turtle, not only the pattern on its fins and the scutes of its shell, but also its eyes and even its nostrils, which were emitting a thin stream of bubbles. The turtle was only a couple of feet below them, but it was swimming away from them at a pretty decent speed. It reached the surface and looked down before drawing its neck back and lifting its head out of the water to breathe. It dipped back down again, swimming near the surface.
The turtle was getting too far away for him to see it clearly, but it looked like it would surface again, so Henry withdrew his head from the water and stared in the direction it was going. Sure enough, Henry caught sight of a head poking up. Henry couldn't catch up to the turtle, but Elizabeth was closer to it, so Henry watched from above the water as Elizabeth continued to follow it, and Henry saw it come up for a third breath in front of her. Elizabeth made a sudden turn, heading closer to him. He swam in her direction, and she pointed to where the turtle had returned down to the sea grass.
They watched the turtle eat for quite some time, until it eventually took off, and they both lost sight of it. "That was so cool!" Elizabeth exclaimed, once her head was out of the water and she had removed the snorkel from her mouth. Henry nodded enthusiastically in agreement. There was something both so simple and so awesome about what they had just witnessed. They circled around for a few minutes trying to find the turtle again before giving up.
"Want to go a little further, turn around and snorkel back, or just get out here and walk back?" she asked.
"A bit further and then walk back," Henry replied. So that was exactly what they did. They didn't see any more turtles, but they did see some other fishes, including thin needle-like fish near the surface, a school of silvery palometa with long black-edged dorsal and anal fins, and a boxy-shaped black-spotted trunkfish hovering just above the bottom.
After returning to their starting place, they dried off and drank the now-warm water from the water bottles they had brought. They also couldn't resist sharing a cup of ice cream from one of the beach-front restaurants before leaving. Snorkeling had tired them out, and they were fairly subdued on the drive back to the hotel. They stayed awake long enough to shower together, and then Elizabeth pulled out the Scrabble set, but they ended up napping until dinner.