Commodore
September 10, 2022

Great walk to Rendezvous Bay Beach

We decided we needed a day off the boat, it sounded like most of the repairers were not going to be around today, so a good day to leave the boat. Lots of wind and cloud about, so a good walking day too. Our friends Stella and Matt were meant to join us in 2020 in Antigua, but we couldn’t make it in the end because of Covid, they had a week on their own exploring the island. Stella sent a message a few days ago saying how they enjoyed a walk through the rain forest to Rendezvous beach. We hadn’t seen anything in our guide books about it, but decided to give it a go.

Rowan has spent hours researching the dilemmas of filling butane and propane gas tanks and if it is ok to use different gasses in the same containers etc. All the research and advice conflicts, and is a bit of a minefield, so in the end he has decided we should carry both kinds of tanks. This meant we had to find an adaptor, and none of the gas suppliers around here had the required piece. He finally found an obscure shop in the middle of the island who said they had the right thing. We caught a taxi there with our gas bottle so that there could be no error on the fitting. It took us about half an hour to get there, and after a bit of a kerfuffle, the first assistant said they didn’t have the right thing, they finally got it resolved! Phew we hope we can now travel to any country and get gas. Half way back to the marina we asked our taxi driver to drop us off on this road Stella had mentioned to find the trail to the beach. He wasn’t sure about it at all, having lived here all his life and never been to the remote beach. A few phone calls later and Rowan’s trail app showing us the start, we found ourselves at the Wallings Nature Reserve on Fig Tree Drive. Our taxi driver dropped us off and took our gas tank back to the marina.

Start of the walk

There was a little office where we had to sign in, part with US$15 and mark down the trail we were taking. It didn’t look like anyone had been here in days, and certainly nobody about. The reserve was started in 2018, so I suspect it is relatively unknown. We had the whole place to ourselves. A lovely walk through rain forest, thank goodness it is being protected as it is a crowded island and pressure on land must be enormous. We had an initial climb to the Victorian reservoir which is still in use apparently, but looked very empty. A long time ago the area was a big farmed estate, but was replanted with rainforest when they built the reservoir. There is another big replanting drive at the moment, where they are clearing the invasive lemongrass. We climbed a lot, and we were very grateful for an overcast day even in the shade of the lovely rain forest.

The Victorian reservoir and spillway

We finally made it to the top of the hill, then a steep long descent to the beach. In between breaks in the tree we could see the enormous sails of the super yachts, presumably racing as there were so many of them. Exciting seas for them, with plenty of big white horses. Exiting a gate out of the reserve we landed up with a whole lot of cows which was a bit of a surprise. It was a pretty parched area without much grass, but the cows looked in pretty good nick. We finally got to the beach after brushing through a lot of thorn bush to get there. It really felt like we were back in Africa. A stunning beach that we entered on the one end. Wild and blustery, it was completely deserted. One can only hope it will never be developed.

View from the top, down to the racing super yachts

The path got narrower and steeper

Rendezvous beach looking towards the houses on Turtle Bay

Gorgeous unspoilt beach

Yachts still racing

We walked to the other end and found some picnic tables, where we sat under the shade of the trees accompanied by a very brave little bird, who took rather a liking to our pistachios. Suddenly a jeep appeared next to us, I suppose because of the noise of the waves we hadn’t heard it. A rather large young english girl got out and said that was the most terrifying drive of her life! It definitely is a 4×4 track here, and a very steep road, which is our route back to the marina. It was a hire car that she was driving with a local chap. Rowan thinks we may have ruined their afternoon fun! They didn’t hang about, barely looked at the beach and they were off.

Our gutsy little bird

We set back around 4ish after reading more ghastly war news, seriously impressed with the Ukrainians resolve to fight back. It was a steep climb back, we understood what the lady was talking about, very brave of her to attempt it. We came out near where we did our walk the other day to Turtle bay. It felt really good to have stretched our legs, we clocked nearly 12kms and 55 floors, the most exercise we have had in ages.

Our road home, this was the easiest bit

Pebble bay, full of broken coral. Rowan keeps telling me how coral is much better than trees at absorbing CO2, and unlike trees which release CO2 when they decompose, coral never releases its CO2. Coral could save the planet, sadly so much seems to be dying and not a lot being done about it. Actually we have seen a few projects where they are growing coral, to take back to reefs that have died.