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Unplanned road trips make extraordinary memories, the kinds of memories that bond.

On the Caribbean island of Anguilla, our Thursday morning adventure began with a road map and the name of a place we hoped to find: Little Bay. A hidden snorkeling spot, accessible only by boat or by rappelling down a cliff after hiking through dense underbrush (we later learned), Little Bay proved elusive based on the map alone. My husband navigated with the map, directing me to turn up one nondescript road and down another, but we only found cliffs and hills. Ducking into a squat, pink building advertised as a local art gallery, we found the owner who told us about Calvin, the boatman who had been making runs to Little Bay from the neighboring bay for more than a decade.

With our new insight, we took his top secret directions and found Calvin. Fifteen minutes on the small motor boat and we rounded a headland to find a small stretch of beach tucked into a half moon of cliffs. Calvin would pick us up in two hours. Beneath the water, we swam alongside sea turtles and floated over black sea urchins the size of basketballs. We followed schooling fish and poked at christmas tree worms and whip coral. But our unplanned road trip didn't end there.

After our swim and the boat trip back to our car, we set out to follow the island roads wherever they may lead. Around one corner and down a hill into a bay area, we discovered a local beach side barbecue called Smitty's. We were the only two patrons, having arrived well past the lunch hour. At picnic tables on the beach, with a view of painted wooden boats and the bay spreading out to the ocean, we drank Carib beer and ate fresh fish and rice. Smitty himself tended to our every need with warm Caribbean charm. A conch shell sat atop the tablecloth to keep it in place. We talked about our day and about the future.

It is true that the best road trips are unplanned. Free from the confines of schedule and preparation, the unplanned road trip leads to the best life adventures. Our time together, just the two of us, snorkeling in the cove and along the island's edge, snacking on local fare caught fresh from the blue waters and served up beach side, proved to be our best day of the week-long vacation because, without a plan, we saw things and did things that were unexpected and extraordinary.

Learn more about this author, K.J. Ness.
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