Prickly Pear Cays sit seven nautical miles northwest of Anguilla's mainland, a pair of limestone sandbars rimmed by elkhorn coral and bearing no permanent structures except a single beach restaurant that opens only when sailboats arrive. The island group was designated part of Anguilla's marine park system in 2015, requiring all visiting vessels to pay a conservation fee that funds mooring-buoy placement and reef monitoring. No ferry serves the cays; access is by private charter or scheduled catamaran departure from St Maarten's Simpson Bay, a twenty-five-minute crossing when the trades are favorable. The prickly pear catamaran trip from St Maarten became a fixture of the island's tour economy in the early 2000s, when Dutch-side operators began running half-day sails to supplement traditional beach-hopping circuits. Operators now dispatch twin-hull vessels ranging from forty to sixty feet, most carrying twenty to thirty passengers on cushioned trampolines strung between the hulls. The route crosses the Anguilla Channel, a stretch of open water where Atlantic swells meet the Caribbean basin and午 wind funnels between St Maarten and St Barths to the southeast. Captains time departures to midday, when thermal heating lifts the trades and shortens the sail. Snorkeling occurs along the southern reef shelf, where depth drops from six feet to forty across a hundred-yard slope colonized by brain coral, sea fans, and schools of blue tang. The marine park prohibits anchoring; all boats tie to fixed moorings installed over sand patches to prevent chain drag. Visibility averages sixty feet outside the rainy season and holds above forty even during September's plankton bloom. Green and hawksbill turtles forage in the seagrass beds behind the reef, and southern stingrays bury themselves in the sand near the restaurant dock. The lone beach bar, operated by a family from Anguilla's eastern villages, grills lobster, ribs, and mahi over charcoal when groups are confirmed in advance. Service runs Tuesday through Sunday during the winter season and Friday through Sunday in summer, aligning with catamaran tour schedules from the Dutch and French sides of St Maarten. The restaurant maintains no freezer; fish is purchased at dawn from Anguillian day-boats and lobster is stored live in submerged crates anchored offshore. Tables sit on sand under a driftwood pergola, and payment is cash-only, denominated in Eastern Caribbean dollars or U.S. currency at a floating exchange rate.