After spending 3+ weeks on St Barth for my "day job" I planned to spend 3 nights on Anguilla. I had never been to Anguilla before but had always heard it was a perfect island to relax, sleep on the beach and read- these are all things I had on the agenda. Plus, it was easy to get to from St Barth. Now, before you start asking - "she spends 3+ weeks on St Barth, why on EARTH would she need to go to another island to relax?" - well, when on St Barth, I spend my days in the on island office working as well as spend 3-4 days a week going from villa to villa doing my annual inspections (NOT on the beach) - it's 90+ degrees and humid and it IS work. It may not sound like WORK, but believe me, I am not sitting on the beach during those 3 weeks. So, a break which entails sitting on the beach is very much welcome. On St Barth, I saw approx 90 villas and toured one of our partners around the island introducing them to St Barth and a good cross section of our villas on the island.
Anyway, it came time to leave my adorable 1 bedroom villa on Lorient Beach in St Barth (see the view outside my door above), say my 'au revoirs' to my friends and colleagues in the office and to board the quick flight to St Martin. I checked my bag and entered the departures lounge. When I arrived, there were 4 other people in the petite one room waiting area. As we neared the departure time of the Winair flight, others joined us. About 5 minutes before the flight's departure time, a man opened the door from the runway and pointed to me and motioned with his finger to follow him. I assumed the man surely meant a bunch of us from the waiting area and to my surprise, as we walked around the back of the small prop plane, he told me I was the only passenger!!! I had the whole plane to myself and positioned myself right behind the pilots for the 10 minute ride to St Martin. I always love flights to this island - small plane, short ride and sort of primitive feeling - no overhead compartments, clip on fans, tight seating, phenomenal island and ocean views and of course, the death defying landings and take offs (see a You Tube video below)- it's also like stepping back in time. As soon as the pilots were comfortable and all the checks had been made, they made the announcement "Good afternoon Madame and welcome to flight # 652 from St Barth to St Martin -Flight time will be 10 minutes- sit back and enjoy." There would be no sitting back for me but certainly enjoyment - a cheap thrill for sure. Flying into or out of St Barth is not scary for those of us who like to fly. It is fun. However, if you do not care for flying, especially in small planes and landings on very short runways, you can also take a ferry from St Martin. It adds more time to your trip, but is also a fun way to arrive on St Barth. That was how I arrived on the island on this trip and it was nice, especially with the complimentary Planter's Punch in hand :)
After landing in St Martin, the plane was met by the shuttle which would take it's passengers, (me- :)) to the terminal and drop me at the arrivals hall for Immigration and Customs. For the very first time in my life, I was the ONLY person in an international arrivals hall - no hassles- got my stamp and out to the curb I went. I quickly loaded my belongings into a taxi and was whisked to the ferry dock in Marigot. The driver was very informative as I have never spent any time on St Martin - she pointed out all sorts of things along the way. When we pulled up at the ferry dock 15 minutes later, the ferry to Anguilla was waiting. In typical island style, there was not very good signage but I quickly followed the crowds and got my tickets and paid the taxes and was ushered onto the awaiting passenger ferry and found a seat. The ferry was a great mix of Anguilla island people and tourists. Some locals had been working on or shopping on St Martin and were very smart about loading their goods on the small ferry - some had put their St Martin purchases in a new trash can and others loaded up a suitcase.
After the 20 minute (very rough) and not air conditioned ride, we arrived in Anguilla. Time to line up again (slightly soaked from the rough seas) for Customs and Immigrations - this time around, it was more crowded than my experience at the St Martin airport but took only about 15 minutes. Once through, I was assigned a taxi to take me to the hotel. 10 minutes later, arrival at the Anacaona Hotel in Meads Bay.
This hotel was recommended to me by someone I work with as a great affordable boutique hotel offering breakfast and dinner with lunch service on the gorgeous Meads Bay beach. It sounded perfect. After check in, I was escorted to my large room overlooking the main lawn of the hotel with hammocks scattered around, the main building and one of the pools. The room was located on the ground level with a large terrace. It had a good sized bathroom and large bedroom area with mini fridge, sitting area and a very comfortable looking bed with Frette sheets AND US TV!!!1 I had not seen any US TV in weeks and embarrassingly, was missing it, especially my guilty pleasure- anything on Bravo.
After quickly settling in, I grabbed a towel and went in search for the beach. A quick swim was needed. The beach at Anacaona is about a 5 minutes walk (slightly downhill) through the property - passing another pool, more rooms, many hammocks and a massage tent onto a dirt road and along the edge of the hotel's property and the Viceroy's property. When I had arrived at the beach , I knew this was the best decision I could have made. Let's keep in mind, the last time I took an actual vacation had been St John in 2007- yes, I have chosen a career which allows me to travel a lot but each place I go to is for work in some capacity. Here is what I saw when I arrived at the beach: HEAVEN!!!
After floating in the warm water, I returned to the room for a shower and enjoyed the sounds of the live reggae band which was performing that night in the open dining room. I was tired and went to bed early that night - just what I went to Anguilla to do! Tomorrow would be a full beach day.
The next morning, I had breakfast in the dining area (the hotel has a meal plan you can sign up for - I elected for breakfast every day and decided to have dinners outside of the hotel). The breakfast options were quite good (Eggs Benedict, fresh fruit, freshly squeezed OJ and coffee was my favorite- I am a creature of habit sometimes)- then I was off to the beach to claim a beach chair with an umbrella with a good book in my hand.
The morning at the beach was spent reading, sunning and taking swims in the crystal clear waters- treated myself to a girly frozen drink around 11 a.m. and continued this pattern until the end of the day. Why did it take 5 years before I had a real vacation? That night, I asked the front desk if they could recommend a good Italian restaurant for dinner and asked them to make me a reservation and to call a taxi for later that night.
Dinner was at Tramonto and I greeted in the hotel lobby by my taxi driver, Malcolm. Malcolm drove me to the restaurant and left me his card. He advised to give him a call when I was done with dinner and he would come back to collect me - I could pay when he dropped me off at the hotel. (If you do not rent a car in Anguilla, and want to leave your resort, you will need to take a taxi everywhere - this can get quite expensive). Tramonto is a very nice open air Italian restaurant located on a beach (anecdotally, Malcolm mentioned that the "Texas Ranger" lived next door - after a couple of seconds, I realized he meant Chuck Norris and not a Texas Ranger athlete). Back to dinner - I was one of two tables occupied by diners. It was the beginning of low season so that is to be expected. Enjoying a glass or two of rose, I had the calamari, the lobster ravioli and espresso followed by the complimentary limoncello. Malcolm was waiting for me at the bar (instead of having me call him) which was extremely convenient and 10 minutes later, I was back at the hotel.
The next day, breakfast again and off to the beach. My friend Charlotte was coming to join me at the hotel for a night with her two little boys from St Barth - they too needed a vacation. Charlotte and the boys arrived around 1 p.m. and we spent the afternoon on the beach, enjoyed the hammocks on the property, the pools and our terraces. Time for dinner and we went on the hunt- and hunt it truly was. There was a private party at the Anacaona that night so we decided to walk the beach to find something, thinking it would be no trouble at all. The first restaurant we came to had a wedding and were notified that the next one was closed for the night as well - so we turned around and headed for the Viceroy - again, there was a wedding so we got a taxi to take us to another restaurant which would be good for kids. We dined outside on the beach and listened to the live band inside - the kids were starving and cranky but as soon as they had food in their tummies, they perked up and had a blast in with the band. When we returned to the hotel, we were greeted by loud music and the private party still going on - so we decided to join in on the dancing. We all loved it.
The next morning I said good bye to Charlotte and the boys and headed once again (by taxi) to the ferry terminal for the fun ride back to St Martin. Today I was being met by a colleague in St Martin and would spend the day with her - learning about the island before my flight back to Boston later in the afternoon.
Anguilla is truly a wonderful island - during the low season, the prices at hotels are great, the crowds less and the beaches- phenomenal. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE St Barth, but it is like a different world and a totally different type of experience than what you have on Anguilla. I had been on St Barth for more than 3 weeks - for a stay of that length it is expensive and my high school french is not completely back (I understand a ton, but do not speak well) so to go from there to Anguilla where English is everywhere, it was system shocking. It's also a very laid back island. Everything is seems to be much slower on Anguilla. I would definitely go back to Anguilla and I would definitely go back to the Anacaona. Please let me know if I can help send you to either St Barth or Anguilla!
See more photos of my trips to St Barth and Anguilla here: http://allegrasidylls.com/photos/
