We went to Anguilla for the winter break this year. The check-in lines at the airport were unbelievable, we were glad that we’d decided to carry on and could go straight to security. Once we made it through the gates felt extremely empty!
We flew to Sint Maarten and took a cab to the very small ferry terminal where we waited for our boat to Anguilla.
When we arrived, Blaine’s question to the first person he saw was, “How do you pronounce the name of this country” and the response was, “Here, we say Anguilla” (an-gwilla rhymes with gorilla).
The whole getting-to-Anguilla part was complicated, between requirements for Anguilla and Sint Maarten. We needed PCR tests 5 days in advance, another antigen test for the kids (since they weren’t boosted) within 48 hours, and then another round of antigen tests when we arrived. They gave us wrist bands to indicate that we were not yet approved and we took a car to our VRBO villa. We got the call an hour or two later that we were all negative and could cut the wristbands off!
We stayed at Villa Oceana off Crocus Bay and it was amazing — beautiful panoramic views of the bay from our patio and pool.
The next day we went to Madeariman, a restaurant on Shoal Bay Beach. We planned to have lunch there so we were able to use their chairs and borrow some toys. It was a beautiful white sand beach.
Blaine read his kindle and Sarah made a drip castle!
We had a surprisingly yummy lunch at the beachside restaurant, Madeariman. I had some sort of grilled fish and Andrew had a grouper curry, I believe. Then we went back to lounging for the afternoon, and at some point moved back to our villa for more lounging at the pool. This was our usual pattern for the vacation — pick a beach for the day, have lunch there, end up back at the villa’s pool, shower, dinner.
That night we had our first meal out at the Straw Hat restaurant. I recall this was one of my favorite meals, I think I had a seared tuna with quinoa fried rice and everything was really good.
The next day we decided to check out Maundays Bay, which is dominated by a beautiful resort called Cap Juluca. This time we took some chairs from our villa, packed a lunch and set up all by ourselves down at the end of the beach. It was a beautiful beach with picturesque views of the mountains on Sint Maarten.
The surf here was kind of rough! Sarah was knocked under by a big wave which whisked away her goggles. And while looking for them I managed to get knocked over by another wave! We gave up on the goggles and found a new pair in the grocery store.
Then back to the villa for more pool time, showers, and reading. Andrew cooked some dinner that night, burgers I think.
Day 3 we went to Sandy Ground which is more of a local hangout and night life spot. We got to see a very small container ship unloading, and the water was nice and calm for the kids. We had lunch at Roy’s Bayside Grill and used their chairs for the day.
That night we got a babysitter and the grown-ups went out for dinner at a restaurant called Veya, where I had some delicious local crayfish.
Day 4 we headed to Blanchards Beach Shack at Meads Bay. Another delicious meal — the food in Anguilla was really top notch (or else our standards have gone down due to this pandemic). Fish tacos, rum punch, perfect.
Here are some more pics I took at our villa — this was probably the nicest place we’ve ever stayed, Andrew says it was a “pandemic special” since everything was priced lower for awhile when no one was traveling! He booked it a year in advance, back when we thought this might all be over by now.
The weather was mostly perfect, warm without being hot. We got a few brief rainstorms but they never lasted very long — this one left us a beautiful rainbow.
Day 5 we went to Crocus Bay, the beach nearest to our villa. It was a tiny beautiful beach tucked into a cove with just one restaurant on it, called Da’Vida. Our babysitter recommended it because they rent paddle boats, like the one in the picture below. The kids loved it, the boat even had a little slide for going into the water though I was the only one to try it.
That night Andrew and I went out for our second dinner at Marella, a restaurant at the Aurora Anguilla resort, formerly known as the Cuisinart Resort. It was good, but didn’t quite live up to our expectations given the chef had formerly run the Modern in NYC.
Friday was our last day and we headed back to Shoal Bay, this time to Gwen’s Reggae Bar & Grill. The BBQ was Sarah-approved!
For our last dinner we went out for a family dinner at Mango’s, almost down to the end of the island on Barnes Bay.
We LOVED Anguilla — the beaches, the food. Hopefully we’ll be back someday!
Oh, and Sarah lost a tooth! The tooth fairy always seems to visit us on vacations.
