In August 1994 Keith and I took our friend Megan on her first trip to the West Indies. We chose what has become a hot destination for the traveler who wants the romance of an Island vacation without the plastic of intensive mass tourism development. We booked our trip to Anguilla to co-incide with the opening of the Anguilla's week long Carnival on the first Monday in August, the traditional "August Monday" bank holiday. It was our second visit to this hard to get to island and the visit lived up to our memories and expectations. We were delighted, especially since we were introducing a friend to the island on her first trip to the West Indies.

 

On our first visit to Anguilla we split our stay between Cap Julica, a secluded and exclusive resort looking out across the Caribbean to St. Martin, and The Mariners Inn, a more relaxed and casual hostelry on the North side of the Island at Sandy Ground. This time we took a two bedroom apartment in Pelican Villas on the beach where the action is at Carnival.

 

Anguilla has a well developed tourist industry but not one that caters to the big hotels and mass migrations of sun-birds turning red under an unfamiliar tropic sun. Smaller hotels and inns as well as private homes and apartments in the many condo developments along the sea side furnish the visitor with a wide range of accomodations ranging from several hundred dollars per night for the exclusive and all inclusive resorts to much more reasonable vacation rentals in private facilities.

 Much of the reason for the limited scope of the well planned tourism of Anguilla is the difficulty in getting there. Travelers reaching Anguilla by air must arrive in small commuter planes from San Juan, St. Thomas or the short ten minute hop from St. Ma artin's Princess Juliana Airport. Many visitors arrive by small and fast ferry from Marigot, the Capitol of St. Martin - the French side of the shared island - after a taxi ride from the airport located on the Dutch side. Either way you choose, getting to Anguilla is not as easy as climbing on a plane at home and pouring off a jumbo jet at the island. That isolation limits the number of tourists and helps give Anguilla its relaxed atmosphere.

 

 

We got to the island late in the evening after a long day traveling. It was after 10 P.M. when the taxi pulled up to the door of the villa. The key was hidden where our hostess told us it would be and after choosing our bedrooms we collapsed until morning. When morning came it was time to do a bit of grocery shopping. There is a small store in Sandy Ground within an easy 5 minute walk from the apartment but we wanted to pickup the more substantial offerings of the Vista grocery about a 1/2 mile inland from Sandy Ground. We decided to walk.

About half way there we discovered what we had forgotten when the three of us started out - though Anguilla is one of the rare non-mountainous islands in the Caribbean, the Vista sits on the top of a 160 foot bluff and the road up which we walked was steep indeed. We paused to rest in the shade of a mahogany tree. As we caught our breath, we were joined by a local gentleman pushing a bicycle. He asked our permission to join us in our sanctuary of shade. After we all felt fit enough to resume our climb, the fellow walked the rest of the way to the top of the bluff with us and, waving goodbye, remounted his two wheeler to peddle into The Valley, Anguilla's administrative and commercial center.

The Vista stocks a complete line of basic groceries and a good offering of gourmet cheeses, some frozen foods and meats and a well chosen offering of wines and liquors. We bought enough to get us through the next couple of days and started the long trek back with two bags of groceries apiece. That experience brought us to the realization that we really needed to rent a car. I'm a travel agent and I should have known better but some how I let my husband convince me that we wouldn't be leaving Sandy Ground and renting a car was a waste. We rented a car as soon as we got back to the apartment. After carrying groceries a half a mile in the late morning tropic sun, I didn't hear a word from Keith about the cost!

 The next day we picked up the car and drove Megan on a tour around the 24 mile long, sand spit narrow island stopping at every beach and hotel development so that I could eyeball it and get impressions to help me guide my clients. Keith suprised me with a stop at Island Harbour for lunch at Scilly Cay (That is how the Brits spell Key]. We had packed our bathing suits along for an inviting beach and Keith knows how to pick the best beach.

 

Scilly Cay is a tiny islet in the middle of the the bay just big enough for the restaurant Keith chose for lunch. Just stand on the floating dock and wait a minute or two and the Scilly Cay launch comes up to ferry you to the island. It is best to be in your swim suit before you go. Landing on the cay means jumping into a foot or two of water. Keith ordered three lobster lunches for one oclock at the bar, got Megan and I each a rum punch and brought them to us as we sprawled on the white powder beach soaking up the sun. What a delightful way to wait for service.

 

All year long the Anguillans wait and get ready for Carnival. The week long festival is not pitched to the tourists and, in fact, is scheduled for the off season. It is an island wide party at which vistors are made quite welcome, but it is really an Anguillan local affair. Sailing is to Anguilla what cricket is to the rest of the British West Indies and baseball is to the United States. The highlight of Carnival is the series of sailboat races to crown the year's champion crew.

 

All year long crews from every hamlet and crossroads on the island work building new boats and getting these traditional fishing vessels ready for the big race. The boats are lined up along Sandy Ground Beach, anchored to the sand with their sails raised. At the starting signal the crews push off, leap aboard and sail out and around Sandy Isle, a dot 5 miles off shore then back to the starting point w here the winner is the first crew to touch the flag on the finish bouy.

 

In the old days the winning crew had to return the flag to the race committee at the Coast Guard station. Since there are no rules in an Anguillan boat race, a lot of the action took place on the beach and the crew that reached the sand with the flag might not be declared the winner if they could not retain it between the tide line and the race committee. Things changed before the action got out of hand.

 From mid morning until late into the night the beach at Sandy Ground is jumping at Carnival. Every organization on the island is raising money by selling food or spirits or conducting games of chance from booths set up on the beach. The smells of chicken and pork barbeque waft down the beach. Lobster and prawn peek out of covered charcoal cookers.

The several restaurants lining the beach don't seem to mind the competition, most of them hire live bands to entertain the crowd and the tables all seem to be full. Johno's at the east end of the beach is the favorite watering hole for the sailors in the anchorage tucked up under the bluffs at the southeast corner of the bay. Bareboats from the several charter firms over in St. Martin, crewed charters and Carribean cruising live-aboards all converge on Sandy Ground for the races. The dance floor at Johno's is full and the revelry spills onto the beach.

At the other end of the beach and the culinary range is the Barrel Stay an internationally renowned eatery for continental cuisine spiced with an island flair. Next door is the Riviera with a similar and just slightly less pricey menu. Half way between the Riviera and Johno's on the beach and in price and menu offering is the Tropical Penguin where we made our headquarters during an afternoon of race watching.

 Ripples is situated off the beach, just behind the Riviera and offers West Indian flavors and traditional dishes focused on the sea food offerings of the not yet fished out reefs surrounding Anguilla. We had just been seated for dinner when our friend with the bicycle who had shared the shade on our trek to the Vista came in. He stopped by the table to ask how we were enjoying our stay. We invited him to join us as he explained that his sister owned Ripples and that, since she was "off island" he had agreed to look in on the operation in her absence. It turned out that he was Assistant Commisioner of Police.

When he learned that Megan and Keith were lawyers he asked the inevitable question. What do you think about O.J. ?. CNN covers the world! That launched a long conversation comparing the British and American courts and the differences in press coverage of court business; the benefits and detrements that the development of cable TV had brought to the island; the problems that tourism creates for the local authorities and the state of the world in general and teenagers in particular a subject that both he and Keith dealt with eloquently and with great commiseration.

 

By : Joan B. Hays

 

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