Anguilla, revisited

Lest you think that Anguilla was only about barking dogs and close getaways, we wanted to revisit the island as we didn't do a summary of our time there due to bad internet access. Anguilla was the only place so far where we had a celebrity sighting - and the celebrity was Tom. We walked to the closest grocery store to provision - a leisurely two miles away - and at the checkout register the clerk began staring at Tom and smiling....."You are a celebrity... who are you?" After Tom assured her that he was just a normal guy, the employee proceeded to call over others in the shop to determine who Tom really was - this went on for five minutes until we made a move to the door. The more we laughed and denied it, the more sure the staff was that they were on to us. We exited the door with Tom saying... "Well, maybe" and winking. Apparently Shaq had been in Anguilla a few weeks before so their celebrity radar was on.......but clearly not working.

Anguilla is the kind of place where it would not be at all unusual for a celebrity to show up at your supermarket sweaty and wearing a baseball cap. Despite our initial disastrous bike ride, we road around for another two days and saw a good deal of the island. While it lacks the architectural charm of St. Barths and doesn't have a particularly attractive town, it has drop dead gorgeous beaches. The above picture is from Rendezvous Bay - white sand as far as the eye can see. We also were amazed by the live music - it is everywhere and the crowd is a great mix of locals and tourists. We saw ska, reggae, jazz and rock just a dinghy ride away from our boat. Anguillans as a whole are just about the nicest people we have met in the Caribbean - everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful. The customs employee even told us all about her son who is graduating from Howard University in May - truly a small world.

We could do without the huge resorts that dominate the vacation market in Anguilla. Nevertheless, Anquilla is a place not to miss.