(Photo opposite: Sun Shine Shack on Rendevous Bay)The mood on Anguilla was much better this year than last, though that wasn’t my initial impression when I arrived on the island. The stories I heard upon arrival didn’t paint a pretty picture. There had been a series of robberies that had upset people. The victims were restaurant owners; the robberies occurred after closing time. The robbers wanted cash from the till. The robberies were spooky because the robbers were dressed in black and carried ax handles or shotguns. Two people were badly beaten during one of the robberies; no one was killed. The police were slow to move; the victims were not immediately interviewed. Some people have been arrested, more will be arrested. The robberies didn’t surprise me because I’ve lived as an expat long enough to know that robberies against expats have to happen every now and then, especially in small communities where tons of foreigners operate businesses, run speculative projects, buy land and try to become powerful in the local community and sometimes see themselves as important, even vital, to the community’s success. The money and culture clashes that occur almost always lead to some kind of aggressive act. An Anguillan friend told me that the people behind the robberies were not from Anguilla but were “Africans” from other islands in the Caribbean. As I spent time on Anguilla, I realized that the robberies had created a balance on the island rather than disequilibrium. Like a violent ritual, the robberies had cleaned the air and brought calm to the island. And so the mood was better.

Honestly, you can’t take anything away from Anguilla: the place is so gorgeous, the beaches, water, cool breezes. I checked out the nightlife this year on Anguilla, something I hadn’t done the year before. The place to go is the Pump House in Sandy Ground on Thursday night. There is also a place called Elvis’s that has live music down the street from the Pump House. I didn’t have a chance to go to the Pump House last year (no time) but really liked the place. Fun place to dance and swing. The bar sits right on a salt pond; that’s why its called the Pump House, the Pump House was used in salt production, Anguilla’s main industry before the island’s current economy. Go to the Pump House to hear good music and dance.

I also went to Bankie Banx Dune Preserve for lunch. This was the place I liked the most because Bankie has all kinds of stuff spread out over his property. His place reminded me of places friends of mine had in Panama. Projects always going; never finished. Stuff here and there, I felt like I was with friends at Bankie’s. When I arrived for lunch, Bankie was slamming on a nail. There were a few people eating at the restaurant. In the back of the restaurant and through a courtyard is a small concert stage. Bankie is famous for Moonsplash which is a couple days of all night reggae. This year Moonsplash falls at the end of March. Bankie is a reggae musician who is well-known in the Eastern Caribbean. I didn’t hear much Bankie playing on the radio around the island – I did hear a bunch of Duane Stephenson. His song Dreamweaver I heard tons and liked.

(Photo opposite: Beach at Cap Juluca) Another place I checked out was Cap Juluca. I didn’t stay, of course, I don’t have that kind of money. I liked the architecture and beach. It has one of the best beaches on the island. The resort is currently getting a 25 million dollar renovation. We arrived in the middle of a rainstorm; the beach was covered in a fine mist. The guests were mostly relaxed; we only saw the lobby, so there were people checking in who seemed to be adjusting well to Cap Juluca. The place has all kinds of privileges: you can feel it when you walk in. The staff was nice. The next morning we decided to walk the beach at Cap Juluca. It was about 9:30 and there were only a few people on the beach. One guy was smoking a cigar, a woman rode a horse down the beach which had a very strong wind blowing across it. She rode the horse into the surf until it swam a little and then turned the horse to the shore and onto the rocks at the end of the beach. One guest pointed at us and said “they brought a kid here.” Apparently, it’s not recommended at certain times of year to bring children to Cap Juluca. Some people don’t want kids around them on their very expensive vacation. The rooms are like $1500 or something a night. A whole villa is $8000 a day. The numbers tell you what kind of place it is.

Most of the ATM machines were busted on the island. Some of them you couldn’t enter. The swipe cards that open the door were broken. I had little to no money while on the island. We were finally able to get some money out at the Caribbean Bank in The Valley. I went to Albert’s Market Place, which is one of the big supermarkets in Anguilla’s capital, The Valley. Started by the Lake family, there is a statue of the founders in front of the supermarket. Albert’s is a very well-stocked supermarket; they also have Western Union. I was hungry for rum on the island. The island’s rum is called Pyrat. I haven’t seen cane fields on Anguilla. The two places, I was told, to go if you want to drink rum on the island are Blanchards Restaurant and the old rum shop inside of the Koal Keel Restaurant.

Blanchards is considered a favorite restaurant to visitors to the island. There is a very famous cookbook, which I’ve never seen, that has recipes from the restaurant. A couple runs the place; they are from the U.S. Blanchards sits on Mead’s Bay.

A local restaurant that I liked was called E’s Oven; it had the best food on the island. I went my last night and there was a school dinner of local kids in the restaurant when we arrived. The kids were sitting at long tables which were perpendicular to one another. The kids ate and the teachers read some things out. An award was given and the teachers sang something to the kids at the very end of the dinner. When the local kids left the restaurant my son ran after them and threw himself into the arms of one of the teachers. The teacher smiled and laughed and joked with my son. E’s Oven has a nice bar and they had the best rum punches on Anguilla.

(Photo opposite: Gwen’s Reggae Bar & Grill)Two of the best beach bars on Anguilla are Gwen’s Reggae Bar & Grill and Smokey’s at the Cove. Gwen’s is on East Shoal Bay and is tucked back into a little area off the beach. The wind was blowing hard and cold when I visited Gwen’s; the ocean was too rough to swim in. It was Anguilla’s winter season – the hottest months in the Caribbean are normally June and July.

Smokey’s is on Cove Bay. The waitress at Smokey’s was absolutely beautiful. I met one of the Gumb family members at Smokey’s. Gumb, Lake and Richardson are some of the important last names on the island. The Gumb I met had studied law in the U.S. and was back on Anguilla because he was tired of practicing law and wanted to come back home. His father had taken him off the island while he was still very young. So he was happy to be back. He told me Hurricane Omar had hit the island hard. Lot’s of rebuilding and redesigning had to be done because of the storm.

There’s a new place called the Sunshine Shack on Rendevous Bay next to the Anguilla Great House. The place is being run by two young guys, Perry and Garvey. If you like dominos on the beach and good drinks, then this is the place to visit.

Anguilla like Panama has been home to a lot of speculation lately. There are many Proyectos Rotos (Broken Projects) as we say in Panama on Anguilla. Dream projects with everything and more have started to go bust. Temenos was the name of one. Temenos had imported Chinese labor to do the construction of the resort, but when the management at Temenos stopped paying the Chinese, the Anguillian government sent the Chinese packing, though a few remained.

Anguilla has a T.V station that promotes the island and various real estate projects. Prices for condos are in the millions of dollars. Accommodations were expensive on Anguilla but I did see some cheaper hotels: Nadine’s Guest house. There looked to be a cheap hotel at Blowing Point. There was another place called Vizacaya that looked affordable.

A place that I didn’t visit (I drove by it after turning off the main road) was Rainbow Farms. They grow great vegetables. They had very sweet cherry tomatoes. And great herbs. I’m told you go out and watch them harvest your herbs and vegetables.

I left the island this year by boat rather than plane. Cheers Ferry Service took us over to St. Maarten to the airport. The airport seemed a little confused. The ride from St. Maarten to Anguilla on the boat was about 30 minutes. We flew to San Juan and then onto Panama.

To view more pictures of Anguilla Click Here!

* More Articles on Living in Anguilla
* Real Estate in Anguilla
* Banks in Anguilla - Worldwide Banking Directory
* Universities in Anguilla - Colleges & Universities listed by Country
* Embassies and Consulates of Anguilla