Anguilla or St. John?

Old Jul 13th, 2003, 08:21 PM
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Anguilla or St. John?

Help! I'll be going on my honeymoon next May--my second and my fiance's first. After a LOT of research, I have decided on Anguilla or St. John. We both want somewhere quieter with excellent beaches, good food, and wonderful snorkeling. I would also like to do some island-hopping, some shopping as well as a little nightlife. My fiance has never been to the Caribbean, but I have been to St. Lucia (Anse Chastenet, for my first honeymoon), St. Maarten/St. Martin, St. Barth's as well as Maui and Cancun. Also, for hotels, I am leaning toward Cap Juluca and Caneel Bay, although if y'all have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. We are thinking of staying 5 days and four nights.
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Old Jul 14th, 2003, 08:08 AM
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Tough decision. Both are excellent. St John is mountainous less developed with gorgeous beaches. St Thomas is a ferry boat trip away for shopping.
Anguilla is flat and dry with more gorgeous beaches. Cap is wonderful and on one of them. Many more exceptional restaurants on Anguilla. St Martin is a short ferry ride away for shopping.
Anguilla is probably quieter than St John but only because there are more beaches that disperse the crowd.
Night life is less on St John, although, except for Bankie Banx.
For more info on Anguilla go to www.caribbean-on-line.com and for St John go to www.traveltalkonline.com
Congratulations and good luck.
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Old Jul 14th, 2003, 08:10 AM
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Oops Bankie Bankx plays on Anguilla.
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Old Jul 14th, 2003, 08:29 AM
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Hotels: Caneel is not as nice as Cap Juluca, and the food at CJ is better than the food at CB.

Nightlife: Anguilla has more nightlife than SJ, but you have to travel (from 5-20 minutes depending on where you go) to get to it, so a rental car is a must.

Beaches: toss-up. These are the best beach islands in the Caribbean IMO.

Food: Anguilla has much more to offer in terms of food options. The variety and quality is markedly better than what's available on SJ.

Beauty: SJ is beautiful and Anguilla is unattractive. (SJ has bugs, however, and Anguilla is non-buggy most of the year).

Shopping: neither island offers great shopping. Daytrips to St. Thomas or St. Martin are necessary for significant variety.

People: Anguillans tend to be a bit friendlier in my experience. We've run into some surly types on SJ at times (certainly the minority) but the old plantation/slave mentality still lingers on SJ, while there is no such attitude on Anguilla.

Crime: Anguilla is as close to crime free as you'll find in the Caribbean. SJ has sporadic property crimes but not anything like the other USVI's.

I would expect you'll enjoy either place immensely. You're simply trying to choose between to top island destinations. Can't make a bad decision.
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Old Jul 14th, 2003, 10:44 AM
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travleis:

What a great summary of Anguilla! I haven't been to St. John, so I can't comment on that, but your description of Anguilla is right on the mark.

Copuple comments:

People - you can actually feel like you are a part of the place (Anguilla) and not just a tourist who doesn't belong. This is a very rare thing in the Caribbean and I think it's an under-rated characteristic when choosing where to go. The only other place I've been to in the Caribbean that is comparable in this respect is St. Lucia. I've even picked up hitchhikers in Anguilla and, frankly, found that to be a really fun thing to do.

cars - driving in Anguilla is fun and this comes from somebody who swears at the traffic in Columbus, OH, a busy, but not all that bad place compared to some. Driving on the left side is no big deal, particularly in a place with only one main road and 2 or 3 roundabouts as I recall.
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Old Jul 14th, 2003, 07:36 PM
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Hypothetically, let's say that I do choose Anguilla (which is where I think I'm leaning more toward anyway); is it worth it to stay at Cap Juluca? I didn't know if anyone knew the inside scoop on Carimar Beach Club or Frangipani Beach Club. (Thanks for the advice by the way--keep it coming!)
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Old Jul 15th, 2003, 03:17 AM
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Hi Kay,
I have been to both islands many times! No wrong choice! If you are leaning towards Anguilla, Cap is outstanding, as it is very different style hotel, with villas spaced apart on a wonderful beach. But Frangipani is on glorious Meads Bay, in a great location, IMHO nicer than Carimar, but I not stayed at either, but lots of advice on caribbean on line forum. Anguilla has lots of stand alone beach/bar restaurants, sometimes only 1 on an empty beach-Smokeys, Trattoria,
Palm Grove and lots more. The above posters stated it all so well.
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Old Jul 15th, 2003, 06:23 AM
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KayRemark:

You ask if CJ is worth it. That's hard to say. I've been there twice and for us it was always worth every penny. I have good friends who honeymooned at Frangipani and they were completely happy (of course I think people should be happy anyplace on a honeymoon!). Mead's Bay is perfect, but so is Maundy's Bay and the bay that Covecastles is on and both Shoal Bays and probably a couple dozen other beaches in Anguilla. If you've never been to Anguilla, any of those beaches will simply blow you away. That's a guarantee.

My advice - if the price of CJ is not a stretch, go for it. A honeymoon is special. But, if you pick Frrangipani, go and don't have any regrets. Either way, you'll have a great trip.

One thing a bit different about Anguilla - you should not pick a resort for the food, because one of the best things about Anguilla is visitng the restaurants, from Uncle Ernie's on Shoal Bay for the best chicken I've ever had in my life to Blanchard's and Koalkeel and many others for fabulous gourmet food.

Last, make sure you go to Little Bay (pronounced Little Bee) for a half day or so. It is amazing. By land, you'll need to climb down/up a rope, but you can get a boat to take you there and that's easier. Amazing place; if you're lucky, you will be the only couple there and I can pretty much guarantee it will be one of the great memories that you'll talk about for the rest of your lives.
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Old Jul 15th, 2003, 12:56 PM
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That solves my dilemma then. I had been leaning heavily toward Cap Juluca and now, especially since we have about a year to save for this anyway, I'm going to stick with it. And because of all the postings I've seen on here, I am definitely a.) renting a car so we can see everything (including Little Bay) and b.) not getting an EP or MAP but instead trying out all sorts of Anguillan restaurants. Thanks for all of your advice!!!
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Old Jul 15th, 2003, 03:30 PM
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You will have a wonderful time. Look into the packages at CJ, as they include
4 dinners, not every night, they also can be interchanged with lunch at Georges, so you can dine around at all the wonderful spots. I have been at CJ many many times. I love Anguilla, its people, and the hotel!
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Old Jul 15th, 2003, 08:07 PM
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For my honeymoon (after lots of research) it was between St. John, Anguilla, and Virgin Gorda. We chose VG because of what we were more interested in: getting away and romance. While STJ has only 4K inhabitants, VG has half that. VERY friendly! everyone on the island waves when you walk/drive by. Following year we returned and spent one day on STJ, was not as noticebly friendly (we got spoiled in VG! still friendly by any US standard, though.) but more lush and gorgeous beaches and amazing snorkeling.
If you choose St. John (almost wished we'd chose it for our honeymoon, but Little Dix Bay was soooooo private and has the best hotel beach of anywhere I've seen in the VI's - that we could afford!) take a day trip to Jost Van Dyke (aka - Foxy's and Soggy Dollar Bar) as well as Virgin Gorda to visit and snorkel at the Baths.
St. John has Woodies (happy hour), and Duffy's Love Shack (dancing/partying) and maybe one or two more good places. Though every day we were so exhausted by surfing (NE side of island), snorkeling, and touring that we didn't do much partying!
I would say Caneel is casual elegance. Great atmosphere with relic sugar mills on grounds, and really good beaches
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Old Jul 16th, 2003, 05:40 AM
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We loved the food at the CJ pool restaurant, where we often ate lunch. I still dream about their crab cole slaw. Their burgers, much to my delight and surprise, were also outstanding. They also had great fish sandwiches.

We did an outing on a boat to Prickly Pear and it was a fabulous day. They cooked for us right on the beach on Prickly Pear and it was excellent. Snorkeling there and in Little Bay is extemely good. We also say flying squid on the boat ride to Prickly Pear. And, yes, Scilly Cay is definitely something you should do at least once.
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