Hello friends:

Looks like that my wife and I are set on Anguilla as our next destination, with a 2 day stay at St. Martin. We are staying in a cottage in the West End.

Any advice on the following would be much appreciated:

1) A place to stay in St. Martin, where we will be centrally located, close to the beach and restaurants, so that we do not have to rent a car.

2) Which ferry service to Anguilla would you recommend?

3) Restaurants and watering holes in both Anguilla and St. Martin. We love dive bars, local food, and not necessarily so with the most fancy (which we could get in abundance in NYC). Fish fry, Johnny Cakes, Roti, Goat Water, local fish cooked fresh, conch fritters.....we love that kind of stuff.

4) Your favorite beach in Anguilla. Our last stop was Grace Bay in TCI, we are aiming high! We love coves with still water that are less traveled. Solitude much cherished.

5) Places where you might be able to get fresh catch right off the dock.

6) Some place with live music, reggae especially.

7) What are the must do's in terms of sightseeing? Side trips perhaps?

Any other suggestions also appreciated!

Cheers,
Ed C.

Anguilla is wonderful. We went in August. Elvis Beach bar is a must. See them on Facebook too.

We stayed at Cuisinart and the beach there was wonderful. I've heard a storm may have affected it since however. We loved the hotel and staff and the taxi drivers were much much better than other islands. I can't recall the name of the ferry but it took some time to get thru the line on both sides.

We stayed at LaSamana on St Martin. Had a basic room but it had two areas and a wonderful outside terrace. The two pools were awesome and although the beach had a steep dip to the water it was wonderful. The staff takes very good care of you. I highly recommend the casino closest to LaSamana and the nice Italian restaurant attached to it. We had an excellent meal there.

I can't wait to go back to Anguilla. We went during Festival in August so it was very busy. We still plan to return during that time. So much fun!

T

You will love Anguilla! Best restaurants in the Caribbean IMO. Do not miss Blanchards, Mango's and Picante. Pumphouse is a fun dive bar with live music.

Meads and Shoal are my two favorite beaches. Meads is long, wide and uncrowded though no snorkeling. The water is shallower at Shoal Bay and there is a reef. Plus it is lined with beach bars

In St. Martin , the Lolo (local side of the road food - fish, BBQ) in Grand Case (Talk of the Town) is great. And the best bakery/creperie is not the much talked about Sarafina's in Marigot but rather Ile Flottante also in Grand Case. In my opinion

If you are a bit adventurous, I receommend taking the rope down the side of the "cliff" to Little Bay. If I can do it, you can! Just drive around the island and check out all the beaches..there are 30 some I believe. We also did a boat trip over to Prickly Pear. Chocolat offers a nice trip I have heard.

We took the public ferry over and it was just fine.

Smokeys is Anguilla owned and on a wonderful beach. Saturday afternoons, the Musical Brothers play there (also live music on Sunday evening). Palm Grove on Savannah Bay is a beach shack with very local food (& the johnnycakes are wonderful). Dale Carty is one of the premier Anguillian chefs (he owns Tastys) and he just took over Ku's restaurant on Shoal Bay East. Johnnos in Sandy Ground has amazing fresh snapper (sometimes the wait for it will convince you that they are out catching it!); the Dune on Rendezvous Bay is a not miss place due to the owner (Bankie Banx) and its total funkiness. There are also really good BBQ stands with ribs & fish (B&D's near Malli is a good one). Elvis, Gwens and Tropical Sunset (great conch 3 or 4 different ways!) are also good local spots.

I'd suggest you stay at the Grand Case Beach Club....on the french side of St. Martin = you could walk to wonderful restaurants...if you want local - go to a Lolo - Taste of the town.....and there are spectacular restaurants in Grand Case.....On Anguilla - my favorite beach is Shoal Bay East - go to Elodia's for the day - make sure to take a walk - round the bend on the beach - head to Gwens - have a fabulous lunch - get a massage at the neighboring "tent" right on the beach.......spectacular!

Anguilla is very high end---like you didn't notice.

That said, we loved www.sbvillas.ai

Yes, it was an older property, but our balcony on the sand was just that----a balcony right on the sand of Shoal Bay East.

Since we were there, we have now gone to Grace Bay, TCI for the last 3 yrs. and it's a good comparison. TCI is easier to get to. That's why we go there, but Anguilla remains in our mind---especially Shoal Bay East.

Anguilla is great, but very quiet. The best thing about Anguilla is the peace and quiet. And the beaches are fantastic. Shoal Bay is great. The ferry service from the Marina in Marigot is the best bet. Half hour at max. Runs every 45 minutes I think.

Cuisin Art is great. Food is nice. Beach is great.

If you are looking for alot of things to do, eat, party, etc. then neighboring St. Maarten is the place.

To relax and get a peace of mind, Anguilla is great.