Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Living on Anguilla

I have a home on a neighboring island and have visited Anguilla many times so can give you some insight on what it is like to live in the Caribbean.

In general, you are likely to find that housing costs will be higher than you are used to seeing where you now live. This holds true whether you plan to purchase or rent. While you should have no trouble finding something that fits your particular budget (assuming you have reasonable expectations) you will probably have to downsize; i.e. a house that sells for $250,000 in the US might go for 3X's that on Anguilla . Your everyday cost of living will be more - electricity is expensive, gasoline is twice what you now pay, food is higher priced (everything has to be imported) and you won't find anywhere near the variety of products or the quality of produce or meats that you find in your supermarket "back home". You can, however, take shopping trips to St. Martin and find things that are not available on Anguilla, sometimes at a more reasonable cost. Maintenance on your house and car will be substantially more than you now experience - the sun and salt air play havoc on everything so expect to replace things like appliances, hardware, fabrics 2 or 3x's as often as you do now.

Anguilla is relatively safe and crime free so that shouldn't be an issue. As far as things to do, living on an island is far different than going there on vacation. A lot of people develope "Rock Fever". Once you visit the few tourists attractions, there's not much else to do on Anguilla but go to the beach (sounds great but can get boring if you are the active type). It's not like you can take a drive out into the country or go to the big city like you might do now - it's more akin to living in a small town - you can drive from one end of the island to the other in less than 40 minutes and when you get to the opposite end there's nothing there but turn around and go back. Most residents find it necessary to make several trips "off island" during the course of the year in order to get "a change of view". To be fair there are periodic events on the island (boat races on holidays, Carnival, fund raisers, yoga classes, church groups, etc. that are geared to the locals) but most attractions are geared toward the tourist and have little appeal for everyday living.

Medical care on the island is just "OK". If you have any type of serious medical condition you will have to go to Puerto Rico or Miami for treatment.

You'll find the pace much slower and everyone moves on "island time" (it may take 2 or 3 days before the refrigerator repairman stops by your house and another 4 days to get the part he needs).

I'm not trying to paint a difficult picture but rather pointing out some of the realities of island life. You are contemplating a significant lifestyle change. Living on an island has its challenges - it is not better or worse than where you are now - it is just different. If you have the time I'd suggest you make a pre-move visit to the island - do not stay at a resort but rather find a small housekkeping unit. Spend a couple of weeks living away from the usual tourist areas and that way you will get a feel for what island living is all about.