Recap: Anguilla (Part 1 of Honeymoon)

Peter and I made a list of criteria when looking for a honeymoon spot = warm weather, easy to travel to, great accommodations/service, beautiful scenery. We came up with two spots in the Caribbean with the help of Lauren from Jet Set World Travel. Our first half of the trip was spent at Cap Juluca (pics of resorts) on Anguilla off of St. Maarten (and our second half of our stay was on Virgin Gorda off of Tortola at Little Dix Bay). We loved both places equally as much for different reasons. The pic above was after dinner at Pimm's Restaurant at Cap Juluca on our first night in Anguilla.

On day 2 of our trip we met this lovely American woman who worked at Cap Juluca who was doing some errands in town. She offered to show us around. She was invaluable - as she gave us quite the overview of the local restaurants/hot spots/gossip, etc. She was basically our personal tour guide for the day. Peter forgot his swimsuit (ha!) so she steered us away from buying one at the resort's overpriced shop and took us to Irie Life. She then took us to Pyrat Rum where Peter participated in a rum tasting. She dropped us off at the local Johnno's Beach Stop in Sandy Ground for lunch (Yummy!). That evening we had dinner at Smokey's and met the owner Clyde Gumbs (son of Jeremiah Gumbs - who led the Anguillan protest in 1967).

One morning we worked out with Cardigan Connor, a famous past cricket player. He was a delight to chat w/. Talk about FIT FIT FIT. We met a family (the Miller's) who were staying at a Villa just off Cap Juluca's property for Thanksgiving. They have gotten to know Cardigan over the years and said that he has the best stories. We also enjoyed talking with the Miller's son Bryce Miller, a race car driver.

On day 3 we took a boat out with a group from our resort and snorkeled and stopped by Shoal Bay (pic above). We also stopped at this tiny island, called Scilly Cay, and had an awesome lunch. The island is super small and has a tiny restaurant on it - owned by Eudoxie and Sandra Wallace. We loved all the folks in our group that we got everyone on board to head to the Dunes (scroll down to read about the history behind the Dunes) that night to hear Bankie Banx play and have dinner.

Our last night in Anguilla was Thanksgiving and we had dinner at Mango's Seaside Grill. We had an incredible dinner and loved being right on the water - definitely different from the tryptophan induced traditional meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. The owner of Mango's recently passed away and everyone on the island was talking about it. Mango Dave was known by all as someone who truly lived the dream (by selling his business in New Jersey and buying a restaurant in the Caribbean).