Anguilla- Most Beautiful Beaches and Water in the Caribbean!

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General Comments- This island had the best beaches, prettiest water and best restaurants of any Caribbean Island that we have visited (and we have been to quite a few). The island was very quiet too-- no crowds to be seen. While I generally prefer a more scenic island with good snorkeling (such as St. John), Anguilla ranks pretty high for me because of the beaches, water and restaurants, so I would definitely return! We also thought that the people were very friendly and that is always a plus. I hope to return sometime soon.

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Shopping

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Shopping- We are not big shoppers but I like to get a print and Christmas ornament in each place that I visit. We also wanted to get mother’s day and father’s day gifts and were hoping to find a place with local pieces. We hit the jackpot with the first place we stopped- Devonish Gallery. I got my print and Christmas ornament and also some beautiful pottery for our mothers. The pottery was very reasonably priced too. We then headed to Irie Life for my husband to get a hat since he collects them. Our final stop was the liquor store to pick up some Pyrat rum for my father. Our shopping took less than an hour, and that’s just how I like it so we can spend more time at the beach and in the water!

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Beaches

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Beach at Cap Juluca Photo - Cap Juluca, Anguilla, Caribbean

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The most gorgeous beaches and water in the Caribbean! And you can see from the pictures how uncrowded they are, which we loved.Maundays Bay- This was the beach at our hotel and our favorite. It was very uncrowded and gorgeous. And the beach services could not be beat! My husband enjoyed taking out the kayak and I just enjoyed the beautiful views and swimming in the calm, clear water.Shoal Bay East- We visited this beach on our boat day trip and also another day when we rented a car. Relatively, this was the busiest beach we visited, but it really wasn’t crowded at all. The colors of the water here were beautiful (especially near the point and near Gwen Reggae Grill) and ...Read More

The most gorgeous beaches and water in the Caribbean! And you can see from the pictures how uncrowded they are, which we loved.

Maundays Bay- This was the beach at our hotel and our favorite. It was very uncrowded and gorgeous. And the beach services could not be beat! My husband enjoyed taking out the kayak and I just enjoyed the beautiful views and swimming in the calm, clear water.

Shoal Bay East- We visited this beach on our boat day trip and also another day when we rented a car. Relatively, this was the busiest beach we visited, but it really wasn’t crowded at all. The colors of the water here were beautiful (especially near the point and near Gwen Reggae Grill) and there was some ok snorkeling. After eating lunch at Gwen’s we were able to use their chairs and park ourselves under a palm tree.

Meads Bay- This beach was very pretty, but probably the windiest and roughest of the beaches we visited. (the wind was nice since it kept us cool, but the water wasn’t quite as inviting as it was at our hotel) We had breakfast at Straw Hat and were able to use their chairs and umbrellas on the beach.

Sandy Ground- It was interesting seeing all the boats moored here, but I don’t think I’d spend much time on this beach. Even with all the boats around, the water looked surprisingly clear. We sat on this beach for a bit while we waited for the boat to Sandy Island.

Sandy Island- Johnno’s called for the boat and it took about 5 or 10 minutes to get there. This little island was so pretty! The water was very calm and clear. We rented chairs from the restaurant and found a perfect spot under two small palm trees. My husband also enjoyed laying in the hammock. There were people on the island from a day trip in St. Martin and a couple people from Anguilla. But it was by no means crowded. My husband said he experienced better snorkeling here than anywhere else on the island. Most of the coral was dead, but he saw a wide variety of fish. I mostly just walked around the island taking photos and soaked in the scenery.

Rendevous Bay Beach- This beach was long and wide with beautiful water. We tried going to Dune Preserve to enjoy the beach from there, but it was closed that day. We didn’t stay at this beach too long because we couldn’t find any shade.
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Restaurants

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view from Gwen's Reggae Grill Photo - Anguilla, Caribbean

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The restaurants on Anguilla were amazing. I know why they have such a good reputation now! We only had one bad meal the entire trip! Blue- We had continental breakfast here all but one morning. We preferred going to the restaurant instead of having it delivered to our room because there was more selection. I loved the croissants and my husband’s favorite was the apple turnovers. The continental breakfast was better than what we have had in most other hotels. We also had lunch here twice. Both lunches were delicious, and much better than most hotel food.Pimms- We had dinner at Pimms our first night. The ambiance here was great and we had a table right at the water’s edge...Read More

The restaurants on Anguilla were amazing. I know why they have such a good reputation now! We only had one bad meal the entire trip!

Blue- We had continental breakfast here all but one morning. We preferred going to the restaurant instead of having it delivered to our room because there was more selection. I loved the croissants and my husband’s favorite was the apple turnovers. The continental breakfast was better than what we have had in most other hotels. We also had lunch here twice. Both lunches were delicious, and much better than most hotel food.

Pimms- We had dinner at Pimms our first night. The ambiance here was great and we had a table right at the water’s edge. I had the Caesar salad and beef tenderloin. Both were fantastic and the steak was on par with upscale steakhouses like Morton’s (but even better!) My husband had the ceviche and gnocchi with shrimp. Both were delicious, but the gnocchi was a small portion for my husband. Luckily my steak was big, so he ate some of mine.

Picante- Great Mexican food! We had the chorizo con queso for an appetizer. For my meal I had a chicken quesadilla and my husband had the prawn burrito. It was great and a good option for a less expensive dinner.

Scilly Cay- We had a delicious lunch here while on our boat day trip. They called our order ahead right after we got on the boat so that we wouldn’t have to wait too long. I had the chicken and my husband had the chicken and lobster combo. It was a lot of food! It was expensive—the bill came to $123 for the meals, one rum punch, one coke and one bottle of water. But I think it was worth it. We also enjoyed the live music.

Smokey’s on the Cove- We went to Smokey’s for Sundown Sunday- they had live music and quite a crowd. We had a great table in the sand. We enjoyed the casual atmosphere and they were playing my kind of music (more upbeat music). For dinner we had delicious, tender calamari as an appetizer then I had a burger and my husband had seafood pasta. All of it was great. Then I had a couple perfect strawberry daiquiris and my husband had a few beers. We left about 10 pm. I wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy the party but we were too tired from being in the sun all day.

Gwen’s Reggae Grill- We had a great lunch on the beach here. I had the shrimp and my husband had the ribs and chicken combo. We enjoyed looking at the beautiful colors of the water here and there was a nice breeze to keep us cool.

Cuisinart- My husband and I split the tempura shrimp appetizer and cheese pizza here. It was delicious! And the tomatoes that came with the shrimp were the sweetest tomatoes ever tasted.

Straw Hat- We had dinner one night and breakfast one morning at this great restaurant. My husband had the wahoo special and I had the roasted chicken. For dessert I had crème brulee and my husband had a lime cheesecake. We went for breakfast the next morning since they said we could use their chairs and umbrellas on the beach if we had a meal. After having continental breakfast all week, it was nice to have a hot breakfast. And their prices for breakfast were much more reasonable than at our hotel.

Johnno’s- We had lunch here before taking the boat to Sandy Island. My husband and I both had burgers and they were not good. This was the only bad meal of the trip and we wished we had lunch on Sandy Island instead!

Blanchards- We had dinner here on our last night and we both had the prix fix. We both had shrimp and lobster cakes (delicious!), then my husband had the chicken scallopini and I had the beef tenderloin. I have a hard time deciding whether I liked this steak more or less than the one I had at Pimms since both were so great. For dessert we both had the key lime pie in a glass. While the food was wonderful, the service was not the best. We didn’t get any bread for the table, so we had to ask for it. The appetizer came out pretty quickly, but we had to wait a really long time for our entrée. We also had to wait a long time for our water to be refilled. And this isn’t service—but a coke was $5.50! That was more than Cap Juluca charged ($4) and at least at Cap you got the whole can! I understand the expensive price of the food, but I thought it was a bit ridiculous to charge that much for a coke. Aside from one of our meals at Blue, this was the only time we did not experience great service while on the island.
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Rental Car-- Get One, Taxis Are Expensive!

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Rental Car- The hotel arranged our rental car through Highway Rental. Besides being about 45 minutes late with delivery of the car, everything was great. The car was a small four door with great air conditioning. It worked well for us to drive around the island for the two days we had it. If we come back I think we’d rent a car for our entire stay since the taxis are so expensive. (for example, one day we spent $38 for a taxi to and from dinner less than 10 minutes away and the rental car cost was $45 a day). The first day, we spent more time in the car than planned because we kept getting turned around. The driving was pretty easy (not too hilly and curvy as I have experienced in other islands...Read More

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Scilly Cay and Snorkeling Day Trip on Anguilla

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On boat leaving resort on day trip Photo - Anguilla, Caribbean

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Day Trip to Scilly Cay plus snorkeling from the Juluca Star- We took this day trip and had a wonderful time. The guys on the boat were very friendly and answered a lot of our questions (it was our second day on the island). The boat was very comfortable and there was only one other couple on the trip with us. It was nice to see a lot of the island from the water. Our first stop was snorkeling at Little Bay. There really wasn’t much to see besides schools of small fish, but swimming near the cliffs was a nice experience. We then made our way to Scilly Cay where we had a delicious lunch and listened to live music. Next we made our way to Shoal Bay East to snorkel some more and walk on the beauti...Read More

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Cap Juluca

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Hotel | "Nice Hotel on Stunning Beach"

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Reservations- We booked through a third party and when we arrived at the hotel they did not have a reservation for us! That certainly made me nervous. I was surprised because I contacted the hotel a week or so before we left to arrange the ferry, car rental, day trip, and restaurant reservations—and they had sent me a confirmation email for all of that. It took a while, but they finally figured out that they had a reservation for us for the wrong dates, even though my confirmation was for the date that we arrived. Room- I guess the silver lining was that we had booked a superior room, and *I think* we were upgraded to a luxury room because the bathroom has double sinks, a huge tub and ...Read More

Reservations- We booked through a third party and when we arrived at the hotel they did not have a reservation for us! That certainly made me nervous. I was surprised because I contacted the hotel a week or so before we left to arrange the ferry, car rental, day trip, and restaurant reservations—and they had sent me a confirmation email for all of that. It took a while, but they finally figured out that they had a reservation for us for the wrong dates, even though my confirmation was for the date that we arrived.

Room- I guess the silver lining was that we had booked a superior room, and *I think* we were upgraded to a luxury room because the bathroom has double sinks, a huge tub and a separate toilet area. The room did not have a solarium. Yes, I can see how some people would think the room was dated—the fixtures and furniture are old. But the room had every comfort I needed—one of the best hotel beds I have slept in with amazingly soft sheets. The bathroom was large and you were given a choice of toiletry brands. The air conditioning worked great and there were ceiling fans in both the bedroom and bathroom. There was a large flat screen tv, dvd player, bose radio and ipod docking station. The mini bar was filled with coke, diet coke, ting, water and beer—enough that we didn’t have to ask them to refill it (the minibar contents were free, unless you request a refill). They also provided additional free bottles of water each night, as well as a turn down cookie treat. The terrace was spacious and private with a table and two chairs as well as two lounge chairs. We also had our own pathway from the terrace to the beach. The only negative regarding the room was that it took a long time for the water in the shower to get hot- so turn it on for a few minutes before you get in! We were in villa 17-1 (on the bottom floor). It was towards the end of the property, farthest away from Pimms and Spice. We were very happy that they provided golf carts as it was a really long walk to the other side of the beach (especially in the heat of the day). We liked the location of the room because it was away from the main hotel areas and seemed a bit more private. The beach is narrower in this area, and the water is a bit rougher (but still plenty calm for swimming) than the other side of the beach. But this meant that our room was closer to the water and we liked being able to hear the crashing of the waves at night. I’m not sure if the rooms on the wider and calmer part of the beach would be able to hear the waves or not.

Beach- Amazing! I think it’s one of the best in the Caribbean! The water was so many colors of blue (second only to French Polynesia in my opinion!) and very calm (especially on the left side of the beach). The sand was soft and white. The beach chairs were very comfortable and had terry cloths over them so you didn’t have to lay on your wet towel. The umbrellas provided ample shade. We were given treats throughout the day and you could also order drinks and lunch to be delivered to you on the beach. We snorkeled a bit near our villa—there generally isn’t much to see—but we did see some large schools of small fish and some very large fish (mackerel??) swimming nearby.

Service- In general the service was excellent. We enjoyed the beach service of free cold water (replenished often throughout the day), cold towels, sorbet and cookies. With one exception, the service in the restaurants was efficient and very friendly. On our first day we went for late fare at Blue, and our meal took about 45 minutes—and we only ordered a club sandwich and hamburger. All of our other dining experiences were great, so that must have been a fluke. A couple of other complaints—our package was supposed to include champagne upon arrival and we didn’t receive it. My husband called and requested it the next day, and we still never got it. We didn’t ask again because it wasn’t a huge deal to us—but they should have given it to us without having to ask since it was part of our package. Our package also included a $500 credit which was not shown on our bill, so I had to point that out when we checked out.

Restaurants at the Resort

Blue- We had continental breakfast here all but one morning. We preferred going to the restaurant instead of having it delivered to our room because there was more selection. I loved the croissants and my husband’s favorite was the apple turnovers. The continental breakfast was better than what we have had in most other hotels. We also had lunch here twice. Both lunches were delicious, and much better than most hotel food.

Pimms- We had dinner at Pimms our first night. The ambiance here was great and we had a table right at the water’s edge. I had the Caesar salad and beef tenderloin. Both were fantastic and the steak was on par with upscale steakhouses like Morton’s (but even better!) My husband had the ceviche and gnocchi with shrimp. Both were delicious, but the gnocchi was a small portion for my husband. Luckily my steak was big, so he ate some of mine.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 25, 2010

Cap Juluca
Maundays Bay
Anguilla, Caribbean AI-2640
(264) 497-6666

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