My Anguilla Story

by C., chickenwing1234@hotmail.com
(Canada)

Hi ! Love your site.. the only true Anguilla site.

I've been coming to Anguilla for the past 4 years. It's my 5th time next saturday (January 12th 2008). I just love it there. I have been fortunate enough to see and enjoy Anguilla, but I have also seen and lived the worse of anguilla. This is my story.

I came in 2002 for the first time, stayed at Pelican Hill Villa in Shoal Bay East, a truly gorgeous, perfect villa owned at that time by Jeanette. She was the sweetest person I had met. The island is gorgeous, the beaches perfect, the snorkeling amazing, the people super friendly and the food exquisite. Yes I almost ran out of adjectives right there.

I am always low key, cautious yet adventurous and I love to live new things. Anguilla was perfect for me. I had never heard of it, none of my friends and family did either, sounds perfect to me !! I learned about the island and 3 days later I was there... amazing.

I ate at pretty much all the restaurants, but my favorite is not one mentioned very often. It's Gwen's Reggae Grill. I love their fish sandwich, location and simplicity. Plus Gwen is super nice and fun. I am thinking of getting married right there. I witnessed the hatching of about 200 baby turtles right on the beach at gwen's. Amazing sight. I took many photographs, one of which I am bringing on this trip to gwen.

Other places I loved were The Pumphouse (for ambiance), Le Bon Pain (for their patisseries) and Scilly Cay (for everything).

Villas I've been to:

Pelican Hill: my all time favorite villa in the world. very spacious, amazing view... I felt right at home. Azure is also nice, right next door, very spacious, fine design and lovely panoramic vista.

Bliss: a very nicely designed villa, only two rooms but very spacious and the view is very nice as well. Modern but warm.

Manana: neighbor of Bliss, this villa has a cozy feeling, a 'second home' and just a perfect place for 2 couples to hang out and relax.

Desert Rose: a spectacular villa, immense and rich in textures, materials and attention to detail. It is amazing. modern, cool, slick, warm and just perfect.

Anguilla is my paradise while I'm here on earth. i'm still young (28) so hopefully, I'll get to enjoy this paradise for some time. But as perfect as a place can be, there are always drawbacks. This is my experience and hopefully a one-time thing for tourists.

I am writing this story to make sure people are careful when staying in Anguilla as in any other island, city or even their home. You should never be afraid or mistrusting, but you should never flaunt or 'show-off' your Chanels, Pradas and Dolces either.

Long story short: I was at a villa last May. On may 8th, a stranger broke into the house and attacked one of my friends, stabbing her and stealing her money. She had left her windows and her bedroom door open to help create a draft. He had followed her from the beach, she had expensive bags, clothes and just a 'je ne sais quoi' about her that made the guy believe she would be a 'good target' for him to attack and steal money and who knows what else?

We went to bed at 11PM. He waited probably in the bushes until 4AM when he attacked... tried a few doors, windows... then went into her room. He freaked out when she got up (because she was so taken by surprise) that he ran to her and stabbed her twice, once in the head, the second time in the stomach.

I had locked and dead-bolted my doors. My windows were locked and had wooden sticks to prevent them from being forced open. No idea why, I felt perfectly safe, just being over careful, I guess. He did try, but couldn't enter. I was woken up by her when she banged on my sliding door at 4AM.

All this to say... be careful: Lock your gate, lock your door (like you would in any hotel room, your house...) and just be simple. Don't show off.

But you should have fun and relax. This only happened once and the guy is in prison now. You should visit Anguilla. It is safer than any other island. The proof is that 6 months have passed and I am coming back. If I didn't trust Anguilla, love Anguilla and everything it has to offer, I would just never come back.

The people of Anguilla were very supportive of me and my friend, everyone wanted to help and took it personally. Gwen, Sandra & Eudoxie, Jackie, Phillis, Jeanette... everyone was very nice, very helpful and you must meet these people if you haven't.

I hope I didn't bring anyone down, just don't want anyone to live anything like this. Don't let this change your mind into not coming to Anguilla, which is still a super-safe island. We were just very unlucky.

You MUST at least once in your life walk on Shoal Bay, eat a fish sandwich at Gwen's, drink a rum punch at Scilly, talk to Sandra and Eudoxie and just live the Anguilla life.

It is seriously easy going and is like one of those Mastercard ads......... priceless ;)

Have fun!