15 July 2014

Sunday Funday on Anguilla

Barnes Bay, looking from Caribella toward Viceroy
Waking up early again, we decide to cool our heels by taking a walk on the beach and having coffee on the balcony at Caribella while waiting for Geraud's to open (they don't open until 8:00 am on Sundays). The sun was bright but a little hazy and before long we found ourselves on the road to South Hill for our first of about one dozen visits to the bakery.

Even so, we arrived before they opened, so we grabbed a table for two under the pergola and read in our books until the doors were unlocked. O happy day!  We've never arrived to such a full selection of pastries before. They've even introduced a new flavor since our last visit: pear & almond.  We made our orders and returned to our table.

Caffe latte, lemon pastry, and pear & almond pastry

After finishing breakfast (and using our Anguilla discount card for the first time!) we went back to Caribella to pack our beach bags.  At long last, we were headed to The Place on Rendezvous Bay.
Turn here off the main road to get to The Place
I smile to think of it now, but once upon a time, I didn't care much for Rendezvous Bay.  I didn't dislike it, mind you, but it didn't exude its siren call upon me the way other beaches did.  Now though? I think that this beach reigns as my favorite beach on the island, and The Place is a good part of the reason.

It might be the only place on Anguilla that ticks every single box on my personal list of beach bar features: plenty of shade, good food at reasonable prices, terrific staff, comfortable seating, and easy to access, all on a beach that is drop dead gorgeous.

That day, Dave and Ambrose were working, and as usual, they took great care of us.  We settled in on one of the daybeds under the palms and spent a couple of happy hours being absorbed in our books before heading up to the pavilion for lunch. I selected the shrimp BLT and DH had the grilled ribs.  Mine was excellent, but the sauce on his ribs was a little too sweet for his liking.  We even had enough left over to take home for dinner that night.
BBQ ribs 
Shrimp BLT
We retired to our daybeds after lunch and eventually made it into the water for a swim.  The entry is a little pebbly, but the water there is really glorious. We try not to take too much direct sun at midday, but sometimes the sea is just too inviting to resist.

Late in the day we settled our bill and headed back home with our leftovers and an extra order of takeaway rice & peas to round out our dinner, which we ate inside, as the mosquitos were even worse after dusk.
Salt pond on the way to The Place
Road home from The Place
We had a pretty nice sunset that night and an even more colorful aprés-sunset sky. A couple of rounds of Skip-Bo and some after dinner drinks and we were ready to hit the sack. After all, we had to get our beauty rest so that we could get up and do it all again the next day.  Very tiring business, being beach bums.


6 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos, especially the ones of the bay!
    aaaand I'm drooling for the pear and almond pastry. Yummm.

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    1. Their pastries are *amazing* and the prices are really reasonable. They also have a frequent buyer punch card that we put to good use.

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  2. Oh Emily - for many years, we reveled in RB, and all its glory, and when RBH closed, we were truly devastated, heartbroken, it was very painful, but then we found Nathan's and were happy again - until Meads became unbearable. We are now happy with Caribella, and spend long days on the beach, venturing out now and then to The Place, or CJ, and maybe even to Elodias, in the future as it looks promising. As always, thank you for your wonderful posts and descriptions, they bring back such fond memories.

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    1. RBH looks like it would have been just about perfect. I'm curious to know what it would be like to stay in their renovated units. Maybe next year we can take another "vacation from our vacation."

      Thanks for reading, Ellen!

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  3. Love this news....Geraud's is THE BEST..waiting for the opening proved a worthwhile effort, Emily.

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  4. Rendezvous down by the Place is amazing. I have a feeling you and DH would love staying there.

    Gerauds new pastry looked delicious.

    Thanks!

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