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.