How I spent my summer vacation, part VIII

Early morning out on our balcony. Loved that place!

Anguilla Day 3

I was craving some pastries so I drove off to find some, but alas, I didn’t have much luck. I went to Geraud’s first, forgetting that they’re closed on Mondays. Then I tried next door at Gee Wee, but they only had baguettes, so I bought one. Then I stopped at the new little bakery called Top of the Tray. She only had muffins in her glass case, so I bought a couple, along with some juice, and headed back to Caribella for breakfast.

Photo of me at Forest Bay; the charming Coral Reef Bookstore

We spent the morning driving around here & there and eventually made our way to the little bookstore named Coral Reef. Clearly the buyer there is quite discerning—I was impressed to see one of my favorite books of the year, The Singer’s Gun, by Emily St. John Mandel, among the fiction selections, as it’s from a small literary press called Unbridled. So while the selection is not large, it is very carefully chosen and I recommend readers on the island to stop by and support it when you can. We bought three Eastern Caribbean field guides to help us identify local flowers, birds, and fish. They also have a used paperback book swap, or you can buy a used book outright for only EC $5.

Clockwise from top left: Cove Bay; me at Smokey's; Smokey's
seen from the beach; DH reading at Smokey's

From there we drove to Cove Bay to have lunch at Smokey’s, which was also a first for us. We picked the table with the most shade and sat down to enjoy our books and the view until the kitchen was open. I chose the vegetable pizza and DH had a hamburger. Both were good, but we agreed that we should have split one or the other because each of us only ate half of what we ordered. A Carib and a Ting, one mango sorbet and one t-shirt brought our total to US $60, plus additional tip. We really liked the laid back vibe at Smokey’s and the two servers were so friendly. We’ll definitely go again on our next trip but plan to spend the day there using their beach chairs & umbrellas.

Cove Bay. The colors still look unreal to me!

That afternoon we had appointments with Margaret at Anguilla Alternative Wellness Service for a massage and a reflexology treatment. Because of her age, she no longer travels with her heavy massage chair, so we went to her home in Forest Bay, and one of us read out on her porch whilst the other was receiving treatment. She was amazing! Two hours later, we felt like new people. We enjoyed it so much we booked her for a funky foot bath detox treatment the next day (more on that anon). She reduces her prices in June, so while we were expecting to pay $85 for the reflexology and $100 for the massage, it was only $55 and $75, respectively.

Margaret's place in Forest Bay

We booked Straw Hat for dinner that night—what a fun place that is to dine! Unpretentious, nice location, and doing a great job of walking that fine line where a relaxed atmosphere meets upscale dining. It also consistently has the most congenial staff that we’ve met with on the island, which earns high marks from us. We began with a house salad (DH) and the warm tomato tart (me). The salad was good but nothing out of the ordinary, but mine was really quite excellent. DH moved on to the curried goat (outstandingly succulent) while I had the lobster & crayfish spring rolls (very good—and the appetizer portion was just right for me). For dessert we shared the banana bread pudding, which was also very good, particularly the rich caramel sauce topping. I had a glass of their trademark ‘ti punch, which was my favorite rum drink on the island this trip. (NB: I don’t know how Peter did it, either, but he recognized us as repeat customers, welcoming us back. It could have been a lucky guess, I suppose, but when I asked how he knew, he said, “Weren’t you here last year?” Just chalk it up to my Santa Claus companion, I suppose.)

Sailboat seen from our balcony at Caribella. Love that muted
palette, even though it meant lots of rain!

What I Read on Summer Vacation, Part II: Three good books for teens

LITTLE BLACK LIES by Tish Cohen. When Sara Black’s father takes a custodial job at Anton High, the Boston area’s most intellectually elite school, she is eligible to take the rigorous entrance exam, which she passes with flying colors. Now all she has to do is navigate the murky waters of a new school where each student has been primed since birth to succeed, with no expenses spared. Oh, yeah – and figure out a way to keep uber-popular Carling from discovering Sara’s relationship to the new school janitor. There are the usual clashes of cliques and social classes, but it’s the “nerd school” aspect, where smart girls are actually valued, that sets this one apart from other teen novels. As someone who attended a "nerd school" herself ( MSMS, the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, a publically-funded boarding school), I appreciated that aspect.


JELLICOE ROAD by Melina Marchetta. When Taylor Markham becomes the reluctant leader of her boarding school’s underground “gown” movement in the seasonal war against the Townies and the Cadets, she slowly starts unraveling clues in a 17-year old mystery, linking her to both the young Cadet leader and the original students who planned the very first school war. The story just keeps building and building to an unforgettable, completely satisfying ending. Perfect for readers who are drawn to strong, complicated young women and the perpetually alluring boarding school trope.

MR. TOPPIT by Charles Elton. What happens when a chance encounter by an American tourist with a dying man in London results in a runaway-bestselling children’s series? Luke Hayman, whose alter ego, Luke Hayseed, is the protagonist in his father’s books, discovers the hard way how fame is as fickle as the medieval Wheel of Fortune, feeding his family’s dysfunctional neuroses and uncovering their secrets with every upswing in the series’ popularity. And then there's the series' ambiguous anti-hero archetype, Mr. Toppit himself, who inspires a cult-like following among readers. As quirky and unpredictable as The Royal Tenenbaums.

How I spent my summer vacation, part VII

Beautiful Barnes Bay!

Anguilla Day 2

I wake up again feeling not-so-good. Curse and blast it! DH doesn’t want to go off and leave me on my own, so we hang around Caribella for most of the morning. Vandra comes in to clean but ends up visiting with us in the living room for a while. By late morning I feel a bit better and we head out to Crocus Bay and the beachbar at Davida. The setting was pleasant and the beach chairs were quite comfortable, but boy-oh-boy, that music was LOUD! And a little schizophrenic, as if the DJ didn’t quite have his act together. We’d get 30 seconds of one song, a minute of another, three minutes of complete silence, then abruptly start up again in the middle of another song. This went on for about an hour before it settled into a reasonable rhythm.

Very comfy beach chairs at Davida

For lunch we had one hamburger, one hot dog, iced tea, water, and a ginger ale, all of which were fine but nothing fabulous—certainly nothing that would make us return just for the food. We did end with the lime sorbet, though, which was so tart and refreshing that we were tempted to order a second helping. I can’t recall what our meal came to, but it was on the higher side, basically in line with Anguilla resort-y prices for the setting. We both really liked the setting at Davida but in the future we’d prefer to spend the day there when they don’t have music playing, or at least not a DJ. Live music might be better!

Two women on Crocus Bay; View looking out from Davida's beach bar/dining deck

We packed up at 2:30 because the music was too loud for conversation. We had no sooner reached our car then the bottom really fell out again and we had a complete downpour until we reached South Hill. We spent the rest of the day out on the balcony and walking the length of Barnes Bay in the light rain.

I love Lucy’s! We enjoyed our dinner at Lucy’s so much last year that we knew it would be a repeat for us this time around. Lucy herself is such a feisty, delightful character that we would go there just to visit with her, but the food is also great, not to mention the value. That night we basically had dinner AND a show—with our al fresco table, we could see the play of lightning all over the sky and let me tell you, it was intense! For dinner DH ordered the fish special of a snapper filet topped with garlic shrimp and I had the grilled crayfish. Both came with Lucy’s special sweet potatoes and other provision. Everything was delicious, but we barely ate half of our meal, the portions were so large! The two entrees plus a couple of Jack Daniels for DH and a shared large bottle water brought our bill to around US $100, plus additional tip.

Shots of DH and me, sans flash, at Lucy's

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part VI

Anguilla Day 1

 Stormy Weather…it was pretty glorious waking up to another storm.  Watching it from our balcony and feeling the mist blow on our faces is much more enjoyable in Anguilla than it was in Grenada.  Our beachfront location provides an ever-changing panorama of cloud and shadow and color, and we watch it utterly mesmerized.

We decide to break our fast at Straw Hat since we’re too late for getting any goodies at Geraud’s.  I get the continental breakfast with a side of bacon and DH orders pancakes with a side of sausage.  With two coffees and two orange juices, the total came to around US $35, plus additional tip.  The setting was splendid and my pastries were particularly good. 

 Deciding to explore Barnes Bay for the morning and afternoon, we head back home and set up the two umbrellas and chairs on the beach in front of our unit.  The beach is just the way we like it – practically deserted!  It’s still completely overcast, but after our week of rain in Grenada, we’re happy to have even that.  There are some families staying at the Viceroy villas closest to us, but they’re all pretty quiet.  One of the reasons I had held back when considering Caribella was the proximity to both Viceroy and Mango’s and being worried about noise, but those worries ended up being entirely unfounded, I’m happy to report. 

Our little set up at Barnes Bay

 We spend some lazy hours on the beach and then back up on our balcony once the rain resumes.  It doesn’t let up for quite a while, but right before sunset it clears up.  We’re set to meet Ann Phelan, who’s staying at the Viceroy, for sunset cocktails.  I have to admit, we were more than a bit prejudiced against the Viceroy before we even set foot there, but once we were on the property, we found many things to admire, in spite of ourselves.  Ann was great—just as entertaining and warm as her online personality—and we enjoyed our time with her in the lounge.  (NB: I ordered the grapefruit cocktail, which was supposed to be a grapefruit-infused rum with grapefruit juice.  While it was certainly refreshing, it was actually utterly indistinguishable from a mojito, right down to the muddled mint at the bottom.)

DH and Ann Phelan at the Sunset Lounge, Viceroy

DH at the Sunset Lounge

Beautiful location for a sunset

On our trip last year, DH’s favorite meal was at Mango’s, so it was no accident that this year we booked a villa right next door to it.  I really enjoyed Mango’s last year, too, but since I’m the designated driver, this year I especially appreciated being able to just walk home after dinner without worrying about imbibing too much!  This time around, DH ordered the lobster while I opted for the simple, grilled snapper.  Both were absolutely excellent and I would go so far as to say it was the best snapper preparation I’ve ever had.  Several glasses of white wine and an exquisite apple tart with homemade vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce rounded out our meal. 

 I have no idea how, but the owner remembered us from last year (maybe because my husband looks like Santa Claus?).  It’s definitely my husband’s favorite place for dinner on the island and my favorite place for seafood.  It also has a very pleasant staff, and I don’t know how the owner did it, but he greeted us as return customers after we arrived (we gave no indication when making the reservation).  My husband does look like Santa Claus, and there is a substantial age difference between us, so perhaps that is how he remembered us.  At any rate, it made us feel special and it contributed to the general feeling of good cheer.  We both really enjoy Mango’s and it will always be on our must-do list for Anguilla. 

Mango's, seen from the beach by daylight

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part V

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...you can see this boat from Turtleback.
It washed ashore in the last hurricane and was just left there.

Grenada Day 7

Ugh—woe is I! I wake up feeling utterly miserable. What had started as what I presumed were normal menstrual cramps the day before turned into something far more severe this morning—we suspect that it’s something I’ve drunk or eaten. The pitiable thing is that it’s a beautiful day, but because I’m the only driver, DH is forced to stay home all day, too, while I alternately moan and nap. He is such a good sport, though, checking in on me every 30 minutes or so to make sure I don’t need anything. Shortly before lunchtime, I muster the strength to head out again to the IGA to buy some more Advil, and while we’re out, we pick up a few pastries from La Boulangerie, the only food that sounds remotely appealing to me, oddly enough.

We get back home and I head back to bed while DH reassures me that he’s perfectly content to read by the pool all day and not to worry that I’m ruining his last day of Grenadian vacation. Meanwhile, I’m so woozy from sleep and discomfort that I cannot even concentrate on my book. You know something’s seriously wrong with me when I cannot read!

I perked up a bit by the end of the afternoon, so we made plans to go watch the sunset on Grand Anse. We ended up at Coconut Beach, where I nursed a Ting and DH had a G&T. The sunset wasn’t spectacular, but it felt good getting out for a while. What the outing lacked in fiery spectacle, it made up for in people watching opportunities. So we lingered there until it was truly dark and then headed back to the villa for leftovers and to pack. With a 6:45 am flight, we had to get up early the next morning to finish packing, load the car, and hie ourselves to the airport. For the first time ever, I was not sad to leave Grenada behind and could only hope that the rest of the vacation was an improvement over the first half.

Sunset on Grand Anse

Travel Day 2

Up at 5:00 am to be ready to leave for the airport at 5:30. We arrived in plenty of time to check in for our 6:55 flight with American Eagle and get through security, but we were glad we did because in addition to the usual screening and metal detector, every passenger was patted down & wanded, and every single piece of luggage (including handbags, briefcases, etc) was inspected by hand. So despite the small number of people ahead of us, it took a good 30 minutes just to clear security. I can’t imagine how backed up it gets when a big flight to the UK departs. The departure lounge at GND now has two more gift shops as well as an expanded duty-free shop for liquor & jewelry from our last trip, so there are a few good distractions for me—my tummy was still feeling quite crummy, though thankfully the severe cramps are less frequent. I fervently hope that soon after reaching Anguilla that I’ll feel better, because if there is ever an island where you want to be hungry for each meal, it’s Anguilla!

Immigration & customs in San Juan went by lickety-split, and DH and I were looking forward to being greeted by our Anguilla Air Express rep to whisk us away for our next phase. We find the San Juan airport to be notorious in its lack of proper signage, especially once you leave the American terminal, so the thought of having an escort was a pleasant one. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. So we wandered about, looking for the proper place to check in. We stopped to ask an airport employee but she hadn’t heard of the airline. We stopped at the information desk but he didn’t know, either. After reading so many kudos on various travel forums about this airline, we were beginning to get frustrated! We finally found our way to the various small and/or charter airlines and asked at the Cape Air counter where we can find Anguilla Air Express and he pointed out a man standing a few yards away and said, “that’s your pilot right over there.” Well. We walked over to him and introduced ourselves and he said, “Oh! You’re here already?” He had lost track of time and forgotten to meet us. Not a terrific first impression, I admit, but all negativity vanished when he continued, “we’re just waiting on two more passengers who should be here soon and then we can leave right away.” As in three hours ahead of schedule!

The flight was a little bumpy and we had very little visibility with all of the cloud coverage—apparently it was not just Grenada that was socked in by bad weather. Still, we were so very happy once we landed in Anguilla! We had arranged ahead of time with Ronnie Bryan to have our rental car waiting for us at the airport, but since we landed almost three hours early, it wasn’t there yet. A local stopped what he was doing when he saw us circling the parking lot with our luggage and offered to let us use his cell phone to call Ronnie, who was very apologetic and promised to rush over right away. True to his word, less than ten minutes later he pulled up in our little Toyota Corolla and got us taken care of, but looking a little flustered. We assured him that it was all good and that if we had been thinking, we would have given him the courtesy of calling him from San Juan to let him know of our early arrival.

When we pulled into Caribella, Vandra came out to greet us and give us our orientation. After the dearth of current online information about Caribella, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect, so we were pleasantly surprised to see how bright and airy it was inside. We had the entire top floor of the villa closest to Viceroy and it was very spacious. Unlike the dark photos shown on the Caribella website, the kitchen was done in white tiles and cabinetry and the white tiles continue throughout the living room and bedrooms. The living room furniture is fairly standard sturdy wicker whose cushions are covered in a bright tropical print and in the bedroom the king-size bed is done up in a soothing shade of blue. The bedroom has one set of sliding doors and the living room has two sets, and they all lead out to a deep balcony with expansive views over Barnes Bay.




Clockwise from upper left: Caribella living room, Caribella kitchen, exterior as seen from the beach (note the Viceroy villa in background), Caribella master bedroom.

First a nap, then shopping for provisions, then back home to watch the lightning show from our front row balcony seats. For the third time in a row, B&D's bbq was our destination for our first dinner on Anguilla--now it's a tradition! They looked rained out when we pulled up, but a few men were gathered under the tarp next to the smoker. We placed a to-go order for two servings of chicken and two sides, which came to only US $10. My tummy was still feeling pretty rumbly and grumbly, unfortunately. Early bed time.

Rugged Barnes Bay, where Caribella is located. The surf here was fairly typical for our stay.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part IV

Grenada Day 5

Woke to sunshine, so after a quick breakfast of toast & fruit, we hied ourselves over to Morne Rouge, one of our favorite beaches on the island. We rented two beach chairs from Bernard for only EC $10 each and spent a happy two hours alternating between swimming, walking the beach, and reading under the almond trees. We made the fortuitous decision to pack up our stuff and have lunch at Sur La Mer and had just arrived at the bar when the skies opened up once more.

It rained rather heavily for nearly two hours, so we whiled away our time with a few speed rounds of Bananagrams and a spectacularly mediocre lunch. First of all, it was dark, hot, and stuffy inside the bar—the website for the Gem shows a light and airy dining room but we saw no evidence of it. The server was indifferent at best and the food itself was forgettable—I had a chicken roti and DH had the BLT. The rum punch was just this side of awful and the coffee was instant. We had lunched at Sur La Mer once before and had a similar experience, but after reading other reviews online and looking at its website again, we decided to give it another chance. Never again!

Below: Bernard with the
beach chairs
By the time we made it back to our beach chairs we decided to just pack up and head back to the villa. While we were eating lunch, Bernard had very kindly folded up our towels and tucked them inside the folded chairs in an attempt to keep them as dry as possible for us. He told us that he’s having a hard time of it these days now that the new Kalinago hotel is open. He’s been renting out beach chairs on Morne Rouge for years now, but Kalinago is offering free chairs with the purchase of a drink from the bar. Folks, if you head to Grenada, please go to Morne Rouge and rent the yellow & white chairs from Bernard. They’re only EC $10 each for the entire day and Bernard will take care of you!

Before heading back to the villa, we stopped at a few shops to see if they had any umbrellas for sale, but we couldn’t find any for love or money. Next time we’ll be sure to pack our own, as we could have done much more in the rain, such as tour the botanical gardens or the fort at St. George’s, with a brolly in hand.

But things could only look up for us that day because we had reservations with Boots for dinner. Boots and his wife Ruby operate a small restaurant out of their home not far from LAE, and I don’t think it is overstating it to say that they are one of the main reasons we keep returning to Grenada. They are kind and gracious, and I don’t know how they do it with all of their customers, but they remember us from year to year, which in turns makes us feel special. For EC $80 per person, they serve up a 5 course meal, and when we call to make reservations, we always try to make them for a night when Boots will be serving lambi. I’ve eaten lambi (or conch, as it’s known elsewhere in the Caribbean) on every island I’ve visited, but nobody, and I mean NOBODY serves it up like Boots does. He has a well guarded secret to make it so tender that you’d swear it couldn’t be lambi.

For that night, Boots and Ruby started us of with a johnnycake and a spicy pumpkin soup, followed by a saltfish fritter, and a small salad. He always offers three choices for entrees, and beside the lambi that night, we could have chosen goat or fish stew. The lambi was done in a Creole style with onions & peppers and it was just out of this world. The entrée is always accompanied by a variety of provision, and that night we had plantain, breadfruit balls, and some root veggies. The papaya custard pie with rum raisin ice cream was the perfect end to a perfect meal.

After dinner, the four of us sat around chatting about food and recipes and kitchen techniques until we were all yawning. We parted ways with hugs as we left because that’s just the way they are—so warm, so embracing.

Grenada Day 6

Yay—another sunny morning! So after breakfast at the villa we head back to Morne Rouge and rent some chairs from Bernard again and spend some hard hours reading, swimming, and napping. The rain clouds roll in around 1:00 pm this time, so we pack things up and head to lunch at Flamboyant’s Beachside Terrace restaurant. It seems to be everything that Sur la Mer is not—bright, airy, cheery—and just feet from the water where we can hear the waves. Our server is young and in training from NEWLO, a program that trains young Grenadians with various sets of life skills, and she’s trying so hard to remember everything that the concentration shows on her face. It’s clear that she’s trying to make a good impression and we’re utterly charmed—in fact, she reminds us of one of our granddaughters back home.

Anyway, for lunch DH had chicken & chips and I had the Greek salad. Two sodas, two iced teas (which were phenomenal!), and a shared ice cream brought our lunch to about US $35, plus tip. When the rain let up after lunch, we spent a little time walking that end of Grand Anse, which we had not visited before. Lunch at the Flamboyant will definitely be on our itinerary for future visits to Grenada—the good food and the great, casual atmosphere make for a good value, indeed.


Clockwise from top left: Eponymous tree at Flamboyant, Beachside Terrace restaurant at Flamboyant, view of Grand Anse from top of Flamboyant property, view of Grand Anse from a different vantage point at Flamboyant.

By late afternoon, I’m starting to feel not-so-well, so I have a nap in an attempt to ward off whatever is ailing me so that I can be refreshed for dinner at Aquarium. In fact, I feel worse after waking up, but we don’t want to cancel our reservations, as we really like this restaurant (and as I’m the only driver on the rental car, DH would go hungry if I didn’t make the effort to drive him somewhere for dinner). Well, in retrospect, it might have been better if we’d canceled. We arrive to obnoxiously loud dance music blasting through the speakers, which might have been appropriate during the day for the beach bar part of the restaurant, but which was hardly appealing for a nice night out. It was so loud that it completely obscured our ability to converse without shouting (my husband has a hearing disability), but my request for the volume to be lowered went unheeded. I suppose, viewed in the right light, that the music was actually a blessing to us because it kept us from wanting to linger over our meal. Our servers were perfunctory, not at all what we had come to expect from our previous meals at Aquarium, so they gave us no reason to linger, either. I’m happy to report that our food was excellent, starting with the amuse-bouche of seared tuna. My tummy was still feeling fragile, so I ordered the penne pesto made with local basil, and DH ordered a coconut shrimp dish with the most succulent shrimp I’ve ever tasted. The portions were ample and neither one of us finished our entrées, so we took them home to eat the next day. Two glasses of wine brought our total to US $66, plus tip. We remarked on our way back to the car that we made it out of there in just under 45 minutes, perhaps the fastest dinner ever taken at that restaurant!

By the time we get home, I’m feeling very puny, as my father might say. I take the last two Advil and crawl into bed at 8:30, hoping that an early bedtime will lead to a full recovery by morning.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, part III

Grenada Day 4

Like previous days, this day started out with rain, but this time it was a torrential downpour. Undaunted, we ate breakfast, packed a bag, and headed north with our map. The rain was crazy heavy and there were several moments where we thought about just turning around—the runoff on the road was substantial and every time we plowed through the standing water, it blinded us for a split second until the wipers cleared it. But then we lucked up by getting behind a large dump truck that was traveling very slowly. We stuck behind it through the worst of the storm. Cars behind us were clearly frustrated with our slow speed, but we were relieved to follow the tortoise instead of trying to keep pace with the hare. Past La Sagesse the weather finally let up to a light rain, so we spent the next hour and change just enjoying the drive.

photos from around Belmont Estate

Our destination for the day was Belmont Estate and we arrived there approximately two hours after leaving the villa. After getting out and stretching a bit, we made our way to the visitors’ center where we met Kelly, the young man giving tours that day (only EC $10 per person, plus tip). He was both energetic and well spoken and we enjoyed learning the history of the plantation and getting the full scoop on the way the cacao is harvested, fermented, dried and processed—all by hand! I was even invited to “walk to beans,” a task traditionally allocated to women, to get a feel for it. The tour concluded with our watching a short video of how the Grenada Chocolate Company then processes the chocolate nibs into their fine chocolate whilst Kelly prepared some cocoa tea and chocolate samples for us. Yum--I’d bought cocoa balls at the market during previous vacations, but making cocoa tea at home never tastes as good! For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a treat. Chocolate, ground cinnamon, and ground bay leaves are mixed to form balls, which are then boiled in water and then sweetened with a lot of sugar.

Some photos from around the estate

Belmont Estate used to supply Lindt and other European chocolatiers with their chocolate, but now it all stays on island, going to the Grenada Chocolate Factory, a solar-powered, all-organic locally owned chocolate company. Because of its small size, the factory doesn’t give tours any longer, but it was quite fascinating to see the process even on video.

more photos from around the estate

Belmont also has recently imported goats and is now the source of most of the goat cheese served in local restaurants on the island. They’re hoping to increase the production of the goat cheese in order to sell it to individuals and stores. We bid adieu to Kelly to walk around a bit on our own before lunch, so we wandered through the gardens, visited the land tortoises and parrots, and made snapshots for about a quarter of an hour.

Lunch was a combination of full service and buffet. Joan, our waitress, took our orders for drinks, appetizers (pumpkin soup for me, fish chowder for DH), and dessert (bergamot ice cream for DH, mango mousse for me) while our main course was a large buffet table filled with a variety of both local dishes and more standard American fare—green salad, potato & papaya salad, green bananas, rice & peas, pepper pot, fish, chicken, and breadfruit pie. It was my first time to try pepper pot, whose flavor I really liked. The food was all perfectly good but not particularly outstanding—hard to achieve ‘outstanding’ on a buffet, after all. But we enjoyed the experience immensely, not least because of Joan’s pleasant mien and the lovely breeze. Two prix-fixe meals, plus one bottled water, one coffee, and two fresh cane juices, came to around EC $120, including tax and additional service charge.

This cute little boy jumped into my photo!

After lingering there for a while, we continued our journey north to Sauteurs, our mouths rather continually agape from the stunning views of the lush mountains and gorges. We had intended to follow the signs all the way to Carib’s Leap but the road was blocked off with police signs in town. Changing gears, we followed the road out to Bathway Beach instead, which was a wild swathe of sand etched with breakers. Apparently along this windward coast the island loses up to 7 feet per year from erosion, at least according to the tourist literature left in our villa. We got out to make some photos and enjoy the salty tang of the air and the rare kiss of sunshine on our faces. Then back in the car following the road to River Antoine distillery (“get thee to a rummery,” my husband commanded as we drove by). By this time, school was getting out for the day, so driving again slowed down as we navigated through seas of small, uniformed children, each more adorable than the last.

Bathway Beach looking north/ Bathway Beach looking south

It was, we decided, a wonderful day, a perfect way to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Wanting to continue the celebration with a nice meal, we chose the Beach House, remembering it as having a very nice ambience. Dinner was not quite as successful as we had hoped, however. Part of it was simply the wet weather and the resulting increase of bug activity. The restaurant has some attractive sconces, one on the wall above each table, and while in the past they’ve never attracted insects to the point of being bothersome, that night it was distracting and unpleasant.

I also had a misunderstanding with our waiter (or perhaps it was between our waiter and the kitchen), which resulted in a very odd first course, indeed. I originally ordered the summer salad, comprising mixed greens, fresh goat cheese candied pecans, apple slices, and a mango vinaigrette. Upon being told that the kitchen was out of mixed greens but that I could have a Caesar salad instead, I asked if I could have the romaine lettuce used in the Caesar salad, but prepared like the summer salad. “Of course,” was my response. Well, what I got was a Caesar salad, complete with anchovies(!) and parmesan cheese, but with the apples and candied pecans from the summer salad. It wasn’t exactly dreadful—it was more bizarre than anything else—but I couldn’t really bring myself to finish it.

The kitchen was out of the first two items DH tried to order so he ordered a simple steak, medium rare. It came back well done and so full of gristle that it was pretty tough to cut. The side dishes were the saving grace, including the seasonal vegetables, the baked mashed potatoes, and the sautéed mushrooms, all done to perfection. I had more luck with my second dish of beef skewers served with a peanut sauce called the Thai Teepee—they were absolutely succulent and tender. Our dessert, a cloud of meringue, filled with lime curd, a passionfruit reduction, and cream, was perfectly balanced and very light. Three cocktails, plus tax and tip, brought our bill to EC $301.

Were we overall disappointed? Perhaps a little. Our server could have saved us some disappointment up front by telling us what the kitchen had run out of, for example. And I am still shaking my head at that salad, but that was probably a miscommunication more than anything. There was no excuse for the awfulness of my husband’s steak, certainly, but we don’t really like to send things back, either, so we just sucked it up. We still had a pleasant evening because we thankfully still really enjoy each other’s company, but our good time was only intermittently connected to our food.

photos from the Beach House restaurant

Today I read a really good young adult novel called Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchette, enthusiastically recommended to me by friend and former co-worker, Rebecca Fabian.