Anguilla XV: New Year's Eve Eve and Old Year's Night (and Day)

After a round of gin & tonics (gins & tonic?) to shake off the day’s travel, we walked up the beach in the most beautiful purple twilight to get to SandBar, which is one of our favorite restaurants on the island. We knew we’d want dinner on the earlier side after being vertical for 16 hours, and given the GST that makes everything more expensive than you think, we appreciate the pricing on their small plates!

It’s unbelievable, looking back at my photo library, that I didn’t take pictures of any of our food, but I did manage to snap a photo of my cocktail – the porn star, featuring passionfruit and prosecco. When my husband and I traveled here in November 2022 with our friends, we appreciated how vegetarian-friendly the menu was, and I’m happy to say that Chef Carrie has even expanded some of those offerings since. We ordered four small plates: the charred broccoli with chili crunch, the roasted beet salad with goat cheese, the tuna poke with creamy chili sauce, and the mahi bites with Carib batter. I enjoyed each one immensely, and my husband, whose taste buds were still in recovery from our bout with Covid earlier in the month, was especially pleased with the textures of the salad and the tuna poke.

I'm a sucker for anything with passionfruit

Our table for two was right along the edge of the beach, so in between savoring each bite, we could gaze out at all the sailboats and watch other people walk the beach in search of their evening repast. We were a tad concerned when the live music set up was immediately behind our table, but the talented young woman who performed, Jennique, had the perfect volume, even for those diners seated adjacent to her. They had a dessert special of a lemon mousse served with raspberries that was the perfect not-too-sweet-but-light bite for ending our meal on. 

Our table, front and center

Jennique

Exhausted, we walked back home along the beach, letting the colored lights at Roy's guide the way. (Not that we need real guiding, mind you. All we had to do was go to the beach and turn left. I just liked to think of those lights as "home.")  We had a nightcap at the bar and to close out our tab from earlier, enjoying our chat with Romero and Patrick, who were both behind the bar, before climbing upstairs. After closing all the louvered windows, shutting all the curtains, and turning on the a/c, we tumbled into bed, ready to greet the morrow. 

And the evening, and the morning, were the first day. I woke up first, which is typical, while Michael dozed on, so I got up to take inventory of the apartment and our immediate surroundings. Never having stayed in Sandy Ground before, we weren't sure whether our location (either generally, or our specific location above a popular restaurant) would be noisy into the night or not, and I'm delighted to report that it was not. Granted, we travel with earplugs (both of us), sleep mask (just me) and use the white noise app on our phones overnight to combat the effects of snoring (mostly mine), but I think even travelers without those accoutrements would find it a peaceful place to sleep.

Cheery tables with a view

We went down early for breakfast and ordered omelets (delish) with johnny cakes (natch). The breeze was pleasant, the coffee was hot, the portions were huge (alas, no photos), so we lingered there for a while to plan our day before taking our leftovers upstairs to store in the fridge for breakfast later in the week. 

Lovely Sandy Ground, sparkling in the sun

We decided that the first order of business would be to walk the beach to get our bearings of where all the restaurants and beach bars are. A little recon, if you will, for our evening when we would somehow have to stay awake between dinner at 7:00 and the fireworks at midnight. 

IYKYK

We walked almost all the way to Elvis, pausing to snap photos here and there, or pet a dog, or say good morning to all whom we passed. I didn't realize that Johnno's had a new spot there, I'm not sure I'd ever heard of the Lit Lounge before, and the Criss Conch Shack had definitely expanded since my last visit -- it was great seeing new and new-to-me spots pop up! Eventually the heat got the better of my husband, so we hied back to the apartment to pack a beach bag for the day. We'd decided at breakfast to try setting up at The Place for thenext several hours.

I love the part of Rendezvous Bay where The Place is. The tone has changed quite a bit since the days when it was my favorite spot on the island, but you still can't beat the view and the overall gorgeousness of the beach. We got a pair of chairs with an umbrella, but the umbrella was broken so that one section of the canvas flapped in the wind and didn't provide as much shade, but they didn't seem very invested in either moving us, fixing it, or giving us a different umbrella. We made the best of it by applying more sunscreen and concentrating on the positives of the situation, which were numerous. 

We spent a couple of happy hours reading and dipping in the water before moving up to the restaurant to order lunch. I've always found it a good rule of thumb to move from the beach up to the beach bar before I get hungry, and I was especially glad to have done so today. Our drinks arrived right away, but our food took almost 45 minutes to get there; two other tables ordered were brought to us before our order eventually arrived. Not a huge deal, but I suspect that our food order might have got lost because it was definitely not very busy.

It's not a hardship to sit in a beautiful place with your favorite person, sipping a Ting, and wait for your food, but I am glad that we didn't wait until we were hungry to go up there. My fish tacos were perfectly fine, as was my husband's order of fried calamari, and we didn't want a huge lunch anyway since our supper would be Italian. 

I hadn't anticipated seeing all of the Christmas 
decorations on the island. It made me smile each time!

We enjoyed our time at The Place, and would certainly return again in the future, but the broken umbrella combined with the actual lunch itself does make me rethink the overall value I've always attributed to it before. The location is spectacular, though, so if you're not in a hurry do give it a try.

We took a couple of Tings back to our beach chairs and spent more time on the read-swim-walk circuit before packing up and heading home to Roy's, where we took one last dip in the ocean before we headed upstairs to take a brief nap and then get ready for dinner. About which, more anon!

Anguilla XV, or There and Back Again

Spoilers: the view from Roy's studio in Sandy Ground

While I’ve dreamed of spending part of the winter holiday season in Anguilla ever since my first taste of the island back in 2009, I never really thought it would be a reality, thanks to the fact that I’ve been the manager of an independent bookstore for most of the last two decades: time off in December is as rare as hen’s teeth when you work retail. That all changed for me about 18 months ago, when I got my dream job and in a topsy-turvy change of fate, suddenly had more downtime in December than I’ve had since I graduated from college.

Still, I didn’t think a trip to Anguilla during Festive Season would happen any time soon since 2023 was the Year We Bought Our First Home, and while my husband’s and my coffers weren’t entirely depleted, we also had to contend with replacing our entire heating system for our first winter season. We knew that we’d want some sort of small vacation to mark a Big Year with Lots of Changes, so I diligently searched where we could go using my cache of airline miles. I’ve always wanted to see the Christmas markets in a major European capital, and we very nearly went in that direction for variety of reasons: miles could get us there, we have friends who just moved from the US to Edinburgh, and we’ve been longing to return to the UK after falling in love with London in 2019. There were just two catches: with six days of vacation to play with, we didn’t want to lose 1/6 of our trip to jetlag AND my husband’s job had taken a pretty stressful turn in the fall, so we decided that a more relaxing trip was the wiser option.

Taking no chances on getting sick and ruining the trip!

Since I’m never going to fight too hard against planning a relaxing vacation in a tropical locale during the winter months, that was all A-okay with me. I checked all the places Delta flies but was having trouble finding two tickets anywhere in Mexico or the Caribbean using my FF miles. I could get one FF ticket but then would have to pay $800-1200 for the companion fare, depending on the destination. Feeling a little down in the dumps, I did what I sometimes do when I’m procrastinating, or feeling restless, or it’s a Tuesday: I checked flight prices to Anguilla on all airlines, not just Delta. First I checked prices into St Maarten, on the off chance that I might see something affordable, but nothing did I spy. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I checked prices for flights right into AXA. LO AND BEHOLD, there was one American Airlines flight that showed up for significantly less money than I’ve ever paid to fly to either AXA or SXM. In fact, the price was so low that I could book two of us for less money booking a single fare on Delta to many of the other destinations we had considered.

Sunrise from the plane

My heartbeat raced. Could it be? Could we possibly be lucky enough to find ourselves in my favorite spot on earth for New Year’s Eve? A quick glance on the VRBO and AirBnB apps showed no shortage of accommodations in our price range (a mere $150/night), so with the airtight logic that while this was still more than we wanted to spend for this particular trip for the reasons stated above, my husband solemnly pronounced that we would never be able to get to Anguilla for less money, ever, and so we should go with that.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been happier to purchase two plane tickets. I booked a rental car with Ronnie Bryan immediately thereafter and then began one of my favorite tasks: finding a place to stay that fit our budget and our few accommodation requirements: optional a/c in the bedroom, a central-to-west location, wifi, and a kitchenette. My biggest nice-to-have for this trip was a view or walking distance to the beach, but truly never thought we could find that, given that our budget would have been tight even for low season travel, much less Festive Season.

It always feels lucky to spy a rainbow from the plane

Enter: the studio above Roy’s restaurant. I’d heard of it before, of course, but there aren’t many reviews on line that I could find, so I took to the forums to find somebody who’d stayed there before and messaged them directly. Carolee gave me the personal experience and assurance that I’d hoped for and I booked online. Patrick and Claire, the hosts, were helpful and communicative at every step of the process, including when I wanted to frontload one more night to our trip. I’ve always read that Anguilla doesn’t have to be an expensive destination, despite its reputation, and so for my 15^th visit to the island, I was about to find out if that was true.

Outdoor seating area at the apartment

Thus it was that  at 3:30am on 30 December, we found ourselves scraping the ice off our car and making a pre-dawn drive to the airport for our flight to Miami. To sum up, our MIA flight was turbulence-ridden and significantly delayed, so we were doubly glad that we'd booked the longer connection there (the idea being we'd try to get standby on the earlier flight if we arrived in time). We used the extra time to take a walk through the concourse, eat breakfast, and do a little people watching. The MIA-AXA leg was delayed but uneventful and it felt marvelous to land in Anguilla and see how green the island looked. Immigration was quick and easy, as was locating Ronnie Bryan's rental car in the parking lot. 

Inside the studio

We made one quick stop at Syd & Pete's market for bottled water and half & half (we always travel with our own coffee and didn't need anything else for our first morning) before heading down the familiar hill into Sandy Ground to arrive at our new home for the week. Wayne greeted us and showed us upstairs to the studio apartment, which was light and airy and inside, where we promptly dumped our bags to change into some weather appropriate clothing and then hurried downstairs to Roy's to have a quick sunset drink at the bar before walking up to the beach for our dinner reservation.

That string of colored lights guided us home every night

This was a pretty long preamble, and it only covered the pre-trip and arrival! I promise that the rest of my trip updates will be more photo forward and less loquacious. Stay tuned for dinner up the beach at SandBar and the rest of our pinch-me-how-did-we-manage-to-pull-this-off trip.

Best Books of 2019

Image found here

You know what’s almost as much fun as reading all the books?  Counting down the best books of the year. According to my handy stats at Goodreads, I read 68 books comprising over 21,000 pages. I tried to read with intention for much of my reading this year, making sure that I was getting more non-fiction, YA, and genre into my literary diet. Some stats:

It’s getting trickier to break authors down into binary genders, so let’s just say that of the 68 books, thirteen of them were written by men. 19%

Nonfiction: 22%
Genre (romance, SFF, thriller): 30%
Diversity: 25% (I thought this would be higher)
YA or middle grade: 19%

Best Novels of 2019

   

     

Best Nonfiction of 2019

  

Best Books for Young Readers of 2019

Biggest [Nice] Surprises of 2019

Who could have predicted that a zombie apocalypse narrated by a crow and a pair of lesbian necromancers would be among my favorite books of the year? I should clearly read more genre fiction with this kind of pay off!

And of course I read lots of books in 2019 that won’t be published until 2020.  Here are some titles to consider pre-ordering from your local library or indie bookstore:

What about you, gentle reader?  What did you love in 2019? What did I miss that you would recommend?

I Wish You Peace and Light in These Dark Times

Stonehenge in the Midwinter Snow
Image source: http://www.disclose.tv

NB: This is a slightly modified post from years past that I wanted to reuse for Christmas.

It's a little out of character for me to write a blog post that is about neither books nor travel.  It’s also a little out of character to share many of my personal details in such a public space, but I’ve been largely away from the blogosphere for a while now and I’ve had many supportive inquiries from readers.  2019 has largely been a very good year for me, significantly better than 2018 was, but its closing also brought bad news on the health front for many family members and friends and their loved ones, including pets.

There's a Christmas song lingering in my mind right now that I have been listening to more or less on a loop for  the last couple of days.  I love sacred Christmas carols though I'm not Christian, or at least I’m not a Christian if by “Christian,” you mean somebody who believes that Jesus Christ is the  literal offspring of God. Agnostic, I suppose, is the proper term for me.  Perhaps a cultural Episcopalian is a little more specific. But if by “Christian,” you mean somebody who thinks that fellow named Jesus Christ was a revolutionary ahead of his time, especially his ideas regarding the treatment of the disenfranchised, then maybe the term fits.

Whatever inclination toward the sacred I possess always feels deeply disheartened by the relentless commercialism of a secular Christmas; thus, my recent mental soundtrack of Loreena McKennitt's performance of Good King Wenceslas.

As far as I know, it is the only Christmas carol that remains as relevant today as it ever did.   Regardless of any divine context,  a couple of millennia ago, give or take, this guy Jesus did some pretty revolutionary stuff.  I'm prepared to accept that at face value, if not his divinity.  But what does the celebration of his birth mean for the world today, all those angels and mangers  and glorias in excelsis deo*? For my money, it's the et in terra pax ominibus** that is so important, so relevant today, yet so sorely lacking in our current times where grace and graciousness are endangered species.  

With the changing of just two little words so the song is non gender-specific or non-religious specific, Good King Wenceslas is what speaks to me tonight and all year 'round: give of yourself, give of your time, share what you have, even especially if it takes you out of your comfort zone.  It's pretty simple.  Here are the lyrics, with my slight modifications in place.  Maybe they will speak to you, too.

Good King Wenceslas looked out

On the feast of Stephen

Where the snow lay round about

Deep and crisp and even.

Brightly shone the moon that night

Though the frost was cruel

When a poor man came in sight

Gathering winter fuel.

"Hither, page, and stand by me

If thou know'st it, telling--

Yonder peasant, who is he? 

Where and what his dwelling?"

"Sire, he lives a good league hence,

Underneath the mountain

Right against the forest fence,

By St. Agnes' fountain."

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine, 

Bring me pine logs hither.

Thou and I shall see him dine

When we bring them thither."

Page and monarch forth they went,

Forth they went together.

Heedless of the wind's lament

And the bitter weather.

"Sire, the night grows darker now

And the wind blows stronger.

Fails my heart, I know not how.

I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, my good page.

Tread thou in them boldly.

Thou shall find the winter's rage

Freeze the blood less coldly."

In his master's steps he trod

Where the snow lay dinted.

Heat was in the very sod

Which the saint had printed.

Therefore, all good folk, be sure,

Wealth or rank possessing:

You who now shall bless the poor

Shall yourself find blessing.

It's not just the song, for me, but also the arrangement that is so important.  I love the melding of a traditional western carol with Celtic and Middle Eastern musical elements and the instruments you don't normally hear outside a medieval/Renaissance festival. The Middle Eastern aspect actually places the song in a historical context like never before, and it’s an important signpost in these dark times when many Americans think Islamophobia is the way to go.

I hope, wherever you are, that you find peace in your heart during these darkest days of the year. 

* Glory to God in the highest

**And on earth, peace to all people

Anguilla, or There and Back Again: Part V

Blooming ixora on Turtles Nest grounds

Wednesday arrives and I’m inevitably sad. It’s my last full day on the island, and thanks in part to Delta’s scheduling gaffe, there are still too many of my favorite Anguilla things that I haven’t done and I’m actually a little bit stressed at the thought of fitting them all in. Good thing I spent my time last night making a list.

The first thing I do after making a few pictures of Turtles Nest flora (looking vibrant after the light rain in the night) is hightail it to Village Bake House, which has been closed for the last two mornings and which I’ve been eagerly waiting to try. Located in the new-old Geraud’s location in South Hill, it has ample parking and outdoor seating for those patrons who wish to partake of the delectable pastries on site.

I selected a blueberry pastry and an apple tart, along with an iced latte. That’s when I learned that the Village Bakehouse has a fairly high credit card minimum (US $25, I think?). I didn’t want to dip into my cash because I was a little concerned about having enough for boat fare, departure tax, and a tip for housekeeping the next day, and ATMs are sometimes a little finicky on the island. So I proposed to the woman since I planned to come the next day for breakfast that I go ahead and pay for tomorrow, too, and then we’d be square.  Anguilla being Anguilla, she happily agreed to my proposal but the whole time I was struggling to place her face.

In the meantime, I took my pastries and coffee outside to the shaded patio to enjoy while trying to remember where I knew her. The deliciously flaky and buttery pastry crust must have jogged my memory just enough, because BINGO! It was Susanne from the former Bonjour Cafe in Sandy Ground.

At one point she came out to see if I needed anything else, and as she turned to go, she asked if she knew me in almost the same breath as I asked her if her name was Susanne. It seems that she’d been going through her own mental Rolodex to place me, too. We both laughed and then she lingered for a few minutes while we checked in to see how the ensuing years had treated us since we last crossed paths.

After breakfast, I headed back to Turtles Nest to enjoy the beach for a little while. Mostly I was simply biding my time until the morning was sufficiently advanced to head up to Ocean Echo to spend a few hours in the company of Andrea. No trip to Anguilla would be complete with a nice, leisurely visit with Andrea!

I squealed a little bit when I walked up and saw her behind the bar. Luckily I was the first guest at Ocean Echo that day, so we could have a proper catch up. She asked me where I wanted to sit, and when I replied, “In the breeziest spot,” she sat me at the corner of the bar.

I know that lots of folks love The Rumzie, Ocean Echo’s signature drink, but it’s a little sweet for my personal preference, so Andrea created this beverage for me.  Passionfruit, raspberry vodka, lots of fresh lime juice, and a touch of sparkling water.  Delicious!

A good hour passed while sipping my drink, chatting with Andrea, and reading my book while she was tending to various tasks. My adult beverage went down with tolerable ease, but I needed to pace myself. In the interest of avoiding plastic bottles, I opted for a Ting instead of a bottled water. Eventually, though, I grew hungry enough to place my lunch order for a fish burger.

The fish burger was deliciously seasoned and despite missing the French fries, I was glad I made the sensible choice and requested the green salad as my side. Meanwhile, a lovely American couple who own a home in Anguilla had arrived and she recognized me from this blog and from the TripAdvisor forum, so we had lots of things to chat about.

Looking west toward Four Seasons

Originally I had packed a beach bag with the intention of setting up shop on Ocean Echo’s comfy beach chairs, but that part of Meads was feeling a tad warm, so after making a few photographs on the beach, I was happy to head back to the bar for the rest of my visit. Andrea made me a margarita to help slake my thirst while finishing up my book. 

Looking east toward Straw Hat

Turtles Nest seen from Ocean Echo

Alas, I still have miles to go before I sleep, so sometime in the late afternoon I regretfully bid adieu to  Andrea so that I can keep my other commitments for the day. First up: a bit of shopping at Devonish gallery. I almost always come home from my Anguilla trips with one of his carvings/sculptures because they’re the ultimate affordable piece of art and this time I needed a little somethin-somethin’ for my colleague who was doing some of my work for me whilst on vacation. 

From Devonish, I headed east so that I could get in a visit with Pamela from Sea Spray. Here I picked up a t-shirt for my beau and made friends with her new feline companion, who is a real sweetheart. Sea Spray always has a nice array of casual jewelry and island-themed Christmas ornaments suitable for people even in my tax bracket.

Typically I would have ordered Pamela’s famous rum punch, but since my plans for the evening also included a sundowner in Sandy Ground, I opted for a smoothie instead.

I always enjoy catching up with Pam and hearing her news.  She was still getting readied for the upcoming season when I stopped in, and of course we spent some time talking about our cats, dogs, and AARF. Before long, though, I had to hie myself down the hill to Sandy Ground so that I could catch the sunset from a new vantage point. 

I arrived at Sand Bar just in time to settle in at my table and order a drink. There was one other couple seated there when I arrived, and they were of a friendly bent, so they invited me over to chat. They’d been to Anguilla a few times before and were also active on one of the travel forums. We discussed our favorite restaurants and they asked me the pros & cons of renting a villa vs staying in one of the resorts. 

Ahhh, so refreshing

Soon enough, though, it was time for me to think about heading home to clean up for my last dinner on the island.  Last dinner on the island generally can mean only one thing for me: Straw Hat.

My 7:00pm reservation put me the first to arrive in their dining room that night.  I think it was the very first dinner there where I wasn’t seated in Armel’s section, and I was very sorry in retrospect not to have requested that.  Still, the young man taking care of me was capable and friendly.

As difficult as it is to believe, I hadn’t had crayfish yet on this visit, so I made amends.  Skipping the appetizer because I’d just had one of Pam’s excellent smoothies just three hours ago seemed like a wise decision, and even so, I left half of a crayfish behind on my platter.

In the meantime, Doris, Peter, and Armel all took a moment to come over and chat, which made me very happy, indeed.  I ordered a second glass of wine while contemplating the rain and my choices for dessert.  I’d had my heart set on the warm coconut tart with rum raisin ice cream but it wasn’t on offer that night, so I had to consider my other options very carefully. In the end, I opted for the layer cake served with (if my memory is accurate) a homemade ginger ice cream and a rich caramel sauce.

While perhaps not strictly as satisfying as the coconut tart would have been, it was delicious and a very fitting end to my last evening meal. I was, in fact, sad when leaving and if there were tears in my eyes, then so be it.

Next up: a farewell tour of the west end and trip report wrap-up.