A flawless beauty that’s escaped the tourist trap
Awoken from its morning siesta, a disgruntled iguana shimmies past, darting into the scrub that peppers the otherwise barren rockface. With my guide leading the way, we clamber between rocks, hop over gullies and sidestep ravines before reaching our destination: a delightfully remote pool in a cave with narrow shafts of light rebounding off its blue and honey-coloured water.
It’s a far cry from the exquisite beaches by the many luxury hotels for which Anguilla is renowned. Yet the cliff walk to Goat Cave offers a glimpse of another side of the island.
Approximately 26km long and six across with a population of 15,000, Anguilla was colonised by British settlers from St Kitts in 1650. There followed centuries of upheaval, incursions by the French and the arrival of Irish migrants in the 17 and 18 Centuries. Some say you can still hear an Irish twang in the Anguillan accent.
Nearly all of its traditional clapboard houses have been torn down or destroyed by hurricanes, but one of its few remaining colonial-era buildings is Wallblake House. Dating back to 1787, it is the island’s oldest and only surviving plantation house, which now houses a museum.
On a tour you soon learn that plantations never thrived on Anguilla due to its poor soil quality, so when slavery was abolished the vacated land was co-opted by locals. The result? Anguilla was able to thrive as a society of fishermen and small landowners.
Anguilla is almost entirely flat, but where it lacks the lush vegetation of fellow Caribbean islands its true beauty is found in its 33 flawless beaches. These are never busy as the island is off the cruise ship circuit.
Enjoy a 15-minute boat ride to Sandy Island for panoramic views of Anguilla and a lunch of fresh-caught lobster or buttered crayfish. Or hire a paddleboard and float to Scilly Cay – a tiny islet with a restaurant serving excellent rum punch.
The award for coolest bar must go to Dune Preserve, cobbled together from driftwood and the hulls of shipwrecks by Rendezvous Bay. Here you can gaze out over Saint Martin in the distance, listening to live music in the evening.
I stayed in the southwest of the island at the Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf
Club, and supremely comfortable it was, too. Inspired by the villas of Mykonos in Greece, this palatial 178room complex has a spa, thalassotherapy pool, seven restaurants – and Anguilla’s only golf course.
For a day exploring Anguilla’s ancient past, book a tour of Fountain Cavern with the Anguilla National Trust. This cave near Shoal Bay, was a Native American pilgrimage site between 400 and 1200, making it the oldest known and longest used ceremonial cave site in the Caribbean, and features more than 30 rock carvings.
Or you could just enjoy Anguilla’s exquisite beaches and sundowners by the pool.
Seven nights’ B&B at Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club, from €3,092pp, based on two adults sharing. Price includes flights from UK (tropicbreeze.co.uk).