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Previous: St Martin
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Capital: The Valley
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Anguilla was settled by the British in 1650. In 1825 it was associated with St Kitts for administrative purposes. When Britain tried to merge it into a St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla State In 1967, the Anguillians revolted and forced the St Kitts police off the island. Now, Anguilla is a British Dependent Territory with a Governor, an Executive Council and a Legislative House of Assembly. The traditional activities of livestock raising, lobster fishing, salt production and boat building have now been replaced by the tourist industry which provides two thirds of the GDP. In 1998, Anguilla had 44 000 visitors, four for every man, woman and child on the island. It rates a high Tourist Saturation Indexof 2.64. |
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| CIA Country Reports Lonely Planet Traveldocs | ||
There is not much to see or do for a budget traveller on Anguilla where the price of a room in a beach resort starts at 400 $US a night.
My backpacking Swedish friend Annika and I decided to make a day trip there anyway.
This is the main international entry dock at Blowing Point.
Going through customs and immigration formalities here is a strange experience considering the island has less than 10 000 residents.
To get to the capital, called "The Valley", we had to take a taxi or walk. We tried to negotiate with the taxi driver but he was inflexible and we had to pay 20 $US for the 9 km ride. It would have been nice to visit Sandy Ground and some of the fancy resorts but not at those taxi prices. Finally we hitchhiked back to the public beach on Rendezvous Bay.
This is the village of Sandy Ground on the north shore, half way between Blowing Point and The Valley.
There are few photographic opportunities in The Valley apart from this characteristic church.
The beach on Rendezvous Bay was beautiful and there was nobody around the spot where we decided to enjoy the sea and sun.
Anguilla was definitely not a backpacker destination but we managed to make the best of it and had a good time.
