Coming back to The CuisinArt was like coming home again. We stayed here on our very first trip to Anguilla in 2007. I still remember the doorman calling to us as we ventured out for our first bit of driving on the island, “Left is right, right is wrong!” It’s a family-friendly resort that’s not too stuffy and not at all chaotic. It just fits. The resort is just as beautiful and the staff just as welcoming as I remembered. The grounds are well-maintained, filled with lush plantings. The lobby looks out to the beautiful series of tiered pools that lead you out to the beach. And the beach is…
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Looking for beautiful, unique gifts for the people back home? Be sure to stop into Limin’ Boutique, located on the northside of the main road, just east of the turnoff to Smokey’s on Anguilla’s west end. Looking for beautiful, unique gifts for the people back home? Be sure to stop into Limin’ Boutique, located on the northside of the main road, just east of the turnoff to Smokey’s on Anguilla’s west end. Looking for beautiful, unique gifts for the people back home? Be sure to stop into Limin’ Boutique, located on the northside of the main road, just east of the turnoff to Smokey’s on Anguilla’s west end. The shop,…
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Sunday afternoons are the perfect time to visit da’Vida, located on Crocus Bay in Anguilla. The restaurant always had a great reputation, but we never found our way there on previous visits. After this visit, I look forward to visiting again. We weren’t alone. Sunday afternoon seemed to be the time, and da’Vida seemed to be the place. The parking lot was packed, and we knew we were in the right place when we spotted this van. Omari Banks plays at da’Vida on Sunday afternoons. So not only do you get a nice meal, you get great music too! The setting is beautiful, especially on a gorgeous afternoon like…
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One constant has remained for every trip to Anguilla – – Saturdays are for Smokey’s. I remember our first trip to the island in 2007. I heard there was live music at Smokey’s for lunch on Saturday, so I was determined to make it there on our first full day on the island. We walked there from the CuisinArt (you could do that back then – the beach was wider). I remember being seated at the table just inside the easternmost door, looking out over the water. I had the jerk chicken (which I’ve had every time since), and heard The Musical Brothers performing, doing Christmas songs. I had found…
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It was time to see Anguilla from a different point of view – to go below the surface and see what lay beneath. We did just that this year with our scuba/snorkel trip with Shoal Bay Scuba. My daughter always wanted to learn to scuba dive, so in the summer of 2012 before heading to the British Virgin Islands, we both took the certification course at our local dive shop, Underwater Connection. We both passed the written test, but I never got certified because I was unable to descend below 10 feet (two blown eardrums in my past). My daughter did get certified, but we had never arranged for a…
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A trip to Anguilla is not complete without a stop at Bankie Banx’s Dune Preserve. We first visited in 2007, and although our kids were young, ages 8 and 10, we forced them to stay up late so we could hear Bankie play. The place has such a relaxed feel to it, that it’s hard to pass up. It’s kind of like being at your own beach place. It’s just so easy to hang out there, and the views of St. Martin never get old. The sign on the road has been updated since 2007. And it’s a bit more built up since then. This year, we popped in when…
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We travel over Thanksgiving and every year give thanks for all we have. We find ourselves doing the same at the year’s end. We are thankful for the wonderful people we have met and the great adventures we have had together. Join us for our New Year’s Eve countdown of our top ten irie moments of 2014! #10 Learning New Things: Travel Photography Class with Kevin Miyazaki In June, we took a class in travel photography from well-known travel photographer, Kevin Miyazaki. We were given assignments with two days to complete them before the next assignment came out. I spent a lot of time shooting in my own home town…
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A little extra bit of sunshine can be found on Anguilla’s Rendezvous Bay since our last visit in 2010. New to the beach just east of the CuisinArt Resort is a wonderful beach bar with great food and drink and the friendliest service, Garvey’s Sunshine Shack. Our travel day to the island is always a bit of a marathon. Drive to Chicago the night before, get up at 2:30 a.m., take the shuttle to O’Hare for a 5:00 a.m. flight to Charlotte, RUN to catch your connecting flight to Ste. Maarten (and I mean RUN, as it was ready to take off), take the van to the dock, take Funtime…
