Discover Anguilla
 

         The Caribbean Sea’s turquoise water endlessly tumbles onto the powdery sand beach of Anguilla, British West Indies. From my hammock the profile of Covecastles arches gently backwards from the deserted beach as if in a sun salutation.
          I look out across the glittering sea to the green mountain vista of neighboring St. Martin. There seems no more perfect place to breathe deeply and savor the warmth of the sun.
          As my local guide Mitchel Lloyd says “Anguilla is a place of rest."
          It’s no wonder that celebrities from Brad Pitt to Beyonce frequent world-class Anguillian resorts like Covecastles and Cap Juluca for secluded getaways.
          Unlike other Caribbean destinations cluttered with low-quality overdevelopment, the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla caters to a luxury-loving crowd by providing privacy and spacious accommodations designed with rich simplicity.
          Most of Anguilla’s 33 beaches are of the classic island paradise variety and many offer living coral reefs swarming with tropical fish just made for snorkeling and diving. I spent several hours every day exploring the reefs just steps away from my back porch.
          Sergeant majors with their black and yellow stripes and damselfish sporting neon blue dots dart around me as colorful parrotfish scrape algae from the coral.
           “The philosophy here in Anguilla is preserving the environment and controlling development to draw fewer higher quality visitors,” says Joe Brice, an Anguillian entrepreneur who is developing a new upscale condominium resort, Tiwanee Resort.
            Nightly rates for the best properties in Anguilla range from $400 to more than $5,000 during the late fall and winter high season. Prices drop about 35 percent during the late spring and summer off-season, said Chris Patrick, owner of the CKIM Group Inc. in Sebastian, a luxury travel provider offering a variety of Caribbean-island accommodations and charters.
            Rooms for $100 or less at three-star hotels are plentiful during the off-season.
            “You won’t be rubbing elbows with Larry King and Denzel Washington during the off-season but you will experience the same glorious beaches and luxury accommodations they do for a better price,” Patrick said.
            Another draw of the off-season is the many boat races held May through August.
            I visited Anguilla during the off-season and found the island to be blissfully uncrowded. While I could have opted for a rental car and strained to navigate left-lane driving, I chose instead to tool around the 16-mile island with veteran driver and guide Mitchel Lloyd. Lloyd gave me an informative tour of the island and showed me what it has to offer.
            “No matter where they end up staying guests will want to visit other top resorts. All of the best of them are known for their excellent restaurants, breathtaking views and luxurious accommodations,” Lloyd said.
             Resort restaurants concoct gourmet delights that combine French-chef expertise with West Indies and international flavors. Visitors often resort hop during their stay as well as try freestanding restaurants like Blanchard’s and Tasty’s to sample the culinary creations of some the island’s best chefs.
             The local waters are filled with wahoo, marlin, tuna, swordfish and tuna in addition to Anguillian lobster and crayfish, offering fresh catch for delicious island cuisine. Sheridan Rogers, a fisherman, is among the locals who harvest lobster and other succulent seafood.
              “Our lobster is some of the best in the world for taste,” Rogers says, which is not a boast, just fact.
              Some of the island’s most exclusive vacation properties, like CuisinArt Resort & Spa, are classic resorts heavy on amenities while others, like Covecastles, feature second homes that are rented out to visitors much of the year to defray costs. Brice, for example, is currently marketing two and three-bedroom Mediterranean-style town homes and condominiums at his Tiwanee Resort and is offering buyers the option of vacation rentals.
              While Anguilla offers a limited amount of shopping and entertainment, it allows easy access to such pleasures via ferry to the bustling St. Martin. Anguilla does boast a newly opened Greg Norman-designed 18-hole championship golf course. The Temenos Golf Club features breath-taking views of the Caribbean and St. Martin.
              “With the opening of the golf course last November, we’re drawing a wider segment of the upscale market, says Jeannine Connor-Gittens, general manager of Sheriton Estates, a lavish new villa resort on a hill overlooking Cave Pond.
               Many visitors to Anguilla opt to charter boats to tour the island’s waters. Maritza Degagne of Seattle and her family, for example, chartered a catamaran with several other families they were vacationing with.
               “You basically get your own private tour of the island that way and can set your own pace and destinations for snorkeling or diving,” Degagne says.
               Luxury resort development on Anguilla was originally kicked off more than two decades ago by Covecastles, which has hosted such notables as Princess Diana. Covecastles has successfully stood the test of time. Its classic lines and materials, including terra cotta floor tiles and Brazilian walnut-louvered doors, are apt to keep it so.
               It’s no wonder that Covecastles has been featured twice in “Architectural Digest.” Architect Myron Goldfinger, based in New York, is renown for his geometric designs inspired by vernacular Mediterranean structures and recently designed Altamer, just down the beach from Covecastles.
               Goldfinger’s wife, June, tastefully decorated each of Covecastle’s beach houses and villas with custom oversize rattan furniture, clay pots and natural fabrics, including raw silk.
               “Covecastles is so much more relaxing than anywhere else we’ve ever stayed,” said Isaac Constantine of Brooklyn, N.Y.
                Isaac Constantine and his wife, Rachel, like many other Covecastles visitors, spent much of their vacation enjoying their ocean-side abode and the water just a few strides from their back door.
                As each day progresses and the sun shifts in the sky, the beauty of Covecastles unfolds in new ways with changing shadow and light patterns. For the Constantines, other guests and myself it was easy to slip into timelessness between bouts of sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling and napping.
                Each glorious sunset was accompanied by Covecastles’ dramatic silhouette setting the stage for a stroll down the beach.
                After dinner my last night on Anguilla I retreated to my villa’s second floor star deck with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Brut chilling in the ice bucket to savor the remaining moments of my sojourn.
                The Milky Way glowed faintly overhead and a multitude of stars blazed in the inky sky. Every so often I thrilled at a shooting star.