Anguilla Day Trip - Sandy Island

Hi!  It's Karen from Karen Vincent Solutions.

Anguilla is a magical island paradise with white sandy beaches and beautiful turquoise water.  It is romantic, quiet and absolutely stunning.  While our goal in going to Anguilla was celebrate our ten-year anniversary, relax and unwind at the luxurious Belmond Cap Juluca, we decided to take a couple day trips to see other, small islands in the area. You can check out my blog post about the amazing Belmond Cap Juluca here.

The first trip we took was to Sandy Island which is two miles off the coast of Anguilla and ended up being such a special part of our vacation.  This is a very small sand spit (273 yards x 82 yards) that has been submerged for periods of time following hurricanes.  It was ruined in 2017 by hurricane Irma. 

Lucky for us, the restaurant was rebuilt, and visitors are still able to enjoy all the magic this island has to offer.  By “magic” I mean, beautiful turquoise water, soft sand, live music, amazing food, friendly staff and seclusion. 

The fifteen-minute boat ride on the boat “Bliss” is ten dollars round trip and leaves from Sandy Ground in Aguilla every hour, on the hour, starting at 11:00am.  We were on the first boat of the day and, after the short boat ride,  we arrived at the island where we set up for the day. 

There are chairs, umbrellas and sun beds available to rent for minimal cost. We got settled in and of course had to try the infamous rum punch from the fully stocked bar.  We walked around the very small island and spent the day in and out of the water. 

Everyone we talked to was friendly and we were all there for the same reason – to relax and enjoy this very special place.  There are reefs around the island, making it a great place for snorkeling.  We were entertained by kite surfers as well as by watching boats pull up, anchor off the island and people swimming in to grab a drink and some lunch. 

At one point in the afternoon my husband said, “This is the best place on earth”.  I looked at him and said, “Is that the rum punch talking”?  We were literally sitting on a small sand spit that has nothing except an open-air restaurant and bar…but as I looked around, I thought…he may be onto something.  Where else in the world could we have an experience like this?

Part of what makes Sandy Island so great is the delicious lunch.  From lobster to crayfish to barbecue chicken and ribs…the chefs know how to cook!  All lunches come with salad, rice, coleslaw and noodles. The lobster was out of this world.  I can guarantee that nobody will leave hungry!

My husband is a great chef and his specialty is barbecue so you can imagine that this lunch was right up his alley.  It was not long before he wandered off and discovered the large smoker used to cook the food and struck up a conversation about barbecue and smoking food with the chefs.  He even got a container of the delicious barbecue rub that was used on the food!  We took it home and continue to enjoy the delicious flavors of Sandy Island.

After lunch, the steel drum band began playing.  They were excellent and played a wide range of music including pop hits that had everyone dancing and singing along to. 

As the band was playing and the drinks were flowing, we watched as a boat anchored off the island, began to drift out to sea.  I mean, really drift out to sea…there was no way someone would be able to swim and catch it.  The group of about ten people who came off the boat noticed and started to try to swim after it. 

Luckily the captain of “Bliss” that brought us over to the island had just dropped some guests off and quickly got a couple of the people from the boat going out to sea in his boat and sped out to catch the boat before it went to far.  Upon returning to Sandy Island, he gave them a lesson on how to properly anchor their boat so that they could relax for the remainder of the afternoon. 

When we were ready to leave, we started to pack up and head to the boat for the return to Anguilla, however, the boat was full.  The Captain offered a drink on the house for those willing to wait for the next trip.  We took him up on his offer and stayed a bit longer relaxing with even fewer people on the island.  It’s not surprising that this has been a place visited by quite a few celebrities including Beyonce and Jay Z, Michael Jordan, John Legend, Janet Jackson, and Sandra Bullock to name a few.  

I am so grateful for the day spent on Sandy Island and back to my husband’s comment that “this is the best place on earth”, rum punch or no rum punch…I think he could be right.

Live your best Boss Lady life!

~ Karen

Karen Vincent Solutions