The Place, Anguilla

We’re back from Anguilla, and the less said about the single-digit temperatures here in Chicago, the better!

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This year we added The Place back into our beach rotation, because this view is just too good to miss.

Finding The Place is a bit tricky – you need to drive through metal gates and down a very bumpy dirt road – but once there, you may not want to leave.

Because they serve breakfast (for Rendezvous Bay Hotel next door), they’re set up early.  We arrived around 10am and had our choice of chairs.

The umbrellas are nice and big, providing plenty of shade.  I love the way the umbrella shadow shifts from one side to the other throughout the day, like a sundial marking the hours slipping by.

When it’s time for lunch, tables are just steps away on the covered patio.

D always gets the ribs, and they’re particularly good, with a slightly-sweet glaze that goes well with the Matouk’s hot sauce he adds.  I’ve tried a few different things, from veggie pizza (with carrots, squash, and onion) to the lobster salad sandwich with fries and coleslaw.  I like the coleslaw, crisp vegetables in a slightly sweet dressing.  And The Place serves a really nice, light and dry rosé wine – my drink of choice for lunch.

One day, our lunch was interrupted by the sight of a large iguana sauntering from one side of the Place to the other, pausing to munch on some greens and take a quick spin up a palm tree.

After lunch, we disregard any rules about waiting 30 minutes to go in the water – it’s too tempting to head straight in.

It’s clear as glass, shallow enough to stand quite far out, with luxuriously soft sand underfoot and just the gentlest waves to sway us back and forth.

Reading, sipping rosé, and splashing in some of the prettiest water in Anguilla – it’s hard to beat a day at The Place!