Things To Do in Anguilla

The best way to get an overview of the island (if you don't have local friends) is on a taxi tour. In about 2 hours, a local driver (all of them are guides) will show you everything for around $60 (tip expected). The driver will also arrange to let you off at your favorite beach after a look around, and then pick you up and return you to your hotel or the airport. I highly recommend Accelyn Connor (tel. 264/497-0515 or 264/235-8931; premiertaxiandtour@hotmail.com), whose personable and informative tours make him a sought-after guide. His Premier Property Tour accounts for drinks (including beer), snacks, and admission to the museum ($70 single or double; $10 each additional person). Be sure to ask Accelyn about his new Medicinal Tours. Before the arrival of modern grocery stores, Anguillans used native plants and shrubs for all sorts of medicinal and dietary purposes (the balsam bush was used for scouring pots, for example, and pepper cilament and candlebark were natural insecticides). Accelyn has planted a native garden filled with medicinal and dietary plants, shrubs, and trees where he discusses Anguillan folk medicine and provides refreshing beverages made with indigenous fruit.

It's easy to combine a great lunch at the Palm Grove Bar & Grill at Junk's Hole with a visit to the Heritage Museum Collection, East End at Pond Ground (tel. 264/497-4092), open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, charging $5 admission ($3 children 11 and under). The modest look of the museum belies the range of fascinating artifacts inside, which include Arawak Indian tools, slave shackles, and household items belonging to 19th-century settlers. If Mr. Colville Petty, who founded the museum, is here when you visit, you will have an especially memorable visit -- he collected many of these artifacts himself and has even been awarded an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II.

The Anguilla National Trust offers daily wildlife and eco tours to places like Big Spring, with 1,000-year-old rock carvings and an underwater spring; and East End Pond, a richly inhabited wildlife conservation site. Call tel. 264/497-5297 to book a spot ($25 adults, $10 children 2-12). Also ask locally whether former chief minister Sir Emile Gumbs, an Anguilla National Trust volunteer, has resumed his delightful eco-tours (tel. 264/497-2711) spiked with wonderful, often wry historical and political anecdotes.

For serious shopping (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and the like), take the ferry and visit the shops in Marigot on French St. Martin. St. Martin is also a good place to stock up on French wines and cheeses if you're planning a long stay on Anguilla.

Clothes are not cheap on Anguilla, and the hotel boutiques do not go out of their way to stock bargains. Stocked to the rafters with everything you need to be a stylin' Anguillan -- silky kurtas, bejeweled caftans, scads of fine and costume jewelry, slinky bathing suits -- is ZaZAA (tel. 264/497-0460) in Shoal Bay East at the Ku resort. If you need a bathing suit, T-shirt, stylish sandals, or any beach gear, you'll find it in the colorful cottage at Irie Life (tel. 264/498-6526) on the cliff-side road at South Hill. ("Irie" is Rastafarian for "cool.") Even if you don't buy anything, you'll get a fantastic view down to Sandy Ground.

Anguilla Art

Anguilla has a thriving local arts and crafts scene and a surprising number of small art galleries featuring the works of talented resident artists both native-born and from around the world. In the Valley, the Anguilla Arts and Crafts Center (tel. 264/497-2200) has paintings and ceramics by local artists, as well as embroidery and lovely cloth dolls. If you're looking for collectibles, or just looking for good art, head to the following:

• Alak Gallery, Shoal Bay East Rd. (tel. 264/497-7270). Accomplished Anguillan artist Louise Brooks paints genre island scenes and Caribbean flora and fauna in vivid, saturated hues. Roosters hold a particular charm for Brooks.

• Art Café, Coconut Paradise Building, Island Harbour (tel. 264/497-8595) has intriguing rotating art exhibits and also doubles as a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch (chicken roti, burgers, local fish, and lobster).

• Bartlett Collections, by the roundabout at South Hill (tel. 264/497-6625), has island crafts (as well as terrific smoothies at its outdoor cafe).

• Lynne Bernbaum (tel. 264/497-5211; www.lynnebernbaum.com), is an American painter whose George Hill studio features her bold images of Anguilla, the Caribbean, and France. In addition to paintings, Ms. Bernbaum sells prints of her works, including some very Anguillan cactuses and goats.

• Cheddie's Carving Studio, West End Road, the Cove (tel. 264/497-2949; www.cheddieonline.com), is the domain of self-taught Cheddie Richardson, who sculpts intricate, whimsical figures from driftwood, stone, and coral.

• Devonish Art Gallery, in Long Bay opposite CuisinArt Road (tel. 264/497-2949), features the work of Courtney Devonish, the well-known Anguillan potter and sculptor, as well as a good collection of paintings from local artists.

• Savannah Gallery, Coronation Street, Lower Valley (tel. 264/497-2263; www.savannahgallery.com), on the road to Crocus Bay, has a fine selection of paintings by Anguillan and Caribbean artists.

• Stone Cellar Art Gallery, Government Corner, the Valley (tel. 264/498-0123; www.oldfactory-anguilla.ai): This 1868 former cotton gin has rough-hewn limestone walls and wood-beam ceilings. It's the home of rotating art exhibits (on the second floor) and Sir Roland Richardson's Caribbean Impressionistic paintings on the first.