Anguilla with kids: Sample road trip day

**For our first Anguilla with kids post including getting there, where we stayed, and our summary of Meads Bay, Savannah Bay, Sandy Hill Bay, and Shoal Bay West, click here.  For our second installment of beaches including Shoal Bay East, Rendezvous Bay, and Sandy Ground, click here.**

One of the things we love most about this small island country is the fact that you can easily visit multiple beaches in a day.  In fact, we'd encourage it!  During the week we spent here with our daughter, we visited 12 different beaches and enjoyed something from each one.  Some beaches are empty, some are busier, some have shallow and calm water, some have more waves, some have better sandcastle building sand, etc etc etc.  

For those who might be concerned about driving in Anguilla - don't be.  You will be driving on the other side of the road, but the roads are all two lane and quite uncomplicated, and cars generally go quite slowly.  Get yourself a good map (available at any hotel) and you will be just fine navigating, although very few roads are actually marked with street names. You'll need to watch the map carefully and just count the turns, keeping an eye out for landmarks. The good news that it is very difficult to get lost, and there really aren't any "bad" areas to wander into, especially during the day.

This particular day, we decided to explore a few areas we hadn't seen before and then settle down at an old favorite.  We started by driving from our hotel around Road Bay to Road Point.  Road Point is located on the far side of Road Bay and overlooks Sandy Ground.  You will find yourself on a bumpy dirt road going past some fabulous villas, but the view over the water is particularly wonderful.

On the other side of the road, you'll get a great look over Benzies Bay.  We couldn't figure out for the life of us how to get to any real beach here, but the view was pretty amazing all in itself.

We then found our way down to Katouche Bay.  At first, this was relatively easy as there are several real estate signs pointing the way.  In the end, we had to stop at a villa and inquire about directions from a woman outside, but then found that by winding all the way down the hill into the Masara Resort, we found a very small parking lot and the beach ahead of us.

Katouche Bay from up on the hill.  This is Stephen Spielburg's yacht The Seven Seas  :)

From the "parking lot"...

...and this is the beach itself.  Small, but completely secluded and absolutely gorgeous.  It feels like you are in a jungle.

This is a relatively rocky beach so swimming might be difficult, but I wouldn't mind camping out here with a few cocktails for several hours...

Take memories and leave footprints!

The Seven Seas again

After enjoying the serenity of Katouche Bay, we headed back up the hill and made our way to our settling spot - da'Vida at Crocus Bay.  Crocus Bay itself is not one of my very favorite beaches - it's not as strikingly beautiful as many of the others and it's quite rocky when walking into the water.  But da'Vita is pretty special.  A beautiful outdoor patio and the most comfy beach chairs we have found on the island.  You will want to get there a little earlier in the day, especially if it's a nice one, because these chairs do fill up!  But when you land a few, you can enjoy a nice relaxing time with cocktails and great food.

Frozen mojito?  Don't mind if we do...

da'Vita

Oh, these chairs...  :)

One of the big benefits of da'Vita is that they offer very reasonable kayak rental from the restaurant. Around the corner from Crocus Bay is Little Bay, accessible only by boat, and it's a relatively easy kayak ride - it took us about 20 minutes each way.  There is a current so it would be difficult for younger kids (our daughter just rode along), but older kids would enjoy helping.

From the beach at Little Bay

I'd love to say that this picture, which clearly shows an empty beach, is truthful or accurate.  I work hard in my photography to make places look uninhabited, but the sad reality is that Little Bay is usually quite busy.  It's one of the only spots for snorkeling on the island and charter boats often anchor here.  There is a large rock to jump off of, which draws more tourists.  And you have the kayakers.  We didn't stay nearly as long at Little Bay as we would have with less people, but we still enjoyed our time.

Charter boats

Our small piece of beach was empty save kayaks though  :)

We got caught in a rainstorm on the way back to Crocus, but like most Caribbean storms, it was quick and relatively painless.  Settled back into our comfy chairs and enjoyed lunch, beach walking, and a few swims.  All in all, a wonderful day.

Next up in our last Anguilla post: two special things we did on the island - a sunset cruise and experiencing Festival del Mar.