This is Rendezvous Bay

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to write posts like this considering everything that’s going on in the world today.  Fires in Australia, mayhem in Iran, Hong Kong, impeachment, and this dude is writing about some beach in Anguilla.  But this is a place worth writing about.  And as I get older and wiser its becoming more and more clear that in this fragile world, a beach and even looking at pictures of a beach (which I dont do enough) has crazy healing powers.  Numerous recent studies suggest the same.  There’s a reason why Hawaii is the happiest state in the US year after year, an its not Poke Bowls.

There’s another reason I hesitate to post this one.  I’m not exactly anxious for the world to know about this place.  Its a cliche, I know.  But only once you spend a week here you’ll understand.  In fact I met some nice folks there who asked me in a nice half-kidding kind of way to refrain from writing about it.  With that said, sharing is caring as my mama used to say.  And I do hope, for the same selfish reasons, this place I’m about to mention (the main reason for the post) stays in business long enough.

Rendezvous Bay (special shutout to the person who invented copy and paste) simply put is the perfect beach.  Just like most such beaches, you may not find it at its best behavior when you first see it.  The winds can get too strong, and sometimes it may feel deserted for a reason.  When we first saw it four years ago we werent impressed.  But after spending a week at what looks like its best side, we understood.  It’s one of the most walkable, most swimmable, and most perfect size beaches we’ve seen. But most of all, its almost empty!  From my vantage point, best seat in the theater, one person walking by every 20 minutes.  It’s one of the best sheer beauty to people ratio in the Caribbean.

Just to give you an idea how empty this place is.  One day I was in the water and noticed from a distance a figure, most likely a man with absolutely no one around him for a good mile.  The man pulled down his trunks, bent over and proceeded to either shake the trunks or look for something inside them for a good minute.  It wasn’t clear what exactly he was doing, but there he was doing it.  If he was looking for his keys, there was only one place left to look for them.  His bum can be the symbol of Rendezvous Bay in billboards everywhere with the caption “You can do this here”.

Another big plus is that Rendezvous Bay has arguably the best beach shack in the Caribbean, Sunshine Shack.  Garvey and crew will not rest until you are happy.  Expertly grilled BBQ chicken, ribs, lobster and crawfish when available is pretty much the entire menu, but thats all you need (well, except if you are vegetarian).  Its colorful, inviting, with a bit of a party atmosphere for a change of pace.  Booze, games, and comfortable beach lounges allow you to hang out for as long as you want.  This is the definition of a beach shack if there was ever one.

One of the cool things about this bay is the lack of hotels.  You got CuisinArt in the west as the lone major resort, and a few boutique hotels.  One of which is the reason for the post. Rendezvous Bay Hotel.  Its the oldest hotel in Anguilla, and today for some mysterious reasons, shockingly underrated.  It was 😍😍😍 at first sight for us.  I think I gave the biggest tip ever for just showing me the room.  We loved everything about this place.  From the breakfast burritos, the humongous bed (forget king, more like emperor), the balcony, room size, everything.  I can’t think of another place where I wanted to spend so much time in.  I even loved that we had three keys and for the life of me I have no idea what the other two were for.

But most of all it was the proximity (20 feet) to what seemed like the best and calmest part of Rendezvous Bay.  CuisinArt got the short end of the stick looks like, perhaps because RBH was there first.  We had a safety net, a car, that would take us to any beach we want (and there are 33 of them, many of which stunning).  But every other beach we visited felt like a downgrade.  Its perfectly isolated.  You are not far from some of the best dining in Anguilla, and the public ferry.  Fantastic value (under $300) to boot especially considering what you’ll find 20 feet away.  How often do I write about a hotel.  Not very.