The water is turquoise.

You have to do a bunch of hustling if you want to relax in Anguilla. Not that this is anything I've ever done before, nor would it be a plan I'd formulate, left to my own devices. But when Allen's niece scheduled her destination wedding for the Caribbean in December, I wasn't going to pass on such an adventure.

there's a Caribbean down there...

Wintry mix was threatening to precipitate on the morning of our departure and, thanks to Murphy, we first had to get from Baltimore to the slightly sloppier latitude of Philly for our flight out of the country. But the freezy stuff held off--just until we took off--and I relaxed a smidge.

Once you land in St Martin (or we should say, since the airport's on the Dutch side, Sint Maarten,) it's time to hand over your passport to one person, and $20 to someone else. Chances are, there's a bit of paperwork, with blanks to fill in, a gate or two, a shuttle ride, another $20, someone else takes your passport, a boat ride, another gate (after $20,) another shuttle, passports again...then they drop you off at your hotel. For twenty dollars.

Plan on $40, and a couple of passport handovers to get through Blowing Point.

By then you're thoroughly relaxed, because you're in the Caribbean, meeting 38 new people.

At the Viceroy resort, on the west end of Anguilla, they want you to want to buy a villa. So they will leave a card in your room inviting you to a " manager's reception," and the maid will, each of the 2-3 times per day she fusses with your room, leave the tv on and tuned to the resort's own station which features crisp shots of what you'd see if you weren't inside looking at the tv. Except in that the people you'll actually see are probably not models.

But since you really are there, you'll go outside, swim in the sea, eat fruit, and decide that if you could obtain a prawn sandwich where the bun is a sliced johnnycake, back in your real life, you might even be willing to overpay for it. But probably not for all the leftover slices of red velvet wedding cake they serve at breakfast.

Well, I'm not sure you'd do just those things, but I recommend them. I also recommend renting a car so you can drive (On the left! On the left!) away from the cool glitzy marble-esqueness of the Viceroy, to distant island points where goats and dog play chicken with your car. As do chickens.

Frolicking goat

Cow, not exactly frolicking.

In spite of the rain which fell sporadically (and one night while we ate under a covered pavilion, horizontally,) we did relax. There was not much else we could do, outside of the wedding festivities.

Cacti at Junk's Hole, east end.

Volcanic rock instead of beach down this way.

We are thinking that, should we return, we may stay on St. Martin and save ourselves 3 or 4 gates, handing over of the passports, and $20 handoffs. Then again, Nags Head is closer.