SIZE: 35 sq. mi. (16 mi. x 3 mi.) POPULATION: 11,797 LANGUAGE: English CURRENCY: Eastern Caribbean dollar GOVERNMENT: British territory WEB SITE: www.anguilla-vacation.com

Extravagant Simple Pleasures

The bumper sticker "Life?s a beach!" must have been created for Anguilla. Barren and not particularly scenic, Anguilla is a scruffy, low-lying island five miles north of St. Martin. But 30 or more of the world?s most gorgeous beaches—long crescents of white sand—encircle this 3- by-16-mile-long island. And most of these lustrous stretches are either deserted or barely developed.

There is little racial tension on the island, thanks undoubtedly to a very short history of slavery. Attempts at cotton and tobacco production were generally unsuccessful, and the few slaves that had been brought to Anguilla were left to fend for themselves. Scratching out a living off the land, fishing the rich waters around the island, and trading with other islands, the early Anguillans developed a resilience and independent-mindedness that has been passed to today?s islanders.

Fall 2001