Almost all of Anguilla's hotels are on the western third of the island. Drive east from The Valley and the resorts stop, the road narrows, and you reach the part of the island where most Anguillians actually live.
Island Harbour
A fishing village on the north-east coast, and still a working one — the boats come in through the morning and the catch is sold on the beach. Many of the island's boatwrights and racing crews come from here. The bay is protected by a reef, so the water inside it is flat and pale even when the north coast is rough.
Scilly Cay
A small private islet a few hundred metres off Island Harbour with a grill, a bar and not much else. There is no booking system: you stand on the dock and wave, and a boat comes out for you. Crayfish and chicken over charcoal, rum punch, live music some afternoons. It is closed part of the year, so ask before you drive over.
The beaches nobody uses
- Savannah Bay — a long east-coast beach with real surf, unusual for Anguilla.
- Captain's Bay — remote, reached by a rough track, and almost always empty; the water is too rough for easy swimming.
- Junks Hole — next to Savannah Bay, with a single beach bar that keeps irregular hours.
Heritage and the ponds
The Heritage Collection Museum is in East End, and the Big Springs petroglyph site sits in Island Harbour. The salt ponds along this coast are the best birdwatching on the island — herons, stilts, egrets, and migratory waders in winter.
Practical notes
There are few places to eat in the east end and they keep local hours; do not assume you will find lunch after two in the afternoon. The roads are narrow and unlit at night. A car is essential — there is no bus network on Anguilla and taxis out here have to be called.
Shoal Bay East
The east end also holds the island's most famous beach. Shoal Bay East is technically part of this half of Anguilla, and the contrast is sharp: two miles of white sand with beach bars, then five minutes' drive inland to villages where nothing is aimed at visitors at all.
Why it is worth the drive
The western third of Anguilla is where the money is and it shows in the landscaping. The east is scrub, goats, salt ponds, boat yards and small concrete houses painted in strong colours. It is what the island looked like before the resorts, and since the drive from Meads Bay to Island Harbour takes half an hour, there is no reason to miss it.