After our crazy day of Christmas shopping Tuesday, we headed back into P'berg Tuesday night to meet good friends for dinner at Chesterfields. I hate to admit that we were that big round table doing all the laughing, and I sincerely hope our enjoyment of the evening and each other's company didn't interrupt anyone else's evening. We only manage to get together once a year and sometimes when we do.....well, I'm sure you get the idea.

In any event, our meals were all very good as was the setting and the service, the company was delightful and the wine was all nicely chilled, and all this for the princely sum of $91.00 a couple, so you tell me - can it get any better than this?!

We got in about tenish and headed straight to bed since we had placed an early wake-up call for Wednesday morning. Our driver was picking us up at 7:30 for our boat trip to Anguilla.

The driver met us in the lobby and off we went to Cugini's parking lot where we were met by the agent from Sugar Rush who did our final paperwork and spelled out the details once again of the day we were about to embark on.

We kicked off our shoes at the end of the dock and boarded, wondering where the rest of the group was. Much to our surprise, they were going out with only the four of our group and one other couple. It was like having our own private yacht for the day with our own Captain and Mate to tend to our whims and needs. So this is how the rich and famous do it!! The catamaran was very clean and large enough to typically accommodate twenty plus guests and we six had it all to ourselves. Our Captain was a very seasoned mariner and our mate was charming, so let the day begin!

As our mate was pouring us juice and coffee along with fresh pastries to start the day, we passed through the lagoon bridge opening by SBYC. Usually we're there eating breakfast and waving to the departing voyagers so it was pretty neat to be the departee for a change.

We motored up the coast past Simpson Bay and on past Maho, Mullet, the once beautiful cliffs at Cupecoy - well okay, they're still beautiful but I will forever regret those buildings were put there, and we continued on by Baie Longue, Plum Bay, Rouge, etc., and all the way up the coastline past Marigot and then past Friars and Happy Bays and finally Grand Case and Creole Rock where we stopped for the obligatory snorkel break. At this point, our captain and his mate raised the sails and cut the motor to make the passage across the Anguilla channel under sail. It was delightful and remember, there are only six guests on the boat.

We finally arrived at Rendezvous Baie where we were dinghied into Anguilla Great House for a yummy lunch of ribs, chicken or fish served with the typical rice and beans, salad and potato salad. Once done we were free to use the pool and beach chairs or to take advantage of this stunning stretch of beach adjacent to a nature preserve. It was a lovely day in every way. At about 2:30 ish we went back to the boat and did the trip in reverse back to our starting point but since we were a half hour early for the 5:00 bridge opening, they motored around the area showing us some of the boats moored there as well as some of the resort's along the beach, too.

I never cease to be amazed and in awe of the incredibly huge and expensive yachts tied up with full crews just sitting there on board and waiting for their owners to appear on the scene. One of the most incredible of the yachts we saw was supposedly built for Steve Jobs, who never even got to enjoy it. When I first saw this boat from afar, I didn't realize it was a boat and actually thought it to be a fancy building along the docks, possibly a part of the Marina Del Sol or something along those lines. The size and the scope of this thing just blew me away, not to mention all the chrome and glass glistening in the sun.

Anyhow, we disembarked just as our bus was arriving to pick us up and return us to our hotel. It was an incredibly delightful day and I can't tell you how happy I am that we chose to do the trip. It was a little pricier than some of the boats we've done at $119.00 pp plus port charges of an additional $15.00 pp but when you add it all up and take into consideration it was an all inclusive day, I don't think it was bad and I know we paid a lot more than that years ago when we used to private charter the Random Wind. And the rum punches were very good and our mate Zach took really good care of our every want and request.

Back to our quiet little corner we went, enjoying one of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen. The sun was a huge and glowing yellow ball in an otherwise perfect and cloudless sky. We didn't get to see the actual sunset but the moments leading up to it were truly spectacular.

So once home and showered, we thought about dinner out but not too very seriously and decided to eat in instead. Thank God for tuna fish......

Life is good and I'm good and tired after that long hard day of being pampered like the proverbial princess so I bid you all sweet dreams since I'm heading to an early bedtime.

Lovely report, Pat. It sounds like a perfect day on the water.What exactly is Sugar Rush besides eating too much candy? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

What a lovely evening before and day! If you took any pictures, would love to see them!

Ha....you are one of those cruisers.....sounds like a wonderful time....kate <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/canada.gif" alt="" />

Wow, it sounds like a beautiful day!

We keep saying we're going to do this.......never seem to make it happen! Sounds like a wonderful day!

That sounds as though it really was a spectacular day out. I think maybe I have to put that trip on the schedule.

How do we book ahead for the "low pax" day?

Carol,

We didn't bring a camera so not much in the line of photos but I sent you a couple from the iPad. Love this little toy but it's tough to take pictures in the sunlight with it - I never know till well after the fact what I really got a shot of.

The Sugar Rush trip is a packaged day trip and I'm sure it's sold by most hotel activity desks, but if not, it can be purchased through the tourist activity booking stand located in the Cugini parking lot.

They really did treat us as if we were royalty from the time the van/bus picked us up in our lobby to the point at which they returned us and all day in between. While onboard, only one guest wanted to snorkel at Creole Rock and because of the number of boats ahead of us our skipper wasn't able to get in as close as normally one would like, so Zach, our affable mate, offered to swim with her and make sure she was safe.

There were rum punches, soft drinks and mixed drinks aplenty if one was so inclined (and we were, but later in the day, thank you very much) along with the coffee and pastry in the morning and cheese and crackers for bites in the afternoon. When we arrived at the Great House beach, lunch was served almost immediately and as I said before, it was enjoyable. Nothing fancy but filling and enjoyable. And then we were invited to enjoy either their pool with chaises on the pool deck or the lounges on the beach. It was different for us since in the past we'd done the trips to Sandy Island and Prickly Pear, and we had done both day trips and stay-overs on AXA, but this was the first time we'd actually visited the island itself without having to clear immigration. Good friends here at the Towers did the same trip last year and again last week and invited us to join them but they already had their own good sized group so we opted out, and as things worked out, I'm so very glad we did. I enjoyed being a 'princess' if only for a day! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Sadly, I don't think you can do that, but if I remember correctly, they do a number of different trips with this one only offered on Wednesday and Friday, but who knows, perhaps you might also get lucky as we did. You could probably ask when booking how full the boat is for any given day and make your plans accordingly. I really think we just got lucky with the day and I doubt they even covered their overhead but for us, it was all good. For them, we'll probably not!

Thanks for another outstanding update. AXA is a favorite of mine also.

My personal favorite is Saba but for us, it's a totally different experience than an AXA day. Not better. Not worse. Just different!

Good luck to you and Storie this week. Throw well, jump far and I hope she's a winner again. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Pat. Enjoying your vacation reports.