Anguilla

📍 Shoal Bay East, north coast

Anguilla's best-known beach is also its best-known snorkel: coral heads, rock and reef fish in clear water within a short swim of the sand, with the reef running along the bay in patches rather than as one continuous wall. Easy, shallow and forgiving — which is why it is where most visitors get in the water first.

A busy beach and water-sports bay with the reef close inshore — swim with a marker float and keep clear of the boat lane.

📍 Crocus Bay, near The Valley, north-west coast

A calm, sheltered bay a few minutes from the island's main settlement, with a sandy entry and reef and rock around the edges of the bay. The classic Anguilla walk-in — and the cliff above its south end is the view down onto Little Bay next door.

The shoreline includes restaurant and hotel frontage, so verify current beach access and local rules on the day.

📍 At the foot of the cliffs next to Crocus Bay, north-west coast

A tiny, cliff-backed cove with clear water and coral along the rock, small enough to cover in one unhurried swim. It is the most sheltered pocket of water on the island when the swell is up — which is exactly why it is worth the trouble of getting to.

Getting in is the honest caveat: the cove is usually reached by boat or kayak, or by a steep, unfixed path from the cliff above — verify the access route and the day's conditions locally rather than assuming a walk-in.

📍 Off the north-west coast, reached by boat from Road Bay or Sandy Ground

Two small uninhabited cays standing in shallow, clear water, with reef and rock around their edges, sand and scrub above the waterline, and a beach stop between swims. The low-key day out that pairs Anguilla's shallowest water with an empty cay.

Anguilla protects a network of marine zones, including water around the cays — verify the current zone rules, landing arrangements and any fees locally before you go.

📍 Off Sandy Ground, west coast

A low sand cay in the sheltered water off Sandy Ground, fringed by coral and shallows and set in seagrass where turtles and rays are regularly seen. A short boat hop from the west-coast beach bars, and one of the island's easiest reliable swims.

Sand cays move with storms and this one's shape and size change from year to year — confirm with a local operator that a landing is possible and that the reef is accessible on your day.

Crayfish is the island's signature plate — a spiny lobster, grilled and served with butter, rice and peas, and it is what locals mean by a proper Anguillian dinner. On the west coast it comes off roadside grills and beach-shack kitchens rather than hotel menus.

Tip: Crayfish is seasonal and caught locally, so ask what came in — if the boats are not running, order the fish instead.

Johnny cakes — small fried dough breads — with salted fish, or with a bowl of peas and rice, are the everyday West Indian plate on the island, cooked in the kind of beach kitchen you walk into barefoot between swims.

Tip: Breakfast is when johnny cakes are freshest; go before the beach fills up and eat them hot.

Goat water — a slow-cooked goat stew with herbs and dumplings — is the island's Sunday-and-everyday staple, and The Valley's small kitchens serve it with rice and peas and a piece of fried plantain. Unshowy, filling and completely local.

Tip: Lunchtime, not dinner: these kitchens cook one pot for the day and close when it is gone.