Anguilla, British West Indies
Anguilla location
Anguilla is shaped like an eel
Anguilla (pronounced an–GWILL–uh) is an island in the Leeward Islands, which is a subset of the Lesser Antilles.
It is small, only 16 miles long by 3 miles wide (26 x 5 km), with an area of 35 square miles (about 91 square kilometers). Europeans came up with the name because the island is somewhat shaped like an eel and Anguilla is a scientific name for eels.
Anguilla lies about 140 miles east of Puerto Rico and is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands.
It is closest to the French/Dutch island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten, with St. Bartholomew and Saba within viewing distance.
Anguilla is a quiet island with award–winning sandy beaches, and equally award–winning hotels and restaurants. It has little traffic, no cruise ships and no casinos. This is the place to visit for the food, beaches, and water sports.
The climate is tropical, but arid. It is served by easterly trade winds; temperatures are in the mid–80s Fahrenheit (27–30 Celsius). Rainfall is only about 35 inches a year (90 cm); most of that rain comes in the latter half of the year. Because of this the vegetation is largely bush. It's a relatively flat island.
Links
Local links has lots of pointers to local guides, forums, etc.
Anguilla facts has many Anguillian statistics, figures and more (courtesy of WorldAtlas.com).
Wikipedia discusses Anguillian history.
A convenient map of Anguilla taken from Google maps can be found on Anguilla-Beaches.com.
Skyviews has a very high quality map of Anguilla. Be warned: it takes a long time to load.
Find your own Anguilla link! Use the Google search button to the left (uncheck the box to search the web).