This is the main AARF logo, which shows three animals on a yellow life raft: a small black and white kitten, a larger brown dog with a collar and a small black and white dog. The raft is floating on blue waves suggesting the Caribban sea that surrounds Anguilla. Grey clouds suggest the need to find homes for these animals, while the sun peeks out behind the clouds, representing hope for these deserving animals

About Anguilla

web page hit counter

Anguilla, British West Indies

Map of the Caribbean showing location of Anguilla

Anguilla location

The name Anguilla was given because the island is shaped somewhat like an eel

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 and Maps

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. So does this Commonwealth article.

Two maps with a huge amount of detail and information every visitor should have are:

  • The Skyviews Anguilla has a new 2011 version. It's the same huge printed map you get from various places on the island and is a must have street map with an "interesting places" guide. This map lists the Morlens Vet hospital and AARF shelter (look for the red letter V and small black long dog near Sea Feathers Bay and Sandy Bay). The online map (requires Flash) has zoom buttons in the upper right.
  • The Anguilla Guide map equally has excellent details, as well as fun places to go and things to do in a very pleasing map.

A less detailed but convenient map taken from Google maps can be found on Anguilla-Beaches.com or from Google itself.

Find your own link covering Anguilla! There are blogs, photos and other great links out there. Use the Google search button to our pages (uncheck the box to search the Internet; leave it checked to just search the AARF web site).