On September 28th, I was fortunate enough to attend the “Alluring Anguilla” Dinner presentation, thrown by the Anguilla Tourist Board of Canada.
The roof salon at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Toronto was a great setting for a great event. I got to catch up with Dale Pusching and Catherine Butchart of the Tourist Board, as well as fellow travel agents, Judi Schulz and Dagmar Truhlarova; all of whom had accompanied me on our familiarization trip to Anguilla this past June. (Dale is a fountain of knowledge about Anguilla, and a tireless supporter. I was fortunate to have her introduce me to the island.)
It was lovely to be presented a “rose,” symbolizing my certification as an “Anguilla Travel Connossieur.”
And it was great to catch up with hoteliers I had met in Anguilla, like Dave Lyon of CuisinArt. Dave is a terrific and engaging guy who was just a superb host to us in Anguilla. I loved touring his five star resort, and the memory of our absolutely exquisite dinner at Santorini’s still makes my mouth water. 
(Here’s a snap of Dave and I with travel agent Laura Sangster in Anguilla.)
In Toronto, I got to meet Candis Niles (Anguilla’s new Director of Tourism) and Sherille Hughes (the head of the Anguilla hotel board, and manager of Paradise Cove). These ladies were both feted in the recent article in Open Jaw. See http://www.openjaw.com/onthetown/ott.php?id=161 Candis and Sherille regaled us with anecdotes about Anguilla. And their stories were only topped by the great presentations by the hoteliers. It was a wonderful evening, and a spectacular dinner. I was thrilled to learn about upcoming events and specials, and to add to my general knowledge base about the “special lady” that is Anguilla.
In Toronto, I was also graced to dine with the entertaining Charles Black of Cap Juluca, as well as lovely agent Deborah Peniuk (who snapped my picture, but I didn’t get hers). Deborah and I had great fun introducing Charles to the wonderful world of twitter.
And, of course, I had the chance to catch up with the fabulously awesome Lynda Sinclair, who organized the dinner with Dale, and the beguiling Marie Walker, the Anguilla Tourist Board’s main lady out of New York City.
If you haven’t checked out the “Alluring Anguilla” yet, give me a call. I can get your vacation plans sorted very quickly. Anguilla is “first in the alphabet,” but it is also “first in the hearts” of all of the Caribbean islands.