Island Time
Looking for a natural way to get your vitamin D fix? Here, a few sunny side up ideas – from beachy destinations to a royal cocktail – to beat the winter blahs
Three stellar beachy getaways to beat the winter blahs
Island Getaway #1 LIFE STAGES IN GRENADA
I get why Canadians visit the Caribbean. It’s relatively accessible, affordable and safe, with the pull of the sun, the sand and the sea. But in these days of global travel with so much competition for our vacation dollars, why is it that we return to this region time and time again?
I have a theory. The Caribbean persona mirrors the way our generation perceives itself. In our lifetime, we’ve managed to preserve our good parts – the laid-back, free-spirit ideologies of our youth, say – but, rather than resting on such laurels, we’ve risen to challenges, adapted and continued to change. Since the Caribbean Travel Association was formed in 1951 to represent the islands as a single destination, the movers and shakers of the region have done the same.
Take visionaries such as Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records. He could have retired to a hammock after bringing Bob Marley and the Wailers to the world but instead, he has spent nearly three decades bringing the world to Jamaica. Today, at 79, the owner of Island Outpost, a company that features such luxe resorts as Golden Eye and Strawberry Hill, wheels and deals with the rich and famous but reportedly doesn’t own a suit. He also works with Jamaica’s tourism body to help promote the island globally.
Then there’s Sir Royston Hopkin. After a distinguished career that spanned 40 years, in 2005, the Grenada-born hospitality and tourism veteran became the only hotelier to be knighted by the Queen. Whereas many would have hung their hat on the title, Hopkins continues to work diligently with the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism to save the planet, yes, but also as a shrewd response to our increasingly ecologically conscientious times. His family-run AAA Five Diamond resort, Spice
Island Beach Resort, is renowned for its luxe appointments, golden beach and grounds graced with lemon and almond trees.
Of course, you can’t talk about the life coaches of the Caribbean without mentioning Jamaican Gordon (Butch) Stewart, the founder and chairman of the couples-only, allinclusive empire, Sandals, as well as Beaches Family Resorts. At 75, he continues to elevate the “all-in” category by creating properties with the aim of competing with the finest pay-as-you-play resorts. Mind you, if you bumped into him on the grounds of one of his properties, you might mistake him as a guest. The brilliant businessman is without airs.
When I met Stewart at Le Jardinière, one of 10 restaurants at Sandals LaSource Resort in Grenada, he was clad in a golf shirt and ball cap and affably patted the empty spot next to him so we could chat. With the passion and pride of a patriarch introducing his just-born prodigy to the world, he took me through the resort’s conception-to-delivery story.
Grenadians are a friendly people. During a visit to the nearby capital of St. George, the folks at the Market Square cheerfully bartered and bantered as I sorted through their wares. While I was surveying the ruins of a former government building, a policeman stopped to recount the hardship suffered in the wake of 2004’s Hurricane Ivan, which left 90 per cent of the homes and structures damaged. At historic Fort George, two women working the ticket booth showed me how to make spice necklaces and then generously gave me a few. Mind you, sometimes I was too out of breath to uphold my end of these conversations. Built along the hillside of a long-dormant volcano that slopes into the harbour, the 350-year-old city comprises a maze of streets, some so steep mere wandering is a workout. That, coupled with the views from the top of the town, can leave you speechless.
Sadly, the history of Grenada is a bloody one. Before Columbus laid eyes on it in 1498, Caribs had settled the island after overtaking the Arawak, the other indigenous people of the region. Britain and France battled for control over the ensuing centuries with the French in possession by 1674 and onwards until Grenada was ceded to the Brits in 1783. It wasn’t until 1974 that Grenada achieved independence. But a few years later, the People’s Revolutionary Government overthrew the government. After the Revolutionary Military Council took over, the U.S. invaded in 1983. In late 1984, democracy was restored.
In 2012, Stewart’s long-time
dream of putting a Sandals property on the island came true. It was then his company purchased a resort that had closed its doors and began a massive renovation and expansion project. The result is a seaside sanctuary with 225 rooms (or “keys,” as Stewart calls them) spread across three villages – Pink Gin, Italian and South Seas. Water flows everywhere. While some suites offer direct beach access, others feature a private infinity pool, whirlpool, plunge pool, soak tub or a combination. Three public swimming pools grace the lushly landscaped property, one with a fireplace and cosy seating area in the middle. Other highlights include a spa, an openair bar and dance floor that serves as the main communal social space, and Butch’s Chophouse, the brand’s first-ever steakhouse.
Astonishingly, the makeover took only 11 months to execute. “This is Grenada,” Stewart explained. “A no-crime country of 100,000 people who want to see things work.”
The “high-end” segment of the industry goes back to the 1950s when there was no mass-market tourism, but boutique hotels serving the rich and famous were cropping up in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Jamaica. The “all-inclusive” concept emerged in the late 1970s with John Issa and Couples Resorts followed by Stewart and Sandals. Was this Stewart’s favourite property? “LaSource is definitely the Sandals of the future. It raises the bar. People want value for their money and no matter where you go, you won’t get any better than this,” he says.
Although I couldn’t resist hanging out into the night and listening to music beneath the stars, secretly, I wanted to get back to my decadent room and revel in my decadent day. But that’s the thing about the Caribbean. Just when you think it doesn’t get any better, it does. Kind of reminds me of how I like to think of my own life. —Rebecca Field Jager
Island Getaway #2 ART ED IN BERMUDA
Bermuda, to me, is pink – pink sand, pink shorts, pink houses. And yes, pink is a colour of happiness, of lightheartedness. It beckons us. In Hamilton, Bermuda’s largest city, I was charmed by a place that the locals affectionately call the Pink Palace. It’s the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club, a Fairmont-managed property and, this past summer, it entered its second act. After two years and about US$100 million later, the more than 100-year-old hotel is ready for its close-up.
The dress code is relaxed, but the attitude has a regal air. Public spaces are a tribute to modern art and, in fact, an opportunity for art snobs and mod-art newbies alike to learn a thing or two. Here I was, not at the MoMA in New York nor the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. I was at a hotel – in Bermuda, taking in the 60-plus–piece collection, with tours run every Saturday at 10 a.m.
I’ve always been an art lover but, as an art history student way back when, I had leaned toward Impressionism. Modern art was somewhat of a mystery. I knew I liked it but my experience recently, having the time to “live” with it for four days, was revelatory. I was inspired by latter 20th-century artists just by staying in the same place where works by Warhol, Koons – even Mandela (yes, Nelson) – make their homes in stairwells, the grand entry way, the back terrace and even the chef’s table dining room, where Warhol’s Mick Jagger series of four prints holds court.
The sculptures with their organic forms spoke to me in a deeper way. KAWS’s near-20-foot-tall wooden Mickey Mouse-based sculpture, At This Time, Companion Series, had me grinning every morning while I ate breakfast on the patio. Yayoi’s spotted pumpkin made me want to go barefoot and feel the cool grass between my toes as it lounged on the lawn. Untitled (Divina Proportione), Ai Weiwei’s sphere of wooden pentagons like a see-through soccer ball was just begging me to give it a push and see how far it might roll.
It gave me an appetite for more. Banksy gave way to Murakami,
who gave way to Hirst, who gave way to even more Warhol – Flowers topped the main staircase, while Reigning Queens: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, 1985 greeted guests at the front desk and also reigned over the Trudeau ballroom (after Pierre). The pieces are all part of the personal art collection of the Green family, Bermudian hoteliers who bought the property in 2012. “We have been very excited to share our collection with hotel guests as well as Bermuda,” said Alexander Green, after Architectural Digest named the hotel one of its top 17 hotels with amazing art collections in 2016. And the contemporary works, when juxtaposed against the historic architecture, “enliven the space,” added GM Alan Federer.
Nottobeoutdone,thefood,too,was an elevating experience, due to the recent opening of Marcus’, the outpost of New York City-based celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. He’s known for Red Rooster, the groundbreaking Harlem restaurant where his interpretation of American comfort food informed by the storied NYC neighbourhood is fused with his adoptive parents’ Swedish roots and his own Ethiopian heritage. Don’t miss Sunday jazz brunch. The live music enlivens a buffet of Samuelsson’s trademark cuisine, tweaked, of course, to suit this mid-Atlantic island vibe. I even managed to charm the chef into sharing a few of his Harlem-meetsBermuda recipes ( www.everythingzoomer.com/bermuda-adventures).
I, too, am now feeling in the pink. And before I’d even made it to the beach. —Vivian Vassos IF YOU GO www.thehamiltonprincess.com The property is host to America’s Cup 2017, the premiere sailing event.
Air Canada ( www.aircanada.com) and WestJet ( www.westjet.com) fly direct from Toronto.
Island Getaway #3 VILLA-ING IN ANGUILLA
Winter may still be howling in the Great White North, but the weather’s fine on Anguilla, the upuntil-now secret beach getaway for the likes of Liam Neeson, Paul McCartneyandDenzelWashington. The island is wonderfully less travelled, highly cultured and also high on the list of safest places in the British Caribbean. Here, five reasons to visit.
The Beaches There are 33 of them – on an island that’s only 91 square kilometres. Barnes Bay, Meads Bay, Shoal Bay and West End Bay are among the most scenic. Or take a quick speed boat to Scilly Cay, a rustic islet just off shore with swimmable beachfront and a restaurant, serving fresh daily catch and lobster on the barbecue with live music.
The Tunes The island is a music lover’s paradise, with Bankie Banx the island’s premier reggae musician and resident poet lauded as the Bob Dylan of Anguilla leading the charge. Banx, who also hosts the annual Moonsplash reggae festival, has his own outpost, Bankie Banx’s Dune Preserve, but he plays all over the island. There are plenty of other local musicians performing fast-beat soca, calypso and reggae at local hangouts such as Pumphouse or Straw Hat. Tip: Thursday is the new Friday – the night to catch some of the island’s best live music acts. www.bankiebanx.net
The Food Banx’s club is just down the road from the CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa – the Cuisinart of culinary fame, where you can take cooking lessons, then dine on your creations and spend the night. In November, The Reef by CuisinArt opened, a boutique extension of its sister property with 80 suites. www.thereefbycuisinart.com Looking for something even smaller? The Manoah Boutique Hotel, another member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, launched in early November with just 25 rooms. www.the-manoah.com;www.slh.com
The Luxe Change-Up Last October, the Four Seasons took over the Viceroy and added its own brand of Canadian luxe hospitality. It’s a switch-up from the island’s mostly villa offerings – although it will have 166 of those to choose from along with standard hotel rooms. The resort has access to not one but two stretches of beach. Oh, and did we mention the hilltop view from the infinity pool? www. fourseasons.com/anguilla
The Villas Even though there’s been an influx of more traditional hotel resorts to the island, villas are still the most popular way to stay, and many have set up hotel-style services to ensure you get the best of feeling at home and, at the same time, treated like a guest without having to make the bed every morning. When we visited, we stayed the weekend at CéBlue Villas, with eye-candy views of Crocus Bay Beach and some of the sexiest bathrooms on the island, with local chefin-villa dinner experiences optional. Boats dot the clear water, a sea of complex blues and greens that almost defy description. Gaze into it as meditation, and the mind will feel calm, cool and, even after a sunset cocktail or two, remarkably collected. The best reason for a holiday, after all. www.ceblue anguilla.com —VV
IF YOU GO www.ivisitanguilla.com
Air Canada Vacations, Sunwing and WestJet offer direct flights to nearby St. Maarten (take a high-speed ferry to the island), Antigua and San Juan (for air connections). Recently, Puerto Rico-based regional carrier, Seaborne Airlines, announced that the airline is expanding its flights to the island from three days a week to five.