Sunkissed allure of the all-inclusive
Sandals’ two resorts in the Bahamas will be updated to mark the hotel chain’ s 40th birthday
THE YOUNG man at the speedboat controls reduced the power of the massive dual outboard motors to idle so his passengers could gawp for a moment at what music-star wealth can buy — in this case a private island with helipad in the Bahamas.
I’d never heard of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, but the couple with whom I shared a bench seat hailed from Florida and told me McGraw and Hill were country and western royalty.
I was staying at the Sandals Emerald Bay Golf, Tennis and Spa Resort on Great Exuma island. All you could drink, manicured gardens, 11 restaurants and a not bad beach.
The Exumas are a 120-mile long chain of coral islands, islets, cays and sandbars in the aquamarine sea south of New Providence.
On our day trip, we were nine passengers and two crewmen. My feet rested on a cold box of local Kalik and Sands bottled beer. The sea was clear when you looked down, blue from a distance and pale green closer to the islands and cays, which were fringed with white sand. It was a memorable outing.
But what of my hotel? Well, it was clean and smart — and just 35 minutes away from Nassau by Bahamas Air. Set in 500 acres, it is surrounded by palm fronds and fronts a mile-long beach that curves around a bay of tranquil water where kayaking, windsurfing, snorkelling and paddleboarding take place.
So too, further out, does scuba diving from one of the resort’s shiny speedboats. There are many splendid coral reefs, caves and wrecks to explore and the hotel has a first-rate PADI-certified dive centre.
Like all Sandals hotels, it is all-inclusive, with 249 rooms ranging from Love Nest villa suites (complete with a butler and a private pool) to beachside Prime Minister Honeymoon villas (also serviced by butlers and with traditional, colonial-style mahogany furnishings) and more modern-looking
Beach House rooms — no butlers, sadly, but set in pretty tropical gardens. Dining choices are mind-boggling. Among the 11 restaurants are an Italian, an Indian, a French brasserie, a Jerk Shack (serving Caribbean dishes) and the Drunken Duck, a British pub-like place where the blurb promises you can ‘discover the heart of England’, if you really want that. Sandals has two resorts in the Bahamas. The other is the Royal Bahamian in Nassau, which has just had a swanky make-over during the slowdown caused by the pandemic. It’s scheduled to reopen on January 27. The ‘royal’ comes from Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson having stayed in one of the resort’s older buildings that used to be part of the exclusive Balmoral Club. There are pictures of the King Emperor looking slightly grumpy in front of the Governor’s Residence, as well as one of him inside appearing furious after losing at cards to the woman he loved.
Sandals is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It was founded by the larger-thanlife Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, who pioneered all-inclusive hotels in the region — and who died in January. The firm is now run by his son, Adam.
All these years on, I can report it’s still going strong — free drinks and a free spirit, too.