The NEXT BILLIONAIRES’ PLAYGROUNDS

Move over, Mustique. Bye-bye, Bahamas. These are the new islands for the jet-setting and superyachting Caribbean crowd.

The recent buzz around

St. Kitts may seem like an overnight sensation, but it has actually been a decade-long obsession for Charles “Buddy” Darby III. The developer and superyacht fanatic first docked at the West Indies island in 2008 on his 154-foot S/Y Andromeda LaDea, and ever since, he’s been feverishly masterminding Christophe Harbour (christophe harbour.com), the 2,500-acre village that is turning this once lazy isle into the Caribbean’s next big yachting destination.

The marina’s 24 berths can accommodate superyachts up to 300 feet long, while on land the development is home to a collection of multimillion-dollar homes and sites that stretch across six beaches. There’s also high-end shopping and dining and a Park Hyatt resort with a Miraval spa. And so far, it looks like Darby’s big dream is catching on: Yachting traffic to the island has increased every year for the last five years, and some of the world’s most impressive floating castles—including American billionaire Leslie Wexner’s 316-foot M/Y Limitless and Darby’s newest water toy, a custom-built Perini Navi called AndromedaDea— have already been spotted on the budding St. Kitts scene.