Daily Archives: February 12, 2020

Basking in the sunshine on a private island in the Bahamas and relaxing in floating cabanas amidst the crystalline waters... sounds like a holiday for millionaires.

However, thanks to Royal Caribbean us mere mortals can get exactly the same experience.

That's because the cruise line has just opened a swanky new beach club on its $250 million private island (approximately 192million), Perfect Day at CocoCay.

The exclusive club can be booked by passengers on sailings to Perfect Day, and offers lavish floating cabanas with slides leading directly into the ocean.

There are 20 floating cabanas in total, each one offering the slide, an overwater hammock, its own dining area, a freshwater shower, a wet bar and of course, heaps of incredible ocean views.

Basically, everything you could want for an absolutely dreamy day out.

But that's not all that Coco Beach Club has to offer. Also on the cards are 10 luxurious beach cabanas, each also offering incredible ocean views and top notch service.

Alternatively, you can always make do with the incredible oceanfront infinity pool which boasts in-pool loungers and poolside service.

Getting peckish? There's plenty of gourmet dining to be had at the restaurant, and of course if you fancy a tipple there's an exclusive bar.

For those who want to stretch their legs and do some exploring, there's the thrilling water park with 13 slides including the 135-foot-tall Daredevil's Peak, Splashaway Bay with heaps of water games and beachfront sports, and even the Caribbean's largest freshwater pool.

No wonder it's tipped to be one of the best private islands owned by cruise lines, even though it only just opened back in 2019.

At the moment you can't spend the night on the island, but it does make for a seriously glamorous day out on top of an already exciting sun-soaked itinerary.

Continued here:

Sneak peek at private island's dreamy floating cabanas with slides to the ocean - Mirror Online

From above, Kaashidhoo, a coral island southwest of India and Sri Lanka, looks like a yin-yang symboltwo curves, one dark and one light, fitting into each other like kidney beans. In this case, the dark half is a tropical forest, including plenty of coconut trees, and the light half is the brilliant turquoise of a lagoon.

Kaashidhoo is one of the largest of the 1,192 islands that make up the Maldives archipelago, but unlike many other islands, it does not teem with sunbathing Europeans. Its broad dirt roads are often deserted, flanked by pink Maldivian roses, mango-orange impatiens, and papaya and banana plants. The main occupation of the islanders is cultivating coconut and other tropical produce that can be sold in Mal, the Maldivian capital.

But lately, the local economy has been thrown out of balance. Crater-like holes have begun to appear across the island, some filled with dry leaves and others left as barren pits. These bald patches are the places where mature coconut trees used to stand tall. In the last year, Kaashidhoo farmers have sold hundreds of trees to new luxury resorts on nearby artificial islands.

While some locals are grateful for the newfound income$20 to $100 for each treeothers worry that beach erosion has intensified since the trees started getting uprooted. They see this as a fragile ecosystem threatened by the proliferation of luxury resorts. Its a huge issue, says Ibrahim Naeem, Director General of the Maldives Environmental Protection Agency. Importing coconut palm trees is prohibited in the Maldives, so they have to rely on residential islands.

There are already 144 three- to five-star resorts in different parts of the Maldives, and the national tourism ministry has leased 115 uninhabited islands and lagoons to private investors, for the sole purpose of tourism. Many resorts are being built on artificial islands, which are constructed with large machines that reclaim land by sucking sand from the bottom of lagoons.

These new islands have been coming up from nothing, Naeem says. Once these islands reclamation work is completed, the developers look for greenery. The man-made patches of land are typically decorated with coconut palm trees and other coastal vegetation, which are transported from over a dozen local islands, including Kaashidhoo.

Since last year, several locals and activists have taken to social media with the hashtag #mvtreegrab, to express their anger against what they call ecocide. They say it is impacting the resilience of residential islands. Jeelan Jameel, a Kaashidhoo resident, says that since contractors began uprooting trees in 2018, many things around the island have changed. A wide road was constructed from the beach to the location from where coconut trees were being uprooted.

At first, many of them were happy with the extra income and some signs of development, Jameel says. Locals are generally pro-development, she says, because theyre reluctant to move to Mal to look for jobs. In fact, the Maldivian government promised to develop local tourism in Kaashidhoo that would provide them with better employment opportunities.

Yet as the year went by, and more coconut trees disappeared, Jameel says that many locals grew concerned. Coral islands like Kaashidhoo are highly dynamic, constantly adjusting and dancing to the idiosyncrasies of wind, tides, and relentless waves. Everyone has observed far more erosion around the beaches. Thats what we end up talking about most of the time, Jameel says. In response, she joined a non-governmental organization called Young Leaders, to spread awareness about environmental issues on the island.

Sonu Shivdasani, the CEO and founder of Soneva, a chain of luxury resorts in the Maldives, acknowledged in an email that the widespread uprooting of trees has caused problems, and that the practice should be better regulated. When this has happened, this has been detrimental to the local islands, writes Shivdasani. That said, the Maldives is a fast-developing nation, and there is a growing need for land that trees currently exist on, whether it is for more housing, schools, and other public buildings, or even airports. In such instances, it is better that the trees are transplanted.

Emboodhoo lagoon, close to Mal, is one of the sites where uprooted palm trees end up. A Thai company called Singha Estate is developing a multimillion-dollar resort project, Crossroads, that has been advertised as deeply sustainable and spans three artificial islands in the lagoon, in collaboration with Hilton and Hard Rock Hotels. Previously, this area was just a massive lagoon that fishermen and seasoned scuba divers visited regularly.

But today, after a few years of heavy construction and dredging work, the lagoon is home to artificial islands and their brand-new villas, interspersed with plenty of imported greenery. It has become private property that locals are strongly discouraged from visiting. (The developers of Crossroads did not respond to requests for comment.)

If the resort developers had planned ahead, nurseries could have been set up to grow coconut trees and other vegetation, says Ibrahim Mohamed, deputy director-general of the Environmental Protection Agency. But they cant wait for four to five years for the trees to grow and want to open their resorts within one year.

Maeed Zahir, advocacy director at the Mal-based NGO EcoCare, says that theres still not enough oversight from the government. The problem is, the trees are usually uprooted in the middle of the night with excavators, Zahir says. As a result, the environment ministry rarely finds out that their regulations are being violated. Zahir tipped off the E.P.A. of one such violation in Laamu Atoll, and the contractor was made to replant all the trees that were uprooted without a permit.

There is some tentative good news for environmentalists. This year, Ali Waheed, the minister of tourism, announced that resort development projects on 70 of the 115 lagoons or islands have been discontinued. Still, trees continue to be sold for the landscaping of upcoming resorts. In 2019, the national E.P.A. issued permits to 19 islands for vegetation removal, and 2,706 trees were sold to resort developers.

For now, the Maldives E.P.A. office in Mal continues to receive complaints from concerned citizens. They say that due to a lack of resources and manpower, they cant monitor all islands where trees are being uprooted, and they worry about the consequences. If this goes on, ultimately, the whole system will fail, says Ibrahim Naeem, the E.P.A. official. Tourists wont be as interested in traveling to the Maldives to see artificial islands. They can enjoy that in Dubai.

Originally posted here:

Thousands of Trees Are Disappearing From Islands in the Maldives - Atlas Obscura

Orion was shining brightly in the dark sky above Anegada in the British Virgin Islands. But the constellation had some electric competition in the band of bright mast lights bobbing offshore like a bejeweled Orions belt, observed a new acquaintance who introduced himself as Spoons, the pilot of one of those yachts. He and his crew of five friends from the Boston area had paid $10,900 for eight days on a 45-foot catamaran to sail from island to island.

Chartering a boat is one way to island hop in the B.V.I. and a popular one. According to the tourism board, slightly more than half of all visitors to the British overseas territorys 60 islands and cays stay on yachts.

I, on the other hand, chose a far cheaper way to travel between islands. Using the B.V.I. ferry system, I spent $140 not including accommodations, which added about $700 to my expenses over a five-day trip, reaching four ports in bargain, connect-the-dots style.

In the Caribbean, several ferry companies offer opportunities for multi-island vacations, such as the LExpress des Iles, which cruises from Guadeloupe to Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia. Others offer domestic service, including ferries from St. Vincent to some of the outlying Grenadines, and those that link the United States Virgin Islands.

But few Caribbean destinations offer a ferry system as extensive and convenient as the British Virgin Islands. The tourism board details schedules and links to seven islands on an interactive web page devoted to island hopping.

From my first childhood ferry trip to Mackinac Island, Mich., where cars are banned, I have had a romance with ships that fill in for roads, carry vital cargo and allow communities to thrive in isolated places. They are buses for commuters, trucks for suppliers and relatively cheap maritime thrills for travelers.

Yes, cruise ships can actually be a rock-bottom ticket to the Caribbean on my trip, I met a couple from South Carolina who spent only $600 each on an 11-day Norwegian cruise but as an independent traveler, I find those affordable ships too big, and small charters too expensive. The ferry system seemed just right to this backpacking Goldilocks.

Seeking a winter warm up and a budget tropical vacation, I went to the B.V.I. in January to test the convenience and cost of the ferry system, hitting the cruise hub of Tortola, the mountainous beauty of Virgin Gorda, and remote Anegada.

Often, the cheapest flights from the United States that arrive nearest the B.V.I. land in St. Thomas (in the United States Virgin Islands), which is where I caught the 8:30 a.m. Road Town Fast Ferry from downtown Charlotte Amalie to Road Town, the B.V.I. capital, 50 minutes away on the island of Tortola ($60 round trip; the United States dollar is the official currency of the B.V.I.).

A mix of day trippers, business commuters, yacht renters and one friendly couple from Tortola who helped me with my immigration form joined me on the windy trip aboard the 82-foot passenger ferry BVI Patriot. With four-foot waves and occasional sprinkles, I sat on the upper deck inside the cabin, which was both strangely ordinary two flat screens tuned to CNN delivered news of the Democratic presidential debates and a snowstorm in New York and wildly exotic as we passed leggy cactuses growing out of rock islets, forested hillsides of undeveloped islands and a few stands of barren mangroves, evidence of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which struck in 2017. (The damage inflicted by those hurricanes brought the hotel room inventory to about 1,500, down from 2,700.)

Two cruise ships in the harbor dwarfed the 149-passenger BVI Patriot when we arrived. After clearing immigration, I hired a taxi driver, Conrad Dodgy Lewis Dodgy doesnt describe my driving, he insisted to take me from the congested capital over the islands mountain spine to Cane Garden Bay, one of Tortolas most popular beaches, and back several hours later, in time for my late-afternoon ferry to Virgin Gorda for $50.

At Cane Garden Bay, lounge chairs and umbrellas colonized the sand in front of a series of restaurant terraces and beach bars, welcoming travelers from the cruise ships, arriving in open-air buses. On an overcast day, I walked the beach between sporadic downpours to the more than 400-year-old Callwood Rum Distillery where Matthew Callwood, a distiller, bartender, tour guide and member of the family that has owned the distillery since the 1800s, led me and two cruise passengers on a tour ($5) of the mostly outdoor distillery works, including a 19th-century sugar cane crusher originally powered by harnessed donkeys.

There used to be 28 distilleries on the island, and now theres just us, he said, pouring shots of Callwoods four rums, including white, spiced and the smoother aged version he recommended. Its good for sipping, or putting in your coffee in the morning.

I stashed a pint ($12) in my pack and moved on down the beach, watching divebombing pelicans on the water and free-ranging chickens on land. Beachfront restaurants teemed with day drinkers, but I followed Dodgys advice for lunch and went to Bananas Bar & Grill, a polished bistro where cabdrivers were stopping in for takeout chicken soup. I learned why. Inexpensive and delicious, my $9 bowl brimmed with root vegetables, spinach and large tender pieces of chicken, bones and all.

If I had had time, I would have enjoyed outlasting the cruise passengers and staying on Cane Garden Bay at a place like Myetts Garden Inn on the Beach, running $250 a night on Airbnb. But I had a ferry to catch.

Racing to make the late afternoon Speedys ferry to Virgin Gorda ($30 round trip), I was joined by a day-tripping set of cruise passengers, another American couple bound for a week at a luxury resort, uniformed schoolchildren and several returning islanders clutching bunches of stuffed shopping bags. One visitor leaned over the port railing, welcoming the warm wind in his face for the entire 30-minute passage toward Virgin Gorda, said to have been named Fat Virgin by Christopher Columbus for its pregnant profile.

You can tell a lot about an island by its ferry cargo. There were pallets of bottled water on the boat to Tortola. On Virgin Gorda, Speedys deckhands unloaded cases of Veuve Clicquot and Cakebread Cellars wines.

Virgin Gorda has long attracted the rich and famous. Taxi drivers pointed out Morgan Freemans former home and Richard Bransons two nearby islands. Recently reopened after the hurricanes forced substantial rebuilding, Rosewood Little Dix Bay has catered to the affluent since Laurance Rockefeller developed the resort in 1964.

Consequently, a solitary backpacker seemed an usual sight in Spanish Town, the main settlement on Virgin Gorda. I declined taxi offers in favor of a 15-minute walk to Fischers Cove Beach Hotel, where blossoms were tucked in conch shells and towels in my tidy and spacious room ($175 a night). Only when I stepped onto the flamingo-pink patio and looked up did I realize there used to be a second story above, where rebar now pierced the blue sky. The Flax family, owners of the hotel, are gradually rebuilding after the hurricanes.

Tropical foliage has sprung back on much of the mountainous island, home to a series of national parks, including Gorda Peak National Park, with its panoramic trail to 1,370 feet elevation. Staying overnight on Virgin Gorda offers a rare opportunity to visit its best-loved beauty spot the Baths National Park, protecting a dramatic stretch of shore where massive granite boulders as big as 40 feet in diameter cluster in the shallows before the cruise ship crowds arrive.

At 7 a.m. when the first blush of light began pinking the clouds, I started down the park path past cactuses and the occasional orchid to Devils Bay where a septuagenarian foursome was quietly skinny dipping. I waited out a 10-minute rain shower in a shorefront cave weathered by the action of the waves. The path continued over and between the Baths boulders, sometimes with the assistance of steps or rope holds bolted into the rocks, walling off calm, shallow, swim-inviting pools.

I saw evidence of other early birds at the Baths M + M 2020 seemed freshly written in the sand but I never saw them until I completed the roughly mile-long circuit and returned to the entrance at 8:30 a.m. where a line was already forming.

Tortola is the big city to us, Dawn Flax, one of the family members who runs Fischers Cove, told me when I checked in. We go there when we need to go to the bank or the lawyer.

A day later, I ran into her at the ferry terminal on Tortola, returning home after a banking run. It was an unintended stop, but when the Wednesday departure from Virgin Gorda to Anegada was canceled, I was forced to the B.V.I.s hub to catch Road Town Fast Ferrys 300-passenger Lady Caroline from Tortola to Anegada ($50 round trip).

Of the six of us scattered among 30 seats on the outside upper deck, five were returning islanders, quizzing two with roll-aboard luggage about their vacation abroad. Children scrambled up and down the stairs for vending machine snacks and teenage couples leaned into each other, sharing earbuds. But the high seas soon quelled conversation, abandoned to the rush of the wind, the rhythmic rise and fall of passing boats under sail and the shifting view of outlying islands.

Sandy and flat where its sibling islands are steep and rugged, Anegada the most northeastern island in the B.V.I., and the only coral island in the volcanic chain resolved into view like an overgrown sandbar during the one-hour crossing.

From the concrete ferry pier, I got the vaguest of directions to my hotel walk down the pier and take your first left which turned out to be accurate. By late afternoon, the outdoor, oceanfront bar at the Anegada Reef Hotel was packed, not solely with guests of the 10-room hotel (from $155 a night), but also with sailors from the many yachts moored in front of it.

Other than the pre-sunset rush for rum-based Painkiller cocktails, the nightly hotel barbecue featuring the islands renowned spiny lobster, and a D.J. blaring Love Shack from a bar at Potters by the Sea down the beach, Anegada is quiet.

You come to Anegada to swim and sleep under the sea grapes in the shade and wake up and swim and eat and drink and sleep again, explained an islander at the bar. No one will bother you.

I hoped not, especially when I rented a scooter the next morning for $50 a day from Michael Hastick, the co-owner of L&M rentals. He gave me, a scooter novice, a quick lesson in operating the vehicle and when I asked the speed limit, he smiled.

Theres only one cop on the island, he said, pointing to the empty street. Its Anegada, and this is rush hour.

Technically, the speed limit is 30 m.p.h. And the occasional traffic obstacles were goats. Michael marked up a small map indicating where I would see the islands flamingos (distantly, in an interior pond), its endangered Anegada iguanas (in conservation cages next to the police station) and its best beaches, especially Loblolly Bay on the north shore, home to beach bars for castaways (Flash of Beauty) and party people (Big Bamboo).

Despite an open sign, Flash of Beauty was deserted at 10 a.m. Conch shells lined sand paths through the dunes to the beach, strafed by surf despite the barrier of distant Horseshoe Reef, visible in a line of frothy waves. I plunged in and immediately saw conch shells and rainbow-colored fish schooling around coral heads, but with the strong current I decided that as much as I love solitude, it wasnt safe to swim alone. It was, however, completely safe to leave my cellphone, wallet and scooter keys, and walk for miles down the deserted beach, returning to find everything as I left it, Flash of Beauty still closed and no other visitors.

Chased by another downpour, I stopped at nearby Anegada Beach Club, home to intriguing palapa-roofed beachfront tents, a kite-surfing school and a poolside restaurant where I met Paula and Michelle Mau, a couple from Omaha who regularly visit the island.

Anegada is the end of the world, Michelle said. Theres no one here. Its magic.

The Maus spread some of that magic by inviting me, after just a five-minute chat, to join them on a private boat they had chartered to snorkel around the uninhabited east end of the island. We saw four-foot barracuda, green sea turtles and shy puffer fish. We froze in another pelting downpour and dried out in the sun. We cruised by 12-foot-high islands composed of conch shells that harvesters, dating back to the indigenous Arawak, cast off after taking the meat, creating pearly pink mounds where terns posed in profile. They wouldnt take a dime in return, though the four-hour trip cost more than $300.

Before leaving on the next days 8:30 a.m. ferry to Tortola and onward to St. Thomas, I walked the beach to Neptunes Treasure resort where the aroma of cinnamon rolls from Pams Kitchen served as an olfactory siren to sailors aboard the 50-some yachts tied up offshore.

The Caribbean is rarely a thrifty destination. Food can be expensive (I paid $40 for half a lobster at the Lobster Trap on Anegada). There were unexpected fees, including a B.V.I. environmental tax of $10 upon arrival and a $20 departure fee. My hotels would have been a better deal if split with a companion. I spent close to $1,000 on the trip.

But the compensation of taking the ferries went beyond financial. I traveled with commuting islanders of all ages, passed the time in terminal waiting rooms with women doing word search puzzles and joined them in bringing my own lunch aboard. These regular sailors knew to sit starboard to avoid the sun on the afternoon Anegada run and to move to the exit before docking to beat the disembarking crowds at Tortola.

Still, no one seemed to take this special means of transportation for granted. Like me, they tugged on sweaters, sat in the shade and watched the successive hues of blue streaming in and out of sight between water and sky.

Elaine Glusac is a frequent contributor to the Travel section.

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Who Needs a Caribbean Yacht When You Can Take the Ferry? - The New York Times

Without more than $50 billion to his name, Bloomberg would almost certainly be running a campaign like another late-entrant, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who hasnt been heard from since filing for the New Hampshire primary a couple of months ago.

Bloombergs political strategy has always been built on the belief that nothing succeeds like excess. If he wants it, he can buy it, and money is no object.

Its a free country, and Bloomberg can spend as much money as he likes on whatever suits his fancy. No one should try to stop him from doing it through campaign-finance laws or other rules. In the scheme of things, lavishing tens of millions on your own presidential campaign is probably worthier than lavishing it on private islands, antique car collections, or yachts.

But Bloomberg 2020 is still an affront to small-d democratic sensibilities, a tribute not to his superior political skills or messaging compared with the other candidates, but his access to a personal bank account that the rest of them lack.

The level of his spending is truly astonishingCroesus goes all in on Super Tuesday. Hes spent more than $300 million on various forms of advertising. By the end, hes going to make the profligate self-funder Tom Steyerwho managed to pointlessly buy himself onto the Democratic debate stage and won about 1.7 percent of the popular vote in Iowalook like a spendthrift. Hes promising to double his spending after the delayed, inconclusive Iowa caucuses results.

Bloomberg is running a presidential campaign that Curtis LeMay would love, carpet-bombing the airwaves every single day. Hes single-handedly changed the market for TV ads in many places in the country by soaking up so much TV time. He spent $10 million on a Super Bowl spot, or about half of what Joe Biden raised in the entire fourth quarter.

This is the Bloomberg way. He spent a quarter-of-a-billion dollars to become and stay New York mayor for three terms. He doled out $100 million on his last campaign alone, outspending his hapless rival, city comptroller William Thompson, by 14-1 and still barely eking out a victory. When it looked closer than expected, what did Bloomberg do? Dump money on even more last-minute radio and TV advertising, of course.

He was only eligible for a third term because he got a term-limit law changed, with the support of charities that he happened to make generous donations to. The brilliant historian Fred Siegel archly observed, The traditional politicians are bought by special interest groups, but Bloomberg buys special interest groups.

Hes replicating this approach in his presidential campaign. Many of his endorsers among mayors around the country just happen to represent cities that have enjoyed his largesse.

Whats wrong with all this, beyond the cynicism of thinking everything has a price tag? Maybe Bloomberg is right, that trying to go in and convince voters of your appeal at town hall events and meet-and-greets in places like Iowa and New Hampshire is for suckers. Certainly, all the candidates might wish they had spent less time in Iowa the past 12 months, given its caucus-night meltdown.

But there is much to be said for grassroots politics. It forces candidates to take account, up close and personal, of what their voters believe and want. As president, Abraham Lincoln devoted serious time to meeting with random people who showed up to see him, in what he called public-opinion baths. Lincoln believed these wearisome encounters served to renew in me a clearer and more vivid image of that great popular assemblage, out of which I sprang, and which at the end of two years I must return.

The candidate who does dozens upon dozens of these events must have the ability to inspire and impress, think on his feet, show endless patience and stamina. If hes not up for it, or is a pretender, he will inevitably be exposed. Surely one reason that Joe Biden had such a lackluster finish in Iowa is that he was tested in this crucible and founding wanting. Through its rigors, this kind of campaigning also produces, when a candidate truly finds a way to click, phenoms deeply bonded with their supporters like Barack Obama and Donald Trump (a semi-self-funder, but also a powerful grassroots candidate).

In comparison to everyone else out on the early-state hustings, Bloomberg is a Wizard of Oz candidate, shielded and inflated by his TV ads.

Another advantage of the traditional approach is that anyone can do it. Peter Buttigieg, the former major of a small Indiana town whom no one had heard of a year ago, finished at the top of the Iowa caucuses through sheer talent, tireless work and clever messaging. He didnt have to amass a personal fortune to make a venture in presidential politics, although hes been an adept fundraiser, exactly because hes connected with people.

All this said, perhaps Bloomberg will break all the rules and be the last man standing between Bernie Sanders and the cusp of the American presidency, in the form of a major party nomination. Then, Bloombergs spending might look to a lot of Democrats like a public service. There is also no denying that Bloomberg is a genuinely talented man, which is why his money hasnt been wasted like that of countless other self-funders and instead actually won him elections.

But this style of campaigning shouldnt be the norm. If Bloomberg succeeds, he will enrich many TV stations, consultants, pollsters and campaign workers, but impoverish our politics.

Read more:

Opinion | Why Bloombergs Extravagant Spending Goes Too Far - POLITICO

It feels like standing at the edge of the earth.

The Devils Bridge National Park is an ancient limestone peninsula on the Caribbean island Antiguas far east side, carved away by centuries upon centuries of tumultuous Atlantic waters. Each wave approaches the rocks, which form a natural-arch bridge, and within a split second sends a tower of white ocean spray soaring into the sky or shooting up via tiny geyser-like holes in the rock. With tremendous winds approaching from all sides, and sweeping vistas of tall grass jutting up from the jagged rocks, it can be a truly dramatic, almost extraterrestrial place to stand.

And yet, literally right next door to this national landmark is Hammock Cove Antigua, the newest entry in The Daily Beasts The New Room With a View series.

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When one thinks of an all-inclusive resort, the usual images are overrun family hotels with watered-down liquor, sub-par food, and repetitive activities. With Hammock Cove, hotelier Robert Barrett seeks to reinvent that image. The property feels exclusive, with only 42 villas along its protected waters, each with its own private plunge pool; uninterrupted and personalized service, thanks to round-the-clock ambassadors assigned to your villa; complimentary premium liquors and wine both in the room and throughout the resort; and luxury dining envisioned by a Michelin-trained chef (a romantic meal at the upscale Lighthouse restaurant is a must) and an ample wine list curated by a house sommelierall included.

Much of the resort pays tribute to the stone excavation site it was built on, as well as the island on which it resides. All colorsinside and out of your villaresemble the minerality of Hammock Coves land, and each rooms vaulted ceilings, soft white linens, and enormous rain-head showers evoke traditional Caribbean luxury. Local artists are featured throughout the hotel, most notably inside along a road underneath the main building leading to several of the villas.

The protected bay is shared with several other resorts straddling the shoreline and framing the dramatic cliffs overlooking the water, which has a gentle chop from being on the Atlantic side of an island. The majority of Hammock Coves villas overlook this bay and, while it may at times be noisy with the sounds of an adjacent family resorts beachfront, the wide-open waters provide coolly refreshing views from each rooms private patio.

And with such an all-inclusive experience, visitors may never want to leave Hammock Coves property. But Antiguaan up-and-comer compared to tourism giants like Jamaica and the Bahamasgives visitors plenty of reason to get out and explore.

Of course, theres the Devils Bridge. While Hammock Covewhich, full disclosure, brought this writer out to review the hotelis technically adjacent to the park its address is literally inside the park. Like many Caribbean islands, Antigua is still grappling with the brutal legacy of slavery and colonialism. Locals openly relay folktales and legends about families destroyed by enslavement, disease, or sugar profiteers.

The dramatic landmark itself is, in fact, a stark reminder of that past, its name being the result of urban legends about slaves being lured to the ancient formation by some devious power, ultimately meeting their demise by leaping off its rocky, wave-pounded edges.

But many of the islands landmarks are rife with the hope, pride, and sense of community Antiguans have for their land since its emancipation and governmental independence. The islands hilly terrain is dotted with churches, stuffed to the brim on Sundays, hymns radiating throughout the otherwise quiet streets. Old British fortsparticularly ones overlooking English Harbourare now lookouts to observe the islands natural beauty and learn about its people via various presentations.

The old gun battery at Shirley Heights is perhaps most famous, with its stunning westward views of the island and its role as host to Sunday evenings wildly popular parties featuring a massive steel drum band and throngs of people drinking rum punch and eating gigantic pork ribs or jerk chicken. And excursions to view the islands Caribbean sidewhich includes a hilly, lush rainforest and beautiful white-sand beaches like Turners Beachare a must.

But one could be forgiven for also spending as much time as humanly possible in your private villa at Hammock Cove.

Take it from this writer, hours can melt away ordering the included room servicerecommended: the burger with a house-selected beef blend, bleu cheese, and an onion jamto your private plunge pool while soaking, sunbathing, or lounging in your own hanging hammock chair. It would be understandable to get lost in the mesmerizing views, particularly when a squadron of brown pelicans methodically take turns dive-bombing into the bay to scoop up a fish, or fail and try over and over again.

Go here to read the rest:

Antigua's Newest Luxury, Adults-Only Retreat Is on the Edge of a National Park - Daily Beast