There is a great deal going on in the Caribbean and following is an update of some featured openings and renovations.
The Christopher, St. Barth will be opening three new villas designed by French interior designer Olivia Putman. Two of the four-bedroom villas will open in December, with the third following in 2020. The new villas allow guests all the space of a private home that is completely open to the sea and all the amenities of a luxury resort. Restaurants include Christo and Mango Beach Bar, and another feature is Sisley Spa with open-air treatment rooms.
The Christopher has partnered with Artireef to help rebuild the reef of Pointe Milou, the peninsula on which the hotel sits, by creating marine cement that is three times denser than concrete. In addition to creating a barrier to the shore, the reef will be more resistant to high water temperatures and pollution.
Belmond Cap Juluca, Anguilla
Sisters Nadia and Katia Narain, health gurus and authors of “Self Care for the Real World” and “Rituals for Every Day,” will host a wellness retreat at Belmond Cap Juluca July 5–9, 2020. The 4-night retreat will featue sunrise yoga and meditation, snorkeling with sea turtles, self-care workshops in the sand, nighttime kayaking, Taino (indigenous Caribbean) healing salt spa treatments, and sunset cruises through the Caribbean Sea.
Travelers can experience two Leeward Islands in one trip with Belmond’s Island to Island package, including accommodations in both Anguilla and St. Martin, and a smooth connection via a 25-minute Caribbean boat ride. Complete with $100 resort credit and daily breakfast per stay at both Belmond Cap Juluca and Belmond La Samanna, the trip offers a taste of both St. Martin’s cosmopolitan buzz and Anguilla’s world-famous, crystal clear beaches. For more information, visit belmond.com.
Belmond La Samanna, St. Martin
Set on the French side of St. Martin, Belmond La Samanna has reopened with a fresh new look. Redesigned by London-based interior design firm Muza Lab, the property’s 83 rooms and public spaces, including the new L’Oursin restaurant and Laplaj Beach Bar have been redone.
Guests of Belmond La Samanna can take a Caribbean impressionist painting class inside a French Creole townhouse. The home overlooks early eighteenth-century French soldier barracks, floral gardens, and two centuries of antique architecture. Guests can hone their artistic skills alongside Sir Roland Richardson, one of St. Martin’s most celebrated painters, as he guides them through the study of light and color on living subjects through the technique of ‘Plein Air’ painting.
GoldenEye, Jamaica
The FieldSpa at GoldenEye is built into the jungle-like landscape on the edge of the crystal-clear blue lagoon, allowing guests to swim or kayak to their spa appointment. As part of a one-year expansion, two new standalone spa huts will open in mid-December, along with a new yoga deck. A selection of elixirs, juice, and healthy bites incorporating fresh ingredients from Pantrepant, the private farm of music executive Chris Blackwell, and a new therapy menu will be introduced. This expansion will provide direct access to the new spa cove, a crescent of sand nestled along the property’s signature lagoon.
GoldenEye will also unveil three new accommodations, a 3-bedroom lagoon villa and two lagoon cottages in summer 2020. Additionally, a new dive shop, available to guests and the community, has opened on neighboring James Bond Beach. The shop offers scuba certification and excursions, boat tours of the Bay and coral planting opportunities in the underwater coral nursery. All profits of the dive shop will go to the Oracabessa Foundation, which is responsible for improving marine life in the Bay. For more information, visit goldeneye.com/fieldspa.
For the big picture on Caribbean tourism, be sure to check out this story about the strong growth in visits to the region as well as this story.
