Island News - Island and Beach Travel Reports from Conde Nast Traveler on Truth.Travel

Reporting on Islands and Places Blessed with a Similar State of Mind

By Alison Humes on February 4, 2010 10:24 AM | No Comments

Bora Bora? Fiji?

An overwater bungalow at the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort and Spa

A reader asks:

In Dec. 2010, my husband and I would like to return to Bora Bora for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. We honeymooned at the Hotel Bora Bora, but it is closed for remodeling. Can you suggest another hotel along the lines of Hotel Bora Bora? Also, we would like to go to Fiji for the first time. Can you also recommend a hotel or resort? BTW, we will be bring our two children, ages 21 and 23 with us.

We will be flying from California, so can you advise us if we should first go to Bora Bora or Fiji?

To get the best answer to your questions, I turned to one of Wendy Perrin's outstanding travel specialists, Kleon Howe, who runs The Art of Travel, and of course, he's the man who knows.

His advice:

1.)     Hotel Bora Bora: This was a very special hotel that had the highest of customer service. The bungalows were few and very well spaced, all with an ocean view--even the garden bungalows. The resort was torn down and is anticipated to be rebuilt under the same brand of Aman Resorts. I do not have a date or any confirmation of this as of yet.
2.)     There is not another resort in French Polynesia that matches the traditional and boutique feel of this resort. That said, the Private Ocean Front Pool Villas at the St. Regis are very private and are similar in feel to the beach fares of the Hotel Bora Bora. These are the ones that have a view to the ocean and are separated by view from the rest of this larger resort. You do not notice the size of the resort from your villa and so you have that feeling of being in a small resort. Once you step outside, you do have the facilities of a lovely resort. The service of the St. Regis is, of course, on par with that of the Hotel Bora Bora.
3.)     There is another resort in the islands that offers a similar feel with their beach bungalows although they are not as private as those at the St. Regis, and that is Le Taha’a Private Island and Spa. This is on the island of Taha’a. It, too, is on its own private small island as is the St. Regis, and while a bit larger than the Hotel Bora Bora, the beach bungalows are lovely, private, and luxurious. That said, the Bora Bora View Over Water Bungalows are very beautiful and with only 8 of them you have quite a bit of privacy. There is great snorkeling here as there was at the Hotel Bora Bora, better than at the St. Regis. The service is good but does not always reach the best here as it does at the St. Regis. It often does but I have had clients with issues here.

4.)     Fiji: There are several resorts that I would suggest in Fiji that are similar in feel and service to the Hotel Bora Bora: Wakaya Club; Namale; Vatulele; Royal Davui
The reason I suggest these resorts in Fiji is that they are all smaller, secluded, with high customer service levels, and they give you the experience of that traditional feel of Fiji and the South Pacific Islands, all of which were trade marks of the Hotel Bora Bora.

Also, I should let you know that there are no flights between Fiji and French Polynesia. You must fly to New Zealand and then back to the other island. Also, where one travels to first or ever would be dictated by the time of year or season of travel. I would not travel to the Fiji Islands between the months of January through April as this is the height of the hurricane season. French Polynesia tends to be fine this time of year although you can get the odd storm with lots of rain and wind. The best months of travel to both islands would be May through November as the trade winds are established and keep the humidity down a bit.

The geology of these two island groups are very different. French Polynesian islands are fully encircled by reef with breaks in it to flush the lagoons out twice a day. The waves of the ocean crash on this outer reef and leave the waters of the lagoon to be mostly flat calm, clear (50’ to 80’ visibility standard) and warm with temps being right around 80 degrees year round. Fiji on the other had does not have the reef fully encircling the islands. The protected beaches are usually quiet. That said, the visibility is less than in French Polynesia unless you go out to the reef where there is not bottom sand or silt stirred into the water by the waves. The water temp tends to be lower but not cold like here in North America.

--Kleon Howe

The excellence of Kleon's info reminds me of the advantages that Wendy's travel specialists can give travelers planning an important trip. Check out all her specialists in our August issue. And of course, if you want more advice like that above, call Kleon at 888-294-3598.

By Alison Humes on February 3, 2010 4:10 AM | No Comments

Scarlet and a Letter from Barbados

The scene at Scarlet, in Barbados, pre- and post-mojito.

The Bajan lorelei sings again, this time disinhibited by a mojito:

Scarlet (located right across the highway from the Tamarind Cove Hotel) is the hot ticket--mainly for drinks, but the meal was the best I've ever had on Barbados. Or should I say it's the meal I most enjoyed. But I think it was also the best.

More important than what we ate were the mojitos that we drank. As you know, I'm not a big drinker. I tarried after the first and gave myself plenty of time to think better of a second, but in the end I couldn't think better of it, and I'm glad I didn't, because it was every bit as good as the first.

As for the food, we were sharing two menus among the five of us, so I didn't get to study it long enough to remember the names and ingredients of everything. Out of perhaps six proffered appetizers, we ordered fried goat's milk cheese balls, which came with a dipping sauce, calamari stuffed and fried (also with a sauce), and crab and mango bruscetta. I was not offered so much as a whiff of the crab and mango bruscetta. The cheese was shared by all, and the calamari by three of us, and having just tastes was excruciating.

There was a bit of a wait before we got our main courses; I had fish pie—mahi-mahi under a bed of mashed potatoes that were comparable though superior to my own. Jane ordered shrimp curry, something that could easily be shared, but she didn't. Bo, who that afternoon in a snorkel, mask and flippers, had come head to head with a couple of barracudas, took the opportunity at dinner to prove who was boss. The barracuda steak never had a chance, and Bo pronounced it delicious. The two other men ordered burgers, which came on great big salt bread buns. Masses of the great big bread remained on the plate, but not one little grind of those two hefty home-chopped balls of beef. I never had a shot at any of it.

By Alison Humes on January 28, 2010 5:36 PM | No Comments

Atlantis Rediscovered!

Donald Tulle, taxi driver extraordinaire, lunching at the newly reopened Atlantis. If you need a ride in Barbados, give him or his wife, Suzanne, a call at 246-425-0834 or 246-230-5829.

This just in from my Bajan lorelei, one of my secret sources: The beloved Atlantis Hotel, in Bathsheba, Barbados, bought and rebuilt by the owners of the Fishpot and Little Good Harbor, reopened last month.

"It's not so old and funky as it was, but they kept with the general feel of the place," she writes. "There now seems to be a separate pale green cottage attached to the hotel that is rented out in addition to the rooms. Also, there's a bright, bitter orange building next door where you can rent an apartment. The restaurant is open, and we went on the first day (it took practically all day, too). They've updated the menu, but it remains Bajan in flavor."

More photos of the Atlantis Hotel after the jump!
READ MORE >>

By Alison Humes on January 28, 2010 2:11 PM | No Comments

St. Lucia Beyond the Diamond Waterfall

St. Lucia's geologic icons, Gros and Petit Piton, tower over the island's west coast
Photo: Julien Capmeil for Condé Nast Traveler

Here's a question from a reader looking for a St. Lucia B&B:

My girlfriend and I will be traveling to St Lucia in early April for a friends wedding. Are there any comparably priced hotels or B & B's like the Coco Palm? It seems to be the best bargain for my budget. Could you suggest a website that would describe places to visit there? It seems like there is the diamond waterfall and some plantations and that is it, other than water sports.

My answer:

One thing to consider is where your friends will be having their wedding, because St. Lucia is fairly big. Personally I love to drive around exploring, and I found the roads good, but some people are put off by driving on the left, and driving at night can be tough because the roads have many hairpin turns. Your feelings about how you like to get around may influence where you'll be happiest staying.

The St. Lucia Tourist Board has a particular website listing small hotels and inns that is worth checking out. Coordinate your research with a map so you know what part of the island you'll be on!

There are a number of waterfalls and spots of great natural beauty to visit, from gardens to the rainforest. There are also great hiking opportunities--up a Piton, perhaps--as well as horseback riding and wonderful sailing and villages that host a fish fry on Friday nights. I also suggest you look up my recommendations for places to stay and things to do in St. Lucia in a St. Lucia profile I wrote for Condé Nast Traveler.

Have an island question? Ask me.

By Amy Wilentz on January 20, 2010 12:53 PM | No Comments

Haiti: Getting in, Getting Around

It's not so easy to get into Haiti right now. You can fly to Santo Domingo and take a bus, or ride in with an aid organization if you can find one that wants to accommodate you. Or you can fly in with an NGO from Miami, Boston, New York, Fort Lauderdale. You can go in with the Marines if you have someone who can make those special arrangements.

But—you might raise the objection—who wants to go to Haiti right now? Isn't most traffic in the opposite direction?

Well, for starters, I want to go. I want to show solidarity with my Haitian friends. I want to observe the extent of the damage and see how people are behaving, with my own eyes. I want to pitch tents and clean out Port-o-Sans and feed kids and basically do anything a person with no health-care experience can do (although I am not so strong in the putting-up-tents department, come to think of it).

Packing was weird. Usually for Haiti I pack sleeveless shirts and skimpy-ish though respectable things and a pair of flats; now it's sneakers and hiking boots, a sleeping bag, flashlights, batteries, air mattress, a pillow, and a mosquito net that I certainly will never be able to rig. A friend of mine asked: Makeup? Ok, I added a thing of lipstick.

Usually I stay in some antique, shambling room in the Oloffson, but now everyone is down in the Oloffson courtyard, which the owner says looks like a battlefield command center, filled with tents and bedding and journalists trying to set up communications. These hacks, as we call them, normally stay at the Montana, which used to have a much better communications set-up than the Oloffson. However, that huge place is now just a lumpy set of plaster and cement flats sharded on top of each other, a big hill of rubble. So the Oloffson courtyard (which is really a circular driveway) is the only alternative. The hotel's proprietor used to have a dog named Papa Dog, for the late dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier; I wonder if Papa Dog still stands guard...

Previous: Amy Wilentz remembers the Hotel Montana and the Hotel Oloffson

Complete Haiti Coverage on Truth.Travel

By Amy Wilentz on January 16, 2010 1:26 PM | 1 Comment

A Tale of Two Hotels in Haiti

Hotel Montana, Jan. 13, 2010
Photo: Logan Abassi / UN Photo

The last time I was in Port au Prince I spent my first night at the Hotel Oloffson, a beautiful old gingerbread construction near downtown. It's my favorite hotel in the world.

It's run by Richard Morse, an American of Haitian descent who was a painfully beautiful and feckless American hippie/preppie when I first met him and he first started running the hotel two decades ago. Over time, he has ripened into something far more Haitian. Now, Morse is a virtually dredlocked grey hair, and a legendary figure in Port au Prince, both as a cultural hotelier and as leader of the traditional/rock band RAM, which plays at the hotel every Thursday, and makes the old beams tremble.

But in the earthquake this past Tuesday, the old beams really trembled. Everyone ran out. The hotel held its ground and did not fall, although part of the retaining wall on the rue Capois broke off and killed a passerby. It was evening, usually a time when the hotel's guests gather on the broad veranda for drinks, popcorn, peanuts, and welcome punches, as they are called.

Since then, all the guests and a hoard of journalists have been sleeping in the driveway. Two nights after the earthquake struck, some curious passersby came up to look at them, mistaking them for corpses. Morse himself has roamed the city with his cell phone, one of the earliest voices to be heard internationally from the wreckage--on Twitter (@RAMhaiti).

Among his many talents is mastery of the written word, and even in his short tweets he created a sense of the weirdness, the mystery, the terrible destruction, the loss, the death, and a man walking through a terrible new landscape. Meanwhile, he had the troubles everyone else had, but magnified: he had to find food and drink in all the chaos for guests numbering probably over a hundred. His generator collapsed. His receptionist was too scared to come in. He may have lost several of his employees. They have not been heard from.

Well, so the last time I was down there, I stayed at the Oloffson that first night. Some people had occupied my usual room long-term. I was packed off into a little room on the side of the maternity (the hotel was once used as a hospital and has retained some of the lingo). My one light turned on and off only if you twisted the bulb in and out. The curtains over the windows were sparse, and I kept falling in and out of the bathroom because of the little step there at the doorway. It was... atmospheric.

Anyway, I was working hard, and feeling mature and efficient. I decided to take the hard-hearted route and move up the hill to the Montana, a place I'd sworn I would never patronize because it was modern and dull and filled with fancy development people and business types. I preferred, and prefer, the motley clientele of the Oloffson, which includes writers and artists, musicians, oddballs of all sorts, daughters of Haitian presidents, folk-singers who never pay their bills, photographers having migraines... everyone interesting.

I forsook all this cultural and human splendor for a business office, decent communications, full service amenities, etc. I moved up the hill. I was on the third floor of the Montana--I prefer low floors because I live in LA and I've made the (probably wrong-headed) decision that I like to be closer to the ground in a pancake situation, not that I ever imagined there would be an earthquake in Haiti. Never occurred to me.

And surprise, the Montana was not so bad as I had imagined it to be in my romantic youth in Haiti. It was clean and things worked--there was hot water, all the time! Nor was it as efficient and coldly perfect as I had imagined. I fled Morse's Thursday music night only to discover that the Montana was having a huge Haitian wedding near the pool on that same evening--until midnight.

When I saw the pictures of the flattened Montana this past Wednesday, I was horrified and nonplussed. I could see that the many floors, with their balconies and vines, had all settled on top of the bar where my cell phone would work, and where I'd made all my calls. The terrace where I'd run into a number of friends having drinks was crushed, and the wrought iron balustrade was lurching out of the wreckage at an unlikely, violent angle. The presidential suite, which I'd visited and where Wyclef Jean used to stay in Haiti with his giant entourage, was sitting on top of the whole thing, utterly destroyed.

So many Haitians, visitors to Haiti, lovers of Haiti died at the Montana. Earthquakes are the most democratic of natural disasters-- the slums came down but so did the hotels and the houses of the rich. Those people who worked at the Montana--who'd carried my baggage and written my bill and brought me my lambi with djon djon (conch and local mushrooms). Probably all among the dead or wounded.

But the Oloffson withstood the rocking. One thing we learned was that old buildings, solidly made of wood in the 1800s and 1900s, fared a bit better than new buildings, which were often slapped together from cement block and concrete. Still, so much has fallen that--as with New Orleans--the city will never be what it was, will never have the same character. All the monumental edifices fell: the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral, Army headquarters, the Palace of Justice, the Parliament. The little houses of the slums collapsed into piles that look like pebbles, wires, and woodchips, tin roofs lying like accordion folds on top of one another. Downtown, entire neighborhoods are in wreckage.

Petionville, the wealthy redoubt at the top of the hill overlooking Port au Prince, slid around wildly and hundreds of houses, shops, markets, and shanties were lost, with casualties to match. Cyril Pressoir, a friend who runs a small travel company up there, told me in an email today that he lost "many great friends," some of whom he'd had to pull out of the rubble with his own hands.

There hasn't been much communication with Jacmel, the small, picturesque seaside town that attracts many visitors, but it too was badly damaged in the quake. The Cyvadier Plage hotel lost one building. The colonial downtown lost many others, with loss of life, too, no one yet estimating how many--but many, that's for certain.

A whole geography must be remade in Haiti. But the problem is this: will people care about Haiti the way they did about New Orleans (not that the reconstruction of New Orleans has been perfect, by any means)? Will they gather in construction crews with Habitat for Humanity to get stuff to Haiti and rebuild? Will college kids from the U.S. and elsewhere make three-week trips to Haiti to help out, for the nest three or four years, until the job gets done? Will Haiti's foreign friends stick with it? Housing must be put in place for hundreds of thousands of people. That's a huge job, requiring colossal resources and the will to work in trying circumstances.

The circumstances will be trying, at least for the first six months. But Haiti will always be Haiti, and I say that with optimism. It's a resourceful country, where people are used to making a lot out of very little. Haitians will be incredibly generous to their helping friends. And no one has a sense of fun like Haitians who sense that affection is shared. Eventually there will be music again, and dancing, and spicy food, strong rum, strong coffee. There will be the eternal hot nights and starry skies. There will be a welcome punch.

I'm going to be on a crew to help out in Haiti. Will you?

Amy Wilentz wrote about Haiti in Condé Nast Traveler's September 2009 issue

More Reporting on Haiti from the editors of Condé Nast Traveler
* Clive Irving asks: "Where are the Americans?" (part 1 and part 2)
* When Kevin Doyle visited Haiti in February 2009 with Population Services International, he saw a country of "crippling poverty." Post-quake, Doyle hopes that Americans "realize just how close to home Haiti really is, and how desperately it needs our help."
* How to Help Haiti: A list of organizations on the ground
* How to support the work of Condé Nast Traveler partner Population Services International with their work in Haiti
* Cruise Haiti? A question posed to readers

By Alison Humes on January 12, 2010 11:20 PM | No Comments

Helping Haiti

We are all in shock at the horrific effects of the earthquake in Haiti, which we covered in our September issue. Please do whatever you can to send help right away.

Action Against Hunger
247 W 37th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10018
877-777-1420

ActionAid
1420 K Street NW, Suite 900
Washington DC, 20005
800-957-1768

American Red Cross
2025 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
800-REDCROSS
Text “HAITI” to “90999″ to make a $10 donation

You can also donate to the American Red Cross through the following airlines:

American Airlines
Continental: OnePass members can donate miles to the American Red Cross and to AmeriCares
Delta Airlines: Through the airline's SkyWish Charities program, you can donate miles to the Red Cross's disaster relief and international response funds
US Airways: Donate Dividend Miles
United Airlines: United's Mileage Plus Charity Miles Program lets you donate to a number of charities, including the Red Cross

AmeriCares
88 Hamilton Avenue
Stamford, CT 06902
800-486-4357

Catholic Relief Services
800-736-3467

CARE
151 Ellis Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
800-521-CARE

Doctors without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres
333 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001-5004
888-392-0392

Habitat for Humanity
121 Habitat Street
Americus, GA 31709-3498
800-422-4828

Hotels doing their parts:

Choice Hotels loyalty program members can donate to the Red Cross
Hilton HHonors members can donate points to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Marriott Rewards members can donate $25 or $50 to the Red Cross
Starwood Preferred Guest members can donate points to the American Red Cross

OXFAM America
226 Causeway St., 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02114-2206
800-77-OXFAM

Partners in Health
P.O. Box 845578
Boston, MA 02284-5578
617-432-5256

Population Services International
1120 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
202-785-0072
Read about Condé Nast Traveler's coverage of PSI's work in Haiti

The Salvation Army
615 Slaters Lane
P.O. Box 269
Alexandria, VA 22313

Save the Children
Haiti Earthquake Children in Emergency Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, CT 06880
800-728-3843

William J. Clinton Foundation
Haiti Fund
Text "HAITI” to "20222" to make a $10 donation

World Vision
Haiti Earthquake Relief
P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, Wash. 98063-9716

U.S. Fund for Unicef
125 Maiden Lane
New York, N.Y. 10038

Travel expert Peter Greenberg has some great tips for avoiding Haiti disaster scams.

Amy Wilentz, the author of our September 2009 article, "Love and Haiti," and of this recent Island News post, "A Tale of Two Hotels in Haiti," is following events closely. You can follow her on Twitter at amywilentz.

Complete Haiti Coverage on Truth.Travel

By Alison Humes on December 31, 2009 6:00 AM | No Comments

A Snazzy New Hotel in Barcelona

In August, the W Barcelona was still under construction. It opened in October.
Photo: n0seres / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The weather at year's end is beautiful in Barcelona, enough to merit a day at the beach in La Barceloneta. There was a decent turnout, with the odd person taking a dip but mostly people taking off socks and shoes to wiggle toes and the sand and dip them in the surf. It was warm enough that most seem to wish they had worn less. One hardy fellow, perfectly browned from head to toe, was taking a meandering stroll along the water's edge completely bare. He was noticed but largely ignored except by some tourists who wanted to take pictures. Two young French guys, one very pale and round, the other very dark and lean, stripped down themselves for a photo with him, taken amid much hilarity by another friend.

Farther down, at the end of the beach rises the new W hotel designed by Ricardo Bofill—not quite Burj al Arab but with drama of a similar genre—opened just this October. One of the charming and multilingual young staff explained that as part of the hotel's "green" efforts, there are no brochures or rate cards; he gave me instead the hotel's business card which lists its website. It all looks supremely cool.

Most exciting to me was the discovery that the W's new restaurant is Bravo24, a project of Carles Abellán, renowned for his Comerç 24. I had been sad to see that Comerç 24 is closed over the Xmas/New Year's holiday, cause I had been hoping to check it out. But, boo-hoo, the dinner at Bravo 24 turns out to be 220 euros per person—can't afford that this time around.

Check out Word of Mouth for another hotel that just hit Barcelona.

By Alison Humes on November 24, 2009 4:59 PM | No Comments

Whim Plantation

Amy Engeler's description of her tour of this old St. Croix plantation reminded me of my own visit. Besides finding the incredible history of the place riveting, I was particularly charmed by the cookhouse (but of course!)--the salt-cod cakes and the sorrel drink and the cookies that were made there by a local artist were tasty, homey, and a fun snack.

By Alison Humes on November 20, 2009 2:45 PM | 1 Comment

Jumby Bay and Bahia Beach Bubble Up in the Cocktail Chatter

Yummy palitos de guayaba (guava cookies) at
the Bahia Beach event

Generally I'm no longer a real party girl but last week was an exception, and I found myself at cocktail parties galore. The closest to my heart was to celebrate Anne Heller and her timely and extraordinary new biography of Ayn Rand, a must-read. Anne looked amazing in long black cocktail gloves, we were all in a beautiful apartment across from the Museum of Natural History, the nibbles were delectable, and there were many interesting people to talk to, including a gentleman who told me lots of tempting tidbits about travel in Kurdistan!

Not that the other parties--promoting top-notch resort properties in the Caribbean--were anything shabby. Jumby Bay, which lives on a private island just off Antigua and reopens on December 1 after an 18-month gold-plated renovation, threw its soirée at the Carlyle, a sister property in the Rosewood family. MaryAnne DeMatteo Diamante, the director of sales and marketing, hosted and talked about all the new fabulousness. In addition to new chef Juan Pablo Loza (from Condé Nast Traveler Gold List winner Las Ventanas al Paraiso), cushy and homey new suites, and a new spa, Jumby aims to be killer on service. She also told me that Antigua has lots of great new restaurants. Can't wait to follow up on that.

Bahia Beach is a new kid in the Carib--just outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, in Rio Grande--and it threw its party at the St. Regis, its New York City mother ship. The hotel at the property is not due to open till October 2010, but the golf course (designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.) is up and running, and the market for resort houses and villas is open for business. Dan Rather and his Mrs. might be interested, judging from their presence that evening. Jean-Georges will be opening a restaurant and Remede will have a spa. I enjoyed my rum party drink--pomegranate juice is becoming ubiquitous--and a slab of perfectly cooked striped bass. Even better, the little guava cookies in the goodie bag: Called palitos de guayaba, they are crunchy and buttery and made by Enhorabuena, clearly an outstanding Puerto Rican bakery.

Bora Bora? Fiji?

Scarlet and a Letter from Barbados

Atlantis Rediscovered!

St. Lucia Beyond the Diamond Waterfall

Haiti: Getting in, Getting Around

A Tale of Two Hotels in Haiti

Helping Haiti

A Snazzy New Hotel in Barcelona

Whim Plantation

Jumby Bay and Bahia Beach Bubble Up in the Cocktail Chatter

Search Island News

About Island News

Amy Wilentz on

Truth.Travel's Most Recent

Island News Archives

The Best ofIsland News

Monthly

February 2010 (2)

January 2010 (5)

December 2009 (1)

November 2009 (4)

October 2009 (3)

September 2009 (3)

Truth.Travel on