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enRoute’s Favourite HideawayS1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Itinerary | Home
LANCE AUX-ÉPINES, GRENADA CHILL. In bold, sans serif letters, a blue button on the stone wall behind my lounge chair says it all. I’m poolside under a long awning that snaps and ripples in the wind – fitting since this is Grenada, where the trade winds swell in proportion to the rising mercury. I have, I should admit, a hidden agenda: to learn to do nothing, to lie beside the oblong infinity pool in front of Mount Hartman Bay, fed by the Caribbean Sea. To chill. After wondering if the button is a sign, I push it. A mist showers from the awning’s edge. I’m at an adobe mansion carved into a private promontory and bordered on one side by the Caribbean Sea. It’s the kind of place J.R.R. Tolkien might have created for Middle Earth. Over wine when we arrive, the maître d’ – there is a staff of almost a dozen, including a personal chef – points out well-camouflaged tree frogs that chirp from a fountain in the living room. Through Hobbit-like dormers, I look out to the nature reserve across the bay. In the foreground, a blazing orange flamboyan tree poses as if a sentinel. The private dock has the island’s only helipad. The next night, my friend Reanna and I head to the harbour in nearby St. George’s, where we’re waylaid at a tiki bar, listening to a mix of locals and visiting yachtsmen play cover songs – not an unpleasant way to pass a Friday night. Reanna decides to drink as locals do. Between sips of her rum punch, laced with Grenada’s famous spices, she says, “Let me describe this for you: It’s like being hit on the head with a giant Q-tip.” From the smile on her face, I take this to be a good thing. At Mount Hartman, we take a spin on the estate’s 51-foot yacht through labyrinthine bays and past tamarind-dotted islets. Sprawled out on the white leather seats of the yacht, I notice a string of tiny beaches prized not for their perfectly raked sand but for their privacy. We pass a quiet stretch of shoreline called Lovers’ Beach. “A lot of nutmeg goes down on that beach,” one of the boat’s crew says. (Grenada is rich in nutmeg, an aphrodisiac.) Copious meals punctuate our visit, thanks to the services of our chef, Roger Williams – one of the island’s best. We eat coconuts the size of soccer balls for breakfast and drink tall glasses of freshly squeezed juice so thick and fruity it tastes like the fruit just fell from the tree – and probably did. But my favourite dish is a surprisingly nuanced homemade nutmeg ice cream, which immediately melts in the afternoon heat, condensation beading the martini glass in which it’s served. I order seconds. On our last night, we retreat to the grass- and cactus-covered roof on the first-floor living room. Overlooking the bay, the roof forms a natural patio in front of our bedrooms, which are wedged into the hill above the main house. We’re in Middle Earth, both architecturally and geographically. Below us, a smattering of yachts drops anchor for the night in the bay. Above us there are only stars. 5 More Reasons to Visit Grenada 1 Richard and Rosa Lee’s Mount Hartman Bay Estate comes with a beach house and a full staff, including drivers and yachtsmen – there’s enough room for a family reunion. Their Prickly Bay Waterside condos are equally unusual, with Calatrava-esque mast-like columns. The first phase opens soon. 2 River Antoine Rum’s 152-proof rum is deemed too flammable to export. Imbibe at your own risk. 3 Beach Restaurant is a favourite. Eat local with callaloo, a fortifying spinach soup. 4 Though much of the island is blissfully untouched, a few upscale resorts are opening. The 100-room LaSource has a nine-hole golf course. Also in the pipeline: Bacolet Bay villas and a condo-hotel (with boat slips) at Grand Harbour. 5 Honk before corners on the narrow road through Grand Étang Rainforest, where they’re still discovering waterfalls. “If you had another coat of paint on your car, you couldn’t get by,” says our guide.
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