Unearthing Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

The words and pictures must be make-believe, right? Yet here they are, in real-life: a slice of the Caribbean thought to exist only in the imagination and on movie sets.

Go ahead and focus your eyes on the island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 20 miles south of Saint Lucia’s fruit-filled interior, about 55 miles north of Grenada's spice valleys, and a million miles from the cares of life. The land here appears greener, the mountains peakier, and the colors of the sea richer.

“This is a Caribbean island that leads with its soul,” says Carlos James, the Minister of Tourism for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, “People who come to Saint Vincent will experience something they’ve never seen, felt, or imagined.”

It’s all true. If you could transport yourself to the edge of this perfection, you’d be sailing slowly towards a cove where time stands as blessedly still as possible. You'd bask on a beach as isolated and dreamy as a crescent moon. This is Buccament Bay, somewhat untraveled and unquestionably unsung … until now.

The opening of Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in mere days means travelers can transport their feet here. It’s an invitation to step onto the threshold of an island and resort unlike any other in the Caribbean — or anywhere in the world. The resort comes after more than two decades of imagining the best ways to share this seductive destination where few people have ventured while also preserving it – and is the most recent leap in Sandals’ own journey through the region to a ninth island to call home.

“From the first time we laid eyes on Vincy, as the locals lovingly call her, we felt a sense of wonder and awe,” says Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, “a moment of intention to deliver an experience worthy of the very site.”

Come. Swim from end to end in a pool the length of a football field that serves as a runway from the resort’s open-air lobby to posh cabanas and beyond into the epic cobalt blue Caribbean horizon. Run and walk on trails that meander through 50 acres of tropical nature, with the sounds of rivers and the shade of palm trees pulling you deeper into seclusion.

For context, keep in mind where you are. Saint Vincent sits at the head of 32 smaller Grenadines islands and cays. Only nine are inhabited and fewer than 300 people live on some of them. The opening of Sandals Saint Vincent and The Grenadines serves as a unique merging of these raw, floating worlds, with other nearby “mystery” islands where billionaires come to find solitude.

It’s hard to imagine a more worthy way to arrive as a butler-suite guest than via boat idling up to shore. The genuine welcome begins to satisfy the most innate desires of travelers: the thrill of exploration and the luxury of innovation. This is perhaps best exemplified with Sandals’ first-ever Vincy Two-Story Over Water Villas, where a glass floor on the lower level connects couples to the sea and a staircase leads up, up, up to a rooftop terrace for a view as far as the Caribbean stretches. There are two-bedroom villas with private pools and Sandals Signature Swim-up Suites. Several villa categories feature two more firsts for Sandals: in-suite fitness rooms and in-suite media rooms for guests who want to take privacy to the next level — with an awesome view, of course.

This will be our most purposeful demonstration of building a resort in the last of the true exotic, Caribbean Islands – designed for serenity, peace, and rejuvenation,” says Executive Chairman Adam Stewart, “How do we do that? Well, we let Mother Nature lead the way.”

As a Caribbean-born company, Sandals comes to Saint Vincent in part to call attention to the purity of how it’s been found and the need to keep it this way. In the waters around the island, certified instructors will lead divers and snorkelers to swim with marine life that’s unique because of the proximity to the Atlantic shelf. Guests can walk along black volcanic sands that are Grenadines trademarks, kayak through sea caves, or stare at mountains reminiscent of those envisioned in the faraway south Pacific — and then hike safely into them.

If “liquid sunshine” (as rain is playfully called here) anoints Buccament Bay, Sandals guests will be encouraged to enjoy it the way locals enjoy it. There will be dance parties, relaxation retreats, and yoga on a pavilion that ensconces guests in the nonstop dreaminess of the island, no matter what kind of sunshine is blessing it. Of course, there's always the opportunity to recharge in the Red Lane® Spa to indulge in restorative bliss.

For years, Sandals has re-imagined ways to bring more culture and community into its resorts. The remoteness of Saint Vincent and The Grenadines makes it the ideal destination for a new restaurant concept at Buccan, one of 11 culinary destinations on property. Here, couples dine around a table for eight near a lively kitchen and wood burning fire to sample foods made from family recipes and locally sourced ingredients.

During the day, guests can indulge on smaller plates of local fare from the earth at Parisol without leaving the edge of the water. They can participate in interactive classes to learn cooking secrets, like the national dish of the islands (roasted breadfruit and jackfish). And, to truly embrace the casual nature of Saint Vincent, couples can stroll up to a pop-up called Imoro, the local word for “green,” which will serve bowls as pure as the surroundings.

At the end of the day, as twilight gives way to the constellations, guests can imbibe in the most genuine spirit — literally and figuratively — of the Grenadines. The debut of Three Jewels at Sandals Saint Vincent and The Grenadines is intended as a showcase for some familiar Eastern Caribbean rums and others you will only find here, delivered by boat from the little nearby islands where distilleries far outnumber hotels.

Then retreat to a romantic spot to relax and wonder out loud together, Are we really here, on the edge of make believe? It is exactly what an idyllic Sandals escape should be.

“For us, this is our next step in a wild journey to exceed the expectations of guests,” Stewart says, “and showing them the best of God’s country in the Caribbean.”