Is Hermitage Bay The Caribbean’s Most Harmonious Hotel?

Is Hermitage Bay the most harmonious hotel in the Caribbean today? I think it might be – a place where setting, food and comfort are in perfect balance, bound together by that indefinable but rare quality: soul.

Review: Hermitage Bay In The Caribbean

The last time I visited Hermitage Bay was half a century ago during my time as a cook on charter sailing yachts based in English Harbour. Back then, it was completely untouched: nothing but white sand and palm trees backed by tropical hillside, with not a building in sight. When we had time off before the next charter began, we would sail there, barbecuing and sleeping under the stars. Hermitage Bay’s sheltered curve of white sand is one of Antigua’s loveliest beaches, and that’s saying something of an island with a reputed 365 of them. 

Hermitage Bay remained untouched until 2006 when Englishman Andy Thesen opened his low-key hotel of the same name: a collection of wood-built suites, some with pools, hidden amongst the thick, jungly vegetation. Two years ago, he sold, having carefully chosen the new custodian of his beloved hotel, many of whose key staff, including general manager Rachel Browne, assistant general manager Kempton McCalmont and executive chef Desroy Spence had been with him since the beginning.

They are still there. Together with other staff members, they have had training stints in Spain, for the new custodian is Daniel Shamoon whose carefully curated Spanish hotel collection includes barefoot luxury Teranka in Formentera, the Marbella Club, Puerto Romano, Nobu Ibiza and El Lodge, Sierra Nevada. As a result, service is now a superb blend of professional and familiar, creating a real sense of community. As Bob Marley sang ‘let’s get together and feel alright’.

Hermitage Bay feels like a slice of paradise, and few guests want to leave while they are there (like many luxury Antigua hotels, even low-key ones, prices are all-inclusive). It’s just as well that the place is so seductive because getting there is a trial: it’s located at the end of a very long, very bumpy dirt road (despite the half century gap, I found the Antiguan roads little improved). Perhaps the government will upgrade the road, but for now the snail-like approach only enhances the feeling, once you arrive, shaken and stirred, of being in a remote and private haven. 

Hermitage Bay always had its aficionados but by all accounts, had become tired by the time it was sold. Shamoon’s considerable but sensitive improvements have created a luxurious but still very natural low-key resort. The original open-sided restaurant and bar have been attractively furnished, including sofas and wicker swinging chairs and the new feet-in-the-sand Beach Club, Tree Bar and Spa feel as natural as the palms and tamarind trees that shade them. The cooking is fresh and innovative with surprise elements, including an omakase sushi experience from Nobu-trained chefs, and guests can take part in cookery demonstrations and garden tours, water sports and heavenly sunset sails. Expect other culinary treats from way beyond the Caribbean, such as the current pop-up from Riviera icon La Petite Maison.

The gentle curve of sand that fringes Hermitage Bay is backed by mangroves and beyond, by carefully tended gardens filled full of exotic plants, with twisting paths leading to individual suites. Simple and natural, with huge luxurious beds swathed in mosquito nets, they have bathrooms and outdoor showers, some with plunge pools as well. They are soothing and private; soon, though, guests are but drawn down to the beach, the boutique, the bar, the sprawling restaurant and in my case to the 100ft schooner at anchor in the bay for sunset cocktails and gentle sailing trips, taking me straight back to my days working and living on similar boats. Truly, I thought as I lounged on deck sipping my rum punch before diving overboard in a secluded, empty cove and swimming ashore, a Caribbean resort doesn’t come better than this.

Admiral’s Inn

The Other Antiguan Hotels We Love

Back in the mid-1970s, English Harbour was home for me. Forget Below Deck; boats were mainly classic wooden designs and crew uniform were shorts, T-shirts, bikinis and deep tans. At the heart of Georgian, UNESCO-listed Nelson’s Dockyard is the Admiral’s Inn, today the perfect Antiguan resort for holidaymakers seeking authenticity and a sense of place. Across the water stands the dockyard’s former Gunpowder Magazine, now converted into suites, where the hotel’s pool, lunchtime restaurant and spa are located. A boat, manned by Cecil, who has done the job for decades, takes guest on the short ride from one to the other whenever they want, as well as to nearby Galleon Beach. Staying here, breakfasting and dining at the water’s edge, strolling around the handsome dockyard, I felt the same joy at being in such a special place as I did all those years ago.

Curtain Bluff

Another Antiguan hotel with soul, Curtain Bluff has recently changed hands for the first time since 1962. Few hotels in the Caribbean, certainly not in Antigua, have attracted such a devoted following from generation of families who keep returning to the two beautiful beaches, the tennis centre, spa and above all, warm and friendly staff who know many of their guests by name. A recent major programme of refurbishment, including the Beach Club with its much-loved buffet lunch, is bringing Curtain Bluff up to date without losing its charm.

Jumby Bay

Of Antigua’s most glamorous – and pricey – hotels, I’m most drawn to Jumby Bay, managed by Oetker Hotels and set on a beach-ringed, traffic free island shared by astonishingly lavish private villas. It feels exclusive but characterful too, thanks to the 1830s Estate Houe, one of several superb restaurants, at the heart of the resort, that adds a traditional, clubby feel. A quick ferry ride and you are on Little Jumby Island, now graced by The Hut, Mediterranean-style outpost of the hit Isle of Wight restaurant where cabins for six on the lovely beach are available to rent for the day.

BOOK IT 

Rooms at Hermitage Bay start from £1,483, all inclusive. hermitagebay.com

Rooms at Admiral’s Inn start from £266, including breakfast. admiralsinnantigua.com  

Rooms at Curtain Bluff start from £1,265, all inclusive; curtainbluff.com

Rooms at Jumby Bay Island Resort start from £2,060, all inclusive. oetkerhotels.com

Day-use beach huts at The Hut start from £189. thehutlittlejumby.com