Everett Potter's Travel Report

Carlisle Bay

By Ann Abel

I’d been curious about Gordon Campbell Gray’s Antiguan outpost ever since I’d heard the Scottish hotelier speak to journalists about the weird excesses invading five-star resorts. Why would anyone find it luxurious, he’d asked, to step into a 62-degree guest room with the TV blaring the “resort channel” that welcomes you by name and loops images of the hotel you’ve already committed to staying at? My thoughts exactly.

Clear-headed simplicity prevails at Carlisle Bay. The 82 oversize suites (around 800 square feet) are a study in elegance, with cool white tile floors and soft linens, abstract black-and-white nature photography, and splashes of watery blues and grays. No one tries to reinvent the wheel, but the staff—some 250 strong—delivers consistently competent, confident service. The technology is sane. And the turquoise water and pale-sand beach need no embellishment.

Dining with a view

1. Hands-down the best food I’ve had in the Caribbean

Chef Pieter Fitz-Dryer is wise to the fact that after a day in the sun and water, people often just want grilled fish and vegetables. Or sometimes they want a pan-Asian feast. Or maybe they want wood-fired pizza. The three restaurants he oversees do all that and more. And he’s cultivated relationships with local purveyors—he can tell you when the tuna in your ceviche was line-caught, and extends the life of fresh fruit by making delectable jams.

2. The 17,000-square-foot Blue Spa

The therapists are uniformly outstanding—the friends I was traveling with all proclaimed their massages the best they’d ever had—and facials use results-driven Natura Bisse products. Bonus: a breezy pavilion for yoga and pilates, plus skilled teachers to lead the classes.

Ocean Suite

3. Nine courts for tennis—and I don’t even play tennis.

It helps that the courts, like most things here, are fringed with fuchsia bougainvillea, and that the tennis pro, Ken Gonsalves, has charm (and patience) in spades.

4. Careful separation of families and couples

There are separate blocks of rooms, on opposite sides of the main buildings, and even designated family nights or hours at restaurants—no one ever has to feel bad about bothering anyone else. Suites are configured differently, with separate bedrooms on the family side, open plans on the adults’. Each section has its own beach, and in four days on the adults’ side, I had no idea children were in-house until I kayaked around the bay.

The Library

5. Luxe REN toiletries in the guest suites

A small detail but a telling one: The bottles are generously sized (100ml, the maximum you can get him in your carry-on) like the rooms (around 800 square feet). They’re British without being fusty. They’re clean and organic—very simpatico with a hotel that’s all about simplicity. Most of all, they’re not showy, but they’re appreciated by those in the know.

From $635. www.campbellgrayhotels.com

   Ann Abel has written about travel more than a decade. She was a senior editor at ForbesLife and the executive editor of Luxury SpaFinder. She has also written for Robb Report, Modern Bride, Girlfriend Getaways, Tablet Hotels, and Equinox’s Q blog. When not traveling, she is learning to fly at Trapeze School New York.

Sugar Ridge, Antigua

By Mary Alice Kellogg

SpaWatcher dreams of a place where loofahs grow on trees. She also dreams of that perfect little spa that doesn’t need big bells and whistles to be impressive, where spirit of place and personalized technique rule.

She found it at Sugar Ridge Resort in Antigua, and first things first: many think that loofahs are sea creatures, like sponges. Not true. On a rambling nature walk with resident resort expert Vorn Johnson, she gathered enough loofahs to last a lifetime. Loofah gourds grow on vines; if given a chance get the ones that wind up around the trees as the ones on the ground can be soggy. Pick a brown-skinned one, peel off the paper-thin skin … then exfoliate to your hearts’ content.

Sugar Ridge, an intimate 60-room Caribbean contempoary resort set into a hillside incorporating lush tropical jungle and 360-degree views of the sea, beaches and headlands to Five Islands Bay, has that sense of place and more… including an onsite art gallery showcasing the vibrant, far-ranging style work of at least a dozen local artists. As a bonus, restaurants Sugar Club and Carmichael’s – voted the best fine dining in Antigua – draws savvy locals as well as guests from other resorts on the island.

But I particularly celebrate the spa, the only AVEDA Concept Spa in the Eastern Caribbean. As intimate and personal as the setting – four treatment rooms – the menu has the full range of massage, skin care and body treatments with the AVEDA mandate of botanically derived products. I chose the “Chakra Balancing Treatment,” buny choices would be as good. Why?

Because the technicians are local, have great energy, and fit the treatment to the client’s individual needs (sometimes changing mid-stream when the occasion calls for it). That’s what happened to SpaWatcher. Thinking I neeed an energy boost, aromatic massage and chakra pressure points told the lovely Sharon instead that major relaxation balance was in order. Here was a place where the technicians were Antiguan, well-versed in healing energy and the abundant island botanical bounty – mangos, guavas, black pineapple and every fruit and herb on earth thrive here. They know how to use it: I was balanced, relaxed and with senses heightened after.

There were other insights as well, not to be shared. But I knew that this spa and technician were the real deal. And that is what a good spa does. It gives one spirit of place, local botanicals, expert ministrations … and a bit of energy you didn’t have before. Brava Sugar Ridge!

P.S. The double rainbow over the resort after my treatment happens all the time, right?

INFO: www.sugarridgeantigua.com

 Mary Alice Kellogg, a New York-based writer and editor, is a recipient of the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for Consumer Reporting. A contributor to many national publications, including Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Bon Appetit and GQ, she has reported from 120 countries and five of the seven seas to date… and counting.Visit MaryAlicekellogg.com