What the Sussexes will find on the tiny, exclusive island of Canouan
I fell in love with an island in St Vincent and the Grenadines called Bequia back in 2010. During that visit, I remember hearing lots of chatter about the neighbouring island of Canouan, where a Rosewood had opened and lasted just two years. Then, to a great deal of hype, it was replaced by a highly luxurious Raffles resort, which lasted six years and was also now closing.
As I sat having dinner in a wonderfully rustic restaurant up in the Bequia hills, Fernando’s Hideaway, I remember thinking, a little bit smugly: “Oh honestly, how hard can it be?” Rather hard, it turns out.
I was intrigued to see Canouan Island pop up in the papers over the weekend, with Prince Harry and Meghan spotted leaving a gourmet food store in its superyacht-filled marina (seemingly without Archie or Lilibet in tow). This beautiful little island, just three square miles and fringed by one of the largest reefs in the Caribbean, has remained largely out of the spotlight. Most people still haven’t heard of it, let alone been there.
There are some notable exceptions, however, like Robert Downey Junior, who recently swung by in his yacht and George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cindy Crawford and Leonardo di Caprio, who have each reportedly stayed in villas on the island.
There were no roads and very little running water when Italian banker Antonio Saladino secured a 99-year lease on two thirds of Canouan in the 1990s. His plan was to create an exclusive enclave that would give the neighbouring island of Mustique, just 15 miles south, a run for its money.
The joke back then was that it would be a place for billionaires to escape millionaires. In other words, it would be even more exclusive than Mustique, the island so popular with the royal family that Prince Margaret owned a villa there for years and said it was her happy place, and which William and Kate have visited many times with their family. But no, Canouan would be better.
In 1999, Saladino opened Carenage Bay Beach and Golf Club on the island’s east coast, but with over 100 rooms it was too big to fill. He then signed a management contract with Rosewood who gave it a stab in 2000 but that partnership only lasted two years. In 2003, Raffles threw in their hat and brought in the Trump organisation to operate a casino and Jim Fazio-designed golf course, but there still wasn’t the infrastructure to make it work, even after Saladino extended the airport runway so that it could accommodate large business jets.
Enter Sandy Lane owner and developer Dermot Desmond, who tore down much of the resort and relaunched it as the all-suites-and-villas Pink Sands Club. Desmond knew from Sandy Lane that part of that resort’s success was its popularity with yacht owners who could dock at the nearby marina. Together, Desmond and Saladino developed a $250 million superyacht marina development, Sandy Lane Yacht Club & Residences and positioned the Pink Sands Club close by. The arrival of such a sophisticated marina seemed to have finally tipped the balance in a favourable way.
In 2018, the Pink Sands Club was replaced by a Mandarin Oriental, the group’s first property in the Caribbean, where rooms start at around ￡1,800 a night, excluding breakfast. It feels like the final piece in the luxury puzzle for Canouan and is proving a resounding success, its exquisite 26 suites and seven hillside villas complemented by personal butlers, a hillside Balinese-inspired spa, five beaches and six restaurants and bars.
If that’s a bit out of your budget or you’re looking for something a little more down-to-earth, there’s now the Soho Beach House Canouan, the first Caribbean property by the private member’s club, which opened on Grand Bay near Charlestown in 2021 (prices for non-members start from $640/￡525 for a small room). It has 40 bedrooms shared between three beachfront buildings, in-and-outdoor dining areas, a gym and a spa. And, in a departure for the group, the emphasis is on disconnecting, not networking.
On a visit to Canouan it would be so easy to check in and stay put at either of these resorts, but it’s worth hopping on a power boat or catamaran to snorkel at nearby Tobago Cays, a little five-island archipelago where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed and where you can watch sea turtles frolicking on the reef.
For the full Canouan experience, you should also head down to the Sandy Lane Yacht Club, the superyacht hub on the south-west tip of the island where Harry and Meghan were consciously coupling this weekend, for dinner at Foxy Jack’s or better still, a rum punch and popcorn chicken at Scruffy’s Bar.
A lack of direct commercial international flights to the island has definitely helped keep it exclusive. If you’re coming from the UK, you’ll fly to St Vincent and pick up a local puddle jumper, courtesy of Grenadine Alliance (15 minutes) or Barbados (40 minutes). That is, of course, if you’re not arriving by superyacht or private jet.
With the success, finally, of the Mandarin Oriental and Soho Beach House – plus the island’s latest esteemed guests – it’s likely you will be hearing a lot more about Canouan in years to come.