Canouan is still something of a secret, a speck of an island in the southern part of the St Vincent and the Grenadines chain, 120 miles southwest of Barbados. Most people haven’t heard of it and it’s not the easiest to get to. But this off the beaten track element is part of its allure. And with its luxury component rising: the upscale Pink Sands Club opened in 2016 and officially becomes a Mandarin Oriental in June with two more hotels are on the way (deals pending, Aman and Soho House are the names being mentioned), it’s on track to be the next go-to spot for the luxury traveler in the region. (Particularly if you have a private jet; they’re able to land on the recently lengthened runway.)
The first time I went there, 20 years back, it was a strange combination of Caribbean and Sardinia. The original owner of the 1200 acre resort, Antonio Saladino, had designed it to look like a multicolored Sardinian village high on a hill (the island itself is very hilly) and the local staff was learning Italian. (Saladino was marketing it to Europeans, not the more closely located Americans.) Over the years, other companies took over to try to make it a success: Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, then Raffles.
After Raffles (and the Trump designation on the Jim Fazio designed golf course) left the scene in 2010, another investor, Dermot Desmond, an owner of Barbados’ Sandy Lane came on board and made drastic changes. The Sardinian village was torn down and the 26 suite Pink Sands Club , which looks exactly like the main building at Sandy Lane, was erected right off Godahl beach, offering beachfront access that the original never had. Punctuated by magenta design touches and elite accessories such as $2000 a set Pratesi linens, the Pink Sands Club was expected to open by Easter, 2014. A lawsuit between the partners happened instead. Saladino and his successor Andres Pignataro would up with the resort; Desmond with the south end of the property and a 120 slip marina that opens officially in October. Mandarin Oriental took over management last October and has begun implementing the high standards of its other hotels. Eight new patio villas, sleeker in design with natural stone and wood in contrast to the traditional décor of the Pink Sands Club suites and Lagoon villas, opened last month. Menus and spa treatments are being redesigned; all will be on view by the time the Mandarin name goes up in June.
In the meantime, other aspects of the island are continuing as they were: the 25 2-8 bedroom villas and residences of Canouan Estate on the other side of the property are available for rental, there’s an extensive kids’ club, several restaurants including an Italian restaurant and a beach bar that does a great roti, an Anglican church available for weddings and a variety of water sports revolving around an encircling coral reef. Then there’s the golf course which has some of the most vertigo inducing holes built around the hills. Most guests wind up there even if they’re not golfers to watch the sun set from the 13th hole—or to look over at the panoramic view of the other Grenadine islands. Among them is Mustique, the best known of this island group…but with all of the developments here, it may not stay that way for long.
