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A legendary hotel in the Bahamas gets a glamorous new look
Arrival onto Harbour Island is by a small public boat that costs $5 and, rather than following a timetable, departs when enough passengers fill the seats. This could be anyone from the regulars, who return each year to escape British winters, and American billionaires, who hide out in their mega mansions, to locals heading to work.
The 10-minute trip from North Eleuthera, the nearest airstrip in the Bahamas to Harbour Island, sets the scene for what is to come: a place that is laidback, cool, a little slow and perfectly imperfect -encouraging you to drop your guard and adopt the local rhythm from the first hit of salty breeze. Briland, as the island is known by locals, is a mere three-and-a-half miles long and one-and-a-half miles wide - like a grain of rice in the ocean - one length of which is almost entirely a turquoise coast with impossibly pink sands. Everywhere is reachable on foot. There is just one town, Dunmore, where fine examples of English colonial architecture from the late 1700s and the 1800s appear in bursts of pastel pinks, blues, yellows and greens, punctuated by the piercing sun, and complete with plantation shutters, white picket fences and wraparound verandas sheltered by climbing bougainvillaea.
On Sundays, anyone who can get out of work will be at church dressed to the nines. Locals and visitors mix at the two legendary nightclubs - Daddy D's and the Vic-Hum Club, which has been going since the 1950s - on Fridays and Saturdays for rum and Kalik (the local beer). Wild roosters roam freely almost everywhere you turn, from the local conch shack at lunch hour to the billionaires' row at the northern tip of the island. Handsome horses trot along the sands in the afternoons, cooling their feet with dips in the sea. The rich and famous - from Diana, Princess of Wales to Taylor Swift and Bill Gates - have holidayed here. Michael Jordan visited two weeks before I arrived. Jimmy Buffett had his own hamburger as a regular of local joint Ma Ruby's at Tingum Village Hotel. Despite all this, rather miraculously, the island remains deeply humble and true to itself.
The local nonchalance is a hallmark, if not a spiritual achievement, of Briland. 'First timers arrive here and expect a certain response or kind of attention, but they don't get it. There's no understanding of being condescending - everyone is treated the same,' says Henry Rolle, managing partner of Rock House, one of the well-established glamorous hotels on Harbour Island. It was designed by J Wallace Tutt in the early 2000s, who was behind Gianni Versace's Miami mansion and Cher's house in Malibu. 'You have to stay for a time and really feel this, then you realise it's a place like nowhere else,' he explains.
India Hicks certainly felt it when she arrived in the Bahamas some 30 years ago. She was so taken by Harbour Island's low key vibe she set up home at Hibiscus Hill, opened The Sugar Mill boutique and helped to establish The Landing hotel and restaurant. Although she is no longer one of the owners of the latter, it remains a staple on the island, with her designs for the interiors still intact.
American actor Brett King and his wife Sharon were an earlier example. After holidaying here in the early 1960s, they quickly felt its pull and went on to set up their resort Coral Sands in 1968, which continues to run as one of the oldest among the 14 or so hotels on the island. It has just been passed from the Sherman family, who took over from the Kings in 2003, to the owners behind hip hospitality brand Graduate Hotels, which operates in locations across the US and also in the UK.
The resort has recently undergone an extensive renovation and, taking inspiration from its location on Pink Sands beach, the interiors and exteriors have been given a new lease of life that is in keeping with the boisterous vision of the Kings. Candyfloss pink dominates in the rooms and in the restaurant, The Pink Mermaid, with its chequerboard pink-and-grey tiled floor. Shell motifs and the island's flora and fauna are also very much in evidence.
The standalone beach cottage I am staying in, Trumpetfish, has a soaring vaulted ceiling in white tongue-and-groove, which meets pink walls. Light floods in from double doors that open onto a private terrace and through porthole-style windows. A handsome wooden four-poster is curtained in Schumacher fabrics and sits on a pretty custom carpet from LA-based Zenith Rugs, which was made in India. An armchair in a rich emerald green linen from Chelsea Upholstery & Interiors, produced in Portugal, adds a serious note in contrast to the more kitsch seashell-adorned bedside tables made in Indonesia by Coast to Coast Home, and a seashell pendant light created in Florida. From the private terrace, a flight of wooden steps cut through dunes and mangroves, bringing you onto the beach, where days begin with the sight of water so clear and bright you are uplifted instantly.
Like its setting and, in contrast to the more formal style of The Dunmore hotel next door (another Briland old-timer), Coral Sands is unapologetically laidback and the scene at The Pink Mermaid is living proof. The vibe is playful: plush, mint-green upholstered seashell-shaped bar seats coordinate with plantation shutters in the same hue, while the ceiling is painted pink, with aquatic motifs such as coral and fish. On the veranda, bespoke curved banquettes upholstered in a floral patterned Schumacher fabric are paired with woven rattan chairs with pink cushions. Artwork and old black-and-white photographs featuring scenes of island life line the interior walls; a hand-beaded piece by Haitian artist Georges Valris stands out.
Each evening at dinner, The Pink Mermaid comes alive with laughter and the exchange of stories between hotel residents and those staying elsewhere on the island. There is a lightness that only Harbour can pull off - the local attitude is infectious.
Rooms at Coral Sands cost from $800, B&B. British Airways operates daily flights from London to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. From there, you can take a 25-minute flight with Pineapple Air to North Eleuthera, the nearest airstrip to Harbour Island. Ferries also operate regularly between North Eleuthera and Harbour Island. It is worth noting that, like many local hotels, Coral Sands is closed during the hurricane season (from the start of August to the end of October).
Boz Gagovski1/6Pink Sands beach stretches for three miles.
Ana Lui2/6Oceanfront dining at The Dunmore's Clubhouse restaurant.
Boz Gagovski3/6Trumpetfish beach cottage at Coral Sands.
Boz Gagovski4/6A bedroom at Coral Sands.
Ana Lui Photography5/6Freshly caught fish features on daily menus.
Ana Lui Photography6/6Golf carts are the primary form of transport and offer a fun way to get around the island.
