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The Saltwhistle Bay Club is classic Caribbean seclusion - a very small resort set on a truly magnificent beach on one of the doziest islands in the Caribbean, Mayreau in the Grenadines. It has just ten rooms, set in stone cottages behind a screen of palm trees, and although it is definitely barefoot, it is comfortable and has an excellent atmosphere. There is a little activity and sometimes a small crowd – from the yachts that put in to the excellent bay - but people tend to go to Saltwhistle Bay to get away from the humdrum and so they retreat to their cottages to read or enjoy the natural life of a barely developed Caribbean island. The Club is at least two plane trips and a boat-ride away, but the journey merely heightens the expectation. And the isolation of course. Once you arrive you can hide away in delightful tropical seclusion with barely an intrusion from the world outside.
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KEY FEATURES
| Very remote, small Grenadines hotel set in 22 acres on Mayreau with a sometimes lively bar, boutique and garden restaurant. Romantic Caribbean beach, good swimming, intimate and friendly. Singles rate from US$280/night including breakfast and dinner. |
STYLE
| Cottages built using local wood and polished stone are scattered around a sandy garden of palms. Classic Caribbean barefoot seclusion, extremely low key Grenadines vacation but comfortable in a simple, natural Caribbean setting |
CLIENT PROFILE
| Self-contained, independent travellers, with some wealth but primarily a desire to get completely away from any sign of civilisation. Visiting yachtsman liven up the bar and restaurant |
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The Saltwhistle Bay Club is barely visible as you approach it from the water. It is only when you pass the embracing arms of the bay that a few stone buildings appear among the screen of beachfront palms. The bar and restaurant. And once you have alighted at the jetty you realise that further back, hidden away among the tree trunks, are the stone cottages that contain the rooms. Saltwhistle Bay has a lovely, natural Caribbean feel. The few buildings are scattered around a sandy garden of palms, sea grape and cedar trees. The night-time tracks of soldier crabs criss cross between them and bananaquits and hummingbirds flit among the branches. On the beach itself sandpipers run in posses along the waterfront.
This is true, desert island simplicity and the main theme of the small hotel. Saltwhistle Bay is very small, with just ten comfortable suites set in five single-storey stone buildings, but it has a classic Caribbean desert island seclusion, into which modernity - communications, noise and a fast-paced life – are barely allowed to intrude.
The central area of the inn is at the eastern end of the beach. Here you will find the stone-built bar and a series of stone arbours, each a circular stone bench and table under palm thatch. Nearby there is a gift shop with a few essentials and there is a telephone and internet access. This is really the limit of the central facilities, though. There is no pool at the Club, for instance, though there is a weekly cocktail party in the owner’s house if guests wish to meet one another. Otherwise they are pretty much self-contained.
The rooms are relatively simple, in the best tradition of the castaway Caribbean island, but still very comfortable. Local stone is used outside and partially inside (where the stones polished to give them a shine) and the fittings are made with locally crafted wood. The furniture is wicker and all rooms have a king size bed. They do not have televisions (or even a phone), as this would not suit the atmosphere of the place, and they are not air-conditioned. Instead they use natural ventilation by drawing air through large wooden louvers and whipping it up with a fan. The rooms are spaced among the trees and they each have a roof terrace where you can sunbathe.
The bay itself is quite a popular anchorage for passing yachts, particularly in season, and this does introduce the outside world, but as a guest of the small hotel you can have as much or little to do with it as you want. You can join the crowd at the bar and restaurant for a drink or a meal, but if you would prefer quiet then you can simply return to the familiar seclusion of your room.
Mayreau is one of the smallest and least developed islands in the Caribbean, though is definitely has its own recognisably West Indian character, as you will see in a moment if you head up the hill to explore. It is an ideal location for a genuine getaway such as the Saltwhistle Bay Club. The atmosphere is profoundly calm and tranquil. It won’t take that long to walk the length of the beach, but you can guarantee that you will do it plenty of times. Perhaps the best hint at the activity in which you are likely to partake is the hammocks, which hang between the trunks of the trees around the sandy garden. In a busy world, the speciality of this small hotel is to enable people to do very little in a very comfortable and natural Caribbean setting. |
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Beach & Swimming
The beach in Saltwhistle Bay is superb, a form of Caribbean perfection. A narrow half-moon curve of bright white sand, backed by palms and other trees, sweeps off left and right, its ends eventually curving back on themselves like enclosing arms. The sand descends into clear jade and blue water, where yachts stand at anchor (it is a popular anchorage) and the swimming is safe. The beach can be relatively busy when the harbour is full with yachts. As with all beaches in the Caribbean, the sand is public up to the high water mark.
The Club is set at the eastern end of the bay. At the other end you will find a more ‘local’ area. Fishing boats lie pulled up onto the sand and close to the jetty you will find t-shirts and wraps for sale most days.
There is a second beach, on the windward side of the Club, looking out to Canouan and the many yachts that are sailing up and down the Grenadines. Though often windy, the beach is private enough for topless and nude bathing (though officially of course this is not permitted in St Vincent and the Grenadines).
There is no swimming pool at the Saltwhistle Bay Club. |
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Sports & Recreation
Activity is not really the point of coming to Saltwhistle Bay, so there are not that many things to do here, either at the club itself, or on Mayreau for that matter. There are a few walking trails around the island and of course you can walk up the hill to the Village, where there are a few very local bars. In case this is not your style, then books are available in the rooms if you want some variety from the ones you have brought yourself.
There is interesting snorkelling in Saltwhistle Bay itself, at the headlands on either side of the cove, and there are other reefs to which you can walk, but if you would like a day out then there are regular trips to the Tobago Cays. Scuba diving can also be arranged.
The windward beach is well regarded for wind and kitesurfing, but no equipment is available at the hotel. |
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Staff
The staff is almost entirely from Mayreau and many of them have been working at the Club since it opened in the mid-eighties. Like the resort, they are extremely low-key, but they will be happy to help with anything you need. The resident owner of the resort is Undine Potter, who has lived at the hotel for many years. |
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The Rooms
The tone of natural simplicity that runs through Saltwhistle Bay the resort is continued into the rooms. They are unfussy and perfectly comfortable. In fact they have a style that is echoed around the smarter resorts in the Grenadines, with polished stone interior walls, tile floors and wicker furniture. On the walls are Caribbean batik prints. The shower in the bathroom is enclosed in its own stone turret.
It may be important to you to know that there is no air-conditioning in the rooms. Instead the sea breeze is trained through louvered windows and then whipped up by ceiling fan. There is a small sitting area at the front of the cottage and a roof terrace (shared with the other room in the cottage), where you can sunbathe.
Of course there are no televisions or even phones in the rooms at Saltwhistle Bay. Instead you will find a decent supply of books in case you want a change from the ones you brought yourself. |
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Dining
The dining room is set in the open air, under the trees at the eastern end of the beach. You dine in thatch roofed alcoves sitting on a circular stone bench around a stone table. All three meals are served there.
The menu changes each day for dinner and pulls in dishes from around the world, so it is fairly international in inspiration (vegetable spring rolls alongside Caribbean crab cakes). There will always be a steak and lamb or pork dish, served with a butter or Bearnaise sauce, and sometimes there will be something more exotic, such as a Cornish game hen. Caribbean fish is also served daily, with the occasional interruption when it has been too rough for the fishermen to go out.
The dining room will often see groups from the yachts in the bay and it can get quite lively. If it gets too busy then room service is available for all meals. |
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Useful Hints
You should be aware that the Saltwhistle Bay Club is really quite remote, even for the Caribbean (there is not even an airstrip on the island) and that except when there is a yachting crowd in, it is not a busy place. You should be happy to be self-contained in seclusion and privacy. |
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Rates
| | 01 Nov-19 Dec 2007 | 20 Dec-31 Mar 2007-08 | 01 Apr-31 Aug & 01 Nov-19 Dec 2008 | | Meal Plan | MAP | MAP | MAP | | Single Occupancy | 280 | 390 | 280 | | Double Occupancy | 360 | 480 | 360 | All rates are in US$ per room, per night, MAP (Modified American Plan) = breakfast and dinner, and are subject to 10% Service Charge and10% Government Tax. Rates are subject to change without notice. Minimum stay 3 nights. A 3 night deposit is required to secure all reservations and the balance is due 30 days prior to arrival. Credit cards accepted: MasterCard, Visa and American Express cards accepted. Resort closed during September and October. |
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How to book
If you wish to make further enquiries or a reservation, please use the WEB LINK or DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page to make contact with Saltwhistle Bay Club in Mayreau, or if you wish to telephone them, please click on TELEPHONE CONTACT to reveal the number. |
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Locality
Saltwhistle Bay is set in the north of the tiny island of Mayreau (population around 300, less with than 10 cars). There used to be just a rocky path up to the Village, the only settlement on the island, but a road has now been constructed so it is easy to walk the few hundred yards. The village is extremely simple and there is just a handful of bars (with a simple restaurant attached, inquire in advance) and a guest house. The catholic church sits right at the top of the hill. Downhill in the south of the island you come to another excellent beach on Saline Bay, where you will also find the dock for the inter-island ferry. A beach bar opens there when there is a cruise ship in, but on other days there might be someone selling drinks from a cooler. Beyond these few things the main activity on the island is probably snorkelling in the different coves.
The world famous Tobago Cays are just a few minutes away by boat, so it is worth taking a tour over there for a day or half day. You can charter a fishing boat as a water taxi, but there are also regular catamaran day sails. These tend to start in Union Island, but they are happy to come and pick up at Mayreau (which many of them visit anyway). Trips can be arranged at the hotel. |
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Meet & Greet
Saltwhistle Bay will meet you off the plane in Union Island and ferry you the twenty minutes from the dock at the Anchorage across to Mayreau. They will also meet arrivals from Canouan, but this is not advisable in the winter months because by the time the plane touches down it is usually nearing sunset and so you will end up making the transfer in the dark (in summer, when the days are longer, this is ok).
Saltwhistle Bay can also help to arrange your flights once you have arrived in Barbados, or another island in the area (eg Grenada or St Lucia). This is more useful than it might appear at first because of the situation with the small hopper flights that fly around the Grenadines. They do meet the international flights in Barbados, enabling you to get to the Grenadines on the same day, but they are not listed on the international computers. |
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Getting to Union Island
Getting to Union Island is quite complicated. It is probably easiest to fly into Barbados, particularly from Europe, because of the many services into that island. From the USA and Canada it is still probably easiest to fly into Barbados, though there is the option of Canouan via Puerto Rico. From Barbados there are local hopper airlines, including SVG Air, which will then fly you across to the Grenadines in a 'share charter'. These do meet the international flights and they enable you to get to the Grenadines on the same day, but share charters are not listed on the international computers so most agents do not know about them.
Alternatively you can charter a small plane privately from Barbados to Union Island. Saltwhistle Bay is also happy to help you arrange your flights once you have arrived in Barbados, or another island in the area (eg Grenada or St Lucia). |
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Getting Around
If you wish to explore Mayreau it is probably best to walk. It is not far up the road to the Village and from there you can reach the other main points on the island such as Saline Bay and Twazam. There are no hire cars on Mayreau but then there really isn’t a need for them.
With the exception of the trips to the Tobago Cays, to which there are catamaran day sails, if you want to explore other islands then you will need to arrange your own transfer by water taxi/fishing boat. |
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