The Peter Island Principle

Peter Island - Side B
At 7:30 on a Sunday morning I find myself driving five black goats down a dirt road with my bicycle. They career wildly, then veer into the brush, and I carry on, winding around a knobby peak and running right into a headwind. Before me is about a trillion acres of Caribbean, floodlit by the rising sun. Another turn, a short sharp rise--and there on a turnout are five patio tables with chairs, a palapa, and, housed in a sturdy shingled box, a watercooler with a paper-cup dispenser. Dead ahead is Norman Island, supposedly the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

This is the back stage of Peter Island--a few civilized touches in a landscape of rock, cactus, and scrub, a goat's idea of paradise. But it's perfect for a morning workout as the road up is very steep but then levels off. The round-trip, five miles, is just right for a pre-breakfast ride, and the views are spectacular. Approaching the turnout, I can see the serrated profile of St. John ahead while the more massive Tortola lies beam-on to my field of vision.

The next day I do the ride again but take the looping switchback road down to White's Bay, a long, shallow U-shaped notch in the coast. The resort has put up several rudimentary shelters with chaises here, but other than that it's all natural. I decide to get natural, too. I peel off my clothes and plunge in--it's only 7:30 and the first shuttle from the resort doesn't arrive until after nine. What a luxury.

On my last day I take the shuttle to White Beach to snorkel, as it's supposed to be the best spot for doing so on the island. Most of the bay bottom is a grassy plain, and about 60 feet off shore I see clouds of sand in the water, as if someone had detonated a smoke grenade. When the puffs dissipate a little, the source is revealed: a stingray with a three-foot wingspan frantically trying to camouflage himself. He sucks sand in from the bottom and blows it out from behind his eyes. The cause of his agitation is a few feet above, an angry bar jack swimming in tight circles. Suddenly he dives down and gives the ray a good nip. This dislodges the ray and he flows off along the bottom with the jack in pursuit and touches down 20 yards on, at which point the process begins again. Finally, the exasperated ray heads seaward and the jack turns his attention to one of his own species and begins to pester him.

Peter Island Resort

At the far right of the beach is a gorgeous garden of fan and staghorn coral, all of it anchored to boulders, some ten feet tall. And around the point off the left side of the beach is a smaller garden, with mobiles of French grunts and damselfish in the shallows and clusters of sea urchins, their spines a deep lacquered black, wedged into the rock crevices.

I spend some three hours at White Bay with only two other guests for company. They considerately camp out far down the beach so we can all feel the place is ours alone. Like being on Peter Island itself, the morning satisfies an urge in me that I think travelers feel more and more: to pull up the rope ladder. In the past decade, it has gotten harder and harder to feel that you're away from it all, because it has all already gotten there or, thanks to technology, can find you. White Bay offers that combination of simplicity and soul satisfaction that is increasingly what exclusive travel is all about. And it has just the right level of connectivity to make it a perfect morning: a two-way radio to call the shuttle so I can get back in time for lunch.

SPA HIGHS AND LOWS

High: The setting, a wild stretch of coast
Low: The building: What a real architect could have done with the site!
High: The Thermal Sand Bundle Massage (75 minutes, $155; 90 minutes, $175)
Low: The small locker rooms
High: The bohios, two private studios for massage and yoga
High: The Kur (21/2 hours, $285), a wrap during which a warm shower is run over your body
High: The enormous treatment rooms and oversize Jacuzzis

PETER ISLAND RESORT RESUME

Location: In the British Virgin Islands, directly across Sir Francis Drake Channel from Tortola.

Getting There: Fly to Beef Island Airport in Tortola, which is served by American Eagle from American's Caribbean hub in San Juan. The flight takes 30 minutes. The resort meets arriving guests; the boat trip to the resort takes 25 minutes.

Resort Forte: Providing a very low-key, lose-yourself-in-a-good-book escape.

Rooms: The top rooms are in the eight Beach Villas, which contain four rooms each. Top-floor rooms have balconies and are much sunnier than ground-floor accommodation, although in the heat of a Caribbean afternoon, a cool, dark room is welcome. Bathrooms are spacious, with double showers and large bathtubs. Ocean View Rooms are in A-frame buildings adjacent to the resort pool and restaurant. Ground-floor rooms have slightly more interior living space than second-floor ones because of the space taken up by the balconies of the latter. GM Sandra Grisham says, "Savvy guests choose the ones at the end because they have the best water view." There are also two villas, Hawk's Nest (three bedrooms) and Crow's Nest (four bedrooms). Each has its own staff.

Restaurants: Tradewinds, the more formal restaurant (breakfast and dinner), and Deadman's Beach, the casual restaurant (lunch and dinner).

Service: The one big variable. There are times when the staff just isn't very responsive--the glass of wine that never shows up, the table outside that can't be had because it might rain (it didn't), the beach-towel patrol that doesn't make the rounds often enough. One guest put it well: The service flaws aren't fatal, but they stand out because the other ingredients are so good.

Other Amenities: Two lighted tennis courts, half basketball court, complimentary mountain bikes, windsurfers, kayaks, Hobie Cats, and snorkeling equipment. Sailing excursions on the resort yacht are available for a fee.

Rates: $650 - $935 (Nov. to Dec. 19, but higher over Thanksgiving and Christmas) and $885-$1,170 (Jan. 4 to Mar. 31). Includes three meals daily. Villas: $2,850-$5,000 for Hawk's Nest and $5,700-$9,000 for Crow's Nest, depending on season.
Reservations 800-346-4451
Website www.peterisland.com

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