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World’s 10 most secluded sands
Much closer for many, Gaughen says some of her favorite secluded beaches can be found St. Barths. She likes Colombier Beach in particular, which is accessible only by boat or a trek down a goat trail.
She also likes many of the tiny beach coves in the British Virgin Islands, many of which have no name. If you stay at some of the swankier BVI resorts, like Little Dix Bay, they will take you out on whaler boats and drop you off with lunch, an umbrella and a walkie-talkie on a desolate patch of sand where it can be just you, your Tony Hillerman novel and the waves. When you're ready to head back, you use the walkie-talkie and the boat comes to pick you up.
Travel writer Ryan Ver Berkmoes says "there are zillions of romantic, secluded beaches out there" but "access" is almost always the problem. As the lead author of Lonely Planet's Caribbean Guide, Ver Berkmoes has spent a fair amount of time poking around the islands trying to ferret out the top beaches.
Fit for A princess
He says while Antigua champions its 365 beaches (one for every day of the year), it's Antigua's smaller, sister island of Barbuda — 25 miles to the northeast — that has the better, more secluded beaches. In fact, Barbuda's miles of white- and pink-hued beaches have been largely left untouched — which is why this was a favorite destination of Princess Diana.
"It's kind of hard to get to, but it's not impossible," says Ver Berkmoes. You must first fly to Antigua. From there, you can take a ferry, though the service is somewhat quixotic, he says, or you can charter a plane or helicopter ($200 round trip). "And once you get there, the whole place is practically a private beach complete with all the clichés: sand as white as sheets and water so clear you can see the bottom."
There are little beach-side rental cottages "and a few places to get a good meal and a cold beer, but on Barbuda, it's all about the beach."
The guest houses range from $50 to $150 a night. The most expensive lodging is at North Beach Cottages, on the northern tip of Barbuda. Three simple bungalows right on the beach and accessible only by boat, rent for $400 a night — meals (plenty of lobster) included.
Ver Berkmoes is also fond of Bonaire, which gets lots of attention for its underwater attractions (great scuba diving), but deserves recognition for its stretch of pink sand beaches. "If you like long walks in the middle of nowhere, the beaches at the south end of the island are fantastic," he says. "You can walk forever."
Outside of the Caribbean, Ver Berkmoes was charmed by White Sand Beach, "a perfect little cove on the East Coast of Bali with a big, jungle backdrop." It's one of the few beaches on picturesque Bali that does not have black sand and, when he discovered it four years ago, "There was not a soul, just a few fishermen."
He wrote about it rather enthusiastically in the Bali guide, and when he returned in 2006 "there were some huts selling cold beer, and day beds to rent." This year, when he returned to White Sand Beach, several simple seafood grills had set up shop on the sand.
His advice? Enjoy this one while you still can.
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