Caribbean beauty dazzles A-listers

ONCE a colonial backwater, Anguilla is now a playground for A-listers and the seriously cashed-up, says David Whitley.

Blessed be ... white sands, turquoise waters and prices to match: Anguilla is drawing the A-listers with top notch resorts / David Whitely

ANGUILLA would be one of the only places in the world where celebrities are justified in wearing sunglasses all the time.

Barring the surface of the sun, it's doubtful there's anywhere else in our solar system that's so dazzlingly bright.

This tiny Caribbean island's calling card is its beaches. They're justifiably regarded as the best in the region, and perhaps the world.

The sand is fine and almost impossibly white, while the sea alternates between a rich, deep blue and glasslike turquoise.

And with most of the island's beachside buildings painted a clean white, the sun reflects off everything.

These beaches - Shoal Bay East is the most lauded, but there are others equally as good - are the island's only natural resource.

Anguilla is one of the few remaining remnants of the British Empire, and until recently it has been almost entirely reliant on the UK.

But then the A-List started arriving - ultra-luxurious resorts and villas sprang up and beach shacks began to get crowded out by top-end restaurants.

Now this colonial backwater is the place to be, and you begin to see why at Altamer.

This is where Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had their last holiday together, Denzel Washington celebrated his 50th birthday and the likes of Al Gore, Jay Z and Beyonce check in under assumed names.

According to Carl Irish, the man in charge, the stars are often unrecognisable. They'll have grown beards, removed the make-up and donned a cap.

"But I do my research; we will always know what they want and don't want," he said.

There are just three villas but the weekly price to hire them can be up to $105,031 in peak season. And that doesn't include food and drink.

It's a price worth paying, it seems. Indeed, Mr Irish says many guests don't even look at the bill, getting it sent to their "people".

Each villa has its team of butlers, a chef on demand at all times and every facility imaginable.

Think music systems with 40,000 songs, private pools, mini cinemas, giant bars, gyms and pool rooms.

There also are rooftop terraces so the stars can sunbathe away from the prying paparazzi.

Parts of the island are resolutely local - Island Harbour is dominated by fishing boats and the tiny capital, The Valley, looks like a dusty Outback town.

Tourists, by and large, follow the same mantra. This means one of the island's 80-plus restaurants can have ordinary (if moneyed-up) members of the public on a table next to Mariah Carey or P Diddy, as if it's just another evening.

Altamer doesn't have all the celebs to itself. There are several high-end resorts on the island, such as Cap Juluca and Malliouhana.

CuisinArt Resort and Spa is where such stars as Michael J Fox, Celine Dion and Jay Z (again) mix with anonymous high-earners.

The writer was a guest of Anguilla Tourist Board.

Sunday Mail (SA)