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Lounging in Luxury: The Caribbean’s Hottest Pools
By : Greg Oates
There was a time when all tourists wanted in a pool was a comfortable spot to enjoy a pińa colada while soaking up the sun’s rays. Then pool designers started getting creative. Today, we have infinity pools, lazy river pools, theme pools, zero-entry pools, lagoon pools—all kinds of pools. Nowadays, hotel guests may choose their lodging as much for the pool facilities as they do the actual room.
Celebrity Chic
Anchoring a 1,000-acre private island, Parrot Cay in the Turks & Caicos welcomes A-list celebrities like Demi, Barbra, Britney and Julia throughout the year. One of the reasons they come is for the most peaceful pool this side of St. Peter’s pearly gates. The color of the water in the “negative edge” pool and the sea sometimes meld exactly, so if you’re sitting in the right place at the right time it looks like your feet are dipping into the horizon. The natural wood decks blend in seamlessly with the saw grass and sea grapes, adding to the Zen-like calm.
parrot-cay.com
Under the Volcano
Hotel Kurá Hulanda in Curaçao is actually a “village” of some 65 buildings restored to their 300-year-old Dutch Colonial splendor. Everything is unique about Kurá Hulanda, including the Eco Pond Pool situated next to the Tandoori-inspired Jaipur restaurant. The luxuriously landscaped pool is constructed among natural rock formations and a central waterfall, where it feels like one is swimming into a small volcano. Both the upper and lower grottos are encircled by dense palms and ferns, adding to the mystical allure. This is a fantastic pool for couples.
kurahulanda.com
Anyone Seen My Kid?
Atlantis on the Bahamas’ Paradise Island has seven different pools ranging from the fancy Royal Bath Pool to the fun Ripples Kids Pool. But forget about them. The Mayan Temple, with its multiple 60-foot waterslides emptying into pools swarming with live Caribbean reef and nurse sharks, is the main event. Sure, there’s a clear acrylic wall separating children from the sharks—those pesky guys from the insurance company requested it. But the views and visceral experience are unforgettable while swimming about with some of nature’s most feared and misunderstood creatures.
atlantis.com
Pool With a View
Les Pitons are the two 1/2-mile-high sister mountains surging almost straight up out of the Caribbean Sea skirting St. Lucia’s dramatic rainforest. The pool at Ladera Resort offers the most staggering view in the West Indies, overlooking the chasm between Gros Piton and Petite Piton from about 1,800 feet up. Superman II was filmed here, for obvious reasons.
ladera.com
Up the River
The Wyndham Rose Hall Resort & Country Club in Montego Bay is home to the $5 million Sugar Mills Falls water park, a big reason why most kids leave kicking and screaming. You can’t really blame them. Who wouldn’t get caught up in the excitement with all the cascading waterfalls, a 200-foot thrill slide, swim-up bar (for sodas), lagoons for chilling out, a lazy river and three terraced pools. Thankfully, Rose Hall features a more traditional and quieter pool because moms are people, too.
wyndham.com
Likewise, the Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort & Country Club in Puerto Rico knows a thing or two about kids, since it’s home to the longest pool in the Caribbean. The 1,776-foot freshwater river pool with an artificial current snakes its way around the Hacienda del Mar wing of the 1,000-acre property. There’s also an 82-foot lap pool, a standard swimming pool for adults and a children’s pool.
hyatt.com
Big Pool, Big Spenders
The multi-island nation of St. Vincent & The Grenadines is enjoying a lot of attention lately, ever since Johnny Depp and Co. filmed Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean here. This summer, Raffles Resort Canouan Island opens with one of the largest pools in the Lesser Antilles, overlooking one of the world’s prettiest beaches. The pool and beach club are actually smack in the middle of the big, blinding white crescent beach, so it’s easy to run from the fresh water to the salt water. With Donald Trump operating the onsite Villa Monte Carlo Casino and loyal Raffles clients flying in from around the world, expect to hear plenty of Cristal corks popping around the pool bar.
rafflescanouan.com
Small & Simple
At resorts with just a few rooms, a simple quiet pool overlooking the beach is about as good as it gets for some. On Grand Cayman, two small pools host guests visiting the 36-oceanfront villas at The CoralStone Club fronting Seven Mile Beach. What’s unique about them is that they are made of GlasStone, an eco-friendly tile made from fossil shell, recycled glass rock and Portland cement (GlasStone is exclusively made by the SeaStone Group). What’s more, the beach faces west so the pool is the best place to sit with your honey while watching the sun set into the sea.
coralstoneclub.com
No one hardly knows about Laluna in Grenada except for the world’s top supermodels and fashionistas. The 16 colorful cottages cascade down a gentle slope to a secret cove and beach, anchored by a square pool that acts as the social hub of the resort, both day and night. Next to the pool is a Balinese tent with large mahogany benches and plump pillows—a perfect place to snack on steak carpaccio while taking a break from the sun. If guests need to escape the British Vogue and Sport Illustrated swimsuit photo shoots, they can retire to their private plunge pools and repeat the secret mantra: To know Laluna is to love Laluna.
islandinns.com
And finally, we come to Strawberry Hill outside Kingston, Jamaica. High up in the fragrant Blue Mountains, the vertiginous infinity pool is mirror flat against the backdrop of rugged, mist-covered peaks. For years, a veritable who’s who of musical celebrities have come here to seek solace in the soul of Bob Marley. The owner of Strawberry Hill was once the singer’s producer, and it’s said that the legendary reggae star can be heard singing softly among the hilltop breeze if one listens quietly enough by the pool at dusk.
islandoutpost.com
To book your next trip, visit www.aa.com or call American Airlines / American Eagle reservations at 1-800-433-7300 or your local travel agent.
Book your trip today! Visit www.aa.com, call American/American Eagle reservations at 1-800-433-7300, or call your travel agent for more information.
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