St. Kitts
an Island . . a Golf Club . . a Paradise Between Two Oceans
by Lisa T. McElroy

We’ve headed to St. Kitts for a long weekend because of the billing: there’s no other course where you can play golf with the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other. Sound nice? You betcha. But playing is believing, and playing one hole with the Atlantic spread out beside your lush, green fairway like a giant water hazard to your left, then playing another with the Caribbean beckoning your ball to “splash!” on your right, is a golf experience you won’t soon forget.

We arrive in St. Kitts late one night, and, due to one of those it-shouldn’t-happen-but-it-did type delays, we’re too tired to speak, much less play, in any meaning of the word. But the wind is blowing in off the ocean when we get out of the van, and the incredible lobby of the St. Kitts Marriott opens up before us in shades of beige, white, and mahogany. We’re offered a cold, fruity rum drink to quench our thirst – I start giggling almost immediately, knowing something this apparently sweet has to be a lot more potent than it tastes – and a menthol-scented cloth to cool our foreheads. Suddenly, I’m fresh, awake, and invigorated, much to the delight of my husband, who was hoping this trip would involve more fun forms of exercise than just golf – some of them indoors. As we head upstairs to our room (request one on the ocean side, third floor or higher – the views of the pool and ocean are insane), I’m weaving just a bit, leaning against my husband, pulling him over to the balcony just outside the elevators. Even though it’s night time, the lights over the resort sparkle, the breeze is blowing, and I can tell that we’re going to be treated to quite a view when we wake up. We are. I’m usually up before dawn, and I’m used to watching the sunrise on my own while my husband hugs his pillow and dozes. For this one, though, I have to wake him up – it’s that spectacular. The sun is just barely pink, and the ocean is almost gray this early. It’s even a little bit foggy, but it’s the kind of fog that will burn off just in time for golf. The effect is of a resort blanketed in fairy dust, lighting up with warmth, readying itself for the day ahead. The course is divided into the 3,337-yard Arroyo Nine, the 3,602-yard Mountain Nine and the 3,548-yard Ocean Nine. The five sets of staggered tee boxes ensure golfers, from beginners to professionals, an exciting game. Palmilla offers golfers spectacular views of the Sea of Cortèz from nearly every hole as it winds through centuries old cardon cacti and rugged desert mountain terrain, making each hole a memorable experience for every skill level. Ironically, the Ocean nine might have the least stunning view of the ocean. Go figure. Then again, Palmilla can confuse like that. The best views are often at your back. This is one course where you need to turn and look over your shoulder, back toward the tee boxes, to see what you're missing. It seems like a strange way to go about course design, but maybe Nicklaus just wanted to make sure golfers concentrate on what he's putting in front of them. "I remembered to bring a few extra sleeves of balls this time," said California vacationer Debbie Kriel, who last played Palmilla eight years ago. "Jack can be a little mean." Straying from the fairways at Palmilla does put you in some serious desert brush, especially early in the Arroyo nine. You'll be searching. And not finding. There are also plenty of forced desert area clears on the Arroyo-Mountain 18 (the combination you want to play). Hulking old cacti creep into several fairways. Heck, sometimes they're not creeping — they're almost smack dab in the middle of a fairway guarding a dogleg turn. This is one of the great thrills of Palmilla. There's just something about sending shots screaming by or over a big cactus that an oak tree could never equal. Of course, by the time you finish the double canyon clear of Mountain No. 5, you may just feel thrilled out. No. 5 is followed by the first par-3 on the Mountain nine. You'll never be so happy to see a par-3 in your life. Speaking of the day ahead, I have to get my husband out of bed and down to the breakfast buffet. After the first morning, this won’t be as hard – he’s way into the omelet station and the wide spread of fruit and pastries and amazing fried fritters. But this first day in St. Kitts, he’s arguing. The bed is too comfortable, he says, and he wants to bury himself deeper. He doesn’t want to see Basseterre (he’ll later change his tune on this, too, once he’s out and about in the charming island town), he doesn’t want to tour the batik factory (even though they make and sell monkey shirts), and he doesn’t want to race me on wave runners (even though he’s sure to win, married to a chicken as he is). He wants to burrow in the goosedown comforter and 300 thread count sheets until the sun’s setting on the other side of the island.

Some strong coffee helps. Finally, we’re off to spend the day touring the island by ATV and lying by the pool, picking up some more of those fruity rum drinks at the swim up bar. After a few, we’re convinced (by the resort staff? Other tourists? Who knows?) to do some kind of island dancing that we later block from our memory. We sleep. We read. We float. We return to our room for some afternoon snuggling. Without even realizing it, we’ve completely relaxed, found the rhythm of the island, settled into a slow, sexy, satisfied lifestyle that suits us just fine. That evening, we hitch a ride on a catamaran cruise – it’s sunset, the most popular time for tourists to cruise the sea, but our catamaran has few tourists aboard. That’s OK – we go with the flow, dancing to the beat of island music, drinking more island concoctions (I’ve stopped asking what’s in them), and even steering the boat ourselves – or so the hunky captain tells me; he probably has it on autopilot so that tipsy tourists can’t crash it into the rocks. The three-man crew raises the sail, but the sea is so calm that we bob up and down in one place, rocking us gently as we lean back on the bow and look up at the sky. My husband begs me to stop exclaiming over the stars. We have stars in Pennsylvania, too, he says. We do, I tell him, but they’re not Kittitian stars, and even if they are, they sure don’t look like this at home. Besides, I remind him, be nice to me – or else. Remember those plans you have for later? You don’t want to have to think again. The plans will have to wait – we’re headed to Blu, the Marriott’s oceanfront seafood restaurant. I’m only planning on lobster, but the young roasted coconut chili soup and sea bass are standouts – we order them all. We finish with light-as-a-feather tiramisu, head down to the beach for one last look at the stars, then head to our room to begin my husband’s agenda for the evening. Morning arrives, and today’s the day for golf. We down our fritters and coffee and race each other out to the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club. I’m a beginning golfer, but my husband’s slightly better; what’s special about this course is that there’s plenty to please both of us. Me, for example: I like to see the pin off the tee box. I can’t stand hitting my ball into oblivion, with no idea where’s it’s headed (or not headed, as the case may be). Because the fairways here are long and clear, I can actually see my ball fly, when it does, and I can find it in the rough, when it doesn’t. My husband, on the other hand, has been fighting against a wicked slice for months. On other courses, more often than not, his ball ends up across the adjacent highway – we’ve spent more on golf balls this year than we have on groceries. But this course is kind – the fairways are wide and lush (in part because it’s constructed of irrigated seashore paspalum, an advanced hybrid turf grass that flourishes in salty air), and it makes even our brand of golf look pretty spectacular. The front nine’s amazing, but it’s when we get to the back nine that we really hit our stride – and find some of the most gorgeous golfing views we’ve ever seen. We’re taking in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans, but we’re also catching a glimpse of the local wildlife: egrets, lizards and green tail monkeys, all of which occupy the surrounding landscape. We’re especially wowed by Hole 17, modeled after the famous 18th hole at Pebble Beach, and the signature hole, Hole 15, a downhill par-3 that showcases the Caribbean’s natural beauty with dramatic views of the sea and neighboring islands. Back at the resort, my husband’s ready for a nap in the sun. Me, though, I need to indulge (as if I haven’t done so enough already this weekend), so I head to the Emerald Mist Spa to kick back, soak, and sweat in the sauna and steam room. I start in the glass-tiled whirlpool tubs, then head into a private room for Cinnamon Black Rock Therapy, a soothing treatment of an aromatic blend of cinnamon Ylang Ylang and sweet orange used with warm black volcanic rocks to massage and soothe my tired body. The tension caused by my non-existent putting technique? I can feel it pouring out of me, muscle by muscle. I start to doze. I dream of starry skies, egrets, fortresses, and hunky catamaran captains. It’s a pretty amazing afternoon. But the day’s not over yet. Before we leave St. Kitts, we have to check out Brimstone Hill, a 17th century fortress high in the hills of St. Kitts. A long but cheap taxi ride takes us to the top of the island. I’m car sick at first, but I forget all about it when I look over the stone wall surrounding the fort and out at the neighboring Dutch, English, and French islands across the Caribbean Sea. In my happily worn-out state, I don’t even want to think about how the builders 300 years ago managed to haul huge, volcanic rocks up this hill to build the fort. All I notice is how the structure seems to grow out of the hill, blending into the sky and the grass and the sea, yet standing out above them. My husband climbs and explores. I sit by the wall and look out at this green, vibrant island. I know I have to leave tomorrow, and I’m seriously reconsidering my decision to settle my family in the mid-Atlantic United States. Why not open a parasailing business and just stay here? The idea is worth considering – I’ll run it by my husband after his cigar and rum in his new favorite hangout, the Marriott’s Keys Cigar and Rum Bar. We finish our evening with dinner at La Cucina, the fine dining Italian restaurant at the Marriott. I steal my husband’s white chocolate and prawn pasta – I’d made him order it when I couldn’t decide between chocolate and carbonara. We drink red wine, visit the antipasto bar, drink decaf cappuccino. We snuggle into each other on the banquette. Maybe we’ll skip the cigar bar tonight and head up to our room, our view, our goosedown . . . My husband has to physically drag me to the airport the next morning. I’m still going with the parasailing operation concept, but he’s telling me that our two small daughters would miss us too much if we were to make our home among the Caribbean lizards and monkeys. The trip home doesn’t make convincing me any easier. Just as our trip to St. Kitts was fraught with delays – not typical, we’re told – our trip home is quite a challenge, this challenge taking the form of a woman who argues with a flight attendant (imagine!), causing the flight to get turned around so that the perpetrator could get arrested. The down side? We miss our connection in San Juan. The upside? We have to spend the night at the San Juan Marriott, a chic, stylish resort with some of the comfiest beds and prettiest décor we’ve seen in a while. Our suite (all they had left, another oh-so-terrible consequence of our flight delay) offers an unmatched view of the ocean and the city, and the hotel is right in the thick of all the action – close to the airport, but also right on the beach. What started out as a royal inconvenience turns into one of the best days of our vacation. The Marriott is the place to be for poker (the casino is elegant and popular with the locals), pampering (the spa massages make that terrible flight a distant memory, and the beach is practically all ours), and pasteles (banana tamales, a classic Puerto Rican delicacy that taste a lot better than they sounded). While this isn’t the spot for golf – most of the better courses are several miles away, outside of the city – it is the ideal landing spot for a magical day and night in San Juan. The perfect golf weekend? Yes, in part because it wasn’t all about golf. No, this getaway was about the friendly Kittitian people, the ocean views, the pool parties, and those fine fruity stealth bombers. Oh, and the goosedown. Great memories – the kind that lead to plans to return to St. Kitts. This time to beat the heck out of that amazing fifteenth hole. The St. Kitts Marriott Resort: boasts 573 guest rooms and luxurious suites. The main building, The Frigate Bay House, features guest rooms and one bedroom suites with traditional West Indian accents. One and two bedroom suites are available in three-story garden houses. Well-appointed rooms and suites combine comfort with convenience and most include large private balconies with ocean, pool or garden views. Each guest room has individual climate control, high-speed internet service, dual-line speaker telephones with voice mail, an alarm clock, cable/satellite TV, safe, iron/ironing board, coffee/tea service, shower/tub and hair dryer. Golf escape packages start at $243/night, and include two rounds of golf and breakfast for two each day. www.stkittsmarriott.com (869) 466-1200. Catamaran tour: Blue Water Safaris www.bluewatersafaris.com, 869-466-4933 Wave runner rental: Dave’s Water Sports 869-556-0029 Brimstone Hill: www.brimstonehillfortress.org The San Juan Marriott: The Marriott San Juan Resort & Stellaris Casino has 511 newly renovated guest rooms and 14 luxurious suites on 21 floors. Well appointed rooms and suites combine comfort with convenience. The San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino is conveniently situated five miles from Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport on prestigious Condado Beach. The resort is ideally located in the heart of San Juan, close to the business district, shopping, dining, nightlife and historical and cultural landmarks. http://www.marriott.com/sjupr; 787.722.7000. St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino: The only golf course in the Caribbean boasting holes on the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, Royal St. Kitts Golf Club is a beautiful 18-hole, 71-par championship “links”-style course. In 2003, it was remodeled by renowned Canadian architect Thomas McBroom to showcase St. Kitts’ natural terrain. Golfers can now get a glimpse of the local wildlife which includes egrets, lizards and green tail monkeys that occupy the surrounding landscape. The course’s 83 sand bunkers, 12 lakes, wide fairways and large putting greens make it enjoyable and challenging for all levels of players. Irrigated seashore paspalum, an advanced hybrid turf grass, helps the course maintain a lush green year round. The signature hole, Hole 15, is a downhill par-3 that showcases the Caribbean’s natural beauty with dramatic views of the sea and neighboring islands. Just ahead is Hole 17 which was designed after the famous 18th hole at Pebble Beach. The course design and the club’s luxurious amenities have helped make it one of the top-rated championship courses in the Caribbean. In a 2006 Travel + Leisure Golf survey of the World’s Best Golf Resorts, readers gave the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club a score of 96.48 out of 100. DIRECTOR OF GOLF GENERAL MANAGER Sean Gradomski George Landa COURSE YARDAGE Gold Tees: 6,900 Black Tees: 6,495 White Tees: 6,074 Coral Tees: 5,258 AMENITIES The Royal St. Kitts Golf Club offers complimentary use of locker room, shower facilities and golf club storage, plus shoe care and rentals. The club also has a practice putting green and bunkers, a short game chipping area, beverage cart service and two on-course restrooms. The driving range features a 20,000 square foot tee deck, a hitting length of 500 yards and five target greens. ROYAL GOLF ACADEMY The Royal Golf Academy specializes in all levels of golf instruction and offers short-game lessons by the PGA Certified Golf Professional Staff, full swing analysis, group clinics and weekly schools. Private, group and playing lessons are available. WEEKLY ACTIVITIES The club sponsors weekly activities such as putting clinics and contests, mixed doubles, junior clinics, long drive challenges and a driving range clinic for ladies. PRO SHOP The Pro Shop at the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club carries a full line of men’s and women’s apparel and equipment from brands including Nike, EP PRO, Greg Norman and Bette Court. The shop is open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. CLUBHOUSE The clubhouse features a full-service golf shop, locker rooms and the Clubhouse Grille restaurant serving continental breakfast and lunch. HOW TO BOOK The Royal St. Kitts Golf Club is managed by Marriott Golf. Through the “Rounds and Rooms” feature at www.marriottgolf.com, guests can pre-book tee times at the same time they book rooms at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort. Special tournament and group rates are available. Two, three, five and seven day golf packages can be purchased throughout the year. St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino 858 Frigate Bay Road Frigate Bay, Saint Kitts & Nevis Toll free: (866) STK-GOLF www.stkittsmarriott.com www.royalstkittsgolfclub.com