ISLAND NEWS
CANADA
TASMANIA
MOZAMBIQUE
When you’re nicknamed the Galápagos of the North, the wildlife bar is set high. Haida Gwaii’s 200 islands, north-west of British Colombia, are wildernesses where eagles hover overhead, black bears rustle through temperate rainforest and sea lions bask on rocks. In May 2018, Ocean House, a new 12-room, former fishing camp smartly reimagined as a fly-in floating lodge, will moor off Stads K’uns GawGa island in Peel Inlet bay, with cultural heritage at its heart. A longhouse-inspired bar and light fixtures reminiscent of Sitka deer antlers are some of Haida designer Gina Mae Schubert’s touches. The lodge will bob here for summer, then spend winters stored in Vancouver. discover-the-world. co.uk. A three-night stay at Ocean House costs from £2,916 per person including transfers
Picnic Island, Freycinet, a rugged one-and-ahalf-acre speck in the Tasman Sea, is home to colonies of hundreds of fairy penguins and shearwaters. After falling for its knockout views of the pink-hued Hazard Mountains, Clem Newton-Brown bought it a decade ago, using it for family camping trips. Now guests can join the birds and hunker down at the justopened retreat. Local architect John Latham’s structure was designed to resemble something ‘which had washed up on the beach’. The result is elegant: shack-style buildings with macrocarpa timber decks, Patricia Piccinini sculptures and interiors that riff off the surroundings – rough wood, soft tan leather and pops of blue textiles. picnicisland.com.au. A three-night stay costs from £2,585, sleeps up to 10
Kevin and Fiona Record championed tourism to northern Mozambique in the 1990s, later launching sensational Ibo Island Lodge in the pristine Quirimbas Archipelago. This spring, their next project, Mogundula Private Island, opens nearby. Just five villas with dhowinspired architecture will sit on a 21-hectare tropical island where white, marshmallow-soft beaches are ringed by rich coral reefs, home to flurries of rainbow fish and dolphins. Eco cleverness (solar-powered air-con and a desalination plant) and local materials such as teak and coral-rock walls are combined with contemporary stack-away glass doors, which allow villas to be opened up and help guests feel even closer to nature. IANTHE BUTT iboisland.com. Doubles from about £560
What’s taking off and what’s running out of fuel ESCAPE PLANS
HOT ROCKS
Waiting in airports has just got better: you can swim in Punta Cana International’s new pool and kick back on Virgin’s Departure Beach’s sun-loungers on Barbados.
Tempted to take home lava stones from Iceland? Don’t. Not only is it illegal, but it’s also cursed, possibly. Some naughty tourists are posting their booty back.
JAMMING JUNIOR
CRUISE CROWDS
Skip Marley, grandson of legendary Bob and signed by Island Records, is bringing Jamaican beats to a new generation. Keep an ear out for his debut album next year.
Increasingly dropping anchor off their own private islands, from Royal Caribbean at Labadee off Haiti to Norwegian Cruise Line at Belize’s Harvest Caye.
YES, CHEF
BLOW UP GOODBYES
Chef José Andrés served more than 100,000 meals in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Support his food hall at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards when it opens in 2018.
Forlorn flamingo? Unloved unicorn? Abandoned pool floats now have a home at Mallorca’s Inflatables Sanctuary, set up by hotels.com for guests to adopt. FK
30 Condé Nast Traveller December 2017
PHOTOGRAPH: SANJIN LOPATIC/IMAGEBRIEF.COM
THREE REMOTE HIDEAWAYS SET TO OPEN IN THREE EXTREME CORNERS OF THE PLANET