If you have the moolah, head for these Caribbean islands, the playground of the seriously rich and often famous.
Lendary rocker Keith Richards was out of uniform. No dangling cigarette, no wailing guitar, no stormy look. As a matter of fact. he was grinning. And scratching he tummy of a shaggy black munchkin of a dog.

It was late January, and the Rolling Stones
con was chilling on a wooden dock overlook-
ng the turquoise waters surrounding Parrot
2ay, a Caribbean islet that bills itself as “the
,vorld’s most exclusive resort.”

The 405ha private island is in Turks and Saicus, a semi-obscure archipelago east of Suba that has been propelled into the ]imeJght by its rising popularity with the gliteratL

The multimillion-doliar beach house wned by Richards shares the sandy white
shoreline with the homes of Bruce Willis, Shristie Btinkiey and Donna Karan.
The mind boggles just thinking about the oeighbourhood’s holiday parties and summer
barbecues.

I spent several days exploring their chichi slice of paradise, snorkelling in electtic-blue
waters, sinking my toes into sun-bleached sand, breathing the balmy air, OK, so maybe 1
was out of my league playing on their tuff, but I faked it. You don’t have to be rich to
have fun here.

It wasn’t all play. though. I spent three days touring resorts – very high-end resorts. The
kind where you might run into a star, someone like, oh, Conan O’Brien. I saw him hiding
under a baseball cap pulled so low over his face that I might not have recognised him but
for skin so white it was almost blue. News flash: People with skin that fair should vaca-
tion in Seartle, not the tropics.
But tourists like O’Brien have helped make
Turks and Caicos Islands, or TCI, a success
story. Twenty years ago, these 40-some
islands and cays had few paved roads or ser-
vices. Now this British crown colony has one
of the world’s fastest-growing economies; its
33,000 residents share their islands with
about 300,000 tourists annually. There are a
dozen or so high-end resorts where overnight
stays often top US$1,O00 (RM3,152) a night
and a booming real estate market that caters
to multimillionaires.
The soaring popularity of the tiny West
Indian territory isn’t surprising. It’s a 75-
minute flight southeast from Miami – close
enough to make it an attractive short-holiday
destination for the American East Coast plat-
inum-card crowd. Other pluses: The currency
is the US dollar, crime is minimal, locals are
amiable and everyone speaks English.
And, of course, there are the stars. Where
they lead, others follow.
Everywhere I went, people talked about the
luminaries who were visiting: Cindy
Crawford at the Grace Bay Club, Will Smith at
the Somerset on Grace Bay, Alicia Keys at the
Regent Palms, Kelly Ripa at Amanyara. The
four luxury resorts are on the island of
Providenciales, a.k.a. Pmvo, TCrs main tourist
centre. The other islands and cays are low-
key, except for Grand Turk, the capital, where
a Carnival Cruise tines port opened in 2006.
gut Provo has the momentum; it’s home to
an international airport, along with great
beaches, fine restaurants, a small casino and a

golf club, all packed into 98 sq kin. I spent
most of my time in Provo, peeking below the
brims of baseball caps for famous faces.
Visitors who aren’t interested in stargazing
can find other diversions. For instance, 1
hopped on a boat in Provo and headed out to
sea. In less than 30 minutes I found an isolat-
ed sandy cay (80% of TCI’s islands are unin-
habited) populated by osprey, flamingos and
iguanas. Nearly 777 sq km of the islands have
been designated as parkland and wildlife
sanctuaries.
One of the biggest draws is underwater,
where divers and snorkellers come eye to eye
with a cokiur-saturated world populated by
an array of sea life, Many people visit to
explore the coral reef, one of the world’s
largest. Divers also can scuba down a vertical
sea wall where the continental shelf drops a
mile.
And then there are the outstanding beach-
es, especially Provo’s 19.2km-long Grace Bay
Beach, covered by ultra-white, very fine sand
and lapped by dazzling turquoise waters. Jet
Skis and other noise-makers are prohibited,
The coral reef that fringes the island creates
something akin to a lap pool.
Although high-end tourism is the name of
the game here, you can see these islands on a
budget. A couple of motels on Grace Bay
charge US$100 to US$200 (RM315 to RM630)
a night, and dining where the locals do saves
money, too. These places may not feature foie
gras or filet mignon, but they have an unbeat-
able Caribbean vibe.
Smokey’s on Da Bay, for instance, is the
place to be on Wednesday nights in Provo.
Reggae music blares from huge speaker tow-
ers while cooks grill dinner. The diner-style
restaurant is in Blue Hills, a small settlement
on Provo where the locals live, shop, play. It’s
a handful of miles from the elegant resorts on
Grace Bay.
On Wednesdays, Smokey’s indoor-outdoor
restaurant has a fish fry that draws British
and American expats as well as locals – who
are called Belongers and make up about half
the TCI population. These descendants of
early settlers and African slaves came to the
islands more than 200 years ago to work cot-
ton plantations.
I arrived just in time: Corn on the cob, lob-
ster and snapper were sizzling on the outdoor
grill. Overhead, a full moon sparkled, its light
reflecting off Grace Bay. The dark silhouette of
a small sailboat bobbed on the water at
anchor, Another patron seemed just as capti-
vated by the scene as 1.
“Ten years ago,” he said, looking across the
bay to where hotels lined the water, “I’d look
down the beach and see two lights. Now
there are lights everywhere. It’s like Miami
Beach.”
He wasn’t complaining. Like most of the
Bekingers I talked to, he was happy about the
changes, which have brought jobs and new
opportunities.
I went back to work on my lobster, crack-
ing open the shell and sucking out meat that
was so fresh and succulent I knew it had
come out of the water earlier that day. When
I was done, I hunted down owner Smokey
(real name: Anlden Smith), complimented
him and noticed a saying posted inside the
restaurant: “Thank God for life, enjoy it and
smile. Don’t let nothing spoil it for you.”
The next day, still enjoying life and smilin:
about my dinner, I headed back to Blue Hills
to try another local favourite, Da Conch Shac
arguably Provo’s best-known cafe (actually
couple of brightly painted huts with white
picnic tables). Fish can’t get much fresher
than it is here. Live conch (pronounced conk
are held in pens until diners order. They can
watch their conch as it’s brought up out of
the ocean and cracked open.
My drives to Blue Hills had taken me awa’
i-ore the tourist zone, so I decided to go a bit
artber afield and explore the island inland.
~,way from the stunning turquoise water, the
4ew didn’t seem much to look at: sandy soil
md low scrub brush.
I already had realised there weren’t many
~hops; the airline lost my luggage for a few
lays, and I had to scramble to find something
o wear. But my search then had been hur-
‘led.
Now I took my time, weaving through
~mvo on well-paved streets. The island has
hree national parks, two of tbem marine
~arks, and another inland called Chalk Sound.
~. fellow traveller told me it was full of
‘incredibly blue water,” but I didn’t think it
:ould compare with Grace Bay.
1 was wrong. When I topped a small hill
:hat overlooked the sound, I saw a dozen
;hades of turquoise water in a shallow lagoon
;tudded with green islets. Low hills framed
:he horizon, landlocking the quiet pool.
3verbead, white cumulus clouds floated
~cross a deep blue sky.
Most of Grace Bay’s newest resorts are
;pare-no-expense, uber-luxurious palaces
:hat rival the Caribbean’s top resorts. But the
,~randdaddy of them all on this prime curve of
;and is a familiar name with no such preten-
sions of grandeur: Club Med.
The French company pioneered the tourist
industry here when it cut a road from the
Providenciales International Airport and
opened its doors to GMs (gentil membres or
“gracious members”) in 1984.
Club Med Turkoise has been going strong
ever since, doing its own thing in a sort of a
quirky vacuum that ignores the world outside
its gates. The club, for instance, sets clocks
forward an hour. creating its own time zone.
Nonetheless, Club Mediterranee Turkoise is
overwhelmingly popular with guests – one of
the most popular Club Meds in the Americas.
It caters to couples, singles and groups of
friends 18 and older.
I spent a couple of days here. It’s all-inclu-
sive, which means I could eat, drink, play and
dance the night away for one set price. So 1
did. No one was more surprised than I at how
much fun it was. Everyone was friendly, the
Grace Bay Beach location couldn’t have been
better and the recently renovated rooms were
fine, if a bit spartan. It was sort of like staying
at a Holiday Inn with perks.
“A friend talked me into this,” said fellow
GM Kusi O’Hemeng. “Before I came, I thought
it was so ’80s.” He said he nearly left on the
first day of his vacation, but by the second
day, he was happy he hadn’t.
“I met so many, great people. You can
decide to have a lot of fun or to be by your-
self. Either way, it’s terrific.”
Parrot Cay, the exclusive island that’s home
to Richards and other superstars, receives the
credit for bringing a buzz to Turks and Caicos
and proving that the area was ready for high-
end tourism. Now other developers are eager
to take advantage of that wave of interest
with their own private-island projects.
One balmy afternoon, I hitched a ride from
Provn to the uninhabited island of West
Caicus, site of Molasses Reef, a new Ritz-
Carlton project. The 125-room hotel, along
with privately owned villas and cottages, is
under construction. Prices range from
US$2.2mil to US$fmil each (RM6.93mil to
RMl8.gmil)
More than 25 oftbe vacation homes have
been sold to a moneyed clientele, many of
whom have a net worth of more than
US$5Omil (RM157.5mil). The development,
which is being promoted as “the ultimate
escape,” is scheduled to open in late fall.
Mandarin Oriental is also getting into the
private-island business here. It is scheduled
to break ground on Dellis Cay this spring
and open a small hotel in 2009. Eventually,
71 waterfront villas also will be built on the
cay.
For the time being, however, Parrot Cay
seems to hold the aces. A 35-minute boat rid
from Provo, it offers privacy, exclusivity and
proven track record. And the commute is fan
tastic-
I took a morning ride to the island one day
happy to be on that aquamarine sea. I
watched quietly as uninhabited cays slid by
on the horizon.
I saw little sea life, though, and asked the
captain, 2B-year-old Gerard Brown, about
dolphins and whales.
Humpbacks migrate through these waters,
he said, and are often seen from January to
April.
“Haven’t you heard about Jo-Jo?” he asked
I hadn’t.
“Jo-Jo is our famous friendly dolphin. He
follows the boats. One day a lady leaned ove~
the side to pet him and he kissed her.” He
laughed.
I laughed, too, then turned quickly back to
look at the water.
I had done pretty well spotting celebrities
on this trip. Maybe I would get lucky and spc
Jo-Jo. At least he wouldn’t be hiding under a
baseball cap. Hard as I tried, though, I couldn
get a glimpse of him. He was the only super-
star I really missed. – LAT-WP