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The Landing, Harbour Island, BahamasBy Sheridan Rogers
To get there, you take a plane from either Fort Lauderdale or Miami to North Eleuthera Island, then a taxi to the jetty and a water taxi across the gloriously warm azure waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the landing dock on the island. The Landing, a boutique hotel owned by former Sydneysiders Toby Tyler and Tracy Barry, is one of the first places you see as you arrive. Built in 1800 by the British, it comprises two colonial residences built of hand-cut limestone with traditional cedar shingle rooves. In the first building (the Captain's House) is a highly acclaimed restaurant, a bar (the hub of the island's social life), a library, a small shop and two bedrooms with the remaining five bedrooms in the second building. In keeping with a colonial idyll, wide wooden verandas surround both buildings at the front providing wonderful corridors for the harbour breeze (very welcoming in the humid heat of summer)- the planks are stained lightly with dark oak and the hourglass-shaped railings are painted white.
Roosters wander around outside and fish often surprise you by leaping in the shallow waters opposite. Hurricane Floyd devastated much of the island in 1999 and The Landing only re-opened last November after a complete refurbishment by former Ralph Lauren model and interior designer India Hicks. In the bedrooms, waxed dark oak floors are offset by fresh white walls and white wooden shutters which, along with the sea grass mats, old ceiling fans and bowls of mixed fresh flowers (hibiscus, poinciana, oleander, bougainvillea) lend a tropical feel. Various pieces of art adorn the walls among them antique English botanical water-coloured prints, ornate gilded gold-framed mirrors and old hand-coloured bird prints. The stained mahogany four poster beds are covered in heavy white cotton bedspreads and draped with white Indian cotton - the linen, towels and sheets are all by Ralph Lauren. Views are either of the harbour or onto the garden which is filled with a variety of tropical foliage (palms, casuarina and breadfruit trees, yellow elder, huge white crotans, sea lettuce and poincianas).
Activities include walking, swimming, riding a horse along the beach, scuba-diving and going on a picnic to a neighbouring island. Or you can spend the day chatting to the smiling locals ("Brilanders") who are known to be among the friendliest in all the Bahamas.
Walking through the narrow lanes amidst these charming houses - which are painted in fabulous combinations of pastel pinks, aqua's, yellows, blues, mints, greens and apricots contrasted with white shutters and trim - gives you a feeling of a bygone era. It only takes ten minutes from The Landing past the local school and bright pink police station to the beach on the other side of the island. A number of exclusive resorts are situated here, including Pink Sands which is owned by Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell (the name is derived from the pink sands which can be found on this side). Further along the beach is Elle McPherson's home, one of three properties she owns on the island. Daryl Hall(Hall & Oates) also owns a property overlooking the beach. But it is the simple stylish food at The Landing which has become a major drawcard for people visiting Harbour Island.
One of her strengths is with seafood. Freshly caught grouper and hogfish snapper are on the menu almost daily, speared by local fishermen. There's also deep-sea yellowfin tuna, marlin, warehou, mahi mahi, sweet lobsters (which Learmonth combines with roasted plantain into an exotic soup, drizzled with spicy lobster oil) and the ubiquitous conch. Twice a week, boxes of fresh farmed organic produce are brought over from Governor's Harbour, an hour's drive (plus a boat ride) away on North Eleuthera. Depending on the season, there's fresh watercress, rocket, Italian parsley, bok choy, baby spinach, mesclun, baby fennel and eight different types of tomatoes. Local fruits like avocados, tiny sweet pineapples, sapodillas (similar to custard apples), bright red milky berries (with a sweet pink flesh similar to a plum), mangoes, deep purple sea grapes (which are half the size of a cherry and extremely sweet), scarlet plums (sweet and juicy), yellow juju plums (also sweet and juicy), guineps (which have a pinkish lychee-like flesh), coconuts and pink papaya are excellent. "Jenny serves the pink papaya with thinly shaved prosciutto as an entrée," says Tyler. It's a knockout." Learmonth's ice creams are a knockout too. There's an espresso ice cream (infused with vanilla and coffee beans), roasted coconut and aniseed (which is teamed with a pineapple sorbet). At night, the restaurant really comes alive. You can sit inside or outside on the downstairs veranda or in the garden at candlelit tables and enjoy the exotic Caribbean-Colonial atmosphere and the fragrant warm night air. Or you can sit inside at the bar. Like the restaurant, the walls are painted mustard with white trim which really comes alive at night offset by flickering candles. An array of photos depicting Brenda Barry's heyday as Miss Bahamas (Brenda is Tracy's mother and manages the hotel) covers one wall and lends a homely feel. The dark wooden bar is surrounded by bar-stools covered in an understated patterned fabric - or you can sit and watch the action in one of the plantation chairs along the walls. Hicks has added another touch of whimsy by placing a monkey lamp on one of the tables. Made of wood, he stands about 30cm high and is eating a berry which makes him look as if he "speaks no evil". And don't forget to try the Smooth Landing before you depart. It's a concoction devised by Tracy Barry and consists of Bacardi limon, Cointreau, cranberry, pineapple and orange juice and guaranteed to have you coming back for more of this stylish island life. Travel DetailsIt's a good idea to stay overnight in Miami, then to take a connecting flight to North Eleuthera island with either Continental, Gulf Steam or US Air. From Fort Lauderdale, take a connecting flight to North Eleuthera island with Gulf Stream, Twin Air or Continental. From North Eleuthera, it's a ten minute taxi ride from the airport, then a ten minute ride in a water taxi to Harbour island. The Landing, Hotel and Restaurant,
Bay Street, Harbour Island For further information, look at the webpage: www.harbourisland.com or Email: info@harbourislandlanding.com |
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There's only one approach to Harbour
Island - and that's by boat. The island, which is situated directly east
off Miami, Florida, is part of the Bahamas and is so tiny (approx 5.5
kilometres long and 800 metres wide) there's no room for an airport and so
secluded that it's very difficult to find on the map.
It's a pleasure to sit here on one
of the Adirondack chairs and gaze out over the harbour. 
Hicks has added the odd touch of
whimsy like the big white bath in the honeymoon suite up in the attic. A
whole room has been allotted to the bath which is surrounded by lime-washed
boards. There's a long low wooden table at one end (for toiletries and
magazines) and a couple of 19th century chairs upholstered in red toile
with a table in between at the other end, and a large white carved wooden
mirror on the wall opposite the bath. The attic ceiling catches the
afternoon reflection of the sun on the water creating a wonderful play of
light in both the bathroom and adjacent bedroom. But don't expect phones,
faxes, computers or bar fridges in your room for Harbour Island is a place
where people come to really let down and just stop.
Harbour Island boasts only one
village, Dunmore Town, named after the fourth Earl of Dunmore, a Governor of
the Bahamas who built a summer home here in the 1780's. It was he who
plotted the narrow lanes in 1791. Many of the island's early settlers
arrived during the late 17th and 18th centuries from New Providence where
life had been disrupted by attacks from pirates and Spanish galleons. After
the American Revolution, the Loyalists began a building boom, refurbishing
churches such as Anglican St John's and erecting many of the clapboard
houses which still line the streets in the old part of the town.
Ever since she started at The
Landing two and a half years ago, Chef Jenny Learmonth's (ex Sean's
Panorama, Bondi Beach, Sydney) food has been attracting much acclaim.
Learmonth was the second Australian chef to be employed by Tyler, who knows
the food business well, having worked for providores Simon Johnson and Barry
Mc Donald in Sydney. Ken Gomez, assisted by Andrew Townsend (ex La Mensa
Sydney), led the way with his fusion food (local lobster in banana leaf with
Thai spices) and it wasn't long before the New York Times was billing it as
"Big City Dining on Small Island". Learmonth has subsequently attracted even
more attention with reviews from the New York Post and Conde Nast Traveller.