25th anniversary
– 5 out of 5 stars
Name: sdstuber
Country of Origin: Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA
Reviewed on: 25 July 2015
We visited Dominica for the first time for our 25th anniversary. This was a special trip for us and Secret Bay, coupled with the island itself and the Dominican people, helped make it an incredible experience.
The villa (Zabuco villa 3) was beautifully crafted and fully outfitted with very nice kitchen appliances and air conditioning, although we only used AC for sleeping and otherwise kept the folding doors open to the island breezes. It looked over the cliff to secret beach and the ocean beyond. We ate most of our meals on the spacious balcony overlooking the ocean.
The Secret Bay family works hard to make it a completely stress free stay. Personalized service is their signature. Merlinda helped get us set up before arrival. Gilbert brought us from the airport the afternoon we arrived, telling us about the island on the drive, stopping by a tiny store getting us a couple of cold local Kubuli beers along the way to welcome us. We stayed 8 nights, and the first morning we sat with Marvin, planning a combination of slightly adventurous and relaxing days. He arranged all of the transportation and guides. June turned out to be the perfect time for us to visit because even at the most popular sites we were often the only people there, which we loved because we were there to see the island and meet the locals. We saw many of the island’s sights with our guide Ryan including the Emerald Pool, Champagne Reef, Trafalgar Falls, and a 1 hour hike through rainforest to Middleham Falls. We had a paddle up Indian River with our guide named Fire to see some of the locations filmed in Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest and have a drink of “dynamite” at the outdoor bar at River’s End. There was a trip into the interior mountains with Dr. Birdie to see endangered native parrots and a glimpse of an elusive blue-headed hummingbird found only on Dominica and Martinique. We scuba dived and snorkeled off Cabrits National Park in the northern part of the island. You can visit all points on the island conveniently from Secret Bay. We also relaxed with short snorkeling trips around the point directly below the villas to Secret Beach and massages at the villa.
The food was wonderful, local and freshly prepared on site. They have suggestions for local dishes but can prepare pretty much whatever you want. We also had food stocked for us in the kitchen for breakfast and snacks. They have a selection of good wines available and we picked up local rums during day trips. Dinners were hand delivered to the villa by Bianca and Megan, the resort’s attendants assigned to us for our stay.
We barely ran into any other guests during our 8 days there, and there is no obvious central gathering place for guests, so if you are looking for a quiet, intimate time this will work well for you. The island is mountainous and the grounds are not level, so it helps to be able to walk around sloped grounds and up and down a flight of stairs to the villas, which are perched one story above ground on pillars to catch the breezes. They can also take you around the grounds in electric carts.
Staying at Secret Bay is truly a unique experience. On our last night they arranged a candle lit dinner on a deck on the grounds overlooking the ocean at sunset, with a father and daughter serenading us with guitar and flute, a truly memorable end to an amazing week. Who knows what your amazing experience will be?
Stayed on: June 2015
