The Wedding Gift That Became Secret Bay: 15 Years Later

The first in an editorial series of stories marking Secret Bay’s 15th anniversary. Phase 7, the final stage of the resort’s villa construction, was announced alongside this piece.

Gregor Nassief was 10 years old when he discovered a peninsula of cliffs, beaches, and forested land on the northwest coast of Dominica. He returned time and time again to explore what became his favorite place in the world, and, as luck would have it, in his early twenties, he discovered that his father, Phillip, owned a small half acre parcel. Phillip agreed to sell it to him, and that began a 30-year journey to acquire the 50 acres that is now home to Secret Bay.

It was during those years of seeking out landowners and acquiring land in bits and pieces that Gregor brought his soon-to-be wife, Sandra Vivas, to show her the place that was so close to his heart. She too fell in love with the land, and they returned many times to explore its coves, rivers, and unspoiled beaches, just as he had done as a young boy. 

On a later trip to Dominica, Sandra’s father, renowned Venezuelan architect Fruto Vivas, visited the land and was overwhelmed with its natural beauty.  That inspiration became Fruto’s wedding gift to Sandra and Gregor: the drawings of their family home to be built there. These drawings became the inspiration for Secret Bay.

They studied the drawings together for a long time, walking the land. Then, they asked Fruto to draw something smaller – then smaller again. What began as a four bedroom family home  became four discreet villas, tucked into the peninsula at different elevations, completely invisible to one another.

That was in 2011. Gregor and Sandra never did move into that house her father envisioned, but they’re now the proud owners of a property widely recognized as one of the finest resorts in the Caribbean. 

Secret Bay has featured on two Travel + Leisure covers. It’s a four-time number one resort in Travel + Leisure’s rankings for the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda over the last six years. A Secret Bay villa was once ranked by Mr & Mrs Smith as the sexiest bedroom in the Americas, and third sexiest in the world. Over the past 15 years, Secret Bay has become a place where guests come to mark the milestones of their lives. This year, the resort is marking one of its own.

Secret Bay’s growth into a world-leading luxury resort happened gradually. The first villas sat on Gregor’s original peninsula while successive phases moved up the hillside, the clifftop, the summit, out to the nearby waterfront, and onto the cliffside. Each enclave was shaped and developed by the land’s contours and characteristics, with low density always at the forefront. The current land-use density of built structures is around 10%. Phase 7 opens a new cliffside enclave at the northern reach of the property; as development continues, the land reach increases. When Secret Bay is completed, the density will become around 7%. 

Secret Bay’s villa count may have grown, but the property itself has developed even more dramatically. What began with developments centered around the villas, such as private plunge pools, dedicated villa hosts, and in-villa dining, continued with the development of the Gommier spa, a treehouse retreat above Tibay Beach, Bwa Mang Wellness Pavilion, suspended over the river, which hosts daily yoga, and the original iteration of the restaurant Zing Zing. 

Later, details such as the Welcome House, Secret Bay’s grand open-air entrance, and an energy-efficient funicular, the longest in the Caribbean, were added. Today, the resort offers three innovative dining concepts: Bwa Denn Kitchen, a casual gourmet restaurant inside the central pavilion; a reimagined Zing Zing, a 20-seat no-menu Discovery restaurant overlooking Tibay Beach; and Botanica, an organic garden and chef’s table set above the Cario River. Bwa Denn also houses an art gallery, a kombucha microbrewery, a wine cellar, and a bar and lounge. 

Each expansion still centered the villas as the enduring heart of Secret Bay, and followed the same rule as the villas themselves. No heavy building machinery permitted; Guyanese greenheart used as structural wood; furniture made of local red cedar; windows of Brazilian hardwood, glazed to hurricane standards. Contractors who cut trees during construction face a penalty of US$5,550 per trunk. The retractable roof above Bwa Denn, the central pavilion, was designed by a Barbadian architect. Building each piece of the property took as long as was necessary to reach these standards.

It’s fitting that 15 years mark a Crystal Anniversary. Phase 7 of villa creation, announced now and set to complete in 2029, will crystallize what Gregor and Sandra envisioned while walking the property before the first villa even stood: the full plan, finished at 42.

The next story in our series moves from how Secret Bay came to be to what it offers once you arrive: the luxury of time and space that has been the point from the beginning, and the rare feeling of a place where the days and surroundings are yours alone.