Review: Coral Sands, Bahamas

Why book?

I’ve walked beaches from the Andamans to Uig, from the Cocos (Keeling) to Zicatela, but I’ve never seen sand like the floury pink sand of Harbour Island in the Bahamas. And if there was ever a hotel to match such a beach, it's the Coral Sands.

Set the scene

The whole place glows as if lit from within. AJ Capital Partners, who are just completing a multimillion dollar redesign, appear to have grabbed every seashell in the world and attached them to lamps, mirrors and walls. Then they’ve washed down the verdant inn in pink and turquoise. It might sound a bit much, but feels entirely right after a golf buggy drive through the higgledy-piggledy streets of the island’s Dunmore Town. The hotel greets visitors with two teen-sized seahorse sculptures, before stepping down to the beach through the Pink Mermaid bar and restaurant, the pastel pool, and the beach bar where Kalik beer washes down conch fritters. Finally there are the pink and white beach umbrellas and the great Peter Johnson, who keeps guests in loungers, towels and comfort.

The backstory

In 1968, Brett King and his wife Sharon Van Howten arrived on Harbour Island, just off the top of Eleuthera, to play out the third act of their very American lives. Brett had been a fighter pilot in the second world war, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart, before turning into a Hollywood actor and appearing in a slew of somewhat forgettable movies. They’d become entranced by the island, which had once been a secret getaway for the likes of Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Rockefellers and Aristotle Onasis. They ran the hotel they founded until the late 1990s when it passed into the hands of two local hoteliers who sold it on, in 2024, to AJ Capital Partners, a deep-pocketed real estate and hotel management company based in Nashville, Tennessee. AJ began the renovations to compete with the Dunmore, traditionally the belle of the Harbour Island ball, hiring the Dunmore’s former general manager, Chorten Wangyel, who is one of the world’s consummate hoteliers.

The rooms

Imagine the Little Mermaid having a fever dream. The Rock Beauty, where I stayed, is a cabin with steps straight down onto the sand. I parked my golf buggy by a front door thick with foliage, then entered a wide, sunlit room with a four poster bed whose rose canopy was printed with tropical flowers. A plush armchair stood in the corner and outside, on the terrace, were red, clam-like chairs. The bathroom is huge, with a rolltop bath, unguents by the Sicilian brand Ortigia, and all the combs, tweezers, first aid kits etc. you might require. The shower is cobalt blue with an Arabian entrance. Again, all of this might seem too much, and would be if it wasn’t for the pink sands below. I stepped out onto the deck to see people laughing in the beach bar, a wedding being arranged on the beach, and horses being ridden bareback into the clear water. Imagine the bit in Barbie where she emerges from her house to wave at the neighbours. There are 41 ‘keys’ on the property, including eight oceanfront cottages (two have two bedrooms), another seven garden cottages, and two houses – ‘Brett’s’ and ‘Sharon’s’ – with their own pools and full sized kitchens. There is Villa Botanica, a Bahamian three bedroom home with a pool that is a little off property. Then there are the rooms in the old inn itself, which as of writing are still to be renovated. They are upstairs and are sea-facing and spacious with their own terraces. Peter and Carol Goodwin, a British couple who’ve been coming for years, told me they always took time before dinner to mix a gin and tonic on theirs, and talk about their day.

Food and drink

Conch fritter? Shrimp burger, Caribbean lobster roll? It’s shockingly easy to pass hours in the beach bar, sipping Frosé while the tones of the sea, sky and sands shift with the sun. Breakfast is served in the inn’s restaurant, The Pink Mermaid – above the swimming pool which has a pink mermaid embedded in mosaic in the depths. Among the offerings is fresh fruit, a really spectacular granola bowl and a Briland Benedict. Briland is the local shorthand for Harbour Island and the Benedict includes crab cakes alongside the usual muffin and hollandaise. All is served on colourful crockery, and particularly fabulous Fiestaware pink mugs. Dinner is also in the Pink Mermaid, and you can start with a gin-based Pink Mermaid cocktail. If the pink mermaid becomes too much, so you eat her pal the Spiny Lobster, with capellini. On the night I visited, the chef was trying out a fresh and delicious new local leaf salad, part of the manager’s move to make the Coral Sands healthier, without undermining the original cocktail and sunshine hedonism of the place.

Wellness

Currently there is an open air gym with a sauna and cold plunge, where I enjoyed seeing guests of a certain age (well, mine) on exercise bikes in their Loro Piana and shades. There is a putting green, paddle and tennis courts, and an indoor golf simulator. But Wangyal, the new manager, is Bhutanese, and attuned to Himalayan ideas of wellness, which he wants to introduce with the Bahamians’ long history of using local herbs and plants for medicine. So the new owners are about to spend millions on a wellness centre. “It will be built under a beautiful banyan tree, which I call the Buddha tree,” said Wangyal. “And split into the four zones: so for fire, it will be hot stone baths; for water, water treatment; air, meditation, reading, yoga; and for earth, what is naturally produced here, our own herbal scrub or sea salt and so on.” The centre will have its own rooms, and will be a five minute walk away, so Coral Sands residents can opt in if they desire, or not if they don’t. They hope it will be ready in 2026.

The area

Once known for being Waspy, Harbour Island has become a globalised enclave of wealth. The island is only 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles at its widest. At its heart is Dunmore town, named for the British governor general in the 1700s. Its history is associated with shipbuilding and piracy. Now it is wilfully laid back, with ownerless chickens roaming free through $40m mansions. Everyone (except the chickens) whizz about on golf carts. There are lovely locally owned restaurants such as Rock House and the Landing (which also have rooms). And there is Daddy D’s if you want to dance into the night with the most random assortment of people imaginable (the last time I was there it was full of Hasidic 20-somethings from New York partying).

The service

Utterly charming, warm and helpful as you’d expect from the Bahamas. Names are remembered by both guests and staff, and titles are expected, i.e., “Miss Allie, may I have another tropical spritz?” When you’re asked how your day is going, an answer is expected and listened to. But don’t get too grand: given the clientele hereabouts, the person bringing your eggs may well have attended a royal wedding.

Who comes here?

Talking of royal weddings, India Hicks for a start. The model and one-time bridesmaid for King Charles has a shop here. Then there are the billionaires, who tend to keep themselves to themselves down dirt tracks at either end of the island. (There are many to pick from, but, say, Barry Diller and Diane von Fürstenberg.) At the Coral Sands itself, the clientele appear to be people who have done well for themselves, and want to enjoy it. There’s a smattering of British, but mainly it’s Americans. I befriended Catherine and Taylor, a couple of attorneys from Oxford Mississippi, which is my favourite town in the US. They were escaping their small children and kept extending their stay.

For families

I sorely regret not taking my three-year-old son. Coral Sands may not have specific family amenities – although there are plans for an activity based creche – but it has the perfect beach with some of the loveliest staff on the planet. The pool is gorgeous and was often filled with the laughter of children, all without becoming overwhelming. To accommodate them, there are the two bedroom cabins and the three bedroom houses with their own pools. And the menus are full of things children would love.

Eco effort

With the renovation comes a move away from plastic products. Hydration stations are being set up. There is also the strong push towards local seafood and farm-to-table produce. But the island remains wedded to a line of diesel generators near the harbour.

Accessibility

Accessibility is not ideal, sadly. The hotel steps down through a series of dunes so there are many steps. The cabins are accessible by golf buggy and, given how many returning clients Coral Sands has, there were some clearly frail guests who were enjoying themselves hugely. But none of the rooms have been specifically designed to be accessible.

Anything else?

Did I mention that the beach is pink? That’s because of the crushed shells of foraminifera, a small red crustacean. With the soft sunlight and the blue of the sea, the sand takes on almost super-real tones. It’s a pink that translates into joy (except, perhaps, for the crushed foraminifera).

Is it worth it?

It’s expensive, but yes.