The Aerial BVI

The water here runs the full range of Caribbean blue, from pale shallows off the beach to the deep channel colour further out. The Aerial occupies 44 acres of its own on Buck Island, off Tortola, with sea cliffs, sand, and a saltwater infinity pool cut into the edge of one of them. It is a private island, and a small one by design: never more than 32 guests at a time, spread across 16 rooms in five houses, two villas, and a pair of open-air teepees. Rooms are named for a mood rather than a number — Dream has a round bed under a 360-degree stargazing deck, Peace sits above a cliffside deck facing sunrise, and the teepees run without air conditioning, cooled instead by sea breeze through open sides. Meals move around the island rather than staying fixed: breakfast at an open-air hall facing the water, dinner at the island's highest point under open sky, or beachside with torches and sand underfoot. You can hear the water from most decks, whichever house you're in. A resident garden, the Island Farmacy, supplies much of the kitchen's produce, often picked the same day it's served. Boats, seabobs, and horses are all on offer, along with 60-odd islands and cays within reach for a day out. Arrival is handled door to door, from the airport to a short boat crossing onto the island itself.