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Ritz-Carlton To Inhabit the Uninhabited: West Caicos Reserve

Where: West Caicos Reserve, Turks and Caicos

When we started to read about the coming-soon Ritz-Carlton West Caicos Reserve our environmentally conscious radar went up: West Caicos on the western end of the Turks and Caicos archipelago is a virtually uninhabited island. Why spoil it with a fancy hotel? But Ritz-Carlton are very careful to point out that the proposed 75 island villas are part of a very environmentally responsible development that included extensive consultations with an eco-tourism expert.

So then we relaxed and decided it sounded like a wonderful place. West Caicos is apparently the home to the Molasses Reef which is not only one of the world's best diving spots, it's also rumored that Columbus' ship Pinta sank here--that makes us dream of buried treasure.

The Ritz-Carlton development will be at the high end of the luxury scale, centered on the north shore of the island; most of the island will remain "forever" undeveloped, they say. The villas will be built using the varying architectural influences of the Caribbean and in a low-density, low-impact style. At the moment the scheduled opening is late 2008 and we'll let you know when they firm that up--and how much you have to pay to stay on a nearly uninhabited island.

Related Stories:
· Winter Getaway: Turks and Caicos [HotelChatter]
· Turks and Caicos Travel Stories [Jaunted]