My wife and I are back on Peter Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands this week. Peter Island holds a special place in our lives because it's our first home as a couple and my first international posting as a hotelier. Our eldest daughter called Peter Island her home the first year and a half of her life. I was promoted to the Director of Food and Beverage post here by Amway Hotel Corporation in 1993. We lived on Peter Island for almost three years; returning to Michigan in 1996 to help manage the resort from the corporate office until 2000.
Peter Island is located four miles across the Sir Francis Drake channel from Road Town, Tortola, the capital of the British Virgin Islands. A Norwegian shipping company developed this 1,800 acre private island into a resort in 1971. They built eight A-frame buildings with thirty two rooms, Tradewinds restaurant, and a marina on Sprat Bay. In 1979, entrepreneurs Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos, purchased the island after falling in love with the location during one of their yachting excursions in the crystal waters of the BVI's.
The resort evolved into a full scale luxury resort with the addition of twenty beachfront rooms, a beach restaurant, three villas, a world class spa and numerous water sports and fitness facilities. VAE of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is now the sole owner of the resort.
I must admit that the resort has never looked better. The lush gardens are in full bloom and continue to provide resort guests with an idyllic escape from the realities of city living. The five beaches are as perfect as I remember them. The new Falcon's Nest Villa is unmatched in scale, design and amenities in the Caribbean. But most of all, the staff who took good care of my family during our stint on the resort, welcomed us back with open arms. It's nice to be home again.
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