Previous Trip Notes
A Private Island on Points – Part 1: Calala Island (The Setup)
The island is tiny, roughly 15 acres. You could walk across the island in just a couple of minutes. Since we had the entire island to ourselves, the layout didn’t really matter. The four villas are located together on one side of the island. They are far enough apart that there is some semblance privacy, but if someone was being loud, or listening to loud music, I could see it being a problem.
The pool, and the swim-up bar, are small, but nice.
Pool
Swim-Up Bar
Pool Loungers
There are enough lounge chairs for everyone, or you could opt for a couple loungers on the beach.
Beach Lounger
Just adjacent to the pool is a covered outdoor eating area, if you are so inclined to eat there. At orientation, this area was presented as the normal place to eat lunch, and had books and board games, if you felt the need for some entertainment.
Lunch Area
Apparently there was some plumbing issue in the planter immediately adjacent to the pool, so they pulled the plants out and created a sandbox for NSPpeanutToo to play in:
Sand Pit Made for NSPpeanutToo Next to Pool
In addition, there is a restroom located just about 10 yards from the pool. While convenient, there is no lock. You simply mark the room as “occupied” by turning the outside marker from Green to Red. While not a big deal, I could see this causing some awkward moments if there are others on the island that you are not with, particularly after a number of drinks in the sun.
Bathroom Hut
The ocean is beautiful, with distant views of the mainland as well as other tiny islands.
Sunset
The beach was nice, although not quite the Caribbean white sand or bright aqua waters. In addition, the waters are shallow for quite a distance and coral coming almost immediately up to the beachline. This made swimming difficult – not an issue for us, as we are more pool-people than beach-people.
Water Views
The main dining area, where you eat breakfast and dinner, is just a few minutes away from the villas. It has a wood-fire grill where you can see what is being cooked, and you can choose to eat under a covered hut or under the stars. Right outside the covered eating area is an outside bar. You can choose to hang out at the bar before dinner. There’s another bathroom about twenty yards from the seating area. Again, it is nice and convenient; however, the lack of a lock could cause an awkward moment.
Dinner Under the Stars
Covered Dinner Area
The villas are small, but nice.
Villa
Master Suite
The outside shower is amazing, and the master suite was plenty large for a king bed, a crib, and a twin size bed.
Outside Shower
There is plenty of storage area, and each villa comes equipped with plenty of toiletries throughout the week, as well as a battery-powered flashlight. The flashlight is much needed at night. Outside each villa is a nice small deck, with a table to relax outside while drinking coffee or enjoying morning biscotti. An example of a nice touch is that each deck has a water spout to wash off your shoes/sandals and feet to remove all sand and dirt before entering your villa. There is also a small covered area with a hammock, large enough for two people. There are also a number of pillows and soft seating (i.e. bean bag type of chairs).
Private Hammock
About 40% of the island seems to be a densely forested area that also hosts the wifi tower and staff lodging area. There is a walking path that goes around the island, and through this area is where the spa is located. The spa is, like everything else, small but nice. And remote enough that it gives a good sense of privacy despite being in the open-air.
The walking paths are nice, but a little grainy so I preferred to wear sandals, although sometimes walked barefoot. The stars are incredible at night, and coconuts can be heard dropping constantly throughout the day and night. In fact, on multiple occasions I woke up to a coconut dropping into the ocean or the ground. It’s a pretty cool feeling, although it did make you a bit nervous when walking around under the coconut trees.
Lastly, the creatures of Calala. Unfortunately, despite looking for the island sloth every day, it hid well and we did not get a chance to meet him. We did see some pretty amazing star fish, cool looking birds perched on fallen coconut trees or swooping down to catch fish, and various crabs and fish in the water. There were also turtles, but that is more for the “experience” section.
Starfish
Birds Perching on Trees
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