What's unusual about this resort is its location on Jamaica's sleepy southwest coast. It is a semi-arid region where cattle outnumber sunbathers, cactuses coexist with palm trees and calypso bands crooning Yellow Bird have yet to roost. Stretching roughly from Bluefields Bay to Treasure Beach are rural villages and sparsely settled coves that are as removed from Jamaica's burgeoning tourist meccas of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril as Nantucket is from Las Vegas. It may be the island's last great undiscovered place. The largest hotel has fewer than 40 rooms.
Most lodgings are small and private, ranging from opulent villas to spartan guesthouses.
Jamaica's world-class beach hustlers haven't invaded yet. And the spectacular sunsets are usually the main event of the evening. The area traditionally has drawn a mix of European backpackers and upscale vacationers, but few tourists on packaged deals venture south. Heading east out of Alligator Pond, she slams her palm on the pickup's horn as it rounds a succession of blind corners on the driveway-slim coastal road lined with cactuses, agaves and flowering shrubs. She stops near the mouth of the Alligator Hole River, where park workers regale visitors with daily feedings of resident manatees.