It seems like there aren't many places left where it feels safe to sit around in baggy shorts with your lobster skin and jumbo-size bottle of factor 50, just reading a book and minding your own business.
Grenada doesn't really sound like a place to seek refuge from the stormy international waters of wars, terrorism and Sars: while place names like Jamaica sound sugary and sweet, Grenada just sounds like something that will probably explode in your face.
Far from it - in this little undiscovered corner of the Caribbean you won't even feel superclubbed into submission by tour operators and the only thing that is inclusive is peace and quiet. It is no criticism to say that there isn't very much on the island because there isn't much island for anything to actually be on. Despite its size (21 miles by 12 miles) it takes a gut-swilling two hours of winding through coastal roads to get from north to south. And the heat turns the shortest of jaunts into a Herculean yomp. The number of four-wheel-drives and pick-up trucks tells you everything about the state of the roads.
But Grenada is fine by me because I didn't want to do anything. So for those hoping for first-hand accounts of amazing jungle adventures, snorkelling, extreme shopping and other dangerous pursuits, I must tell you now that the biggest fear I faced was running out of books to read.
Grenada is an island for those whose biggest holiday challenge is reading long tracts of non-fiction that they couldn't quite start back home. My biggest achievement was Marcus Gray's biography of The Clash, a book I have been meaning to read for 12 months. I nailed it in two days.
The island's honeypot for the indolent independent traveller is La Luna, a gorgeous detail-perfect boutique hotel in a secluded bay 15 minutes from the capital, St George's. To get there involves tackling a winding potholed road snaking above Morne Rouge beach and a steep decline to the water's side.
The thought of the journey back out is in itself a strong disincentive to escape. Beautifully landscaped and designed by the team responsible for at least one Giorgio Armani villa in Italy, the Carib-Italian fusion food is excellent if also priced for the Armani wallet - £15 for a bowl of (delicious) pasta and a tenner for a coffee and pancake breakfast.
But the view from the beachside dining platform is worth the price. And after that you can sit and gawp at the sea all day from the bar, or the teak day-bed that sits with sofas and cushions under a thatched roof to make up the bar area.
'A lot of people come here thinking they will hire cars and travel around, but after a couple of days they ask us to cancel everything and we understand,' says the owner Bernardo Bertucci. 'Those who come here are busy people who think that they like to rush around but La Luna soon gets to them.'
Bertucci, bearded, fashionably unkempt and as Italian looking as his name, built this place from scratch with money (about $2 million) from a few friends in the New York fashion world where he was a well-known PR man. He fusses about every little detail like only a fashion refugee could.
The rooms in the individual cottages, set on the hillside above the beach, are ambitiously authentic, Indonesian-style distressed chic - you only know the walls are meant to look unevenly painted in an aggressive brown because you wouldn't be paying £250 a night otherwise. The nutmeg soap looks so vile that you know it must be great.
It was quiet enough to manage Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, in two days and a morning.
If you have to venture out, then get a taxi to take you to the Lodge, a recently opened vegetarian guest house up in the hills in a restored plantation house just outside the capital. From there you can look down at the harbour where scale becomes muddled by the size of the giant cruise ships that visit Grenada daily, dwarfing the old harbour buildings in the capital.
The owners are two charming Bristol musos, Mark and Mary, who wanted to create the sort of holiday that they wished someone had offered them.
Visit them for a couple of nights to give your credit card a break from La Luna or if you prefer breezes and a clear vegetarian conscience with your reading to sand and salt water. The only people with a better view of the island are the prisoners in the jail on the next hill.
You could also try the Coral Cove Cottages, perched on the tip of the poshest bit of the island, Lance Aux Epines. Coral Cove is on the edge of a residential area off the beaten track with uninterrupted sea views and a 20-yard walk to the beach. You can finish Ben Elton's Dead Famous in a day there, no problem.
I have to confess that, in search of activity one day my wife and I hired a car. We headed up the east coast but only found more places designed for people who like reading books in peace.
La Sagesse is a nature reserve built around a country house and has an unspoilt beach to itself. The mile-long turn-off to Cabier Vision looked as if someone had been open-cast mining on it, but at the end was another unspoiled beach overlooked by a couple of discreet wooden chalets on stilts. More book heaven.
We stopped at four beaches and saw a total of seven people and two small friendly dogs.
All the noise on the island seemed to have been sucked like some kind of aural black hole into Grenville, a fishing town just up the coast. Overamplified music nagged insistently from every window making reading impossible. We ate, opposite the police station, at a restaurant that seemed almost shocked to get a customer and left as quickly as we could. The books just sat there on the table.
The best thing about Grenville was accidentally taking a wrong turning out of town (an achievement given that there are only two streets) and ending up at the old airport, now disused since the new international one, built with the help of Cuba, opened nearer to St George's. An old Cuban passenger plane sits rotting beside the runway in the sun, the Cubana markings faded almost to nothing. The memories of the times when Grenada was a symbol of discord and American anti-communist nimbyism are just as faded now.
This is a peaceful place for peaceful people. Bring books.
Factfile
John Duncan travelled with upmarket tour operator ITC Classics (01244 355527), which has seven nights for the price of six at La Luna from 1 June to 30 September, on a room-only basis, with direct flights from London for £1,294 per person.
Virgin Atlantic (01293 747747) and British Airways (0845 773 3377) fly to Grenada from about £550.
The Lodge (00 1 473 440 2330) costs £150-£218pp a night, full board. Coral Cove Cottages (00 1 473 444 4422) costs £56-£120. La Sagesse (00 1 473 444 6458) has rooms for £50-£100.
If you liked the sound of that...try these
Nevis: If you fancy a bit of history with your sunshine, head for Nisbet Plantation which dates back to 1778 and was originally the home of Fanny Nisbet and her husband Admiral Lord Nelson. The 30-acre beachfront resort is based around the Great House, an atmospheric mansion which now serves as the restaurant. Dotted between the coconut palms are 38 rooms and suites in semi-detached cottages and two-storey units. Seven nights' half board at the four-star Nisbet Plantation Beach Club including flights and transfers costs £1,555 per person for departures up to 30 June 2003 with British Airways Holidays (0870 443 4439). Stay for seven nights or more between 1 June and 31 October 2003 and receive one night free.
Barbados: This island is enjoying a surge of popularity but you won't run into your neighbours at the 10-roomed Little Arches on the island's south coast at Enterprise Beach. This small, funky property has all the rooms individually decorated in Italian fabrics and is just steps away from the quiet white sandy beach. Caribtours (020 7751 0660) has a week in June for £885 room-only, including return scheduled flights and private transfers.
Antigua: Start your day with a relaxing yoga class at Cocobay, a sandy sanctuary with 41 pastel-painted cottages and four plantation houses. All offer panoramic views of the coast from their patios on the crown of the headland, which slopes down to a white sand beach. Work on your tan then cool off in the cliffside plunge pool. Seven nights costs £1,015 per person for departures up to 30 June with British Airways Holidays (0870 443 4439) including return flights from Gatwick, all inclusive accommodation and return transfers. Free connecting flights are available from most UK airports.
British Virgin Islands: Set sail for Biras Creek on Virgin Gorda, located between two hills on a spectacular 140-acre peninsula, and accessed only by boat. It boasts a Caribbean beach on one side and the Atlantic on the other. Accommodation is in 21 oceanside suites scattered along the shore. The hub of the property is a hill-top 'castle' with reception room, restaurant and bar. The price of £1,993 per person between 28 June and 18 July includes room -only accommodation, return flights and transfers with Kuoni (01306 747008).
Tobago: For a slice of the real Caribbean, check into the Kariwak Village, a simple family-owned property comprising 24 wood and shingle-roof cabanas a five-minute walk from the beach. There is no nightlife here but locals flock to the restaurant for the good food, which comes fresh from the sea and is cooked using vegetables and herbs from the hotel's own garden. There's also a small thatched pavilion if you feel like doing a spot of yoga. Book through Caribtours (020 7751 0660) which has a week's room-only accommodation in June for £830 including flights. Half-board costs an additional £31 a day.
· For more information on the Caribbean, visit the Caribbean Tourism Organisation website at www.caribbean.co.uk.
