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"  Amid the glittering Grenadines, Mustique, a former sugar plantation and royal bold-hole christened by pirates, has become a staggeringly exclusive private island Caribbean destination owned by the landholders. (Think sprawling\u20141,400-acre\u2014luxury hotel with massive villas as rooms, winding roads as halls and elevators, and private chefs as room service.) Invited last minute, our sanguine seeker Leanne Shapton swoops into the teeny airstrip shoehorned between the ocean and the tennis club for a week of sun, swim, and topspin.   INSPIRATION Palm Reading I ogled the azure coastline and lush green palm groves as we zipped around on our &amp;quot;mule&amp;quot; (half golf cart, half jeep) under the intense sun. My trusty Peerless Water Colors (seawater activates the pigment-impregnated pages) lured me out of a travel brochure dream state to capture the eye-popping colors. Over `60s island scenes in the book Mustique by Vaughan, Feinstein, Lewis, and Abatelli, I waxed nostalgic for what I never knew: men in tailored whites, kaftan-bedraped women tanned within an inch of the lives.   SIGHTSEEING Beached Sunday is the tennis club&amp;#039;s round-robin; Saturday nights, catch a flick on the lawn outside the spa, rum punch in hand; Tuesdays, hit the Cotton House meet and greet; and Wednesday, it&amp;#039;s Basil&amp;#039;s Bar &amp;amp;amp; Restaurant jump-up. Feeling antisocial? Palm canopies create private hutches at Macaroni Beach. Or access secluded, stunning but rougher Gelliceaux Bay by a narrow path, then meditate while rock and shell collecting. For even deeper solitude, grab your snorkel and glide along Endeavour Bay.   EATING &amp;amp;amp; SLEEPING Fishing for Condiments Our group of five stayed at Aurora, a Caribbean colonial on a breezy hillside. Meals were served in the gazebo with views across to St. Vincent. One afternoon we hired a deep-sea fishing boat and returned with seven fish! Tyrone, the genius cook, filleted, sashimi&amp;#039;d, and grilled our bounty. Mornings, pick up fresh doughnuts and international papers at Sweetie Pie Bakery on Britannia Bay. Afternoons, non-nappers hit a heavenly haze with the Cotton House Beach Caf\u00E9 Restaurant and Bar&amp;#039;s pi\u00F1a coladas.   SHOPPING Shell Games After a Luxury Coconut Experience at the Cotton House Spa ( cottonhouseresort.com) shuffle into the boutique, where they stock regular island-goer Anya Hindmarch&amp;#039;s beach towels, as well as requisite massive sunglasses and raffia platform wedges. For gifts, I found Re\u00F3 coffee, Lady Touche&amp;#039;s Mustique Marmalade from the Mustique Gourmet Shop, and guiltily, tortoiseshell bracelets from a wandering vendor. (At least I knew it wasn&amp;#039;t an endangered leatherbacks&amp;#039;s back!) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/travel-food/a9335/style-dispatch-mustique-24099/>