Calivigny Island is a small
islet
An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...
off the southern coast of the island of
Grenada
Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...
in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. Calivigny Island covers 80 acres, with its small pond, is located between the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans by the island of Grenada off Petit Calivigny Point and can be very clearly seen just 0.140 miles (0.226 km) from Grenada's southern coastal road in Lower Woburn or from Le Phare Bleu. It is also 0.438 miles (0.705 km) east of Hogg Island. It is one of the most expensive resorts in the world.
History
The parent island of Grenada abounds in archaeological sites. In 1964 Ripley P. and Adelaide K. Bullen produced an archaeological summary of Grenada which listed fourteen sites, of which the most important are Calivigny Island, Saanne Suazey, Pearls, and Westerhall Point. These terrestrial vertebrates were identified as Iguana sp.,
Chelonia mydas
The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia' ...
,
Didelphis marsupialis
The common opossum (''Didelphis marsupialis''), also called the southern or black-eared opossum or gambá, and sometimes called a possum, is a marsupial species living from the northeast of Mexico to Bolivia (reaching the coast of the South Paci ...
, Dasyprocta sp.,
Canis familiaris
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is Domestication of the dog, derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's n ...
, and
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
.
[Bullen, Ripley P. and Adelaide K. Bullen. "Salvage excavations at Caliviny Island, Grenada: a problem in typology". ''Proceedings of the second International Congress for the Study of Pre-Columbian Cultures in the Lesser Antilles, Barbados''. 1968. pp.31-43][Cody, A and Banks, A. "Archaeological Survey of Grenada". (1986)]
Also discovered were many
Arawakan
Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...
Ceramic Age (500—400 B.C.) artifacts in recent years;
most of them in archaeological sites including those on Calivigny Island. One such finding there was decorated with a number of circular designs in black on the red clay background. The original site has since been destroyed by hurricanes and subsequent resort buildings.
Between the 1960s and 1970s there was an old inn on the island called Calivigny Island Inn in a partly restored 10-room house, it was just a half-mile from the main island of Grenada and was considered a pleasant place to spend an afternoon by the white sands. Local fishermen and snorkelers were often the chief visitors.
Yachting and resort development
Grenada, like many of its neighboring islands have a long history of boating and yachting. During the 1980s yachts had to avoid the area of Grenada's southeast coast between the west side of Hogg Island and Chemin Bay to the east, as there was a military base and practice shooting range operated by the army on Calivigny Island and sea vessels could only pass within five miles outside this islet with prior notice from the army.
By the late 1980s a venture, under ''Calivigny Island Club Ltd'' (founded in the 1960s by Howard M. Maynard), began plans to create a yachting resort on the island which had become a privately owned resort making it difficult for outside visitors to gain access to its six beaches, although beaches remain part of the public domain under Grenadian law.
In 2000 the island became a private 50-bed resort available for rent on a complete, all-inclusive basis at $140,000 a night. It is owned by Georges Cohen of France.
References
{{coord, 12, 17, 10, N, 61, 34, 55, W, display=title, region:GD_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki
Islands of Grenada
Private islands of the Caribbean