Hello Vince,

The hotel was damaged in 1989 by a hurricane and not rebuilt. While there aren't any hotels on Water Island there are several vacation homes and apartments. We have some listed at: Water Island Accommodations. So check out that page and you can get an idea of the options.

All the best with your anniversary plans, and congrats!

--Islander

My first visit to Water Island was in August 1961. As an "old time" resident I can assure you that many of the things that you may remember from 1961 can still be found today. Not to say that we haven't made an effort to keep up with the times, it's just that we haven't gotten crazy and thrown out everything from the past that has made the island really special. I've sent you a PM.

vinann, congratulations on your 50th anniversary! We have a vacation rental home that you and your wife may consider. Lots of privacy. Located on the southwesternmost tip of Water Island. From the porch you can see where Water Isle used to be.

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p311390

Another great web site you may find interesting is http://www.waterislandwica.com/News

We were married in 1971 in St. Andrew's Church and spent our honeymoon at Water Isle Colony Club. It was lovely; in its heyday. Went back for our 10th anniversary when it had become Sugar Bird and were a bit disappointed as standards had dropped. But the island was still beautiful -- and perhaps it is even nicer today without the big commercial entity.

From 1952 until 1996 the "Hotel" owner was the master lease holder of the Federally owned island. They provided the ferry service, and a long list of support services for the sub-lessees, and had total control of the docks, marina, and beach. So even though the hotel had only 150 rooms, it was an end destination enviroment, meaning they needed to provide all guest services plus their responsibilites for the entire island required a support structure way beyond just the immediate hotel operation. In 1965 there was a change in ownership of the master lease and major expansion of the hotel. So in 1971 everything was "new and improved". Ten years later the overhead of a small hotel and an entire island took its toll and you were seeing the results of a losing battle. The destruction of the hotel by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 was perhaps a positive thing.

Thanks for the additional information, RockyDock. Maybe we'll get back to Water Island one of these days. It is a spot near and dear to our hearts. 🙂

BCNJ: The Hotel experience you had in 1971 and 1981 would have been completely different from the experience VINANN had in 1961. In 1952 when Walter and Floride Phillips obtained the lease on Water Island they converted existing military buildings into hotel facilities. The Admin. building became the reception desk and also the dining facilities. The outlying barracks buildings were converted into individual rooms. Walter and Floride believed in having all guests meet each other. Each of the barracks buildings had a common gallery on which an "honor" bar was set up. One guest became the barkeep and the other occupants joined as a group each night before dinner. Lunch was only available at the beach. And, the beverages were served from a floating surf-board bar which was maintained about 20 feet from the beach. This was Walter's ideal to make everyone get into the water each day. Walter and Floride were constantly coming up with unique events that again required all guests to participate.

When the ownership changed in 1964 a three story hotel structure was constructed in a "U" pattern. The inside rooms looked down on a courtyard that contained gift shops on the ground level. The outside rooms each had a private gallery with adequate dividing walls so that there was no interaction between rooms. There wasn't any telephone or TV service, however each room had a A/C unit so most everyone just shut the drapes and stayed inside until the restaurant opened for dinner at 8pm.

Today, without any large scale commercial properties, Water Island is home to a limited number of individual residences. Many are available for short term rental. During the daytime there are a fair number of day visitors who come over on the ferry to enjoy Honeymoon Beach and the few facilities that are operated there. After sundown the individuals staying on Water Island are usually involved in some kind of group activity on the beach about four nights each week during the Winter season, such as Bingo, Drive-In movies, Heidi's Saturday night dinners, and the Friday night all-you-can-eat Pizza at the Pirate's Ridge Deli. It's a different kind of place, certainly not every ones cup of tea, thank goodness.