10 | Coconut Bay Beach Resort & Spa
The aforementioned 34 new rooms will be
entirely off the grid, with solar air condition-
ing and water-heating capabilities. The spa is
all solar water-heated as well, and initiatives
into wind power are being discussed for the
future, Hawken says.
“We’re making an effort to do our part
and try to save costs as well as reducing our
footprint,” he says.
“We haven’t used it as a marketing tool,
but it will be something, once the new rooms
are up, that we will celebrate. We don’t feel
we are at a position yet that we can jump up
and down and say ‘Hey, we’re doing more
than anybody else.’ We’ll get there, but we’re
not there yet. I’m not for trumpeting it until
I can put my head on my pillow and say that
we’ve done everything we can. We can’t say
that yet.”
Coconut Bay partners with the nearby St.
Jude Hospital – which is the island’s second-
largest medical facility and serves its entire
southern region – and has “adopted” the
children’s ward via a signed memorandum of
understanding as a way to help a prolonged
recovery for the medical facility that burned
down four years ago.
The hospital has since been housed in
alternate quarters and the resort raises and
donates money for equipment and supplies,
and, additionally, provides training as the
hospital transitions to a hospitality based
