The sun streamed through the small gap I had left in the thick, full-length curtains after not closing them properly the previous night.

Suddenly, the brightly decorated bedroom was awash with light and colour.

And though I wouldn't normally entertain the idea of getting up at 7 o'clock on a February morning when I didn't really need to, this was different.

Drawing open the curtains, I opened the balcony doors to reveal, stretched out in front, the beauty of Grand Anse Beach's two miles of powder white sands, and aware that sight wasn't the only sense being stimulated.

The smell of spices wafted across the valley. Not from someone's early-morning cooking, these were present wherever you went. You could detect the aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon from the moment you stepped off the plane.

That's because this was the Island of Spice. This was Grenada.

There was a freshness in the air too, the result of a heavy downpour a couple of hours earlier, just as there had been the night before.

Sometimes the English are accused of talking too much about it, but weather is important. Especially when you are on holiday and when your time is often limited and always precious.

It rains a lot in Grenada, but when I was there it nearly always came at night, which was ideal. It meant the air was clear each morning, the visibility perfect, and though the temperature rose steadily during the day, the heat was not oppressive.

A pinprick in the atlas as one of the smaller Caribbean islands just off the coast of Venezuela, it is nevertheless a destination that entrepreneur Peter de Savary is convinced will soon become THE place for the luxury escape, just as were St Tropez in the '50s, Martha's Vineyard in the '60s, Costa Smeraldon in the '70s, and Barbados in the '80s.

Geographically, Grenada benefits greatly from being so far south.

It is below latitude 12N, the generally-accepted southerly limit for hurricanes (Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 was a nasty exception) and, as De Savary told me when we met for breakfast one morning: "It has an equatorial climate to the south of the trade winds, so the weather is warm and sunny 52 weeks of the year."

This means the rich and famous can keep their large yachts there all year round with no premium on insurance, something that Antigua and Barbados cannot offer, and which played a part in his thinking in developing a 35-berth marina at Port Louis, the former industrial port of St George's, Grenada's capital.

Few marinas in the world can take yachts the size of Roman Abramovich's, but Port Louis will be able to from 2010.

De Savary has bought and transformed many famous landmarks and created some of the most successful private resorts around the world.

Someone most at home either on or next to the sea, he has owned Land's End and John O'Groats, and told the story of how, when he took some American visitors around Land's End: "I was so embarrassed by the run-down state of it, I decided to buy it."

There could be no greater contrast with that bleak and rocky Cornish outpost than Grenada's lush island paradise.

Unlike other Caribbean islands, such as Barbados, it is mountainous, the land rising steeply from the coast to a peak of almost 3,000ft, and within the extensive tropical rainforests there's a profusion of flora and fauna.

One day we swam in one of the natural bathing pools beneath a waterfall high up in the rainforest, with mango and coconut growing alongside the trails we took to get there.

De Savary also invited us to go snorkelling off one of his boats to see for ourselves the aquatic beauty Grenada has to offer.

Donning unnaturally large-looking flippers and trying hard to breathe rhythmically through the mask's tube, I couldn't help but think of that great Dustin Hoffman scene in The Graduate when Benjamin makes his way tentatively towards the pool.

For us, the pool was the Caribbean Sea and, though the water wasn't as crystal-clear as in the Bahamas, seeing the magically coloured parrot fish swimming in and out of a somewhat surreal stone Sculpture Park, on the sea bed, was still a memorable experience.

You see, there is plenty to do on this enchanting island.

De Savary, who has created a host of successful resorts, insists "the time is right for Grenada right now".

Which is why he lives there and has taken Grenadan citizenship.

"When did you first fall in love with the place?" I asked him. "When I was a child and my family took me on holiday here in 1951, and we stayed at The Santa Maria Hotel that was used in the film Island in the Sun," he said.

"I returned 55 years later, in 2006, and was charmed by the scenery, and the warmth and friendliness of the people."

For lovers of fish and seafood, and creole cooking, it's certainly a delight. The crab dish I had at BB's Caribbean Restaurant truly did melt in the mouth.

Where we stayed, at Mount Cinnamon, the accommodation is luxuriously spacious.

The Fraser and Langlois-designed villas and suites don't come cheap, but every item is stylish and elegant, the buildings set in tropical flowering gardens.

Many of the properties are being marketed as fully furnished turn-key homes for private ownership (whole or fractional), with rental pool included. But they are available too for a simple short idyllic holiday.

De Savary, who has invested £30m of his own personal fortune into the £300m total investment in Grenada, has other luxury developments on the island. Azurra Castle, a Moorish-style villa on its own private shore, Tufton Hall, a deserted 19th-century plantation house that he is restoring, and Mount Edgecombe, which is his weekend home.

Guests at any of De Savary's destinations have access to Mount Edgecombe for a plantation tour, a swim, and a delicious lunch on the verandah, cooled by sea breezes and looking over the verdant botanical gardens and orchards to the sparkling waters below.

Yes, lying on the beach and swimming in such warm waters was pleasant, but up here in this plantation house, a reminder of how the West Indies used to be, this was the get-away-from-it-all to beat all others.

Pineapples, papaya, grapefruit, lemons, guava, apples, plums and tomatoes. Cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg and pimento. Star fruit, calabash and sour sop. Some plants and fruits so exotic I'd never even heard of them, let alone seen them growing naturally.

The whole Grenada experience has left me desperate to go back.

Soon, while it remains unspoilt, and perhaps again in five years' time, when Port Louis will rival Portofino.

WHERE HE STAYED JON Murray flew out to Grenada with Virgin Atlantic and stayed at Mount Cinnamon as a guest of Peter de Savary.

Flights with Virgin Atlantic (08705 747 747, virgin-atlantic.com) from Gatwick to Grenada start from £398, including taxes, in May.

Mount Cinnamon, Grenada: hacienda suites and one-bedroom villas (two guests sharing) from $400 (£195) per day, including breakfast. Two-bedroom villas (up to four guests sharing) from $700 (£345) per day. Half board weekly supplement $350 (£170) per adult, $175 (£85) per child up to 12.

Special offer: Azure Collection offer a seven-night stay at Mount Cinnamon, starting at £1,750pp, based on 2 persons sharing a Hacienda Apartment on bed-and-breakfast basis. Includes return flights with British Airways and resort transfers. To book call Azure Collection on 01244 322 770 or visit azurecollection.com