barrier - Search Results

Sanibel/Captiva Florida Most people who come to Sanibel and Captiva, twin barrier islands off Florida's Gulf Coast, share a single passion: seashells. This is, after all, the home of the “Sanibel Stoop,” a posture folks assume while scouring the sandy shoreline for the more than 200 varieties of shells that wash ashore after storms. Streets here are named for shells, and the leading cultural attraction is a museum devoted to them. In fact, the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is the only one of its kind in the United States, with a remarkable collection not only from Southwest Florida but also from around the world. Even.. Rate: Location: North America
Andros Islands of the Bahamas Largest of the many Islands of The Bahamas (104 x 40 miles), mysterious, mangrove-choked Andros is also the least explored, which means that you'll be sharing space with more terns and whistling tree ducks than humans--and maybe even a chickcharnie or two, those mischievous mythical inhabitants that are exclusive to this island. Reputed to be elfin creatures with three fingers, three toes, and red eyes, chickcharnies bring lifelong good luck to anyone lucky enough to see one. Andros even has its own "Loch Ness Monster," a dragon-like sea monster called the Lusca. No wonder the island was called.. Rate: Location: Caribbean Islands > Islands of the Bahamas
Caye Caulker Belize Divers and fly-fishermen know Caye Caulker well, but it’s only in recent years that the island has become a popular Belizean getaway for that vast tribe of savvy travelers who judge a place by the availability of hammocks, cold beer, and time for a good book. The island, which sits less than a mile inside Belize’s long barrier reef, is just four miles long and the streets are white sand (which helps explain why golf carts are the most popular way of getting around). Locals say that if you want to know what San Pedro, the main town on neighboring Ambergris Caye, 12 miles to the north, was like.. Rate: Be the first to Rank Location: Caribbean Islands / Central America
Jekyll Island If you adjust the dollars for inflation, John D. Rockefeller was twice as wealthy as Bill Gates (at the height of the tech boom). So, in the late 1800s, when Rockefeller and a few of his wealthy playmates (Astor, Gould, Morgan among them) settled on Jekyll Island as a winter getaway, they formed what has been called the richest, most exclusive club in the world. How rich? It’s been estimated that the membership of Jekyll Island Club once represented one-sixth of the world’s wealth. The clubhouse and many of the mansion-sized “cottages” they built still stand today, but the once-private barrier.. Rate: Be the first to Rank Location: North America
Hiva Oa Marquesas Islands It's never been all that easy to get to Hiva Oa – and that was part of the attraction for the likes of Paul Gauguin (who came here to escape the "Western influences" in the Tahiti of 1901), and Thor Heyerdahl (who, a decade before sailing Kon Tiki across the Pacific, came here with his young bride to live the "simple life. " And some things haven't changed – particularly the drop-dead natural beauty of the Marquesas Islands. The most northern island group in French Polynesia, (nearly a thousand miles from Tahiti), the Marquesas are rugged volcanic islands: There is no barrier reef.. Rate: Be the first to Rank Location: South Pacific
Matagorda On the Gulf of Mexico, about halfway in the lineup of barrier islands between Galveston and South Padre Island, Matagorda has been hammered by storms over the last two centuries – and that, in some ways, has been a blessing. There are no major developments stretching along the shoreline here; instead the island today is a park and wildlife reserve, geared to beachcombers, nature lovers, and those simply seeking a quiet corner of the world. The only access to Matagorda Island State Park is by boat and ferry (from nearby Port O’Connor), and facilities are mostly limited to primitive campsites... Rate: Be the first to Rank Location: North America
Roatan Honduras Bring your underwater watch. Dive masters have charted more than 100 scuba and snorkeling sites on Roatan, the largest of the three major Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, and it's easy to see why this island chain has become one of the Caribbean's diving meccas. A barrier reef (which extends north to Belize) lies just a few hundred feet offshore from the northern side of Roatan, and the warm, clear waters are home to nearly all of the tropical fish and corals of the Caribbean. Divers here have a smorgasbord of choices, from caves and canyons to swim-throughs and sand chutes. Granted,.. Rate: Location: Central America
Belize Belize isn't an island – but it should be. When visitors first started coming in numbers to this country just south of Mexico on the Caribbean a decade or so ago, they usually made a quick bead to its offshore islands. The largest of them, Ambergris Caye (pronounce it KEY, as in Key West), has a scattering of mostly low-key resorts popular with divers and fishermen and a town (San Pedro) with sand streets and a lively nightlife of dance clubs. Sound a bit like Margaritaville? Well, Margaritaville should have diving this good. The barrier reef that stretches the length of Belize (and continues.. Rate: Location: Caribbean Islands / Central America
Heron Scores of islands are scattered off Australia, between the Queensland coast and the Great Barrier Reef, but Heron Island is actually on the reef. So where a trip to the reef from some islands means a long boat ride, on Heron the coral country is right at the front door. Heron is not a large island (you can saunter around its white-sand perimeter in a hour), but it is a protected sanctuary for both sea turtles and birds; watching turtle hatchlings make their perilous journey to the sea is a prime activity around the Christmas season. Still, it is the diving that's the main attraction,.. Rate: Location: New Zealand / Australia
Whitsundays Lying just off the Queensland coast and sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays are Australia's answer to the cruising grounds of the Caribbean, and home to the island continent's largest fleet of charter yachts. The 74 islands – most of them in pristine national parks – offer a lifetime's worth of quiet anchorages and empty white-sand beaches fanned by steady breezes virtually every day of the year. Whether you're out for a daysail, on a crewed yacht, or bareboating on your own, traveling by boat also opens the way to the great snorkeling and fishing found in.. Rate: Location: New Zealand / Australia

Florida

Most people who come to Sanibel and Captiva, twin barrier islands off Florida's Gulf Coast, share a single passion: seashells. This is, after all, the home of the “Sanibel Stoop,” a posture folks assume while scouring the sandy shoreline for the more than 200 varieties of shells that wash ashore after storms. Streets here are named for shells, and the leading cultural attraction is a museum devoted to them. In fact, the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is the only one of its kind in the United States, with a remarkable collection not only from Southwest Florida but also from around the world. Even..

Rate:

Location: North America

Andros

Islands of the Bahamas

Largest of the many Islands of The Bahamas (104 x 40 miles), mysterious, mangrove-choked Andros is also the least explored, which means that you'll be sharing space with more terns and whistling tree ducks than humans--and maybe even a chickcharnie or two, those mischievous mythical inhabitants that are exclusive to this island. Reputed to be elfin creatures with three fingers, three toes, and red eyes, chickcharnies bring lifelong good luck to anyone lucky enough to see one. Andros even has its own "Loch Ness Monster," a dragon-like sea monster called the Lusca. No wonder the island was called..

Rate:

Location: Caribbean Islands > Islands of the Bahamas

Caye Caulker

Belize

Divers and fly-fishermen know Caye Caulker well, but it’s only in recent years that the island has become a popular Belizean getaway for that vast tribe of savvy travelers who judge a place by the availability of hammocks, cold beer, and time for a good book. The island, which sits less than a mile inside Belize’s long barrier reef, is just four miles long and the streets are white sand (which helps explain why golf carts are the most popular way of getting around). Locals say that if you want to know what San Pedro, the main town on neighboring Ambergris Caye, 12 miles to the north, was like..

Rate:

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Location: Caribbean Islands / Central America

Jekyll Island

If you adjust the dollars for inflation, John D. Rockefeller was twice as wealthy as Bill Gates (at the height of the tech boom). So, in the late 1800s, when Rockefeller and a few of his wealthy playmates (Astor, Gould, Morgan among them) settled on Jekyll Island as a winter getaway, they formed what has been called the richest, most exclusive club in the world. How rich? It’s been estimated that the membership of Jekyll Island Club once represented one-sixth of the world’s wealth. The clubhouse and many of the mansion-sized “cottages” they built still stand today, but the once-private barrier..

Rate:

Be the first to Rank

Location: North America

Hiva Oa

Marquesas Islands

It's never been all that easy to get to Hiva Oa – and that was part of the attraction for the likes of Paul Gauguin (who came here to escape the "Western influences" in the Tahiti of 1901), and Thor Heyerdahl (who, a decade before sailing Kon Tiki across the Pacific, came here with his young bride to live the "simple life. " And some things haven't changed – particularly the drop-dead natural beauty of the Marquesas Islands. The most northern island group in French Polynesia, (nearly a thousand miles from Tahiti), the Marquesas are rugged volcanic islands: There is no barrier reef..

Rate:

Be the first to Rank

Location: South Pacific

Matagorda

On the Gulf of Mexico, about halfway in the lineup of barrier islands between Galveston and South Padre Island, Matagorda has been hammered by storms over the last two centuries – and that, in some ways, has been a blessing. There are no major developments stretching along the shoreline here; instead the island today is a park and wildlife reserve, geared to beachcombers, nature lovers, and those simply seeking a quiet corner of the world. The only access to Matagorda Island State Park is by boat and ferry (from nearby Port O’Connor), and facilities are mostly limited to primitive campsites...

Rate:

Be the first to Rank

Location: North America

Roatan

Honduras

Bring your underwater watch. Dive masters have charted more than 100 scuba and snorkeling sites on Roatan, the largest of the three major Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, and it's easy to see why this island chain has become one of the Caribbean's diving meccas. A barrier reef (which extends north to Belize) lies just a few hundred feet offshore from the northern side of Roatan, and the warm, clear waters are home to nearly all of the tropical fish and corals of the Caribbean. Divers here have a smorgasbord of choices, from caves and canyons to swim-throughs and sand chutes. Granted,..

Rate:

Location: Central America

Belize

Belize isn't an island – but it should be. When visitors first started coming in numbers to this country just south of Mexico on the Caribbean a decade or so ago, they usually made a quick bead to its offshore islands. The largest of them, Ambergris Caye (pronounce it KEY, as in Key West), has a scattering of mostly low-key resorts popular with divers and fishermen and a town (San Pedro) with sand streets and a lively nightlife of dance clubs. Sound a bit like Margaritaville? Well, Margaritaville should have diving this good. The barrier reef that stretches the length of Belize (and continues..

Rate:

Location: Caribbean Islands / Central America

Heron

Scores of islands are scattered off Australia, between the Queensland coast and the Great Barrier Reef, but Heron Island is actually on the reef. So where a trip to the reef from some islands means a long boat ride, on Heron the coral country is right at the front door. Heron is not a large island (you can saunter around its white-sand perimeter in a hour), but it is a protected sanctuary for both sea turtles and birds; watching turtle hatchlings make their perilous journey to the sea is a prime activity around the Christmas season. Still, it is the diving that's the main attraction,..

Rate:

Location: New Zealand / Australia

Whitsundays

Lying just off the Queensland coast and sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays are Australia's answer to the cruising grounds of the Caribbean, and home to the island continent's largest fleet of charter yachts. The 74 islands – most of them in pristine national parks – offer a lifetime's worth of quiet anchorages and empty white-sand beaches fanned by steady breezes virtually every day of the year. Whether you're out for a daysail, on a crewed yacht, or bareboating on your own, traveling by boat also opens the way to the great snorkeling and fishing found in..

Rate:

Location: New Zealand / Australia

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