Antigua is an island that has always lived by the wind. In the late 18th century, when Horatio Nelson was still a captain, he made the island Great Britain's most important Caribbean naval center. Today the superbly restored dockyard that bears his name at English Harbour is home base for April's Sailing Week, the Caribbean's premier yachting event – and its most boisterous beach party.
As for beaches, Antigua's promoters like to say that the island has 365 of them, one for every day of the year. Certainly there are more beaches than you could ever stroll during a long holi...
Many visitors to Puerto Rico never leave the streets and plazas of San Juan, and that’s understandable, because this most beautiful of Caribbean cities can charm you in a way few tropical getaways can. Walk along the narrow cobblestone lanes and gaze at the wrought-iron balconies, archways, and plazas, and you are in an 18th-century Spanish colonial city, alive with antique shops, art galleries, and small cafés. By night, this is a city that lives by its after-hours diversions, set to the rhythms of hip-swiveling Salsa.
But there are also other, less familiar Puerto Ricos. Sun-and-sand love...
An unspoiled corner of Fiji, Kadavu is a beautiful mountainous island with waterfalls, rounded hilltops, outstanding beaches and high rocky cliffs. It offers interesting bush walks, charming rockpools, luxuriant native trees and fascinating birdlife, particularly the famous red and green Kadavu parrots.
Kadavu (pronounced Kahn-da-voo), has a population of approximately 8700 and lies only 88 kilometers south of Suva. Kadavu is approximately 48 kilometers in length and varies in width from 365 meters to 13 kilometers. Its area is 411 square kilometers, just a bit less than Taveuni. Kadavu ha...
This is an Ile des Pins story: During the world windsurfing championships held in New Caledonia in 1999, board sailors suddenly stopped in the middle of the competition and dropped their sails to take in the sheer beauty of the Isle of Pines…Yes, another contender for the most-beautiful-island-on-the-planet title.
Capt. James Cook named it in 1774 for the tree-rich landscape, but it’s the gloriously clear waters offshore, bordered by some of the most stunning beaches (Kuto and Kanumera are the best known) in the entire South Pacific, that enthrall travel-weary visitors. This is an island m...
What we think of as Bimini is actually two separate islands, North and South Bimini, separated by a shallow, narrow channel. North Bimini, the focus of the population and activities, consists of a strip of land 7 miles long and no wider than 700 yards. South Bimini, has a small airstrip and two hotels. As a result, it's silent and rustic, while still offering easy access via water to the North Bimini happenings.
Despite the fact that Bimini is the Bahamian island closest to the United States, sitting only 48 miles east of Miami, its easy way of life is reminiscent of the past. The isla...
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 c...
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 l...
Several islands lay claim to their own “Bali Hai,” but it was on Vanuatu’s largest island, Espiritu Santo, that James Michener, gazing over the blue Pacific toward a nearby island during WWII, found his original South Pacific inspiration.
Like Fiji, Vanuatu is not actually an island but rather a chain of islands. Once known as the New Hebrides, the archipelago is an endless chain of fine beaches, amazing diving, volcanoes, the scent of frangipani in the air…in other words, all the stage settings for a few classic tales of the South Pacific. On the main island, Efate, the capital of Port Vi...
Jamaica is greater than the sum of its parts. But for many visitors, the only part they see is one of four major resort areas. There's always-lively Montego Bay, with its beaches, golf, shopping, and nightlife and Ocho Rios, known for its beaches and upscale resorts, while Negril, aka Beach Party Central, pulls in the younger set, and Port Antonio is a lush, quiet getaway.
Visitors who explore find a beautiful island, a vibrant culture that goes far beyond reggae, and endless opportunities to play under the sun. You can golf, horseback ride, or dive (on wrecks and among the ruins of a ...
The words on the license plates are a clue: "Diver's Paradise. " From fantastic snorkeling just off the beach (just imagine being dropped into a tropical fish tank) to deep wall dives, Bonaire offers what is arguably the best diving in the Caribbean. Much of the credit goes to its visionary Marine Park – the island waters have been protected since 1979.
Yet Bonaire is no one-hit wonder. Sure, other watersports are popular (windsurfers find steady tradewinds and a conveniently shallow sandy bottom at Lac Bay) and it's not hard to find a secluded beach (the black sands of Boca Cocolis...
Cayman Islands
