Ten thousand years ago, glaciers pushed their way down the East Coast and left behind the rocks and soil that was to form this little paradise that we call home. The result was a cozy community (only around 800 folks in the winter), a land of stunning vistas and a very fragile ecosystem that we have had the good fortune to preserve for all to share. Because of the particular forces of nature that went to work on Block Island, no other place on earth shares its geography, nor its balance of species. A rarity, indeed.
Block Island is a rarity in another sense; it's a place that moves at ...
BIOLOGY
The Hawaiian Islands have a wide variety of plant, marine and animal life. Vegetation zones include: coastal, dryland forest, mixed open forest, rain forest, subalpine and alpine. More than 90 percent of the native plants and animals living in Hawaii are found nowhere else in the world, and a greater variety of fish exist in Hawaiian waters than elsewhere. The humuhumunukunukuapuaa is the official state fish.
Hawaii is sometimes called the Endangered Species Capital of the World. At least one third of all the endangered species in the United States are found in Hawaii including th...
Manuel Antonio National Park
The three sweeping strands of pristine white beach that flow into the Pacific Ocean are only part of what makes this place paradise. Manuel Antonio National Park is where the jungle meets the sea. The beaches are long, wide and covered with beautiful soft sand, bordered by tall evergreen jungle on one side, and blue Pacific Ocean on the other. Cliffs overgrown by dense jungle vegetation surround the beaches and in spots the forest sweeps down to the edge of the water sheltering swimmers from the sun. In order to protect the parks eco-system, entrance to the park...
Cat Island may have derived its name from Arthur Catt, the famous British sea captain or notorious pirate (depending on whose side you were on). A competing source for the name are the hordes of wild cats that the English encountered here on arrival in the 1600s. The cats were said to be descendants of their tamer cousins orphaned by the early Spanish colonists in their rush to find the gold of South America.
This boot-shaped, untamed island is one of the most beautiful and fertile of The Bahamas. A lush sanctuary, it provides tranquillity for those seeking an escape from the pressures of ...
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...
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 campsite...
Aruba is not your typically lush margaritaville. Located deep in the southern Caribbean, just 15 miles off the coast of Venezuela and outside the hurricane belt, its arid interior landscape appears to be straight out of Arizona. But people sure do love it.
Like its sister isles of Bonaire and Curaçao (together, the three make up the "ABC" islands), Aruba has a character and architecture defined by its Dutch heritage and its proximity to South America. As a modern vacation spot, this Netherland Antilles island covers all the bases, with deluxe resorts, powdery white sands, 27 dive si...
Longing for the bygone, uncrowded days of the Cote de Azur? Look no further than offshore, to Iles d’Hyeres, a trio of islands that still proffer the best of the South of France: long days of sun, warm water, and Provencal cuisine. The largest and most popular of the group is Porquerolles, which in 1912 was purchased as a wedding present by a wealthy Frenchman – who promptly planted a large vineyard. Today the island and its small village remain a place where the good things in life (food, wine, sailing) are still the cornerstones of day-to-day living.
A 20-minute ferry ride from the mainl...
It's not hard to fall in love with an island. In the 1950s an American sailor fell hard for the beautiful bays, beaches, and steep hills of St. John, and because the sailor happened to be Laurance Rockefeller, he bought more than half of the island. Luckily for all of us, Rockefeller gave away most of his purchase to help create Virgin Islands National Park.
Today that 11,000-acre park is an oasis of untrammeled nature in the U. S. Virgin Islands. You'll need a 4X4 to cover most of the island, and seasoned visitors to the island often arrive with both hiking boots and swim fins in ...
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 ...
