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 ...
Geography
New Zealand is situated the same distance eastwards from Australia as London is to Moscow. So if anybody tells you it's right next to Australia, tell them to go away.
It is bigger than Connecticut, but smaller than Canada.
There are two main islands - The North Island and The South Island. There is also about a zillion other islands dotted around and about, none of which need concern you.
The South Island is slightly bigger than the North Island, but South Islanders that refer to themselves as "Mainlanders" are *&^%$#.
The largest city in New Zealand is Auckland,...
In the days when sugar was the engine that drove the economy of the West Indies, Nevis was known as the "Queen of the Caribbees. " That was a tribute in part to the island's natural beauty, and also to the glittering social life in the plantation houses – a time epitomized by the courtship of a dashing young British naval officer, Horatio Nelson, and his soon-to-be-bride, Fanny Nisbet. What's remarkable about Nevis is that it has lost neither its natural heritage nor its sense of history.
Until recently those plantation houses, transformed into stylish, intimate country inns, set th...
Traditional Mai Tai: Recipe from The Royal Hawaiian hotel on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu
1 oz dark rum
1 oz light rum
1 oz orange curacao
2 oz orange juice
1/2 oz lime juice
dash orgeat
dash simple syrup
Painkiller: The official drink of the BVI; recipe from Pusser’s Rum
2, 3 or 4 oz of Pusser’s Rum
4 parts pineapple juice to one each of cream of coconut and orange juice
grate fresh nutmeg on top
Rum Swizzle: Traditional cocktail from Bermuda; recipe from Swizzle Inn, Bermuda’s oldest pub and home of the Rum Swizzle. Serves 6.
4 oz Goslings Black Seal Rum
4 ...
Together with Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island, Destin is part of a 24-mile stretch of silky white sand beach in Northwest Florida known as the Emerald Coast.
"Destin has rightly earned a reputation for having some of the best beaches in the United States but beware -- the reflection of the sugar white sands makes sunglasses and sunscreen a must. "
A little Background: Destin was founded by Capt. Leonard Destin, a New Englander who moved to the area more than a century ago to work in the red snapper fishing industry still retains the title of "World's Luckiest Fishing Vill...
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...
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...
Three hundred years ago a small band of English pilgrims, seeking religious freedom, landed on this island and gave it the ethereal name, Eleuthera, which means "Freedom" in Greek. The name seems to be as apt today as it was then. Eleuthera, delivers on its initial promise by bestowing its gifts upon the lucky who've stumbled upon it, or the smart who know to go there. Miles of glistening pink and white sand beaches, serene colonial villages, and the rolling acres of pineapple plantations make Eleuthera an island of the most casual sophistication. The cool laziness of Eleutherean life and ...
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...