 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.
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 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 bar...
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 your idea of vacation fun starts with sand, sun, sea, and nonstop action, then you'll love Cancun. It wasn't always that way. In the 1970s Cancun was just a long sandspit and a small fishing village. The Mexican government, however, had a different future in mind for those white-sand beaches and that turquoise water, and now the resort island is dotted with about 100 hotels that can handle some to 2 million visitors a year. Much of the Cancun experience has been crafted to reflect popular American tastes. If you want to party till dawn, it's no problema.
You can also shop till ...
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 Islands of Fiji In a world where even small remote islands have become popular tourist destinations, it's increasingly rare to find a sizable South Pacific isle that has remained largely undeveloped. And therein lies the basic charm of Vanua Levu, the second largest among Fiji's 300 or so islands.
Just over 100 miles long Vanua Levu (pronounced vah-NEW-ah LAY-vu) is a good base for adventurous souls who prefer rainforest hikes, bird-watching, and snorkeling to, say, golf, tennis, and spas. The interior of the island is rugged, and green fields of sugar cane cover the north and west coasts like a s...
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