windsurfing - Search Results

Kailua, meaning "two seas," is a beautiful community located on the scenic southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Kailua’s beach park has become known as the windsurfing capital of the world. Its steady off shore trade wind, a protective coral reef and consistent water temperature of 75° Fahrenheit (25° C) makes Kailua perfect for year round water sports. Kailua Beach has been rated by Conde Nast as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world so many times that is has been removed from the Conde Naste list to allow other beaches a chance to win. This is also the most popular...

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 made...

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...

Captivated by the island he named Hispaniola on his first voyage to the New World in 1492, Columbus returned here the following year to build the first Spanish city in the Americas. Five centuries later, the natural beauty that attracted the explorer is still evident in the D.R.'s magnificent mountains (including the Caribbean's loftiest, 10,414-foot-high Pico Duarte), rivers, waterfalls, and flawless white-sand beaches. What Columbus couldn't have envisioned are the upscale resorts that line some of those beaches and the 20-plus golf courses (including some of the Caribbean's...

Barbados, the easternmost of the West Indies, is sometimes called "Little England" for its resolutely British character. Here you can read the cricket headlines over a breakfast of bangers, enjoy afternoon tea at your hotel, even don a jacket for dinner. But those traditions sometimes take on a Bajan twist. Breakfast can also feature fried flying fish, the rum shops function as local versions of British pubs, and the island "tuk bands" feature both drums and pennywhistles. Beyond the busy streets of Bridgetown, this highly developed island offers all the creature comforts of a longstanding...

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...

Isla Margarita is a Caribbean island no one knows about – except Venezuelans, for whom this semi-desert island has long been a favorite getaway. Located just 25 miles off the South American coast and roughly halfway between Trinidad and Bonaire, Isla Margarita is anything but an undeveloped, back-of-beyond backwater – not with casinos, five-star hotels, a championship golf course, and a disco-rich nightlife in the main city, Porlamar. The resort-rich eastern part of the island has been called "Cancun South," but even that popular Mexican getaway must envy Margarita’s amazing collection of...

Warm sun, lots of beaches – and all the vast historical heritage of the Aegean? Well, chalk up one for Rhodes. On this Greek island, there’s no lack of sandy bays, mega-resorts, and watersports (snorkeling, windsurfing, and sailing are familiar favorites). But you’ll probably want a guidebook as much as a beach towel – and time to explore both ancient ruins and traditional mountain villages. Start at the northern tip of the island in the medieval city of Rhodes, where the old town is a labyrinthine maze of cobblestone streets and castles built by the Crusaders in the Knights’ Quarter along...

From the western shore of Molokai, you can gaze across the channel to the island of Oahu – but the world of Waikiki is light years from this quiet “Friendly Island.” Considered the birthplace of the hula, Molokai is where native Hawaiian culture has been woven most thoroughly into daily life. As a result, the place moves at its own languid pace. Lodgings here are limited to a single resort and a handful of small hotels and condominiums. The only town, three-block-long Kaunakakai, would look at home on a Wyoming back road. Recreational activities tend to be low-key: There's hiking (an easy...

Like Seychelles, its neighbor to the northwest, Mauritius enters the 21st century as an exotic alternative to more traditional sun-and-fun beach destinations. This Indian Ocean crossroads has seen its share of cultural collisions – Dutch, French, British, Indian, and Creole – and today those influences flavor the island's colorful mix of religious festivals, as well as its spicy cuisine. French colonial buildings line the streets of the capital, Port Louis (where the Natural History Museum exhibits include a replica of the ill-fated, extinct dodo bird), and hikers can explore a world of...