Cuba

Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, is being reborn. Old Havana is becoming a restored gem, taking on the aura of a totally preserved museum city. Art galleries and local culture are alive in well in Cuba and the feeling is one of hope and optimism.

Cuba offers so much to the traveler: mountain peaks, beaches, nightlife, history, culture, and water sports.

Cuba Museums offer indoor activities should you get enough of the sun and fun. Visit the Automobile Deposit Museum in Havana for beautifully preserved antique and specialty cars.

Old Havanna is coming back to life with Spanish gardens and colonial architecture fixed up. Visit Hispanic palaces who have new life as resorts and then see where “Papa” Ernest Hemingway hung out when in Cuba.

Hemingway fans should see Hotel Ambos Mundos, which is now a tourist attraction. This is where he kept a studio for writing. See his actual typewriter and the gorgeous view of the harbor from his balcony. The top floor was a bar that served drinks with Cuban limes, rum and Cuban cane. Hemingway’s estate was just outside Havana and is also now a tourist attraction. See Hemingway’s boat Pilar here, and a cemetery just for his dogs.

Yachters will love the new marinas being built to go with the classy large hotels on the waterfront. One such new resort is called Tropicana, which they call “Paradise Under the Stars”. There are sweeping grounds of lush foliage and rainforest blooms. The caberet show is fabulous!

Cuba is the Caribbean’s most populated country, at around eleven million. Cuba is huge! If you take all the other Caribbean islands and lay them side by side, it’s about the same size as Cuba. The history is fascinating, and culture abounds everywhere you go in Cuba, not just Havana.

Culture and history are fascinating, but the number one attraction in Cuba is Varadero Beach. It’s a long strip of land covered in sandy gorgeous beaches. Well-heeled families from the United States had homes here in the 1950s, before the political problems with Cuba. The Dupont family’s former estate is now called Xanadu.

Top

Anguilla

Anguilla offers travelers the best of the Caribbean: beaches, sand, clear turquoise waters, and pristine natural resources to explore, without all the extras that you’ll find on some of the other Caribbean Islands. That is, Anguilla doesn’t have casinos, hot nightclub action, tourist shopping malls, nude beaches, and other trappings of developed tourist destinations.

Anguilla is visited mostly by very wealthy and famous travelers. The resorts here are top notch, world-class establishments, and these people pay lots of money to stay at them undisturbed.
But Anguilla is much more than a haven for the exclusively rich and famous. Anguilla is known for fresh lobster grilled right on the beach, a delight not to miss if you have the chance.

If you tire of the beaches and fabulous watersports, an in-town stroll in Anguilla is also a delight. The architecture is a wonderful mix of mediterranean-style villas, wooden caribbean bungalows, and Greek island style white and blue resorts. You could say the architecture of Anguilla is a mix of styles from the best resort spots in the world.

Traditionally, residents of Anguilla have been fishermen and builders of boats. Their boats are painted in bright Caribbean pastels and are capable of venturing way offshore for the best fish.

Also in town you can visit the Anguilla Natural Trust Museum. This museum focuses on the natural beauty of Anguilla, and some cultural history like the Anguilla Revolution. Also learn about the Salt Industry and the coral reef that lies just beyond the sandy beaches of Anguilla. The Ambylhryza, or giant prehistoric rat is also explored here, if you like wildlife.

Top

Bahamas

The Bahamas are surrounded by lovely clear turquoise seas, making these islands ideal for a snorkeling, diving vacation.  The beaches are made of fine white sand, the waters are warm, and the weather is beautiful year-round.  What else is there to make the perfect tropical island vacation?  Thousands of visitors each year to the numerous islands of the <b>Bahamas</b> agree that this is the ideal setting for a Caribbean vacation.

The Bahamas can be divided into four main areas:

1. New Providence
2. Out Islands
3. Grand Bahama
4. Abaco

New Providence is where the capital is located, and where most Bahamas cruise ships come into port.  The capital is Nassau, and because Nassau is so widely known throughout the world, many visitors think the island of New Providence is actually called Nassau.  About two-thirds of the Bahamas

If you plan on some snorkeling or diving while on vacation in The Bahamas, Grand Bahama may be the better island for you. This is also a good island to stay on if you want to try some eco tours, kayaking, jeep safaris, trekking, or bird watching. You can even go horseback riding on Grand Bahama. If you need a break from all that adventure, go to Lucaya or Freeport for shopping and marketplace.

The Out Islands of the Bahamas cover just about every other inhabited island besides New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco. This makes about twenty islands. In all The Bahamas, there are dozens more uninhabited islands to explore…over 2,000 actually! The Bahamas cover more than 100,000 square miles of ocean, with the islands spread throughout from top to bottom, east to west.

The Out Islands are undergoing slight bit of development, encouraged by the Bahamian government to foster tourism. For example, on Andros, the Berry Islands and Bimini, large hotels, casino and golf course with marina are being built. On Exuma, a resort community is undergoing development, with golf course and run by Four Seasons.

All the Out Islands are fantastic for diving and snorkeling as well as sport fishing. Each island has its own charm. Great Stirrup Cay cas an lighthouse from the 1800s, for example. The Berry Islands are known for fishing and yachting.

Abaco offers deep sea fishing, flats fishing, snorkeling tours, scuba diving, and more. There are plenty of facilities for water sports on Abaco in the Bahamas. It’s surrounded by rocks and outcroppings, so fishing is good too. Sailboating is very good here because of it’s protected location.

You can’t miss, no matter what Bahamas island you visit since they are all fantasic for anything you’d dream of for a tropical vacation…beaches, resorts, snorkeling, scuba and fishing. Come to the Bahamas and find out what your favorite island is!

Top

Turks and Caicos

Turks and Caicos are a British Colony known for great beaches and exciting watersports. The eight main islands of Turks and Caicos are low-lying, and were once part of The Bahamas. There is a living coral reef system that attracts divers from all over the world, and the islands themselves are mostly undeveloped and exist in their natural state. Fresh seafood is done well here, with conch, lobster, crab and of course fresh fish fixed in tropical recipes that you’ll want to recreate at home.

Turks & Caicos specialize in traditional food and traditional island music as well. Be sure catch some island entertainment to round out your Caribbean vacation.

Turks and Caicos used to be part of the UK’s Jamaican colony. Then they were part of the Bahamas until 1973. Turks and Caicos were supposed to become independent from Britain in 1982 but they remain a British overseas territory to this day. The official language is English.

There are two main island groups that make up Turks and Caicos, located north of Haity and southeast of The Bahamas. The weather here is tropical and dry, in other words perfect! There are mangroves here like many of the Caribbean Islands, and the terrain is quite flat. There are around forty islands in the Turks and Caicos, with eight of them inhabited.
About 175,000 visitors come to the Turks and Caicos Islands each year. Tourism is the main industry here, and second is offshore financial services. Turks and Caicos residents also produce some beans, corn, cassava, and citrus but most for domestic consumption. They do export some lobster, conch shells, and conch. Mostly they trade with the UK and the United States.

Visitors to Turks and Caicos mostly come for the nearly always sunny weather and perfect fine sandy white beaches. There are plenty of things to do on top of lolling about at your resort or hanging out on the beautiful beaches, all 230 miles of them! Try offshore fishing, scuba, snorekling, or duty-free shopping. Turks and Caicos have one of the longest reef sections in the Caribbean so scuba and snorkeling are superb here. Even dining out is a treat here on Turks and Caicos, with local seafood specialties cooked with a Caribbean flavor. Delicious!

The island of Providenciales has some of the best upscale resort hotels. Grand Turk also has its share of grand international style all-inclusive resorts. The other islands of the Turks and Caicos have more casual accommodations.

Top

St. Barts

St. Barts is everything you’d want in the glitziest, must upscale exciting Caribbean Vaction imaginable. The fanciest resorts, the best French dining, top-notch service, St. Barts is first class all the way. It’s won all sorts of travel awards, from Conde Nast it got named one of twenty Edens left on Earth.Indeed, St Barts has done a wonderful job of preserving its natural resources. One of the reasons for this is that there was never a plantation industry on St. Barts. Therefore, hills and valleys were never ploughed over but rather left au naturel in all their tropical lush splendor. Very unspoiled terrain and no slave industry to speak of help make St Barts the paradise it is today.

Climb the island’s tallest mountain, at almost 1000 feet, and you can see neighboring St Kitts and Sint Eustatius in the distance. St Barts was once a colony of Sweden, the only colony ever posessed by this country. Today you can see evidence of this in Swedish street names but that’s about all that’s left over from the days of Swedish rule. It was back in the late 1700s, after all.

St. Barts is the most European of all the Caribbean Islands, in that the culture is very Old World. There are upscale art galleries, fine restaurants are the norm, there’s an emphasis on wine and wine culture, and European-style bakeries and bistros as well as boutiques are everywhere in Gustavia, the capital city of St. Barts.

Although Gustavia is the capital, the tourism center is actually a town called St. Jean. Fine stone architecture and red tile roofs. Restaurants feature food imported daily from France aboard small planes. Feeding the world’s celebrities and ultra rich is a demanding business after all. Before celebrity actors, musicians and fashion moguls discovered St. Barts, it was the Caribbean vacation spot of Rockefellers and Rothschilds.

Beaches may sport topless people, but nudity is a no-non on St. Barts beaches even though it’s so European. Try watersports, boating, fishing and horseback riding, or do nothing at all. St. Barts is the perfect island in the Caribbean for anything at all.

Top

Martinique

Martinique is officially part of France, like Hawaii is part of the United States only separated by miles and miles of ocean. There are French products for sale in all the stores, the bakeries sell baguettes, and many of the beaches are nude beaches. Beauty queens have emerged from Martinique for centuries, starting with Napoleon’s Josephine. Her home is a tourist attraction these days. Other historical beauties have come from Martinique as well. This is where Paul Gaugin painted lovely tropical beauties in the nineteenth century, after all, and the beauty of Martinique continues to inspire artists and travelers to this day.

Paul Gaugin’s paintings made Martinique famous. They conjured tropical paradise and beautiful women, much like today’s travelers hope to find on this lovely island. His seascapes and landscapes are on display in the world’s best museums and can also be found in any art book. Many Gaugin artifacts are on display where he painted his famous works. You can look down from his old studio and see an old village below that was destroyed in 1902 when volcanic Mount Pelee exploded and covered the village, Pompeii style, in ash and lava.

The standard of living on Martinique is much higher than on other Caribbean islands. Citizens of Martinique have social and civil benefits of French citizens such as universal healthcare, long paid vacations, maternity and paternity leaves and more. The capital city of Fort-de-France is tres chic. It faces a bay, on which a ferry runs, taking visitors to tourist attractions and beaches across the way.

Although Martinique is part of France and the islanders are Tres Chic, they haven’t forgotton their West Indian Creole heritage. Zouk music, and cuisine will remind you that you aren’t actually in mainland France.

Things to see include Empress Josephine’s birthplace, a former sugar estate, now a museum. Called Musée de la Pagerie, it’s a beautiful stone building containing her childhood things, love letters from Napoleon, and antique equipment for the sugarcne business. Hear about her life as you tour the grounds.

Another sight in Martinique worth visiting is Les Ombrages. This is a botanical garden set on a former rum distillery. By the way, Martiniques are in love with rum! Walk the trail past bamboo, ginger, and an old mill.

La Savane is Martinique’s wonder central park full of bamboo, tall trees and benches. Buy souvenirs from the vendors and visit the statues around the park dedicated to early settlers and fallen soldiers. The park is off Rue de la Liberty, and you will see Empress Joesphine holding a locket with Napoleon’s portrait inside. The head was chopped off years ago and red paint was poured over the statue to the former empress. Many Martiniques believe that Josephine convinced Napoleon not to end slavery in the French West Indies so that her family’s sugar plantation could continue to prosper.

Whether you come to Martinique for the history, the beaches or the watersports, you’re sure to have the best Caribbean vacation ever, French style!

Top

Suriname

Suriname offers the best in Caribbean travel combined with all the splendor and excitement of Las Vegas. If you’re into glitzy gambling and and the fanfare that accompanies it, the Suriname is tropical retreat made just for you. There’s a 15,000 square foot casino, shows, wedding chapels, amazing shows and Suriname’s version of Elvis. Vegas with a tropical flavor!

Lounge in sprawling Shangri-La type pools with high waterfalls above you.  Feast on Polynesian food at a luau, soothe yourself in therapy pools, or buy trinkets at an Oriental Marketplace.  All this in addition to the beaches, water sports snorkeling, diving, and fishing adds up to a totally exciting and super Caribbean vacation. 

Suriname was owned by the British in the seventeenth century but they traded it with the Dutch for Manhattan.  Quite an investment! 

Suriname does feel just like the real Las Vegas sometimes.  Even the hotel names are the same as you’d find in Vegas.  Happily for Caribbean vacationers, rooms at the Suriname versions of the famous Vegas hotels cost just a fraction of their original counterparts.  The largest and most dazzling of the Vegas-style hotels in Suriname is the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino.  This is where you will see a two-storey waterfall and 15,000 square feet of gambling floors. 

The Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino is in the capital city of Paramaribo, as are the other major casino properties and large hotels.  Paramaribo means city of flowers.  If you come to Suriname on vacation, Paramaribo has lots to offer land lubbers besides casinos.  You can tour the Presidential Palace, the Garden of the Palms, or the centuries-old Fort Zeelandia to begin with. 

One of the largest wooden buildings in South America is found in Paramirabo, the cathedral of St. Petrus and Paulus.  Actually, the architecture of Paramirabo is worthy of a tour itself.  There are plenty of examples of remaining Dutch architecture influences around the city, and since it’s set in a tropical location, makes for wonderful travel photographs.

Suriname gained independence in 1975 but ties to Holland remain strong.  You can see this in street names, as well as who they trade with.  The Dutch are the main trading partner of goods from Suriname. 

Less than half a million people live on the island, and most of them live in the capital city.  The interior of the island is jungle, rain forest, and lush tropical wilderness.  Eco tours are pretty wild here, and make a good balance of activity for those who come to gamble and soak up the Vegas-style ambiance in the Caribbean. 

Top

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic lies on the eastern part of the second-largest island in the Caribbean.  The other part, much smaller, is Haiti.  The entire island, called Hispaniola, is covered in sweeping mountains lined with natural beaches.  The Dominican Republic has much Spanish colonial architecture left over from the imperial days, making Santo Domingo one of the loveliest restored cities in the Caribbean Islands.  In fact, the it’s the oldest city in the Caribbean Islands, and a very important historical capital.  Columbus’ remains were once housed here. 

The Dominican Republic has a stately waterfront highway called the malecon.  Drive along this fringe and watch the beautiful beaches roll by.  Some of the best resorts in all the Caribbean Islands are found here on these beaches.  Actually, the Dominican Republic has many bests, biggests and mosts.  Some of the best amber is found in the Dominican Republic.   The tourist corridor of beaches is known as the Amber Coast. 

The highest mountain peak is found in the Dominican Republic:  Pico Duarte at 10,416 feet.  There are plenty of ways to enjoy yourself on eco tours and safaris.  Choose from dozens of charter companies, jeep rentals, and private guides for your favorite way to explore nature’s bounty and see the country.  The Dominican Republic is one of the most populated countries in the Caribbean, with 8 million residents, but the island is big and you can easily get close to nature. 

Miles and miles of white sandy beaches have attracted celebrities and stars from the fashion world for years, in addition to regular tourists.  There’s a resort for everyone in the Dominican Republic, from budget-friendly all-inclusives to the most exclusive resorts that will pamper you to your heart’s desire.  The all-inclusives wil offer you buffets, water sports, excursions, and shows.  Some will also have marinas, golf, and lots of things for kids to do. 

While vacationing in the Dominican Republic, make sure to get some merengue time in!  Music and dance are cherished here, and the while the national sport may be baseball, the traditional favorite dance is certainly the merengue. 

All this and more, and since of course the Dominican Republic is a Caribbean island, you get snorkeling, fishing, diving, watersports.  Take in some canyons on an eco trek to the mountains.  Go horseback riding, even take some dance classes and wow your friends back home as you merengue, salsa, Son and Bachata.

Top

Trinidad and Tobago

The twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago will quickly win over any traveler seeking the perfect tropical vacation. With lush scenery, perfect beaches and a diverse landscape to explore, visitors have plenty to do. With fine French-inspired cuisine and amazing resorts of Trinidad and Tobago, guests will feel as if they’ve landed in Paradise.

There are stunning mountain peaks on the islands, so if trekking and exploring are on your agenda, get ready for some stunning views and climbs amid lush green leafy trails that open up at the top over wide beach vistas far below. Bring your camera because the view from atop any Trinidad and Tobago peak is awesome!

Anyone traveling to the Caribbean for a vacation knows that the Caribbean Sea offers great fishing, diving, and snorkeling.  All the Caribbean islands offer charter trips for all the traditional watersports, plus tourist activities like parasailing, jet ski rentals, and dolphin tours.  Trinidad and Tobago are no exception.  With all types of charter excursions available, you’ll have a had time squeezing everything in!  Go for an scuba adventure safari if you can’t decide.  These tours combine scuba diving, watersports and eco safaris for a complete day of fun in the water.

Beaches are plentiful on both islands, but some of the best are on Tobago.  Try Castara and Parlatuvier, and also Englishman’s Bay.  Some of the resorts on the islands are close to golf courses, and others specialize in beach vacations as they are set up facing the beaches. 

All the resorts and in fact all the charters offer excellent customer service.  Trinidad and Tobago residents are multi-cultural.  The official language is English, as Trinidad and Tobago were once part of the British Empire.  However, many languages are spoken all over the islands. 

Speaking of tourist-friendly islands, Trinidad and Tobago use the Trinidad Dollar (TT$) but the US Dollar is widely accepted.  Traveller’s checks are still widely accepted as well. 

Getting to Trinidad and Tobago is now easier than ever.  There are nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Piarco International Airport in Trinidad.

Things to know:  it’s illegal in Trinidad and Tobago to wear camoflage clothing!  So leave those Army camos at home and opt for the basic t-shirt instead. 

If you’re in Trinidad and Tobago in late August, you get a bonus on August 31, as this is their Independence Day.  Trinidad and Tobago are not only independent from Great Britain, they were the first in the West Indies to become a republic.

Top

Montserrat

Monserrat is a small island in the Caribbean, known for its lush green landscape and Irish flavor. Called the “Emerald Isle of Eden”, Montserrat was settled by Irish, the first Europeans to arrive here. St Patrick’s Day is big here, and these modern-day Irish-Caribbeans celebrate their heritage every way they can. Imagine St Patrick’s Day celebrated with steel drum parades!
Montserrat has volcanoes, and ancient volcanic ash has made the soil so fertile the foliage is spectacular here. Actually, not all volcanic eruptions in Montserrat are ancient! The Soufriere Hills volcano erupted recently, but Montserrat’s citizens are recovering nicely. It’s a chance to build new, better villas and hotels, with a leaning toward ecotourism and the environment. A chance to be more green, in this already very green country, in so many ways.
Montserrat is also called the Island of Villas because so many retirees have built second homes here. There are woodlands in Montserrat, and combined with the tropical setting, makes for the perfect spot for retirement or for a vacation home.

For dining, even the local specialty is green. Giant frog legs can be found on many menus of Montserrat, sometimes called Mountain Chicken for the squeamish.  This dish does kind of taste like chicken. 

With town names like St. Peter’s, St. John’s, and St. Patrick’s, Montserrat reminds you at every turn that this island was settled by the Irish.  Take a look at the architecture, too.  You will see building made of large square stones, like towns in Ireland.  Montserrat is dependent on Great Britain for survival, after the volcano and Hurricane Hugo.  There are endless opportunities on this small island for responsible development and ecotourism.  You won’t find flashy casinos and upscale boutiques lining every street like on some other Caribbean islands, but the natural beauty and charm of the remaining population will make you fall in love with this Emerald Isle.

Top