St. Martin/Sint Maarten - What more can I say about this French/Dutch island than I have already said. When you assess my blog, click on St. Martin/Sint Maarten in the index and you can read all about the island of choice for Carol and me. Below is Great Bay Beach in Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side.
Aruba - We made a stop in Aruba in 2010 while on a cruise through the Panama Canal. Wasn't impressed, but that was because we went to Palm Beach and the day we visited, the water was cloudy and dirty. Most of the great resorts are located on the western side of the Dutch island for one reason: spectacular sunsets. We missed that! We have talked to many friends who just love this island. Photo below is from Palm Beach.
Bahamas - Heard of Nassau? Well, Cat Island is just 45 minutes from Nassau. It is a 48-mile-long coral outcrop just 265 miles east of Florida. Last year there were over 5 million travelers that ventured to the Bahamas, but only a fraction made a call on Cat. Cat island features empty pink-sand beaches, great diving and thatch-roof beach bars. What else could you want?
US Virgin Islands - St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John combine to form the USVI. St. Croix is the largest at 82 square miles, yet gets the least amount of tourists. We have traveled to all three of the islands twice. Our favorite, St. Thomas. Still remember the first time we visited Magen's Bay Beach. Unbelievable! Ranked as one of the top 10 beaches in the world by several magazines. Trunk Bay Beach, shown in the background of the photo below behind my wife and me, is on St. John's and is a National Park. I tried to take a small tree pod with me when I left and was made to put it back, since you may not remove anything from a US National Park.
Puerto Rico - Old San Juan is still numero uno in Puerto Rico, but tourists have started to explore about 40 miles to the east, to Vieques. The US Navy used to use Vieques as a target-practice center until 2003. A few of the beaches on Vieques have gained exposure on the worldwide top-10 list.
Bermuda - Sitting all alone in the Atlantic Ocean 650 miles east of north Carolina, Bermuda is a beauty. It's really not in the Caribbean, but always seems to be associated with all the other islands that are near and are in the Caribbean. The peak seasonb runs from spring to fall. In 2012 the island will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of St. George's Town, the 350 anniversary of Warwick Academy which is the oldest school in the western hemisphere, and the 200th anniversary of the Bermuda post Office which culminates with an April exhibition of stamps from Queen Elizabeth II's private collection
Cayman Islands - The Caymans are synonymous with deep-sea diving and offshore banking. We traveled to Grand Cayman in 2007 and found the island to be very expensive. Stopped for lunch and paid $12 for a burger. We did have a fantastic time swimming with the stingrays. We did this shortly after Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray. Still didn't stop us from adventuring in the water with these beautiful creatures. The Caymans are famous for their Seven Mile Beach. The photo below shows the many boats that have stopped to allow tourists the chance to swim with the stingrays.
Dominican Republic - This is a great place to find affordable all-inclusives, particularly in Punta Cana, on the island's east coast. The monkey jungle Dominicana, located between Cabarete and Sosua, features a zip line and suspension bridge tour which gives the profits to the free on-site medical and dental clinic, which is staffed by volunteers and treats patients who cannot not afford health care. Photo below is from Las Terrenas.
Jamaica - East to get to and they have numerous resorts to stay at. Many of the resorts are all-inclusive which makes it easy to travel to your resort and stay at the same location throughout your visit. I took the photo below when we visited Jamiaca. It is the raft station at the Martha Brae River. You ride a raft leisurely down the river toward the ocean while your guide points out the features of the island along the banks of the river. We traveled to Jamaica one time and will not return, since we didn't feel safe other than on our resort.
Trinidad & Tobago - Trinidad is the island that has restuarants, nightclubs and 96% of the countries population, while Tobago is a 116-square-mile haven that has empty beaches, calm bays and spectacular brain-coral reefs.
Aruba - We made a stop in Aruba in 2010 while on a cruise through the Panama Canal. Wasn't impressed, but that was because we went to Palm Beach and the day we visited, the water was cloudy and dirty. Most of the great resorts are located on the western side of the Dutch island for one reason: spectacular sunsets. We missed that! We have talked to many friends who just love this island. Photo below is from Palm Beach.
Bahamas - Heard of Nassau? Well, Cat Island is just 45 minutes from Nassau. It is a 48-mile-long coral outcrop just 265 miles east of Florida. Last year there were over 5 million travelers that ventured to the Bahamas, but only a fraction made a call on Cat. Cat island features empty pink-sand beaches, great diving and thatch-roof beach bars. What else could you want?
US Virgin Islands - St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John combine to form the USVI. St. Croix is the largest at 82 square miles, yet gets the least amount of tourists. We have traveled to all three of the islands twice. Our favorite, St. Thomas. Still remember the first time we visited Magen's Bay Beach. Unbelievable! Ranked as one of the top 10 beaches in the world by several magazines. Trunk Bay Beach, shown in the background of the photo below behind my wife and me, is on St. John's and is a National Park. I tried to take a small tree pod with me when I left and was made to put it back, since you may not remove anything from a US National Park.
Puerto Rico - Old San Juan is still numero uno in Puerto Rico, but tourists have started to explore about 40 miles to the east, to Vieques. The US Navy used to use Vieques as a target-practice center until 2003. A few of the beaches on Vieques have gained exposure on the worldwide top-10 list.
Bermuda - Sitting all alone in the Atlantic Ocean 650 miles east of north Carolina, Bermuda is a beauty. It's really not in the Caribbean, but always seems to be associated with all the other islands that are near and are in the Caribbean. The peak seasonb runs from spring to fall. In 2012 the island will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of St. George's Town, the 350 anniversary of Warwick Academy which is the oldest school in the western hemisphere, and the 200th anniversary of the Bermuda post Office which culminates with an April exhibition of stamps from Queen Elizabeth II's private collection
Cayman Islands - The Caymans are synonymous with deep-sea diving and offshore banking. We traveled to Grand Cayman in 2007 and found the island to be very expensive. Stopped for lunch and paid $12 for a burger. We did have a fantastic time swimming with the stingrays. We did this shortly after Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray. Still didn't stop us from adventuring in the water with these beautiful creatures. The Caymans are famous for their Seven Mile Beach. The photo below shows the many boats that have stopped to allow tourists the chance to swim with the stingrays.
Dominican Republic - This is a great place to find affordable all-inclusives, particularly in Punta Cana, on the island's east coast. The monkey jungle Dominicana, located between Cabarete and Sosua, features a zip line and suspension bridge tour which gives the profits to the free on-site medical and dental clinic, which is staffed by volunteers and treats patients who cannot not afford health care. Photo below is from Las Terrenas.
Jamaica - East to get to and they have numerous resorts to stay at. Many of the resorts are all-inclusive which makes it easy to travel to your resort and stay at the same location throughout your visit. I took the photo below when we visited Jamiaca. It is the raft station at the Martha Brae River. You ride a raft leisurely down the river toward the ocean while your guide points out the features of the island along the banks of the river. We traveled to Jamaica one time and will not return, since we didn't feel safe other than on our resort.
Trinidad & Tobago - Trinidad is the island that has restuarants, nightclubs and 96% of the countries population, while Tobago is a 116-square-mile haven that has empty beaches, calm bays and spectacular brain-coral reefs.
Thanks, Larry, fro dropping by my blog and inviting me over here. I don't see a "Follow" button here on your blog--you have an email sign up list where I can notified of new Caribbean posts?
ReplyDeleteEmily, As the Crowe Flies and Reads
Hi Emily, When my blog first opens, under the heading, there are numerous topics from adventure to weather with how many entries there are in each. They are hard to read, but I can't seem to figure out how to get them darker. The "St. Martin/Sint Maarten" one has 96 entries. The "Vacation and Travel" has 149 Thanks for checking out the stories which I have been writing for over 3 years now. Larry
ReplyDelete