REPOST: Caribbean holidays: the best lesser-known islands

The Caribbean boasts of its many beautiful tropical islands. This article from The Telegraph enumerates some of the lesser-known but equally stunning Caribbean destinations.

Unknown Caribbean | Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

This low-lying and arid British Overseas Territory has arguably the Caribbean’s finest beaches. There are 33, many with white sand so powder-soft you sink up to your ankles – and even the most popular, such as Rendezvous Bay and Shoal Bay East, are uncrowded. Other draws include high-end restaurants, several of the best luxury beachfront hotels – Cap Juluca, Viceroy Anguilla and, shortly to reopen after an overhaul, Malliouhana – and eye-popping villas (see wimco.com). Celebrities flock here in the winter, but the atmosphere is unshowy and there are affordable places to stay: see charmingescapescollection.com for options.

Getting there: British Airways or Virgin to Antigua, then Liat to Anguilla.
Sample package: with Carrier (0161 492 1354; carrier.co.uk), £2,425 b&b at Cap Juluca, which unfurls along the mile-long, secluded sands of Maundays Bay. 
More information: ivisitanguilla.com

Bequia | Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

For an easy-going, character-rich little getaway, this Grenadines island (seven square miles, population 5,000) excels in virtually every way. Verdant and hilly, Bequia is exceptionally pretty – Admiralty Bay, dotted with yachts, is one of the Caribbean’s most pleasing-on-the-eye natural harbours. At its rear, the villagey capital of Port Elizabeth is a friendly, hassle-free place, and, enlivened by regular ferries from St Vincent and the other Grenadines, has just the right amount of bustle. The island has a decent choice of enticing, laid-back bars and restaurants. Some back on to the waterfront Belmont Walkway on the edge of Port Elizabeth – a great place to gather in the evening. Around the island are several lovely, long golden-sand beaches, a handful of high-quality, small hotels and self-catering to suit all budgets, from lavish villas to simple apartments.

Getting there: BA or Virgin to Barbados, then SVG Air or Mustique Airways to Bequia. 
Sample package: with Just Bequia (01373 814244; justbequia.co.uk), £1,295 b&b in the smart Bequia Beach Hotel, on the peaceful Friendship Bay beach. 
More information: bequiatourism.com

Nevis

Little green Nevis has a slow-paced, old-fashioned charm to it. This is evident in Charlestown, the pretty, diminutive capital, with its “skirt and shirt” buildings (stone ground floors, wooden first floors), and in the elegant and utterly relaxing plantation-house hotels that date from the island’s sugar-cane-producing era in the 17th and 18th centuries. The classiest is Montpelier Plantation, while Nisbet Plantation Beach Club is by a beach – unusual for a plantation hotel; the rural, antique-filled Hermitage, dating from 1680, is the most atmospheric and homely. These hotels are what make Nevis most memorable, though the island does have a lovely long sandy beach (Pinney’s) and a dormant volcano (Nevis Peak) if you fancy a challenging climb.

Getting there: BA to St Kitts, then a 45-minute ferry or quicker water taxi to Nevis. 
Sample package: with Kenwood Travel (020 7749 9220;kenwoodtravel.co.uk), £1,295 b&b at The Hermitage. 
More information: nevisisland.com.

Nevis | Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

Dominica

Come to dramatic, mountainous, rainforest-coated Dominica to be active. Hike along some of its 300 miles of trails – the most popular tough trek heads out to the Boiling Lake, a flooded fumarole. Bathe under towering waterfalls, tube down rivers, snorkel over geothermal springs at the Champagne Reef, and go whale watching – sightings of sperm whales off Dominica are common in the winter months. To rest up, there are a number of delightful, nature-oriented guest houses and small hotels. Big cruise ships include Dominica on their itineraries, but it is easy to escape from their crowds.

Getting there: British Airways or Virgin to Antigua, then Liat to Dominica.
Sample package: with MotMot Travel (01327 359622;motmottravel.com), £1,250 b&b at Rosalie Bay, a riverside and beachfront hotel with lovely gardens, good food and a wide programme of hikes and tours.
More information: discoverdominica.com

Bonaire

Dry, cactus-covered Bonaire is the sleepiest and least populated of the Dutch Caribbean’s so-called ABC islands that lie outside the hurricane belt off Venezuela (the others being Aruba and Curaçao). Its biggest draw is diving and snorkelling. The entire coastline is protected by the Bonaire National Marine Park – hence the rich diversity of underwater life – and the majority of the 80 plus sites are accessible from the shore, so excellent for beginners. Windsurfing is also first rate for all ages and abilities at shallow, reef-protected Lac Bay, and for a change from watersports, there’s flamingo watching – thousands nest on the island’s lagoons and saltpans.

Getting there: KLM to Bonaire, changing planes in Amsterdam. 
Sample package: with Caribbean Fun Travel (01604 882929;caribbeanfuntravel.co.uk), £1,497 b&b at the Harbour Village Beach Club – on one of the island’s few white-sand beaches, and with an on-site dive centre. 
More information: tourismbonaire.com

Bonaire | Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

Harbour Island, The Bahamas

The Bahamas offer two very different holiday faces. On the one hand, there are the enormous high-rise resorts, casinos, cruise-ship hordes and party-loving weekenders from Florida on main islands such as New Providence/Paradise Island. On the other hand, peace, space and pristine beaches set the tone on the Out Islands, the most fashionable of which is three-mile-long Harbour Island. Running along virtually its whole length is famous Pink Sands Beach, composed of powdered coral. Almost as photogenic is neat and chic Dunmore Town, with its colourful old clapboard houses and white picket fences, art galleries and enticing cafés. The preferred means of transport on the island are golf buggies.

Getting there: BA to Nassau, then an onward flight to North Eleuthera Airport, and a 10-minute water taxi to Harbour Island; also daily fast ferry Nassau-Harbour Island. 
Sample package: with Bahamas Flavour (0870 066 9975;bahamasflavour.co.uk), £1,550 b&b for six nights at the recently spruced-up Coral Sands Hotel, right on Pink Sands Beach and a short stroll in to Dunmore Town, with a one-night stopover on New Providence. 
More information: bahamas.co.uk

Montserrat

Another British Overseas Territory, Montserrat is dominated by the active Soufrière Hills Volcano. Its eruption in the 1990s blanketed Plymouth, the former capital, in debris, and resulted in the emigration of more than half of Montserrat’s 12,000 population. Two-thirds of Montserrat is still an exclusion zone, with life now focused in the north. You can take in the volcano from safe viewing points, including the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, and on boat trips. Other reasons to visit include birdwatching (twitchers revel in the chance to spot the island’s rare national bird, the Montserrat oriole), snorkelling and diving – and the island’s wonderfully unhurried pace.

Getting there: British Airways or Virgin to Antigua, then Fly Montserrat on to Montserrat. 
Sample package: with MotMot Travel (01327 359622;motmottravel.com), £1,645 room only staying six nights at Olveston House – set in tropical gardens, the former plantation home is owned by Beatles producer Sir George Martin – plus a one-night stopover on Antigua.
More information: visitmontserrat.com

Baracoa, Cuba

Away from its bland resorts, Cuba has many special places, but none more so than remote Baracoa near the far eastern end of the island. Dating from 1512, it’s Cuba’s oldest settlement, with ancient, brightly-painted clapboard houses on its streets, a casa del chocolate serving drinks made with local cocoa, and an atmospheric casa de la trova (live music venue). The surrounding countryside is Eden-like in its fertility, with banana, cocoa and coconut groves blanketing hillsides. There are quiet dark- and golden-sand beaches nearby, such as Maguana, and a striking flat-topped mountain – El Yunque – to ascend.

Getting there: Virgin to Havana, then on to Baracoa with a Cuban airline. Or drive (though it’s a long way): some Cuban airlines have dubious safety records. 
Sample package: with Esencia Experiences (01481 714898;esenciaexperiences.com), £1,378 b&b staying five nights at hilltop El Castillo, a characterful but simple hotel converted from a fort – plus two nights in Havana. 
More information: travel2cuba.co.uk

Northern Grenada

Tourism on Grenada concentrates in the south-west corner, with few visitors making it up to the lush, slow-paced north. Those that do are normally on day trips, heading for Belmont Estate (a good-quality agri-tourism attraction), River Antoine Rum Distillery (possibly the oldest still operating in the Caribbean) and Bathway Beach, a mile of windswept sands with natural rock pools for safe swimming. The only hotel up here is highly recommended Petite Anse. Set above a wild beach (swimming is often not safe), it’s run by a couple from Worcestershire, and has something of the atmosphere of a laid-back English country-house hotel. The owners can arrange guided hikes, and trips with a fisherman to a deserted offshore island.

Getting there: BA or Virgin to Grenada; transfers from the airport to Petite Anse take around 75 minutes. 
Sample package: with Just Grenada (01373 814214; justgrenada.co.uk), £1,125 b&b at Petite Anse. 
More information: grenadagrenadines.com.

Port Antonio, Jamaica

With jungle-coated hillsides descending to unspoiled beaches, Jamaica’s north-east corner is the most scenic. Port Antonio, its main town, was once a banana port, but is now a snoozy, dilapidated backwater. The most picturesque beach is river-fed Frenchman’s Cove; other attractions include waterfalls with pools in which to swim, gentle river rafting down the Rio Grande, and barbecued food from the roadside “jerk centres” at Boston Bay. A playground for Hollywood stars in the 1950s and 1960s, the Port Antonio area is undergoing a revival, notably with the recent re-opening of the very stylish Trident Hotel. Its sister property, Geejam, is a gorgeous hideaway with a professional recording studio.

Getting there: BA to Kingston, from where it is a two-hour drive up to Port Antonio. 
Sample package: with Caribtours (020 7751 0660; caribtours.co.uk), £2,245 b&b at the Trident Hotel. 
More information: visitjamaica.com.

A shop in Port Antonio, Jamaica | Image Source: telegraph.co.uk

East coast Barbados

Just 45 minutes’ drive from the busy and developed west and south coasts, Barbados’s eastern shore is a different world – palm-smothered slopes running down to little villages and empty beaches bashed by Atlantic breakers. Bathsheba, with its eroded, mushroom-shaped rocks, is a beautiful spot: swimming is unsafe, but the waves attract experienced surfers. At the fishing hamlet of Tent Bay are two excellent places to stay: the Atlantis, dating from the 19th century, and restored with a colonial-chic look; and rustic-casual Sea-U Guesthouse (seaubarbados.com; from £100 b&b a night per room), with hammocks strung up on bedroom verandahs. A walk up the hill brings you to the delightful Andromeda Botanic Gardens.

Getting there: BA or Virgin. 
Sample package: with Tropic Breeze (01752 880880;tropicbreeze.co.uk), £1,398 b&b at the Atlantis; packages possible combining stays at the hotel with its sister property Little Good Harbour on Barbados’ west coast. 
More information: visitbarbados.org.

Discover more breath-taking Caribbean destinations by following this John Jefferis Facebook page.

REPOST: How Is Bermuda Fighting For Its Tourism Future?

 In his article, Brian Major of Travel Pulse discusses Bermuda's fight to keep the its tourism future bright.

Image Source: travelpulse.com

 The Bermuda archipelago seems to offer the perfect vacation environment. The territory is just over 650 miles from the U.S. eastern coast, a flight of less than two hours. Bermuda’s humid subtropical climate creates an ideal environment to appreciate its series of beautiful bays, beaches and harbors. The country features numerous historic sites tied to U.S. and European colonial history.

Nevertheless, Bermuda is in a fight for its tourism future. The British Overseas Territory is grappling with an aging and stagnant hotel inventory, transportation and service issues, and a perception that the country’s tourism offerings are outdated and no longer competitive with other warm-weather destinations.

Some of the issues were on full display this past week, as cruise passengers disembarking ships Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard cruise ship pierencountered long lines and significant delays following the less-than-smooth debut of a new shuttle service.

Launched in July, the mini-bus shuttles are intended as an alternative to public buses whose routes include Horseshoe Bay beach. Instead, confusion regarding the service’s price and availability led many visitors to opt for public buses, creating long lines and delays. Bermuda has struggled with transportation issues as buses and ferries are often heavily utilized by tourists, leading to delays and complaints from residents and tourists alike.

Recent tourist arrival data presents a mixed picture. Bermuda welcomed 50,219 land-based visitors and 25,433 cruise ship arrivals between January and April, according to 2014 Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) statistics. The totals represent a 4.5 percent increase in land arrivals and a 0.7 percent decrease in cruise visitors. Overall in 2013, Bermuda hosted 236,343 land-based visitors, a 1.8 percent increase over 2012. Cruise passengers for the year totaled 320,090 arrivals, a steep 15 percent decline from 378,260 visitors in 2012.

However those mixed-bag numbers only partially obscure the steep decline in arrivals from Bermuda’s apex in the 1980s, when the territory annually welcomed more than 500,000 land-based visitors. Today Bermuda ranks 20thamong the 27 countries tracked by CTO in terms of overnight visitors, and 18thin terms of cruise ship visitors.

Since taking took office in December 2012 following a government re-shuffling that included the election of Craig Cannonier as Bermuda’s new premier, Shawn Crockwell, Bermuda’s minister of tourism development and transport, has attempted a variety of measures to reverse Bermuda’s declining tourism fortunes.

“The new government is aware that the true test is its success in facilitating the industry’s rejuvenation by fulfilling its platform promises, which were designed so that tourism can achieve the revival the country can be proud of,” Crockwell said upon taking office.

He has since launched the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA), which replaced the government-run department of tourism as Bermuda’s primary tourism marketing and promotion organization. In January, BTA named Bill Hanbury, a veteran destination marketing professional, as executive director.

Crockwell also moved quickly to encourage the development of new resort-based casinos. Casino gaming had long been banned in Bermuda, but inDecember 2013 Crockwell announced the government would proceed with “the establishment of legalized casino gaming through the parliamentary process,” foregoing an earlier-promised public referendum.

Bermuda’s lack of casinos put it at a disadvantage versus other warm-weather vacation destinations, said Crockwell. He cited polls that said 76 percent of Bermuda residents supported casino gaming.
“Casino gaming is not a panacea but a much needed amenity for our tourism product,” he said. “We must augment our tourism offerings and we must enhance our tourism infrastructure.”

Crockwell has also sought to revitalize Bermuda’s aging hotel base, which has not added a major new property in more than a decade. In fact, last September Rosewood Tucker’s Point became the third Bermuda resort to be placed in bankruptcy in the last three years, following Newstead Belmont Hills in 2011 and Pink Beach Club in 2010.

Under Crockwell, the government recently announced an “exclusive negotiation” with hotel developer Desarrollos Hotelco Group to build a resort in historic St. George’s. The development would be constructed on the site of a former Club Med and feature a 238-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, a spa and fitness center, swimming pools and a casino. Desarrollos was identified through a request for proposals launched by Crockwell’s office.

The announcement follows the recent re-opening of Bermuda’s 106 year-old Elbow Beach Resort, which had been operated since 2000 by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The 98-room resort is now operating under the management of the Burns Group, a New York based company.

Yet despite the recent positive strides, Bermuda’s tourism future is far from assured. Cannonier resigned in June amidst a political scandal, whose events ironically included an airplane flight he shared with Crockwell and Bermuda’s then-attorney general. The scandal has been nicknamed “JetGate” by local media. The flight appears to have been at most a sideshow to a larger story of improper campaign contributions, and Crockwell has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.

However with his party’s former leader now no longer a part of Bermuda’s government, it will be interesting see to what extent the changes Crockwell has sought to implement will continue.

In the meantime, Bermuda remains at the mercy of an extremely competitive global leisure tourism market. One month after BTA officials launched a tourism action plan to establish Bermuda as a “world-class golf destination,” the PGA of America announced October’s Bermuda PGA Grand Slam of Golf tournament would be the final one hosted by Bermuda following an eight-year run.

Hanbury sought to place a positive spin on the departure. “All good things eventually come to an end,” he said. “Bermuda is well prepared to pursue other world-class golf activities.”


Learn more about Bermuda tourism by following this John Jefferis Twitter account.

REPOST: Information on Betchart Expeditions' trans-Atlantic eclipse voyage

Betchart Expeditions offers two dozen science-themed trips a year to destinations around the globe. Read more in this LosAngelesTimes.com article.

The trans-Atlantic eclipse voyage was organized by Betchart Expeditions ([800] 252-4910, http://www.betchartexpeditions.com), a California-based company specializing in science-oriented travel. It offers about two dozen science-themed trips a year to destinations around the globe.

I'd traveled with Betchart once before, on a trip to Antarctica 20 years earlier, and I trusted the company, the intellectually oriented clientele its trips attract and the experts it chooses for daily lectures. On this trip, Peter Kissner, the Star Flyer's cruise director, lectured each day, covering such topics as our position each morning, ship-building history and seafaring lore.

The Star Flyer and its sister ships are part of the Star Clippers fleet, http://www.starclippers.com/us-dom, the dream child of a Swedish mega-millionaire. The Flyer was built in Belgium in 1991. Its twin, the Star Clipper, followed in 1992. The youngest in the fleet is also the biggest — the Royal Clipper, a five-masted fully square-rigged ship, built in 2000.

Image Source: latimes.com

The Flyer officers are mainly from Eastern Europe, where naval cadets still train on tall ships. Crew members — including deck hands and exquisitely trained waiters — were mostly from India and the Philippines.

AMENITIES

Like other cruise ships, the Star Flyer offered optional land tours for extra cost at each port: Ronda and Seville in Spain; Tangier and Tétouan in Morocco; the island of Gran Canaria in the Canaries and, at the end, the Caribbean island of Barbados. Unlike bigger cruise ships, there were no gambling tables, no big musical shows, no fancy-dress glitz. Musical entertainment came from a classically trained Hungarian pianist and from passengers themselves: A dozen or so gathered on the foredeck every evening to sing "Salve Regina," a traditional sailors' hymn.

ACCOMMODATIONS

The cabins and attached bathrooms were compact, as they must be on sailboats, but they were comfortable, clean and well-maintained.

FOOD

Food was good, prepared from scratch and available six times a day, from early-bird breakfast through midnight snack. Dinners, though not formal, were elegant, with many courses. The servers were flawlessly attentive.

In my case, that was asking a lot, because I am dangerously allergic to peanuts. Warned in advance, the ship's hotel manager, chef, maitre d' and wait staff watched over me, explaining the menu at every meal, pointing out what I could safely eat and what to avoid. I cannot praise the Star Flyer enough for that. The only other place in the world where I've felt so protected is with my own family at home.

PRICE

Cabins ranged from $5,495 to $5,995 a person, double occupancy. (Betchart found me a roommate, so I avoided the 150% single-supplement rate.) Meals and lectures were included. Round-trip group airfare was an extra $1,295 from San Francisco, Chicago or Miami.

This wasn't a cheap trip, and I wouldn't have been on it if a dear friend hadn't intervened while I was dithering about robbing my 401(k).

"This sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he said. "How about I give it to you? It would be for Christmas. And Christmas. And Christmas...."

I gasped and said yes. But didn't he want to go along? "God, no," he said. "I hate water."

John Jefferis is the owner of Coco Reef Resort, one of the best resorts in the Caribbean. Follow this Twitter page for more updates.