Love travel,cooking,eating,garden & pets, 2 cats, 2 Labradors Leo & Belle. tortoise called Todd & an...
Love travel,cooking,eating,garden & pets, 2 cats, 2 Labradors Leo & Belle. tortoise called Todd & an African Grey called Millie.
My Favourite quote is:
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
What do you imagine the Caribbean to be like? Before I went I saw pictures in the brochures of deserted beaches with palm trees, lush rain forests, infect just about as close to paradise as you can imagine.
Could it possibly be like this or was it just what the travel agents want us to believe? Was it going to be worth travelling all that way? Everyone has there own idea of paradise so all I can do is give my opinion of each of the islands and a little local history.
Setting the scene:
On a Quiet beach in St Lucia fruit seller travels up and down in a tin boat blowing on his sea shell. There are a lot of beach sellers in St Lucia who seem to constantly pester you all the time so my advice is to go to one of the smaller beaches. The taxi drivers are so friendly, they will take you, arrange for them to pick you up at a certain time (believe me they wont let you down) In fact a group of us were at a beach and when it started raining the taxi actually came back to get us. I really thought that was excellent service.
Caribbean Beaches
St Thomas
Magens Bay. This is a most fantastic beach it is listed as one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world; it
is located at the end of a tree-shaded drive on the north shore. A taxi will cost about $6 per person and there is a $3 admission (Oct 2002) it is very popular so it does get busy!
Morning Star is my personal favourite. It is quite a small beach, but doesn't seem to get to busy, its just east off havensight shopping area, next to the Frenchman's reef resort. It has an open bar and a restaurant, volleyball and windsurfing equipment. Don't let that put you off though; when I first arrived there it was just like paradise, only another few people there. (There are some quite large iguana's there but they won't bother you!!!) A taxi will cost about $5 per person. There is no admission cost. (Oct 2004) Sapphire beach is great if you are planning on a lot of water sports, it's fantastic for windsurfing, snorkelling and all other water sports. It is situated on the east shore at Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina. A taxi will be about $8 and admission will cost $7 (Nov 2005)
Barbados has many lovely beaches, I like the boatyard, it is situated just on the outskirts of Bridgetown. There are parking facilities at the complex. There is also a bar and restaurant. The admission is $5 but you get $5 of tokens to spend at the bar or grill. (Nov 2006)
For a complete listing of beaches in Barbados I would highly recommend a search through Google or similar. There are complete listings online that tell you everything you need to know. Such as undercurrents, suitability for children, which ones are best for surfing and the worst ones for swimming.
Antigua
Antigua is the largest of the islands known as the Leeward Islands. There are around 365 sparkling white sandy beeches so one for each day of the year!!
Some offer a range of facilities like water sports beachside bars and grills. Others offer secluded bays, being completely unspoilt. So again there is a wide range to choose from. I like Half moon bay which is on the eastern side of the island. Some of the more popular beaches are: Dickinson bay, runaway bay, Morris bay and Five islands Beach; these are spread around the island so it does depend on where you are planning to stay.
Well I think that's enough said on beaches I am sure you get the picture. Where ever you are in the Caribbean you're never far from a most fantastic beach. That's great if that's what you're after but there is so much to see and do on these fabulous islands. Its worth just setting aside a few half day tours, Go on I am sure even you beach lovers can pull yourselves away from the beach to see some of the real Caribbean. There is so much history behind each of the islands.
It must be the sun that makes such a difference, the welcome from all the islands was so nice the locals really do make you feel welcome. There are a few exceptions and I will go on to those. There is a lot of poverty in the Caribbean so sometimes you will be pestered, but in the towns you will find a polite no always does the trick.
You will find many taxi drivers will be forever asking you if you would like to go somewhere, it does get a little annoying (but look on the brightside, you know you'll never have to worry about getting a cab!) When I first went to the Caribbean I was really put off when I got to the airport. Many passengers including myself got outside the airport only to be surrounded by people to carry your bags, it was bad people were having there bags pulled away from them, then having demands of $50-$100 to get there bags back. It all turned out ok in the end but it would have been nice to be warned before hand. So the most important advice there is hold on to your own bag unless it is actually an employee of the company you are travelling with.
Dominica
Dominica is so called because Columbus discovered the island on a Sunday, Roseau is the capital and it really is as lovely as it sounds. Throughout the island there is a profusion of rain forests, jungles and waterfalls. I got together with a group of others and did a half day private tour with a local driver and he provided it for around $5 each. It works out more reasonable if you can get together a small group. If you are cruising and there is only one or two of you then the arranged tours work out better value(unless you can get together with some new found friends). Dominica certainly has a lot to offer, on one hand you have all the lush tropical rainforest and then you have the other extreme "The Valley of Desolation" where you will find pools of boiling grey mud, burning hot sulphur pools like the one in the picture I have included, streams made multi-coloured with the release of various minerals but above all is the boiling lake where the temperature at the edge is around 180F! Naturally no-one knows how deep it is. The water is heated by sulphurous gases escaping beneath.
This island is known as the island of spice, and when you arrive here you will know why. The air is heavily scented with the smell of spices. Cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg to name but a few. I would highly recommend an island tour here. Maybe enjoy the local market where they sell every spice you can imagine and there all as fresh as they can be. Then head of to the spice region where you can tour the processes the spices go through. See where chocolate comes from! Do you know where a lufa comes from? I didn't until I saw them growing wild on vines (I always thought they came from the sea). Picking your own nutmeg and peeling away the mace that grows around it. Lemons, limes, grapefruit, sugar cane and bananas growing all along the roads. This is one place I will always want to come back to. After all that maybe take a dip in the hot springs, relieve all those muscles a good way to end the day. There is so much more to Grenada but just not enough room here for it, sorry. It really is out of this world to see all these things growing in the wild.
Pictures of General: Grenada
Grenada
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
The beaches don't look different from the ones in Sardinia!
bryan37 08.02.2007 13:02
I have been to the caribean three times. The review is very interesting and I like the way you have given us so much information on the different beaches. I have been to the boatyard in Barbados we had a fantastic time there, should keep that one quiet as its not too busy. It has cheered me up reading this especially with all the snow outside. Wish i was there now.
oldwasp 07.02.2007 23:14
To be on a beach now in sunnier climate. Good review
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Feb 7th, 2007
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