Did you know that 52 percent of American workers ? Maybe we’re not using all that PTO because we tend to think of vacations as grand endeavors that are often too expensive to be worth it. And sure, a tropical-island getaway sounds pricey and hard to pull off, but what if we said you could stay in a low-key, off-the-radar beach town for less than $100 a night? And we’re not talking about bunk beds in backpackers’ hostels. These are sweet accommodations where you can swim in the ocean, hike a volcano, and read a book in a hammock. Don’t wait. It’s time to actually use those vacation days.

Lanzarote, Spain

On Lanzarote, in Spain’s Canary Islands, you can cycle scenic roadways, hike the craters of Timanfaya National Park, windsurf, and kiteboard. The island has plenty of upscale hotels, or you can find affordable, low-fuss guesthouses and bungalows. At the family-owned  (from $97), you’ll have views of inland vineyards and volcanic peaks from your cottage or yurt. There are also yoga classes, surf lessons, and bike rentals, or stay put and enjoy the saltwater pool and home-cooked breakfasts.

Saint Lucia, Caribbean

People don’t typically look to the Caribbean for budget-friendly destinations. But you can do Saint Lucia, in the Lesser Antilles, on the cheap if you know where to look. Lounge on the volcanic island’s golden sands, paint yourself in mud at , and ride eight miles of rainforest singletrack at . At , cottages start at just $90 a night during the low season if you stay for a week. Tag along on one of the guided hikes to the top of 2,619-foot Gros Piton, one of the Caribbean’s most iconic peaks, then stretch out in the yoga barn or on the estate’s secluded beaches.  

Pahoa, Hawaii

This laid-back town on the Big Island is back up and running after the 2018 volcanic eruption of Kilauea, but tourism has been slow to return. Which means you can score empty beaches and good deals on lodging. The , which closed during the eruption due to its location within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, is now fully operational, and you can stay in a refurbished camper cabin for $80 a night or rent camping gear and a tent site for $55 a night. Want to be closer to the ocean? Book this  (from $61), which is walking distance to a black-sand beach near Pahoa.

Koh Mak, Thailand

Many of Thailand’s bustling southern islands are filled with full-moon partiers and tour busses. Not Koh Mak, a small, six-square-mile isle in the Gulf of Thailand that’s reached by a one-hour speedboat ride from Trat, on the mainland. The place feels untouched, friendly, and blissfully peaceful. Sleep in a bungalow on the beach for $37 a night at , and watch the most stunning sunset of your life from your porch or the on-site and aptly named Sunset Bar. From there, rent bikes to pedal village to village, snorkel through turquoise waters, or take a Thai cooking class.

Anna Maria Island, Florida

Slow, old-fashioned charm permeates this seven-mile-long barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, just an hour south of Tampa. You’ll get about by bicycle, sea kayak, or the free island trolley, and beach time is the main activity here.ÌýGear-rental company  will deliver cruiser bikes, paddleboards, and kayaks to your vacation rental, but there’s also sailing and fishing charters. Most of the island’s hotels are on the pricier side, but you can find an  just a block and a half from the ocean with a shared pool for $99.

Isla Holbox, Mexico

Separated from the mainland by a sandbar and shallow lagoon that’s part of the Yum Balam Nature Reserve, Isla Holbox is only accessible by airplane or ferry, meaning there’s little in the way of development. There are, however, small fishing villages filled with colorful homes and one of the of the planet’s largest concentrations of whale sharks just offshore. Snorkel the reef Cabo Catoche, fish for sea trout, and swim with sharks while you’re there.Ìý (from $86) has a pool, garden, and rooms ten minutes from the beach.

Culebra, Puerto Rico

Culebra, 18 miles east of Puerto Rico’s mainland, was hit hard by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The island is still recovering, but most of the guesthouses and restaurants are back open, and the beaches are as pristine as ever. Don’t expect Wi-Fi or hotel chains here—this is a tranquil, low-tech escape.Ìý, a mile from the beach, has rooms from $80 and will outfit you with chairs and towels. Be sure to hike a mile to Carlos Rosario Beach and snorkel the amazing the coral.

The post Tropical Islands You Can Stay on for Less Than $100 appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

On the scale of hotel room awesomeness, outdoor showers rank up there with killer views and private Jacuzzis (and, okay, free minibars). We don’t need to spell out why, especially after a day of ripping up waves, pounding mountain trails, zip-lining, safari-ing, or just nursing margs on the beach. And you know the only thing better than that first sip of coffee in the morning? Waking up with an outdoor shower. That’s not a scientific fact, but it’s true. Trust us. To help you make this vacation dream a reality, we scoured the world of adventure hot spots for some of the coolest outdoor showers. That list is right here.

Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica

Nayara Hotel, Spa, and Gardens
The amazing adventures around Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano are no secret: hiking, rafting, canyoning, biking, hot springs, and, of course, zip-lining. But hidden beneath the shadow of these jungle-clad hills are the gardens of , which are everywhere at this tropical enclave, even in the romantic rooms’ private courtyard showers. Rough stone walls, pebbled floors, and palm fronds add to the natural vibe.

Bahia, Brazil

Uxua Casa Hotel and Spa
From sea kayaking and beach volleyball to capoeira, fishing, and trail biking, there are plenty of ways to get your heart racing at , an intimate, oceanside Bahian hideaway. Each of the ten casas, ranging from refurbished fishing shacks to treehouses, has an outside tropical shower. The one in  feels most like the ultimate jungle fantasy, where you cool off in a stream of water that cascades from a tree. You might have to brush away palm fronds to wash your hair, but doesn’t that make things more fun?

Okonjima Nature Reserve, Namibia

Okonjima
is located in a private nature reserve and is home to the , which works to conserve and rehabilitate Namibia’s cheetah population. It’s one of the few safari camps with its own self-guided hiking and . Each of the four bedrooms in the private Grand African Villa, part of a camp with many styles of accommodations, has a dramatic, curvaceous outdoor shower that’s a big step up from the usual bush shower.Ìý

Phuket, Thailand

Paresa Resort
Bespoke adventures abound at : Hike to secluded villages by starlight, kayak out to caves on the sea or through jungle streams, or take it easy with lunch on a floating raft in the Kho Sok Forest. But first you’ll have to peel yourself out of your room.ÌýEach is perched on the Kamala cliffs amid a tropical forest.ÌýAn entire balcony is dedicated to the art of outdoor showering (and includes a private pool). Looking down over the balcony railing, the view is of the indigo waters of the Andaman Sea.

Sonoma, California

Carneros Inn
Exploring the tremendous bounty of wineries throughout Sonoma County, especially via bicycle, is possibly one of the most romantic trips in the United States. The sprawling  offers a new take on the landscape’s beauty, with alfresco showers adorned with peekaboo windows that look out onto the property’s 27 acres of grapevines, apple orchards, and farmland.

³§³Ù.Ìý³¢³Ü³¦¾±²¹

Ladera
 is the only resort located inside the St. Lucia's UNESCO World Heritage site, and travelers hideaway here to sail, snorkel, or climb the famed 2,619-foot Gros Piton (right next door). While the showers aren’t strictly open-air, they might as well be: Picture windows let you look out on the view, and the showers feature exuberant mosaic tiles depicting tropical gardens.Ìý

Antigua

Jumby Bay, A Rosewood Resort
Cars are banned, and everyone gets around by bicycle or on foot at , a resort on a private island a few miles from Antigua in the West Indies. But escaping it all doesn’t mean giving up a luxurious bathroom. The suites all have private courtyards with curvaceous showerheads mounted on pearlescent tiled walls, plenty of room to splash around, eye candy in the form of bougainvillea, and, for more serious bathing endeavors, claw-foot soaking tubs.

Zighy Bay, Oman

Six Senses Zighy Bay
Oman, one of the most visitor-friendly countries in the Middle East, is quietly becoming a hot spot for rock climbers, mountain bikers, and divers looking for an exotic escape. Stay at the  and you’ll also soak in some of the local culture: The outdoor showers in the Spa Pool Villas are a slightly glammed-up version of a traditional Omani outdoor bathing area. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø the walled courtyards, the northern Musandam Peninsula beckons with its mix of stunning nature—jagged mountains on one side and the waters of Zighy Bay on the other.Ìý

The post 8 Perfect Getaways with Outdoor Showers appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

While the mercury drops and polar vortexes close in yet again (just kidding—we hope), remember that there are still places in the world where the water isn’t bone-chilling and the breezes are gentler. These seven destinations boast great paddling alongside tropical fish, stunning resorts, and cheerful residents (because who could blame them?).

Go Multisport in Malta

This 121-square-mile island south of Sicily—and its smaller satellites, Gozo and Comino—are pure gold for athletes. The Euro-pean Development Fund recently invested $1.4 million in more than 600 miles of cycling and mountain-biking routes in the Maltese Islands and Sicily. From Malta, take the 25-minute ferry ride to ($7), rent a mountain bike at ($17), and ride a 27-mile circumnavigation past Neolithic temples, stone villages, and the crashing Mediterranean Sea. For climbers, there are on the three islands and countless deepwater-soloing options. Divers can explore 100 major shore- and boat-diving sites, including the off Gozo, a Jacques Cousteau favorite. Stay at the , a former private townhouse on Malta’s Spinola Bay with 44 rooms and a rooftop pool (from $132).

St. Lucia Surf and Turf

One of the coolest things about the 300-acre Anse Mamin Plantation at the (from $420) is its impressive network of singletrack, designed in part by former world-champion mountain biker Tinker Juarez. With steep switchbacks and giant descents through a forest of fruit trees, Juarez’s three-mile loop tops out with a panoramic view of the famed Pitons. Anse Chastanet’s two beaches border pristine coral reefs for snorkeling and diving and harbor more than 150 fish species. For a one-way, old-school Caribbean sailing trip, start in St. Lucia’s Rodney Bay and take ten days to make your way to Grenada via the Grenadine Islands and their stunning moorings. 44-foot monohull, or add a skipper for $185 per day (from $7,529 for up to ten).

Stay Close at Caladesi Island 
State Park, Florida

Just north of Clearwater Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, this three-
mile spit of white sand is worlds away from the frenetic pace of the mainland. Accessible via 
your own boat or a ferry from ($14), Caladesi is a haven for nesting sea turtles and shorebirds like American oystercatchers. Hike the three-mile Hammock Loop, kayak a three-mile circle through the mangroves, or cast a line for flounder, redfish, or snapper. 
The 108-slip marina (day-use permits are $6 per boat, $2 per kayaker; overnight mooring, $24) has a small café for snacks. Otherwise it’s BYO everything. There’s no camping on shore, 
but day-trippers with saltwater experience can rent a 16-foot outboard from ($275). Or has a captained 53-foot boat that sleeps six (from $3,000).

Travel Back in Time (to Ometepe Island, 
Nicaragua)

This 171-square-mile Eden in the middle of Lake Nicaragua didn’t have electricity until the late 1980s or phone service until the early 2000s. And a bull-drawn cart is still the preferred mode of transportation for local farmers. Magical things happen on Ometepe, thanks to the island’s two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas. Hike 4,573-foot Maderas, with a 100-plus-foot waterfall and a swimmable crater lake, then soak in the nearby hot springs at Ojo de Agua. You’ll find pre-Columbian petroglyphs everywhere, including at , a small lodge on the slopes of Maderas ($10). offers 20-minute flights on its 42-passenger planes from Managua to the island’s tiny La Paloma airport every Thursday and Sunday ($100 round-trip). Stay in the bungalows at on two-and-a-half-mile-long Santo Domingo beach (from $70).Ìý

Unplug at Tobacco Caye, Belize

With a year-round population of only 30, this palm-fringed, five-acre islet is part of the Southwater Caye Marine Reserve, a 117,878-acre offshore wonderland for divers, snorkelers, and kayakers. The draw here is the Belize Barrier Reef, 
a Unesco World Heritage site just a few strokes off the island with a thriving turtle population and more than 500 fish species. Sign up with for five days of boat excursions to sites like Shark Cave, the Blue Hole, and Glover’s Reef Atoll, with accommodations in seaside, solar-powered rooms (from $1,000, all-inclusive). Kayakers can join ’ six-night, lodge-to-lodge Paradise Islands kayak and SUP journey, which winds through the South Water Caye Marine Reserve ($1,779). On Tobacco Caye, you’ll stay at Paradise Lodge, a collection of over-water bungalows.

Score a Deal in Lefkada, Greece

The one benefit of Greece’s ongoing financial crisis is that the country still offers the best vacation bargain in Europe. Some of its most beautiful beaches are on Lefkada, a 117-square-mile island connected to the mainland by a floating bridge. From the iconic white-cliff-ringed sand at Porto Katsiki to the quaint fishing village of Agios Nikitas, there are dozens of options. Take advantage of the strong northerlies with a kite- or windsurfing lesson off (from $175), or hike 20 minutes down a steep cliff to secluded Milos (warning: clothing optional). Head inland to climb 3,799-foot Stravrota and mountain-bike the roads and singletrack that wind through olive groves (, $16). Average hotel prices are $100; there are also numerous rental options, including a in the village of Vafkeri, with a private pool and a stunning view of Skorpios, the island once owned by Aristotle Onassis (from $160).Ìý

Splurge on Manta Island Resort, Pemba Island, Tanzania

Welcome to the ultimate tropical paradise, where the marine life is abundant and a private floating cabana lets guests sleep 15 feet underwater. Seriously. This sleek, Swedish-designed suite has a rooftop deck to laze in the sun and stargaze, a waterside deck for dining on the Swahili-spiced catch of the day, and an underwater bedroom with windows for watching barracuda swim by. After a night or two in the cabana, spend the rest of your trip in one of the resort’s breezy seafront villas. Fill your days diving at nine nearby sites, where you’ll see Red Sea sweetlips and large-eye squid while sailing on a traditional dhow carved from a mango tree, or combing the nearby forest for the Pemba flying fox. Floating suite, $1,500; other rooms from $495. For a custom trip with an added safari option, book with .Ìý

The post Drop Anchor at a Balmy Island This Winter appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

Easy Does It

What a tough guy can learn from an island off Belize

EXACTLY 12 HOURS after walking out the front door of our Brooklyn apartment into a snowstorm, my wife and I stood on the dock at St. George's Caye Resort, in Belize. I was holding my fly rod while she sipped a fruity cocktail and teased me about my bombastic claim that commercial flights do not count as real travel. Any self-respecting adventure traveler, I often say, needs to follow his flight with a couple of days on a train or the top of a bus in order to feel as though he's actually gotten somewhere.

My perspective on the issue was not well supported by St. George's Caye. It's only a 20-minute boat ride from Belize City, yet it feels like a place that should take a couple of days to reach by outrigger canoe. The two-mile-long island is sandwiched between the Belize Barrier Reef and hundreds of square miles of mangrove swamps and bonefish flats that support raucous colonies of seafaring birds and a few local manatees. You could count the permanent human population on your fingers and toes. But my wife didn't need to mention any of this or cite the relevant statistics. Instead, she simply pointed to the school of tarpon lolling in the shallows 30 feet away.

For the rest of the trip I continued to eat my words—along with immense amounts of spectacular food, such as spiny lobster delivered directly to the kitchen by local fishermen. Between meals—served communal style, on the beach, by a smiling crew in flip-flops—we joined a few planned expeditions. There was snorkeling and diving on the reef; a night cruise in search of crocodiles; and fishing for bonefish and permit with a private guide. But, mostly, we took off on our own makeshift adventures. The resort provides plenty of kayaks and sailboats without the fees, rules, and boundaries that too often turn island getaways into chaperoned walks on the beach. We discovered secluded sand, secret swimming holes, hungry schools of fish, and a curious manatee. At night, we kicked back in one of a dozen thatch-roofed cabanas. We could hear the Caribbean roll in just beyond our front porch. Beyond that, nothing. This self-respecting adventure traveler slept well.

GET THERE: St. George's Caye Resort (om) provides guest transport from Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport. Cabanas for two from $218, including meals and local rum punch. One-tank dives, $60; half-day fishing trips, $325.

Fire on the Mountain

Playing in the shadow of a volcano in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea

New Britain's Tavurvur volcano gets feisty

IN 1994, a 2,257-foot volcano erupted on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, burying the city of Rabaul under seven feet of ash and prompting 30,000 people to evacuate. Only 3,000 returned, leaving the town essentially like Kauai pre–Captain Cook, only with more pyrotechnics: The island is populated mostly by members of some 50 indigenous tribes, and the resident volcanoes, Tavurvur and Vulcan, are still very much active. Go now and you can lounge on a black-sand beach and watch Tavurvur burp up lava and small columns of ash as many as four times an hour.

I arrived two years ago to find an ashy town—the swimming pools were gray—set on an active caldera with countless adventure options just beyond the city limits. One can scuba-dive at a reef wall that served as a berth for Japanese submarines in World War II; sample grilled crocodile at a sustainable farm in New Britain's jungle; or take a helicopter flight over inland waterfalls so remote, nobody has bothered to name them. But the highlight of New Britain is the paddling. On my third day in Rabaul, I drove five minutes south to Matupit Island and rented a dugout canoe with a guide from the Tolai tribe. We paddled across Simpson Harbor while a hot ash cloud boiled overhead. Afterwards, my guide brought me back to the Tolai village and served me bananas poached in coconut milk, which he said was a traditional feast commemorating the arrival of Fijian missionaries—whom the Tolai ate.

GET THERE: Air Niugini flies here at least twice daily from Port Moresby, on the south side of PNG's mainland (from $300; ). Lodging in Rabaul is limited to the Hamamas Hotel (doubles from $59; ). Ask the staff about tours of the OISCA farm ($18 with crocodile lunch; ) and rides to Matupit. The Tolai guides will find you; a day trip is $9.

Vieques Rising

Puerto Rico's Vieques has come a long way from when the Navy played war games on its beaches.

Back in 2001, the Navy was still using Puerto Rico's Vieques for war games on the beaches. There was just a handful of restaurants and hotels on the 21-mile-long, four-mile-wide Caribbean island, and it was the kind of place where guests didn't wear shoes. Today, the Navy is gone and the old bombing ranges have been designated a national wildlife refuge. Now, Vieques is exploding in a different way: New roads are being built; old ones are getting paved. One of the military's old bunkers is now a sports bar by day and a disco by night. Swanky hotels, like the W, which opened in March (doubles from $379; ), and restaurants, like El Quenepo (787-741-1215), are popping up.

But don't worry. While it's now possible to have the resort experience, Vieques is still funkier and more laid-back than most Caribbean islands. Book a ³¦²¹²ú²¹Ã±¾±³Ù²¹â€”one-room cottage—at La Finca (doubles from $125; ), a clean but rustic joint with outdoor showers and mismatched towels. Then head for the sand. There are more than 50 beaches—perfect for everything from kayaking (Green Beach) to snorkeling (the islet of Blue Beach) to paddling at night in one of the biggest bioluminescent bays in the world (Puerto Mosquito, a.k.a. “Bio Bay”). The best way to see the latter is in a clear canoe from the Vieques ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Company (two-hour rentals, $45; ), which, should you start getting antsy for more action, can also set you up with decent mountain bikes to explore all the old military roads ($25 per day) or take you kayak fly-fishing for tarpon ($150).

Twilight Zone

Happily lost on a Croatian island haunted by vampires.

Lustava

Northern Lustava

Dalmatian dinner, Croatia

Dalmatian dinner.

BY THE TIME we reached Lastovo, we were made of salt water and octopus. For a week, my family—14 of us, from age 78 down to 16—had sailed along Croatia's Dalmatian coast in a 100-foot Turkish gulet, gorging on grilled fish and pickling ourselves with local wine. We'd come far from the cruise ships of Dubrovnik and left the nightlife of Korcula behind. Lastovo (pop. 800) was the last and most remote island, one big national park with, from the look of the charts, great sheltered kayaking. But even our guide, adventure writer Maria Coffey, had never been.

We'd heard there were vampires on Lastovo—in the 1700s, the island had a little problem with vukodlaci, undead corpses that rose, as our guidebook said, “to visit the beds of bored wives and pleasure them in the night.” This sounded fine to some of our clan, but the island still emitted a creepy vibe. Even today, one of Lastovo's biggest celebrations involves the ritual humiliation of a straw puppet led through town on a donkey.

Sure enough, the crags showed little sign of life—just crying gulls and the colorful towels of naked Germans, the predominant pink-skinned species here, found sprawled along Dalmatia's rocky coast. But the little harbor of Skrivena Luka was a miracle, a still blue bay ringed with stone cottages. At the lone restaurant, Porto Russo, the proprietor brought out homemade verbena-infused Croatian grappa, then white wine (from his own grapes), home-cured olives, and local squid cooked for hours pod pekom—under a metal bell in a wood-fired outdoor oven. Later, in Lastovo Town, a 15th-century wonderland of vineyards and minaret-topped churches teetering on the island's summit, the local street sweeper—who still uses a broom—dragged us into his courtyard for thick, sweet coffee.

Did we come here by plane? Was the World Cup still going on? What was my name again? The Dalmatian islands aren't exactly off the beaten path, but in Lastovo you can feel like you sailed in and discovered them yourself.

GET THERE: Hidden Places owners Maria Coffey and Dag Goering guide ten-day kayaking-and-sailing trips along the Dalmatian coast for $4,550 per person ().

Sweet Bondage

There's no vacation quite like a Colombian-prison-island vacation.

BETWEEN 1960 AND 1984, visitors to Colombia's Isla Gorgona arrived shackled and blindfolded and slept behind barbed-wire fences, on wooden bunks without mattresses. The 2,500 inmates of Gorgona Prison were warned that, if they escaped, the venomous snakes on the tropical island would kill them and, if they braved the ocean, the sharks would get them instead.

Today, the lush, 6.5-square-mile island, 30 miles off Colombia's Pacific coast, is a national park; the lodging here has been managed since 2006 by the winner of the Colombian version of the TV show The Apprentice. Which is to say, this is one strange escape. I arrived last September via speedboat from the coastal town of Guapí. Upon touchdown, military police searched my bags for alcohol (it interferes with the requisite antivenin) and weapons. The other guests—the island hosts 130 at a time—were mostly schoolchildren and besotted couples, enjoying king-size beds in the updated guard quarters by the beach.

I spent my days exploring: first, the grisly ruins of the mammoth stone penitentiary, said to be modeled after a Nazi concentration camp and now overrun with capuchin monkeys and foot-long basilisk lizards, then the dense tropical jungle that covers 85 percent of Gorgona, for which the island provides obligatory boots. There really are pit vipers and coral snakes here, as well as easier-to-spot (and mostly harmless) boa constrictors.

The trekking's good and the kayaking better—I spent a few afternoons dipping into the equatorial water as blue-footed boobies and frigates flew overhead—but the main activity on Gorgona is diving. The island has a fully equipped dive center, and I'd regularly see 20 to 30 moray eels at any site, many as thick as my thighs. Gorgona's nature preserve extends to a six-mile radius around the island, so fish and turtles are plentiful, intrepid, and big. But size is relative. From July to September, humpbacks come to Gorgona's banks to mate and calve, and to see them breach and slap the surface with their gargantuan tails is to forget that once this was a place no one ever, ever wanted to go.

GET THERE: Three-night packages, including three meals daily, island transfers, and flights from Cali to the coastal town of Guapí, in the Cauca department, from $463 (). Two-dive day trips from Gorgona's dive center, $90. Kayak rentals, $5 per hour.

King Kauai

Lush greenery, volcanoes and an endless supply of hidden beaches.

The Big Island has size on its side, not to mention fun volcanoes. Oahu has the storied North Shore. And Maui—well, let's just say that the honeymooners storming its beaches year after year don't come for nothing.

But little Kauai has it all: lush greenery, volcanoes, small towns not yet overrun, and a seemingly endless supply of hidden beaches for surfing, snorkeling, and sunbathing.

This year, all those options are more accessible than ever. On the island's north shore, the St. Regis Princeville opened its doors last October (doubles from $385; ); after taking over the historic Princeville Resort, St. Regis revamped the whole place with a classy retro look. (Think coconut palm floors and a new spa and restaurant by über-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.)

But you don't go to Kauai to lounge. Join the locals for stand-up paddleboarding in Hanalei Bay—there's a great SUP surf break by the Hanalei Pier—or along the flat calm of the Hanalei River. Kayak Kauai offers lessons and boards (rentals from $42 per day; ). In the nearby Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, a coastal wetlands teeming with endemic bird species, you'll find the Okolehao trail—a windy, two-mile path offering views of Hanalei Bay and the mind-blowing Na Pali coastline. If it's surf you're after, head 45 minutes south to Poipu, rent a board at Nukumoi Surf Co. ($6 per hour; ), and try the Poipu Beach surf break, one of the island's best. Afterwards, crash just 50 yards away at the year-old Koa Kea, the first and only boutique property here (doubles from $299; ).

Trippin' on Indo

Short-term memory loss in the South Pacific.

Indonesia

Shrines decorated for the Hindu Odalan festival.

Indonesia

Lembongan traffic

LEMBONGAN ISN'T EXACTLY out of the way—just seven miles southeast of tourist-clogged Bali—but it stays perfectly out of your way. Nothing about the place gets between you and your vacation. A three-square-mile speck of coral reefs, empty beaches, and hillside bungalows, the Indonesian island is what Henry Miller meant when he said of Big Sur, California, “There being nothing to improve on in the surroundings, the tendency is to set about improving oneself.”

The easy access from Bali—plus the presence of several consistent surf breaks and dive spots—has given Lembongan a small but steady tourism economy to supplement the traditional kelp farms. My wife and I thought it might be a nice change of pace during our 16-day honeymoon on Bali. It ended up being the highlight of our trip.

It's hard for either of us to say exactly why. I know we surfed and took a beginner scuba excursion. But mostly what we have are hazy recollections of long naps, afternoon strolls, and laughing over dinner about how we'd managed to fill another day doing … er, well, we were never quite sure. And still aren't. We barely even have any photos from our stay. That's Lembongan's gift: letting you let go.

I imagine this empty-mindedness is the sort of self-improvement people seek from meditation retreats. But this retreat has cold beer and a really hollow reef break—from what I can remember.

GET THERE: Island Explorer Cruises offers day trips to Lembongan for $85 per person, including food and activities, and beachside bungalows for two from $90 per night ().

Have Lots, Want Not

The curious challenge of living it up on a private island in Fiji.

Fiji

Three acres of paradise: Wadigi

Indonesia

Wadigi's open air suites

I HAD TWO WHITE-SAND beaches and an infinity pool that overlooked an endless sea. I had a boatman ready at a moment's notice to take me snorkeling, water-skiing, windsurfing, fishing, or paddling in a glass-bottom kayak. I had two chefs waiting to prepare any whim; an open-air villa; an on-call masseuse; and a statuesque hostess who greeted me with a fruity cocktail in a fresh-cut coconut. In other words, I had Wadigi, a tiny islet in Fiji's Mamanucas, at my command.

I'd been sent there by a dive magazine to experience the singular indulgence of a private island. And, as a chronically underpaid writer, I planned to soak up every last perk. But after a couple of days of diving among spiky lionfish at half a dozen world-class sites, dinners with too many courses to count, and enough gin-and-tonics to get me kicked out of any self-respecting American bar, a funny thing happened: I found myself doing absolutely nothing.

As it turns out, when you have everything you might want, your wants start to subside. OK, so I never did get bored with that glass-bottom kayak, but I spent most of my free hours simply lolling around and contemplating the preposterous views. On my last evening, instead of ordering extravagant cocktails and back-to-back massages, I ate all the home-baked cookies in the jar and then simply sat in the pool watching the sun dip below the horizon and the clouds sweep across the mirror-still sea.

GET THERE: From $2,327 per day for two, including meals, most activities, and lodging; two-tank dives, $100;

New Outposts

Seven island getaways to fit every fantasy.

Anguilla

The Viceroy, Anguilla

FISH
Islas Secas, Panama
A group of 16 private islands, Islas Secas sits 25 miles off the Pacific coast, close to the wahoo, marlin, and grouper crowding Hannibal Bank. On land, the place is Gilligan's wildest dream, its seven solar oceanfront yurts holding only 14 guests. Go for the surfing or diving, but mainly go fish: Last winter, fishing director Carter Andrews helped a guest set seven world records here. In a week. Six nights, $6,600 per person;

SAIL
Scrub Island, British Virgin Islands
This 230-acre private island, which opened in February, is the first new resort in the BVIs in 15 years. At the heart is a 53-slip marina, the perfect base to launch a sailing excursion of the BVIs. Or stick around in one of the island's 52 rooms to enjoy day sailing, diving, hiking, and three restaurants. Doubles from $359;

DIVE
Shearwater Resort, Saba
Set some 2,000 feet atop Saba, a five-square-mile volcanic island in the Neth­erlands Antilles, Shearwater offers panoramic ocean views but is only a ten-minute drive from the docks. There, dive boats will take you out to some of the Caribbean's best snorkeling and scuba. (Ask Shearwater about custom packages.) The newly renovated rooms offer flatscreens, iPod docks, and wi-fi. Doubles from $175;

WATERSPORT
Viceroy Hotel and Resort, Anguilla
With three restaurants and three pools, you might be inclined never to leave the grounds of this year-old, 35-acre resort on the shores of both Barnes and Meads bays. But do: The 3,200 feet of coastline on the two bays offers spectacular sailing, snorkeling, and swimming. Doubles from $595;

SURF
The Atlantis Hotel, Barbados
Following a complete refurbishment in 2009, this swank, eight-room lodge on Barbados's east coast offers fast access to Sand Bank, a beginner-friendly beach break, and Soup Bowl, a tenacious reef break that Kelly Slater has called one of the best in the world. Doubles from $255;

MULTISPORT
The Landings, St. Lucia
A 19-acre waterfront resort on the northern tip of lush St. Lucia, the Landings offers complimentary 78-foot sailboats, snorkel gear, and sea kayaks . Pick up one of the latter and paddle 400 yards to little Pigeon Island for a hike to an 18th-century British fort. And don't forget to look inland: St. Lucia's Piton mountains offer some of the Caribbean's best hiking and vistas (you can see neighboring St. Vincent). Six nights, $1,755 per person, double occupancy;

INDULGE
Terre di Corleone and Portella della Ginestra, Sicily
Until recently, these properties were owned by mafia bosses Bernardo Brusca and Salvatore Riina. Thanks to a 1996 Italian law that uses government-seized mafia assets for social purposes, they've been converted into inns and cooperative farms producing fresh pasta, honey, legumes, and, of course, plentiful red and white wines. Doubles from $45;

Fresh Trips

Seven island getaways with the perfect balance of adventure and indulgence.

Belize

Off Ambergris Caye, Belize

PADDLE
Palau
Boundless Journeys' Oceania Odyssey starts with infinity-pool luxury at the Palau Pacific Resort, on Koror, before going rustic: For the next week, no more than ten guests camp on two smaller islands; snorkel over sunken World War II planes; sea-kayak the saltwater Black Tip Lake, accessed by marine tunnel; and dine on fresh-caught parrotfish. January–October; from $4,695 per person;

SAIL
Isle of Skye, Scotland
On the new seven-day Sailing & Walking Around Skye trip from Wilderness Scotland, local skipper Angus MacDonald Smith will ferry eight guests around Skye on his 67-foot yacht, Elinca, seeking out the old pirate anchorages, hailing passing fishermen to buy prawns, and cruising up inlets to launch guided hikes in the steep Cuillin Hills. Go in May or June for 20-hour days and peak seabird nesting. $1,400 per person;

MULTISPORT
Madagascar
Gap ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs' Madagascar Experience focuses on inland beauty. From the capital of Antananarivo, your crew will head south by minibus, stopping to hike in lush rainforests, bike around (and swim in) Lake Andraikiba, and explore the eroded sandstone Isalo Mountains. March–December; $1,449 per person;

FISH
Seychelles
On Frontiers Travel's new six-day Desroches Island Flyfishing ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, guests cast for hard-fighting bluefin trevally at offshore atolls by day and crash in private villas by night. Casting arm need a break? Explore the 3.5-mile-long island with kayaks, bikes, or snorkels and fins. $7,600 per person, double occupancy;

MULTISPORT
San Juan Islands
REI ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs' San Juan Islands trip is a six-day mash-up through Washington's Puget Sound, including a 50-mile road-biking spin around Orcas Island, sea kayaking with killer whales near Sentinel Island, and one night at a remote campsite. (The other four are spent at the Lakedale Resort's tent-cabins, which have real beds.) From $1,899 per person;

DIVE
Half Moon Caye, Belize
On the seven-day Lighthouse Reef trip from Island Expeditions, you'll kick back in safari-style tents and napping hammocks strung in coconut groves on 44-acre Half Moon Caye, some 50 miles off the mainland. Of course, you'll probably spend most of your time in or on the water, diving the Blue Hole—a famous, 400-foot-deep well—snorkeling in shallows, and exploring the reef by kayak. From $1,789 per person;

RIDE
Crete
Backroads' new six-day Crete cycling trip starts from Iráklion, on the northern coast, and ends, after 268 miles of pedaling, at Akrotiri Cape, in the west. In between, you'll spin past lush vineyards and olive groves and Venetian harbor towns, where fresh seafood and plush inns await. $3,598 per person, double occupancy;

The post Cay Party appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

Bahamas
Fly-Fishing

“PUT THE FLY RIGHT ON HIS HEAD” is the common refrain of sight-fishing guides to their clients standing knee-deep in the crystalline Atlantic waters off Long Island, a four-mile sand strip 165 miles south of Nassau. In some cases, the head belongs to a six-pound bonefish; in others it’s a tailing, manhole-cover-size permit. And when the fly drops, more often than not the fish devours it. So goes pretty much every experience with the crew from Bonafide Bonefishing. With everything from flats casting off white-sand beaches to raiding a secret permit stronghold accessible by a 45-minute boat ride from Stella Maris Resort, the 80-mile-long isle makes it tough to say they weren’t biting. Be sure to request either Docky or Alvin Smith, longtime guides who are often booked six months to a year in advance.

PLAYTIME: Bonafide offers day trips from Stella Maris for bonefishing, permit fishing, and reef fishing. Rental rods and gear are available, but they suggest that you bring your own. From $450 a day for two;

ISLAND LIVING: Relax in the newly developed Stella Maris’s Love Beach Bungalows. Set on five acres, each of the three cottages offers two-bedroom, two-bath accommodations, all facing a swimming lagoon and beaches. An SUV is available for unencumbered on-island excursions. From $1,365;

Antigua

Sailing

Antigua

SAILING IN THE CARIBBEAN? It’s tough to narrow down to just one island, we know, but if there’s a single place that balances both the sport and its well-lubricated after-hours lifestyle, it’s 108-square-mile Antigua. The island has become the quintessential yachtie hot spot and, from late April to early May, hosts more than 1,500 sailors during Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, the Caribbean’s second-largest regatta. More than 200 boats race in eight different classes, with participants ranging from landlubbers on chartered sloops to America’s Cup winners crewing billion-dollar boats. And when the sails drop, the long pours begin. The island’s own Antigua Distillery churns out award-winning rums (pick up a bottle of the English Harbour five-year-old). In Falmouth Harbour, where many of Sailing Week’s festivities take place, work your way from the Last Lemming to the Mad Mongoose and then on to Skullduggery, where it’s required that you have at least one espresso martini before hitting up the bars in English Harbour.

PLAYTIME: A slew of private charter companies like Horizon Yacht Charters, whose founder, Andrew Thompson, often races in Sailing Week, operate out of Antigua (a full list is available at ). Qualified captains can take off on their own, or you can always hire a skipper.

ISLAND LIVING: If you don’t feel like sleeping where you sail, grab a room at the newly opened—and swanky—Antigua Yacht Club Marina and Resort, in Falmouth Harbour. They’ll even dock your boat for a daily rate. Doubles from $277;

Bonaire

Diving

Bonaire

THE AQUATIC BOUNTY and 80-plus-foot visibility in the waters off this arid, mostly flat isle 50 miles north of Venezuela inspire a kind of reef madness among scuba divers. “Bonaire has some of the nicest diving in the world,” says Bruce Bowker, who came to the island in 1973 as its first full-time dive instructor. “It’s like jumping into an aquarium.” Just a flutter-kick away from the island’s leeward shore, you’ll find seahorses, soft corals swaying like hula girls, and swirls of sergeant majors and blue tang. Eighty-nine buoy-marked dive sites, all within the Bonaire National Marine Park, shelter almost 500 species of fish—more than can be found anywhere else in the Caribbean.

PLAYTIME: Bari Reef, on the island’s western shore, is said to be the best fish-spotting location in the Caribbean. Hook up with Bonaire Dive & ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s Jerry Ligon, a naturalist who can help you on your way to identifying more than 100 different species of fish. From $40;

ISLAND LIVING: Opened in September 2007 on a hillside overlooking the sea, La Pura Vista is a five-room guesthouse with a mosaic-tiled pool. Doubles from $125;

Puerto Rico

Surfing

Puerto Rico

A MULTISPORT DRAW, Puerto Rico offers enough mountain biking, hiking, snorkeling, and diving to keep an energetic visitor occupied for months. But it’s the surfing—centered around the town of Rincón, on the western shore— that you’ll come back for. Tied with Huntington Beach, California, for hosting the most ISA surfing events, Puerto Rico reigns as the surf mecca of the Caribbean, with 310 miles of coastline. “All the other islands have open windows, but they’re small,” says Rip Curl team rider and Puerto Rico native Brian Toth. “PR has huge open windows for swells to come through.” The 2007 World Masters had surfers barreling off Rincón’s point break, Maria’s, which produces waves up to 14 feet. Toth’s favorite break? Jobos, near the town of Isabela, 45 minutes from Rincón, which pumps perfect rights most days.

PLAYTIME: Waves break consistently from October through April—pass up the standard foam board for a lesson on a classic fiberglass longboard with Playa Brava Surf Underground. Surf-school owner Tupi Cabrera takes pride in his island because it has the widest variety of waves and, in his words, “it’s freakin’ cool!” Ninety-minute lessons from $40;

ISLAND LIVING: Rincón’s luxurious Horned Dorset Primavera Hotel has 22 private, plunge-pool-adorned villas on four hillside oceanfront acres. Doubles from $610;

British Virgin Islands

Sea Kayaking

British Virgin Islands

WITH ABOUT 35 ISLANDS situated miles apart, consistent trade winds, and strong currents, the BVIs inspire connect-the-dots sea kayaking. But one route stands out: a 14-mile open-water crossing from Virgin Gorda to Anegada, a flat, coral-limestone island that was once a pirate haven with blissful beaches, low-slung brush, and almost as many iguanas and flamingos as locals. Horse Shoe Reef envelops the land in thick and treacherous coral growth, meaning boats need to steer clear or join the 200 or so offshore shipwrecks. But the inner-reef waters are ultra-calm, and your kayak will allow you to snug along the shoreline and squeeze through the narrow inlets to salt ponds, where you’ll find some of the Caribbean’s most diverse and abundant wildlife. Look for brown boobies, pelicans, herons, egrets, and ospreys flitting among the piles of conch shells. Then kayak to the north shore, where you can snorkel for treasure or paddle south to fish the flats.

PLAYTIME: Arawak Expeditions offers custom trips to Anegada and throughout the islands, as well as multi-day camping trips.

ISLAND LIVING: Virgin Gorda’s Biras Creek Resort is a luxurious, eco-friendly resort with 33 suites. Last year’s face-lift added two new plunge pools, a brand-new fleet of kayaks, and a bicycle for every guest. Doubles, $615;

St. Bart’s

Lazing & Eating

St. Bart’s

FROM PASTRY TO PARADISE is how your day on St. Bart’s will most likely start. You just need to make a couple of decisions: almond, chocolate, or butter croissant, monsieur? And then: quiet with great sunning or happening with great barefoot dining? Located about 15 miles east of St. Martin, where the Antilles chain bends to the south, tiny St. Barthélemy (just eight square miles) is the Frenchiest of the French West Indies. The mostly European visitors—some 230,000 a year—come to eat, drink, and lounge. It’s leisure as extreme sport. And it’s easy to spend $150 on lunch—but worth it. For the tuna tartare at La Plage (), on St. Jean Beach. For the tiger prawns at Le Bartoloméo, at the Hotel Guanahani (). For anything on the menu at the St. Barth’s Isle de France ().

PLAYTIME: Digest in peace on a secluded beach, like Governeur or Saline. You can also windsurf at St. Jean, surf at Lorient, and scuba-dive in offshore reserves.

ISLAND LIVING: Do like those in the know and rent a private villa from an agency such as St. Barth Properties ().

Islas Los Roques

Snorkeling & Exploring

Islas Los Roques

EACH MORNING, while the sun warms the sea and the pelicans bomb sardines, the small harbor in Los Roques, Venezuela, slowly comes alive. Here, about 100 miles north of Caracas, sits arguably the largest concentration of beautiful beaches in the hemisphere—some 42 islands of white sand, with turquoise lagoons and only one town among all of them. Gran Roque (pop. 1,600) has breezy inns, an espresso bar, and sandy streets plied only by flip-flops. But wander down to the harbor and you’ll find the fishermen. They’re the ones with literally a menu of deserted islands nearby, and for $15 or less they’ll take you and your snorkeling gear there. “Francisqui? Crasqui?” they say. “Which island you like today?” The decision isn’t easy. There’s premium snorkeling among hundreds of thousands of tiny silversides off Crasqui, a 30-minute boat ride away, and great diving in the coral pinnacles of La Guaza, which teems with jacks and grouper. But of all the islands and all the beaches and all the things to do—Francisqui for kiteboarding, Cayo de Agua for lagoons, and so on—Cayo Muerto, just a 20-minute ride away, is particularly special. A sandbar 500 paces long surrounded by a sea so clear you could mistake it for air, “Death Key” is the classic deserted island of castaway fantasies.

PLAYTIME: If riding a fishing boat isn’t for you, Ecobuzos Dive ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs runs boats out of Gran Roque to various destinations off Los Roques. $35;

ISLAND LIVING: Gran Roque’s newest inn, Posada Natura Viva, features a quiet courtyard and a predominantly Italian clientele and can help arrange everything from flights to renting snorkeling gear. $247;

St. Lucia

Mountain Biking

St. Lucia

FORGET THE BEACHES. The mountain biking on St. Lucia has visitors looking inland, where riders can rip past waterfalls and saman trees on dozens of singletrack trails and fire roads throughout the 238-square-mile island. The best riding is in the 400-acre Anse Mamin Plantation’s 12-mile network of jungle-lined track, dedicated solely to knobby tires. Suitable for a range of abilities, the trails wind through the old sugarcane fields and offer opportunities for freeriders to drop some of the plantation’s original stone walls and stairways. The biggest challenge? The two-mile Tinker Juarez Trail, designed by the endurance mountain biker and two-time Olympian. This climb to the top of a 900-foot peak has been completed only once sans hiking, by Tinker himself.

PLAYTIME: Bike St. Lucia provides Cannondale F800 mountain bikes for day use. $89 per day;

ISLAND LIVING: The new Jade Mountain Resort, which is connected to the Anse Mamin Plantation, features private “sanctuaries” that have infinity pools with views of the Piton Mountains. Doubles from $1,020;

Turks and Caicos Islands

Kiteboarding

Turks and Caicos Islands

UNTIL RECENTLY, IT WAS SCUBA DIVERS who salivated over the turquoise waters and Technicolor reefs. But recently, kiteboarders have discovered the Turks and Caicos—a 166-square-mile archipelago in the eastern Caribbean—and it’s fast becoming a hallowed destination for world-class riding. During the winter, cold fronts rolling across the lower 48 arm-wrestle with the prevailing trades blowing from the east. A deadlock ensues, and that puts the squeeze on, blasting the Turks and Caicos from January to May with buttery-smooth winds. Bathwater-warm seas let you leave the wetsuit at home, and its proximity to the North Atlantic ensures there’s always a swell if you have an appetite for big surf.

PLAYTIME: The Kitehouse is a full-service international kiteboarding outfitter run by pro Paul Menta. Full-day lessons from $300;

ISLAND LIVING: Menta loves houseguests. An upscale suite at his new villa runs from $150 a day, including gear.

The post Island Action appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

Smooth Sailing

St. Lucia

Welcome to Paradise: St. Lucia

Bitter End, Virgin Gorda
The Bitter End, on the remote northeastern tip of Virgin Gorda, is a sprawling community of people with one thing on their minds: boating. In addition to the club’s 77 rooms, swimming pool, and teakwood Clubhouse restaurant, there’s a marina, a dive shop, a pub, a market, and 70 boat moorings. This is no mellow-rum-drinks-on-your-private-beach kind of resort: It’s a playground for Type A’s in topsiders.
THE GOOD LIFE: The best rooms are 48 hillside cottages with expansive decks and Eustacia Reef views.
SPORTS ON-SITE: Thanks to warm Virgin Islands water and 10- to 25-knot winds, North Sound is the perfect place to hone your tacks and jibes.
BEYOND THE SAND: The 45-minute hike to the top of 1,370-foot Gorda Peak offers a commanding view.
THE FINE PRINT: Round-trip airfare on American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) from New York to Tortola starts at $390. From January 7 to April 30, a seven-night Admiral’s Package includes three meals a day ($4,410–$5,320 for two people; 800-872-2392, ).—Grant Davia

Jungle Chic
Anse Chastanet, St. Lucia
With its louvered doors and green heartwood furniture, Anse Chastanet resembles a series of tree houses built by Swiss castaways. Very rich Swiss castaways, who didn’t mind being stranded on St. Lucia—a big teardrop in the Lesser Antilles.
THE GOOD LIFE: This 600-acre resort on the southwestern shore has five-star activities to match the cuisine (spiced carrot-and-coconut soup, grilled dorado) and pleasantly esoteric options at the Kai Belté Spa. (Try a wosh cho hot-stone massage.)
SPORTS ON-SITE: Twelve miles of mountain-bike trails wind through the ruins of a 19th-century sugarcane-and-cocoa plantation on the property.
BEYOND THE SAND: The climbs up 2,619-foot Gros Piton and 2,461-foot Petit Piton are legendary.
THE FINE PRINT: US Airways (800-622-1015, ) flies to St. Lucia from New York for about $600. From December 20 to April 6, a double in one of 49 villas at Anse Chastanet (758-459-7000, ) is $465 a night, including breakfast and dinner.—Randy Wayne White

Green Dreams
Concordia Eco-Tents, St. John
The island of St. John is all about green. Thanks to the pioneering conservation efforts of Laurance Rockefeller, who bought up half the island in the 1950s and gave it to the National Park Service, St. John is a pristine, verdant volcanic blob a mere six miles from the cruise-ship-clogged harbor of Charlotte Amalie, on St. Thomas. It’s a moneyed island, with huge trophy villas going up on the scant amount of land that isn’t part of the park. And it’s an eco-showcase—this is where you come in—with a number of green lodging options started by another visionary, Stanley Selengut, who built the tent-cottage community of Maho Bay Camps nearly 30 years ago and has added Concordia Eco-Tents to his stable.
THE GOOD LIFE: Situated on a hill overlooking Ram’s Head, the Salt Pond, and Drunk Bay on the southeastern shore, Concordia Eco-Tents is the next generation of eco-living. The 11 stark-white canvas tents are completely self-sufficient, with solar panels, water-collecting cisterns, and composting toilets. Each has a deck, private bath, and kitchenette and sleeps six.
SPORTS ON-SITE: A short distance down the road, Salt Pond Bay has a pretty beach and good snorkeling. From there you can access short hiking trails to the tip of Ram’s Head and the wacky, found-object art constructions at Drunk Bay.
BEYOND THE SAND: Of the 22 hiking trails in Virgin Islands National Park, the Reef Bay Trail is the premier hike, with bay rum trees, golden orb spiders, and sugar-mill ruins. Do the 4.4-mile out-and-back on your own, or go with the Park Service to be picked up by boat. (Reserve in advance at 340-776-6201.)
THE FINE PRINT: Most major U.S. airlines fly direct to St. Thomas from various East Coast cities (round-trip from New York, about $550). From there, hop a ferry to St. John. From December through April, rates at Concordia Eco-Tents (800-392-9004, ) are $125–$135 per night.—Leslie Weeden

The post Resorts For Every Reason appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

St. Lucia
By Trish Reynales

Sure, St. Lucia’s twin peaks make for great postcards. “Pitons soar a half-mile into the sky. Mist dripping from the vines. Parrots mocking me from the palms. Mud up to my knees. Wish you were here….” But if you’re planning to do more than sit around and write postcards, Petit and Gros Piton will play major roles in all your activities, which is why you should set up base on
the southern half of this 238-square-mile island. And that way you’ll bypass the beach-going throngs in the northern capital of Castries.

With the Pitons in view, you’ll never get lost here–unless you are shrouded beneath the canopy of the 29,858-acre St. Lucia Tropical Rain Forest or actually scaling Gros Piton. While Petit Piton is closed to hikers, 2,619-foot Gros Piton, aka Fat Peak–the habitat of opossums, agoutis, and the rare St. Lucia parrot–takes about three hours to scale in winter (forget it during
the rainy summer). You won’t need ropes, but a guide is essential because of occasional landslides, mud-splattering downpours, and trail-obliterating mists. Register first through the Forestry Department (809-450-2231); recommended guides are Barefoot Holidays (half-day tour, $40; 809-450-0507) and St. Lucia Reps (tours, $30-$75; 809-452-8232).

For a less vertical trail, try the inland nine-mile Rain Forest Walk between the towns of Fond St. Jacques and Mahaut in the Edmund and Quilesse Forest Reserves, which winds through giant ferns, towering philodendrons, orchids, epiphytes, and anthuriums.

There’s no camping on St. Lucia, so where you kick back is critical. For unsurpassed views, check into the hillside Ladera Resort (doubles, $195- $330; 800-841-4145), a West Indian-style hideaway tucked between the Pitons at 1,000 feet above sea level. Its rooms are three-walled, ocean-facing aeries with four-poster beds. There’s also the Jalousie Plantation (doubles,
$500-$700, all-inclusive; 800-392-2007) at the foot of the Pitons, a very private, very pricey reincarnation of an old sugar plantation offering horseback riding, kayaking, deep-sea fishing, and a cushy health spa.

Perhaps the ultimate way to experience the Pitons, though, is to steep in their beauty from offshore. The Moorings (800-535-7289), based in Marigot Bay on the central coast, charters yachts for up to six passengers, either bareboat or outfitted with a crew and provisions. A 38-foot Beneteau bareboat for five days runs about $2,250. Anse des Pitons’s unsheltered setting
precludes overnight anchoring, but you can tie up for swimming and scuba diving right off the boat: The Pitons stretch as far below sea level as they do above, and their underwater slopes make for terrific drift dives along terraces sprouting giant barrel sponges.

Scuba divers can probe the reefs around Anse Chastanet, a serene bay due north of the Pitons and the town of Soufrière. Anse Chastanet Hotel (doubles, $140-$360, breakfast and dinner included; 800-223-1108), with beachside rooms and a few hillside cottages, fronts St. Lucia’s top shore-entry site and has its own dive shop. The dive starts in 20 feet of bathwater and
leads past a battalion of garden eels–and a totaled Porsche 911–to a coral-covered wall that drops more than 150 feet. Visibility averages 100 feet.

Anse de Sables, a bay on the southern tip of the island, lures hard-core boardsailors with 25- to 35-mile-per-hour winds that course between Cape Moule-à-Chique and the offshore Maria Islands Nature Reserve. Island Windsurfing stocks boards (weekly rentals, $130- $175; 800-936-3333). Between gusts, arrange a visit to the reserve, home of noddies, lizards, and the world’s
rarest snake, through the National Trust (tours, $15; 809-452-5005).

Convenient digs include the bare-bones Kimatrai (doubles, $40; 809-454-6328), five minutes from the beach in Vieux Fort. The nearby Club Med (doubles, $115-$155; one-week package, $805-$965; 800-258-2633) also merits consideration; its guests enjoy beachfront or ocean-view rooms, shuttle service to Anse de Sables, and their choice of 41 Bic boards.

See also:

The post St. Lucia appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

All-Inclusive Resorts

Margaritas for nothing and the chips for free
By Matthew Joyce

In the notoriously high-priced Caribbean, it doesn’t take long to max out a credit card or burn through a wad of traveler’s checks–those $50-per-day equipment rentals and $30-an-hour lessons add up even when you manage to score a reasonably priced hotel room. The solution? An all-inclusive resort. Yes, some of these are too organized, too corny, or too isolated from real
island life. But when you consider that the price includes room, meals, drinks, sports, entertainment, and taxes, the trade-off starts to make sense.

Club Med, the pioneer of the all-inclusive concept, still rules. If you can stand such patented silliness as African Fun Dances and group sing-alongs, Club Med Turkoise (doubles, $125-$190 per person; weekly, $875-$1,135; dive packages, $100 extra; 800-258-2633) on the island of Providenciales is a good deal for divers. The resort comprises 70
acres, three restaurants, a nightclub, and 298 pastel-colored rooms and offers boardsailing, waterskiing, bonefishing, volleyball, and two daily scuba dives. There’s also an incongruous but entertaining circus workshop to teach guests such skills as trapeze, high-wire, and juggling.

LeSPORT (doubles, $210- $345 per person per night; $2,631-$3,500 per couple weekly; 800-544-2883), on the northwestern tip of St. Lucia, attracts stressed-out yuppies and health-conscious hedonists to its Moorish-style “relaxation center” and ocean-view rooms. The price includes instruction in sailing, diving, tennis, and boardsailing, as well as
massage treatments and yoga.

Families should head for Runaway Bay, midway along Jamaica’s north coast, where the Mediterranean-style Franklin D. Resort ($3,205- $7,205 per couple per week; kids under 16 free; 800-654-1337) caters exclusively to parents and their offspring with one- to three-bedroom suites. Each family gets a “Girl Friday” to cook, clean, and babysit the kids,
who join supervised games and sports lessons while Mom and Dad sail, dive, and bike.

Outdoor types sans kids opt for Jamaica Jamaica ($1,120- $1,505 weekly per person; 800-859-7873). Sure, there are goofy costume nights, but if you like parties and sports, this one’s for you. Set on a two-mile north-shore beach, the 22-acre, 238-room resort keeps you busy with horseback rides, bike trips, and a Mistral boardsailing school.

Long before ecotourism came into vogue, scuba divers and nature freaks were coming to Anthony’s Key Resort ($910-$990 per person per week; 800-227-3483) on Roatán in the Bay Islands of Honduras. The attraction is three boat dives per day and unlimited shore diving among pristine coral- and sponge-encrusted walls and reefs. Guests stay in
rustic seaside bungalows, eat family-style meals in an open-air dining area, kayak, ride horses on the beach, or hike on jungle trails.

The post All-Inclusive Resorts appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

To zero in on the most idyllic resorts this side of paradise, we dispatched a crack squad of writers to the Caribbean. They came back with a hit list of places where creature comforts and adventure are not mutually exclusive. Now it’s your turn.

By Katie Arnold

By Janine Sieja

By Randy Wayne White

By Hampton Sides

By Bonnie Tsui

By Grant Davis

By Sally Schumaier

By Mike Grudowski

By Karen Karbo

By Lisa Anne Auerbach

PLUS:
Swimming in Mosquito Bay, sailing the Grenadines, climbing 10,000-foot Pico Duarte, and five other don’t-miss dream outings.

Laluna

A minimalist’s idea of maximum bliss

Caribbean Resort, Grenada

Caribe, anyone? Laluna’s mod seaside lounge overlooking Portici Bay.

ON OUR THIRD MORNING IN GRENADA, we roasted the Chicken. Then we did what any sensible traveler in the Caribbean would do: We beelined it back to Laluna, a sublime refuge tucked into a hidden bay on the island’s southwest coast, and made straight for the sea. We were ridiculously filthy, splattered with mud from a three-hour mountain-bike ride with Chicken—a wiry, calf-strong Grenadian guide who’s such a fanatic cyclist, he’d already pedaled 25 miles before breakfast. (No wonder we beat him up the hills.) Salty but clean, we retired to the private plunge pool on our cottage’s wide wooden deck, taking in the uninterrupted view of Portici Bay. Time to debate the next move: Grab a book and sprawl across the teak settee on the veranda, wander down to the open-air lounge for a cold Caribe and a game of backgammon, loll poolside on a chaise, or have a massage? There’s only one house rule at this tiny, tony anti-resort: Make yourself at home. After three days, we felt so at home, we thought we were home—that is, if home were a stylish, thatch-roofed cabana notched into a hillside above an empty crescent of Caribbean beach. In our dreams.

The Good Life // Designed in 2001 by Gabriella Giuntoli, the Italian architect for Giorgio Armani’s villa on an island off Sicily, Laluna has a pared-down, natural aesthetic: Indonesian teak-chic meets spare Italian elegance. All 16 one- and two-bedroom concrete cottages—painted in cheerful shades of pumpkin, lapis, teal, and plum—are well-appointed but unfussy: Balinese four-poster beds draped with sheer muslin panels, earth-colored floors covered with sea-grass rugs, open-air bathrooms with mod metal fixtures. The same soothing mix of wood, cane, cotton, and thatch prevails in the resort’s beachfront courtyard. On one end is the breezy restaurant, where Italian chef Benedetto La Fiura cooks up Carib-Continental dishes like callaloo soup (an island specialty made from dasheen, a tuber with spinachlike leaves, and nutmeg) and mushroom risotto. On the other is the open-air lounge, with a fully stocked bar and comfy Indonesian daybeds with plump throw pillows, and low tables that double as footrests. Between the two is pure R&R: a sleek square pool with a perfect curve of beach beyond.

Jaw Dropper // Swinging the cottage’s mahogany-and-glass doors wide open at night and being lulled to sleep by the wind in the bougainvillea and the gentle rolling of waves below.

Sports on-Site // There’s no set agenda at Laluna, but there’s plenty to do. Guests with sailing experience can take out one of two Hobie Cats, as well as single and double sea kayaks, for the easy cruise to Morne Rouge Bay, the next cove over. There’s a small stash of snorkeling equipment available (keep an eye out for yellow-and-black-striped sergeant majors near the rocky points at either end of the beach) and Specialized mountain bikes for tooling around.

Beyond the Sand // Fight the urge to cocoon at Laluna and head inland and upward to Grand Étang Forest Reserve, a 3,800-acre tract of rainforest at 2,350 feet, along the island’s jungly spine. We spent a day in the charming company of 64-year-old Telfor Bedeau, known to all as the father of Grenada hiking. He led us on a four-hour ramble around Lake Grand ƒtang, a rogue crater left over from the island’s volcanic past, and along an overgrown tunnel of a trail to a series of five waterfalls (popularly, if erroneously, dubbed the Seven Sisters) and up a hidden path to a bonus cascade called Honeymoon Falls (half-day hikes, $20 per person; 473-442-6200). At A&E Tours, Chicken guides half-day, full-day, and multi-day mountain-bike rides along the coast or through the reserve (our three-hour pedal from the harbor capital of St. George’s over the serpentine, near-vertical Grenville Vale Road cost $25 per person, including bike rental; 473-435-1444, ).

The Fine Print // American Eagle (800-433-7300; ) flies the two and a half hours to Grenada daily from San Juan, Puerto Rico (round-trip from Chicago, about $785); Air Jamaica (800-523-5585; ) flies nonstop from New York’s JFK four days a week (about $400). From December 20 to April 13, rates at Laluna (473-439-0001, ) start at $530 per night, double occupancy, including water activities and bikes (the price drops to $290 in summer). A modified meal plan (breakfast and dinner) is $65 per person per day. Henry’s Safari Tours can take care of your on-island transportation and guiding needs (473-444-5313, ).

The Hermitage

Frangipani breezes, volcano view

THE SOUNDTRACK TO NEVIS, a volcanic bit of emerald-green pointing skyward in the West Indies, lacks a badass steel-drum reggae riff. Nevis, blessedly, is not that Caribbean. Its rhythms require closer attention: nocturnal, chirping bell frogs and murmuring trade winds that rustle the coconut palms and spread the sweetness of frangipani across 50 square miles of overgrown hills and dignified former sugarcane plantations. The most charming of these mansions, the Hermitage, is perched 800 feet above sea level on the southern flanks of dormant-for-now 3,232-foot Nevis Peak. The 15 gingerbread cottages and 340-year-old British colonial lodge are embellished with pastel-shuttered windows and four-poster canopy beds. Despite this dollhouse decor, you won’t feel embarrassed to take your lunch of grilled-flying-fish salad on the veranda after a muddy five-hour hike up the volcano. Just hose yourself off in the front yard first. The Good Life // Amiable American transplants Richard and Maureen Lupinacci bought the Hermitage 33 years ago. Its Great House, reputed to be the oldest wooden building in the Caribbean, is where guests dine by candlelight or sidle over to the bar for rum punch at cocktail hour. (The free-flowing mixture of dark Cavalier rum, syrup, lemon juice, and a dash of cinnamon is part of why the refined Hermitage vibe never crosses over into stuffiness.) Most of the cottages are restored originals—whitewashed, light-filled retreats furnished with regional antiques. All have hammock-equipped balconies for horizontal views of Nevis Peak and the white clouds that usually shroud its summit. The three-acre grounds are dotted with citrus, mango, and cashew trees, and have two pools and a tennis court.

Jaw Dropper // Roam trails crisscrossing the Gingerland District on one of the lodge’s 16 thoroughbreds, or charge up Saddle Hill to an old lookout used by British admiral Horatio Nelson in the 1780s.

Sports on-Site // Explore the terraced gardens of lilies, ginger, and hibiscus or take the ten-minute shuttle to four-mile Pinney’s Beach, the loveliest of Nevis’s sandy stretches. Just a quarter-mile from the inn is the trailhead for the mile-long climb to the summit of Nevis Peak (contact Top to Bottom; $35 per person; 869-469-9080).

Beyond the Sand // A wild donkey—an odd trail obstacle—brayed his displeasure as I pedaled the sea-grape-lined singletrack of Tower Hill. Windsurf ‘n’ Mountain Bike Nevis (869-469-9682, , ) offers half-day rides from $40, including use of a Trek front-suspension bike. At Oualie Beach, on the island’s northwestern coast, let marine biologist Barbara Whitman introduce you to four-eyed butterfly fish, goat fish, flame coral, and pink sea anemones. Under the Sea (869-469-1291, ) charges $40 for a three-hour snorkel, including gear.

The Fine Print // American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) is the only major U.S. carrier serving Nevis. The daily flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, takes an hour and 15 minutes (round-trip airfare from New York City costs about $725; from Denver, about $980). From December 15 to April 15, rates at the Hermitage (800-682-4025, ) start at $325 for a double, including a full breakfast (low-season rates from $170).

Anse Chastanet

This is jungle luxe

Caribbean Resort, St. Lucia

Petit Piton looms as Anse Chastanet’s yacht heads out for a day at sea.

Caribbean Resort, St. Lucia

Walls optional: a hillside villa at Anse Chastanet

MY FIRST DAWN on St. Lucia, a big teardrop of an island wedged between Martinique and St. Vincent in the Lesser Antilles, was disappointing. I’d flown in on the dark of the moon and arrived at Anse Chastanet, a 600-acre resort perched on the rugged southwestern shore, too late to see anything but a macrodome of stars. The next morning, I awoke to warblers singing in the cedars and the scent of begonia shifting in the trade wind. My villa-size room, I realized, barely had walls. Wait, it gets worse. Below was a bay so clear, the coral shimmered like a field of wildflowers. Twin peaks spired out of the forest. The rockier one, 2,461-foot Petit Piton, was unavoidably phallic. Gros Piton, at 2,619 feet, was more rounded and feminine. I looked from the Pitons to the beach, then at my empty bed. What a blunder! Here I was in the most achingly romantic setting in all my years … and I was alone.

The Good Life // I didn’t feel weepy for long. The resort has a five-star list of activities to match the cuisine (spiced-carrot-and-coconut soup, grilled dorado, mango trifle), an attentive 250-person staff (serving no more than 100 guests), and pleasantly esoteric options at the Kai Belté spa. (Try a wosh cho hot-stone massage.) Trou au Diable, a thatch-roofed bistro, sits on a half-mile of secluded beach, while the Piton Restaurant is set among the 49 villas up the hill. My Hillside Deluxe room, with its louvered doors and green heartwood furniture, was like a tree house built by Swiss castaways. Very rich Swiss castaways. But considering the absence of phones or TVs, they didn’t seem to mind being stranded on St. Lucia.

Jaw Dropper // Tucking into a plate of locally raised lamb and fresh snapper cooked under the stars by chef Jon Bentham on an antique cane-sugar pot the size of a kettledrum.

Sports on-Site // Anse Chastanet is famous for spectacular diving; there’s a Platinum/PADI Scuba and Water Sports Center, and boats ferry you out to several world-class dive sites along the Pinnacles reef. But I chose to explore a lesser-known offering: 12 miles of mountain-bike trails winding through the ruins of a 19th-century French sugarcane-and-cocoa plantation next door. Full disclosure: I expected crappy equipment but a fun ride. What I got was a first-class trail system partially designed by NORBA phenom Tinker Juarez and my choice of 50 Cannondale F800s, all fitted with hydraulic shocks and brakes. The ride, over rolling jungle paths, was excellent—I broke a sweat but still had time to stop and pick wild avocados, bananas, and guavas.

Beyond the Sand // Ever bagged a Piton? Me neither. The climbs are notoriously steep and muddy, but if you’re game, the front desk recommends a guide named Meneau Herman ($50 a person for the day). For the rest of us, there are ample opportunities to explore St. Lucia via horse or sea kayak. On my last day, I hit the water with Xavier Vernantius, the head kayak guide. Born on St. Lucia, Xavier, 33, knew all the secret caves to explore. As we paddled around a rocky outcropping called Fairyland, the view of the Pitons in the distance left me speechless. “I grew up here, and I still find them beautiful,” Xavier said.

The Fine Print // US Airways (800-622-1015, ) flies to St. Lucia from New York City for about $700, from Chicago for $760. From December 20 to April 7, a double at Anse Chastanet (758-459-7000, ) costs $455 per night, including breakfast and dinner ($220 per night in the off-season, not including meals). The spa and scuba diving are extra.

Tiamo Resorts

Check your Blackberry at the door and get way, way offline

THE MOST IMPRESSIVE thing about Tiamo is how unimpressive it is. Even as my sea taxi pulled up to the unassuming scallop of beach on the southern half of Andros, I still couldn’t see the resort that was right in front of me. Once ashore, I had to wade through thickets of sea grapes and gumbo-limbo trees to find the central lodge—an unpretentious wooden structure with screened porches and a corrugated metal roof. Was this the place? The sleepy Brazilian jazz seeping out the front door said yes. Hacked out of the Bahamian bush and opened in 2001 by Mike and Petagay Hartman, Tiamo is a fascinating—and so far successful—experiment to test whether assiduous eco-consciousness can coexist with rustic luxury. The ethos here is part Gilligan’s Island, part Buckminster Fuller. With only 11 open-air bungalows, powered by the sun and outfitted with compost toilets, everything is small-scale, low-impact, phosphate-free, and relentlessly off the grid. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the resort sits on 12 acres of pristine beach along an inland waterway, surrounded by 125 acres of preserved wilderness. There are no air conditioners, no TVs, none of the whirs and bleeps of the digital age. Nope, at Tiamo, messages are delivered strictly by iguanagram. The Good Life // By day, watch a heron or one of the resident iguanas trundle by your screened porch. At night, the hemp curtains billow in the breeze. The bright-green-and-yellow louvered shutters, exposed copper pipes, and bare-metal faucet levers are sleekly utilitarian. My solar-heated beach-rock shower looked out on a mighty specimen of local cactus known as—I kid you not—the Bahamian dildo. The lodge has the same casual vibe. Browse for dog-eared paperbacks and board games in the library; dine on sesame seared tuna and mahi-mahi with mango beurre blanc at the large communal table; or simply fritter the evening away at the rattan bar, clutching a mind-warming Petagay Punch as a local “rake-and-scrape” band sings you back to bed.




Jaw Dropper // A spectacular network of “blue holes” riddle the limestone bedrock all over southern Andros. Kayak out to the Crack, a fabulously deep gash in the seafloor where two temperature zones collide in a thermocline, and snorkel or dive the nutrient-rich broth alongside hosts of wrasse, lobster, sea cucumbers, and freakishly large angelfish.

Sports on-Site // Tiamo is not a destination for hyperactive folks who expect a brisk regimen of “activities.” Basically, Mike shows up at breakfast and says, “What do you want to do today?” Choose between swimming, bonefishing, kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, bushwhacking, or my new favorite sport, extreme hammocking. Hikes (led by Shona Paterson, the on-staff marine biologist) are free, as are snorkel trips to the blue holes. There’s a modest fleet of trimarans and sea kayaks at the ready. But the most elaborate activity is … horseshoes. Somehow, that says it all.

Beyond the Sand // Andros boasts some of the finest bonefishing in the world, and Mike can easily hook you up with a guide ($350 per boat for a full day; each boat holds two anglers). Ask for Captain Jolly Boy, a corpulent former bar owner turned Baptist preacher who stalks “the gray ghost” with all the biblical fervor of Ahab. “I feel you, Mr. Bones!” Jolly Boy whispers as he poles the flats. For divers, the Andros Barrier Reef, one of the world’s largest contiguous reefs, lies less than a mile offshore; its sheer wall, home to thousands of species of fish, drops nearly 6,000 feet into the Tongue of the Ocean. Scuba excursions motor out daily, but you must be PADI-certified ($100 for a one-tank dive, $145 for two tanks).

The Fine Print // Delta (800-241-4141, ) and American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) fly to Nassau from L.A. and New York for $600 or less. From there, make the 20-minute hop with Western Air (242-377-2222, ) to Andros; flights are about $100 round-trip. The bungalows at Tiamo (242-357-2489, ) cost $275 per person, double occupancy ($360 per person, single occupancy) year-round; rates include everything but your bar tab, bonefishing, and scuba diving. The resort is closed August 1 through September 30.

Punta Caracol Acqua Lodge

The lullaby of lapping waves

Caribbean Resort, Isla Colon, Panama

The H20 cure: cabanas on stilts at Punta Caracol

TRANQUILO IS THE OPERATIVE WORD at Punta Caracol, located just off the serenely beautiful island of Isla Colón, an hour’s flight by puddle jumper from Panama City and a 15-minute boat ride from the small town of Bocas del Toro. Sheltered by the surrounding archipelago and, about three miles away, mainland Panama, the resort’s six two-story thatch-roofed cabanas are suspended over the water on wooden stilts, spiraling out from a long central walkway to face Almirante Bay. Each solar-powered duplex has its own private terrace and deck, and the sound of lapping water lulls you to sleep. This vision of calm luxury perched at the edge of the world is just what founder and Barcelona native José-Luís Bordas had in mind when he designed Punta Caracol in 1997 as his final project for business school. At dusk on my first evening, I’d already showered and dressed for dinner, yet I couldn’t help heeding the call of bath-temperature, cerulean water. In record time, I changed back into my swimsuit and threw myself—with a war whoop—off the back deck. It’s the kind of place where glittering-green tropical fish jump up to meet you in rapid-fire succession and bioluminescent plankton are the only lights shimmering offshore after sunset. Every detail of the resort, from hand-woven hanging textiles to fresh papaya and pineapple-covered panqueques at breakfast, is well executed by Bordas’s competent local staff. At the end of my four-day idyll, I could tell him honestly, “Es mi idea del paraíso, también.” The Good Life // Each bungalow has native-hardwood floors and French doors that open to the bay, as well as wooden lounge chairs and woven floor mats. Bathrooms are lined with clay tiles with a lime-green-and-plátano-yellow trim—brightly Caribbean without being gaudy. Upstairs, the open-air bedroom has a canopied king-size bed with natural-cotton drapes that double as mosquito nets, but you won’t need them; the cool breezes off the water at night are enough to blow pesky insects away. As for eats, you won’t find fresher seafood: The open-air restaurant-cum-lounge—also on stilts over the water— gets regular deliveries from local fishermen cruising by with just-caught lobster and red snapper, weighed with a portable scale brought out from behind the bar. A must-have: grilled lobster with tomatoes stuffed with rice, fish, and vegetables. (Chase it down with a warm, sweet pineapple slice glazed with caramelized sugar.)

Jaw Dropper // While you’re dining alfresco on flame-grilled shrimp, you can watch dolphins, pelicans, and parrot fish trolling for dinner on the reef below.

Sports on-Site // Swim, snorkel, or paddle in clear, calm Caribbean water along a mile of coral-reef coastline; there’s no beach at Punta Caracol, but your cabana’s private dock is just as enticing. It’s an easy paddle inland, via cayuco (traditional wooden canoe), to Isla Colón’s mangrove swamps—home to howler and white-face monkeys and the unbelievably slow-moving two-toed sloth, or oso perezoso (“lazy bear”).

Beyond the Sand // Pilar Bordas, the miracle-working sister of José-Luís, can arrange outdoor activities on demand: surfing at Bluff Beach, on the far side of Isla Colón; mountain-biking across the center of the island; scuba-diving with queen angelfish near San Cr’stobal Island, four miles away (two-tank dives with Starfleet Scuba, $50; 011-507-757-9630, ). Hire a guide for the 40-minute boat ride to Bastimentos Island National Marine Park, where you can hike through sugarcane to Red Frog Beach ($30 per person).

The Fine Print // American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) flies direct from Miami to Panama City for about $300 round-trip. From there, Aeroperlas (011-507-315-7500, ) has two flights daily to Bocas del Toro for $116 round-trip. The Centers for Disease Control recommends a yellow-fever vaccination and the antimalarial drug chloroquine for travel to the Bocos del Toro region. Double-occupancy rates at Punta Caracol in high season (December 16 to May 15) start at $265, including breakfast, dinner, airport transfers, and use of cayucos and snorkel equipment (from $215, off-season; 011-507-612-1088, ).

Bitter End Yacht Club

Fat sails in the sunset

Caribbean Resort, Virgin Gorda, BVI

Even type A’s need some downtime: the Bitter End

Caribbean Resort, Virgin Gorda, BVI

The North Pier deck at Virgin Gorda’s Bitter End Yacht Club

THE BITTER END, ON THE REMOTE NORTHEASTERN TIP of Virgin Gorda, is a sprawling community of people with one thing on their minds: boating. In addition to the club’s 78 rooms, freshwater swimming pool, and teakwood Clubhouse restaurant, there’s a marina with charter-boat service, a dive shop, a market, a pub, and 70 boat moorings. All the action takes place offshore, specifically in the protected waters of three-square-mile North Sound, with the club’s flotilla of 100-plus vessels, ranging from sea kayaks and windsurfers to Hobie Cats and 30-foot oceangoing yachts. This is no mellow-rum-drinks-on-your-private-beach kind of resort: It’s a playground for Type A’s in topsiders.

The Good Life // The best rooms are the 48 cottages set on a steep hillside, with wraparound decks and views of Eustacia Reef (30 air-conditioned suites climb the sunset side of the hill). Meals (think surf-and-turf) are served under the blue canopies of the Clubhouse.

Jaw Dropper // The staff at the BEYC remembers everyone. It had been two years since my last visit, yet when I walked to breakfast, watersports staffers greeted me by my first name.

Sports on-Site // Thanks to warm water and 15- to 20-knot winds, North Sound is the perfect place to hone your tacks and jibes. Private sailing lessons for beginners cost $25 per hour, and advanced sailing sessions run $50 per class. Use of all the small boats is included in your stay, as are snorkeling trips to nearby reefs. Two-tank dives cost $85, all equipment except wetsuit included, and deep-sea fishing for blue marlin runs $275 a day.

Beyond the Sand // The 30-minute hike to the top of 1,359-foot Gorda Peak offers a commanding view of the entire Virgin Islands region. Don’t miss a trip to the famous Baths, a jumbled collection of giant boulders and knee-deep tide pools.

The Fine Print // Round-trip airfare on American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) from New York to Tortola’s Beef Island Airport is $525. From January 5 to April 30, the five-night Admiral’s Package at the BEYC ($2,925 to $3,850; 800-872-2392, ) includes three meals a day for two (low season, $2,150 to $2,625). The annual Pro-Am Regatta ($2,940) takes place the first week of November.

Maroma Resort & Spa

A mystical hideaway on the Mayan Riviera

Caribbean Resort, Yucatan, Mexico

Your palapa or mine? Get a massage or just toll in the sun on Playa Maroma.

EVER SINCE ARCHITECT José Luis Moreno followed a machete-beaten path through 200 acres of tropical jungle, in 1976, to build this exclusive beachfront resort, Maroma has been deliberately hard to find—tucked off an unmarked gravel road, 20 miles south of Cancún. On my first evening, I followed the flickering lights of a thousand candles along a maze of stone walkways, wandering through gardens of orchids and palm trees until I found myself on a narrow crescent of fine white sand: a heavenly border between jungle and sea.

The Good Life // Designed simply, the 64 rooms in ten low-lying, white-stucco buildings are an elegant mix of saltillo tile, handwoven rugs and bedspreads, mahogany beams, and bamboo shutters. Dine on fresh grilled snapper at the cavernous El Sol restaurant or on the beach-view terrace. Jaw Dropper // The world’s second-longest barrier reef, which runs 450 miles from Cancún to Honduras and teems with coral and fish, is just 200 yards offshore.

Sports on-Site // At the beach kiosk, set up snorkeling and reef-diving trips, sea-kayaking excursions, and day sailing on a 27-foot catamaran ($15 to $120 per person). On land, mountain-bike through 250 acres of protected jungle. Spa offerings include a two-hour Maya steam bath and cleansing ceremony ($90), yoga classes, and nine types of massage ($50 to $120).

Beyond the Sand // The Yucatán is cratered with more than 700 cenotes—limestone sinkholes that offer otherworldly snorkeling, diving, and rappelling opportunities. The resort can arrange a trip 40 miles south to Dos Ojos cenote for $90.

The Fine Print // Continental Airlines (800-523-3273, ) flies from Houston to Cancún for $400 round-trip; American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) flies nonstop from New York for about $700. Double-occupancy rates at Maroma (866-454-9351, ) start at $400 in high season (November 14 to December 18 and January 4 to May 15) and $340 in low season.

Caneel Bay

The true-blue classic

WITHOUT A DOUBT, ST. JOHN’S alluring natural charms get star billing at Caneel Bay. Frigate birds, as angular as pterodactyls, soar over no fewer than seven stunningly pristine on-site strands, from vest-pocket hideaways like Paradise Beach, which you can have all to yourself, to Caneel Beach, shaded by coconut palms and sea grapes and sprawled out in front of the resort’s main lobby. Some 170 manicured acres are cordoned off from the rest of the island—and the rest of the world, it seems—by a trio of 800-foot-high forested ridges. Philanthropist and conservationist Laurance Rockefeller founded Caneel Bay in the fifties, and the place still feels like a summer camp for blue bloods. There’s no shortage of diversions—day trips to the British Virgins, guided shoreline hikes, couples yoga at the resort’s Self Centre. But most of the clientele seem to be seeking stillness and seclusion rather than pampering. Rooms contain no phones, TVs, radios, or even alarm clocks. Management, for its part, tries mightily to preserve an old-money sense of decorum: Collars for gents, please, even on the tennis courts, and evening resort wear for ladies. Expect to see plenty of newlyweds, espadrille-shod martini sippers, and the occasional jackass: Wild donkeys sometimes roam past just in time for cocktails.

The Good Life // Architecture keeps a low profile here. Low-slung rows of 166 guest rooms—done up in dark wood, Indonesian wicker, and botanical prints—are scattered around the property in clusters of a dozen or so and linked by winding footpaths. As a rule, the food in the four dining rooms is tasty if not particularly innovative; standouts include the steaks, aged and tender, the breakfast buffet served on an open-air terrace overlooking Caneel Beach, and the 265-bottle wine list at the Turtle Bay Estate House.

Jaw Dropper // Request one of 20 rooms along Scott Beach. After you’ve spent hours snorkeling with hubcap-size hawksbill turtles, your private deck offers a front-row seat for virtuoso sunsets that give way to the lights of St. Thomas, four miles across the sound.

Sports on-Site // Aside from the 11 tennis courts, built into a terraced hillside, a compact fitness center, and a small pool near the courts, most action takes place on the coral formations a hundred yards from the waterline. Use of snorkel gear—plus a generous selection of sailboards, kayaks, and small sailboats—is complimentary.

Beyond the Sand // Two-thirds of St. John’s 20 square miles fall within Virgin Islands National Park. Sample them by renting a jeep (from $65 a day at Sun-n-Sand Car Rentals, available at Caneel Bay from 9 to 10 a.m. daily) and heading for the Reef Bay Trail, at 2.4 miles the longest of the park’s 20 hikes. Other options include half- and full-day sails to some of St. John’s excellent anchorages, and sea-kayak excursions to offshore cays ($60 to $70 per person through Caneel Bay).

The Fine Print // Most major U.S. airlines fly direct to St. Thomas from various East Coast cities (about $550 round-trip from New York); Caneel Bay guests go by ferry to the resort. From December 17 to March 15, rates at Caneel Bay (340-776-6111, ) start at $450, double occupancy ($300 in low season).

Turtle Inn

The Godfather’s eco-resort

I SIT AT THE DESK OF TURTLE INN’S VILLA ONE, staring through wooden shutters at the Caribbean, hoping for some Maya magic. Turtle Inn is owned by Francis Ford Coppola, and he was here, on the southern coast of Belize, working at this very desk, only a few weeks ago. I’m a huge fan of Mr. Francis (as he’s called by the people who work here). I love the Godfather trilogy, but what I really love is Villa One’s outdoor garden shower, designed by the auteur himself, surrounded by a high wall built by Maya stonemasons and illuminated with Balinese lanterns. I also love the Italian-for-the-tropics cuisine—white pizza topped with garlic and arugula grown from Sicilian seeds in Turtle Inn’s garden, soup made from local lobster—served in the snazzy open-air restaurant. A few nights at the inn, I thought, and maybe I’d absorb some of the creative mojo.

The Good Life // The 18 bungalows, all steps from the beach, are built in the style of traditional Balinese thatched huts, with large screened decks, ample living spaces, and ornate carved doors imported from Bali. The lovely Belizean wait staff (one soft-spoken boy responds to requests with “Don’t worry; I gotcha”) wear white linen shirts and sarongs. Marie Sharp’s Belizean Heat Habanero Pepper Sauce is on every table, the perfect addition to the spaghetti carbonara. All proof that here at the Turtle Inn, the weird fusion of Balinese- Belizean-Coppola culture actually works. Jaw Dropper // The inn is located near the end of Placencia Peninsula—a 16-mile noodle of land with the Placencia Lagoon on one side and the sea on the other. At the Turtle Inn dive shop, on the lagoon, an American crocodile named Jeff has taken up residency near the boat dock. He’s not housebroken, but he’ll pose for pictures.

Sports on-Site // The thatch-roofed bar is about 20 yards from every bungalow, on the ocean’s edge, which allows for a pleasant daily routine: Snorkel a bit, collapse on your chaise, order Turtle Juice (a house specialty made with coconut rum), kayak a mile or so up to Rum Point and back, collapse on your chaise, snorkel, Turtle Juice, rinse, repeat. Some of Belize’s finest beaches—narrow, sandy, palm-fringed—grace the peninsula. When you feel in need of an outing, beach-cruiser bikes are available for riding into the tiny Creole village of Placencia, a mile down the road. Or, from the inn’s dive shop, head out to Belize’s barrier reef—prime location for diving or saltwater fly-fishing. The rub is that it’s an hourlong speedboat ride on sometimes choppy waters. But once out there, it’s not unusual to see spotted rays or even nurse sharks cruising along a 2,000-foot wall, or for anglers to hook bonefish, tarpon, or snook.

Beyond the Sand // Turtle Inn is a great base for venturing into the jungle. The front desk can arrange day trips to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (the world’s first jaguar reserve) and a number of large Maya ruins. Monkey River is 45 minutes to the south by boat, through mangrove estuaries that are home to manatees. While cruising upriver, you’ll encounter tiger herons, gargantuan butterflies, six-foot iguanas, and howler monkeys.

The Fine Print // American Airlines (800-433-7300, ) flies to Belize City for about $500 round-trip from both Miami and Dallas. From there, it’s a 35-minute flight on Maya Island Air ($140 round-trip; 800-225-6732, ) to the Placencia airstrip. From January 4 to April 30 (excluding the week of Easter), seafront cottages at Turtle Inn (800-746-3743, ) are $300 per night, double occupancy, including Continental breakfast and use of bikes and sea kayaks (from $200 per night in low season).

Jake’s

How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?

Caribbean Resort, Jamaica

You can almost see the Pelican Bar from here: a cottage at Jake’s

“IF WE DON’T ENCOURAGE GUESTS to leave the property, they wouldn’t,” says owner Jason Henzell. He ought to know. Ten years ago, Henzell, 34, and his mother, Sally, opened a small restaurant on six acres overlooking Calabash Bay and named it after a local parrot. A small guest house followed, and each year, as the Henzells’ gospel of sophisticated laziness spreads beyond the fishing village of Treasure Beach (pop. 600), on Jamaica’s southwestern shore, more rooms are added. Which only makes it easier to give in to inertia. Lounging under the acacia trees next to the tiled saltwater pool, a pair of still-pale English thirty-somethings allow that they’ve been devouring books from the well-stocked library for four days. They reel with shock when my boyfriend and I start naming off the places we’ve been (Great Pedro Bluff! Black River fruit market!) and the things we’ve seen (dolphins! crocodiles!) and eaten (grilled conch! jerk crab!) in just two days. Soon, they wobble off on mountain bikes, determined to find out what they’ve been missing.

The Good Life // From modest wooden cabins with funky mosaic bathtubs to bright adobe bungalows topped with open-air rooftop chill zones, the 15 cottages at Jake’s are a mélange of Moroccan style and iconoclastic tiling—all sans TVs or phones but avec CD players. (The bar has a stellar music collection for your listening pleasure.) Lucky us, our pink palace came with a wooden porch overlooking the surf and an outdoor shower with claw-foot tub, plus swanky Aveda potions. There are two chow houses: Jake’s, the poolside bistro, where the coffee’s delivered fresh daily by a woman who roasts it over a wood fire; and Jack Sprat’s, a beachfront joint where Fabulous (yep, that’s his name) serves up jerk crab and coconut ice cream, and a DJ spins dance-hall reggae into the wee hours.

Jaw Dropper // A pilgrimage to Shirley Genus’s wooden zareba—basically a hut with a sauna—is required. Strip down next to a steaming terra-cotta pot filled with a healing soup of organically grown lemongrass and other herbs, then sweat like the dickens. Afterward, let Shirley hit all the pressure points ($30 for steam bath, $60 for massage; book through Jake’s).

Sports on-Site // Sea-kayak or snorkel through the rocky maze that hugs the beach. (Kayaks are free; snorkel gear can be rented at the bar for $10 a day.) Or hire a local to take you out fishing for snapper, jack, kingfish, and grouper; trips can be arranged at the front desk ($35 an hour per person).

Beyond the Sand // One day, on our way to ogle crocodiles along the Black River, 16 miles northwest, our boat chugged past the Pelican Bar, a tiny shack on a lick of sand. Our captain shouted out a lunch order to Floyd, the owner, and on the way back we parked, waded ashore, and dug into $6 plates of steamed fish, grilled onions, doughy white bread, and bottles of Red Stripe ($35 per person for Black River boat tours; book through Jake’s).

The Fine Print // Air Jamaica (800-523-5585; ) flies round-trip to Montego Bay from New York for about $600, from L.A. for $800. From December 19 to April 20, a double-occupancy room at Jake’s (877-526-2428, ) costs $95 to $395, meals not included ($75 to $325 in low season).

The Essential Eight

Had enough paradise? Add some intensity to your Caribbean life list.

Kayak the Exuma Cays Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, in the Bahamas, spans 176 square miles of reeftop emerald water that laps the marine caves and white-sand beaches of hundreds of undeveloped limestone islands. Shallow, calm seas are perfect for paddling, snorkeling, and swimming. Do all three on a nine-day trip with Ecosummer Expeditions. ($1,695; 800-465-8884, )

Climb Pico Duarte More travelers each year are tackling the Caribbean’s tallest peak. At 10,414 feet, the rocky summit of Pico Duarte rises up from the tropical lowlands of Armando Bermudez National Park, along the Dominican Republic’s Cordillera Central. Iguana Mama runs a three-day, 29-mile mule trek to the top. ($450; 800-849-4720, )

Hike to Boiling Lake Deep in the heart of Dominica, hot magma warms the rocks and pushes volcanic gas through vents to keep one of the world’s largest boiling lakes at an eerie, gray simmer. Getting there requires a muddy three-hour rainforest slog on seldom-signed paths. Reserve a guide through Ken’s Hinterland ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Tours. ($40; 767-448-4850, ) Swim in Mosquito Bay Every night, a bright concentration of bioluminescent organisms lights up Mosquito Bay, on the south side of Vieques, just east of Puerto Rico. Paddle 15 minutes from shore with Blue Caribe Kayaks, then jump overboard for a glow-in-the-dark swim. ($23; 787-741-2522, )

Sail the Grenadines The unspoiled Grenadines—30 small islands, 24 of them uninhabited, from St. Vincent to Union Island—have long been favorite waters of the yachting elite. Now you can sail them without chartering an entire boat: Reserve one of five cabins aboard Setanta Travel’s 56-foot luxury catamarans for a seven-day cruise. ($3,990 per week per cabin, double occupancy; 784-528-6022, )

Dive the Bloody Bay Wall Just off Little Cayman’s north shore, the seafloor takes a half-mile-deep plunge along Bloody Bay Wall, where you’re sure to spy huge eagle rays and hawksbill turtles. Paradise Divers offers two-tank boat dives. ($80; 877-322-9626, )

Kitesurf Aruba Plan a pilgrimage to Aruba’s arid eastern shore, where 80-degree water and consistent winds make Boca Grandi the ultimate surf zone for seasoned kiters. Vela’s Dare2Fly offers a three-day introductory course in calmer waters ($350; 800-223-5443, ).

Fish the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve In the protected white-sand flats on the south side of 90-square-mile Ascensi—n Bay, in the Yucatán, bonefish run wild. Sign on for a week of guided fishing, eating, and lodging at the funky, thatched cabanas of Cuzan Bonefish Flats. ($1,999 per person, double occupancy; 011-52-983-83-403-58, )

The post License to Chill appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.

Island appeal: sun-bathed St. Lucia

Q: I’d like to hike and camp out in the Cayman Islands. Any suggestions of which islands and trails are best? An alternative to the Napali Coast of Kauai is what I am searching for.


— John, Palo Alto, California




ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Advisor:

A: If you’re looking for top-notch diving, a high-end resort, or an offshore bank account, then the Caymans are your place. But the closest thing you’ll find here to Kalalau-type hiking experience is Grand Cayman’s Mastic Trail, which is only two miles long and can only be seen in the company of a guide (for $30 per person). If you’re on Grand Cayman for reasons other than hiking, then this trail is a worthwhile half-day diversion. The 200-year-old footpath winds through the island’s thick interior, which is swollen with parrots, agoutis, and other native critters escaping the overdeveloped coast. Another note: don’t plan on spending your nights outdoors — camping is not permitted anywhere on the island.


For a Caribbean option that’s more suited to your style, try St. Lucia. Here you can pitch your tent at the National Trust campground, which is just a few years old, and venture out on day hikes from there. The reserve has five miles of hiking trails and plenty of perfect beaches within wandering distance — it’s no Napali Coast, but it’s closer than anything you’d find on the Cayman Islands. While you’re here, be sure to spend some of your hiking time on the Barre de L’Isle, the ridge that separates the east and west sides of the island. For maps and/or guides, contact the Forest and Lands Department (758-450-231).

The post A Caribbean Calling appeared first on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online.