With seemingly endless miles of white sand beaches to explore, the Caribbean Islands beckon travelers with the promise of relaxation and release from the every-day concerns of life. Rich with history and heritage, there is much treasure to discover among the many islands peppering the Caribbean Sea.
Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean Islands, is known for classic cars, the finest rum and Cohiba cigars. Being slowly restored, Havana offers a multitude of attractions. Havana’s Automobile Deposit Museum showcases rare vehicles, including a 1926 Rolls Royce. Located on the fifth floor of the Hotel Ambos Mundos, Ernest Hemingway’s writing studio has been preserved for tourists, as well as his estate just outside of Havana.
For a rugged adventure, the Island of Dominica offers a tough six mile hike through the valley of desolation to Boiling Lake, a 207-foot wide lake covered in steam. A remnant of an 1880 volcanic eruption the valley’s narrow ridges provide a challenging and satisfying hike.
The roughly 430 species of birds located on Trinidad and Tobago make these islands excellent for bird watching. Trinidad’s Asa Wright Nature Center is one of the world’s great birding outposts in the Northern Range rainforest.
The island of Martinique is a marriage of Caribbean customs and French culture. With fine food, fashion and nightlife, Martinique’s capital city, Fort-de-France, offers sophisticated pleasures at a Caribbean pace. Often called the Isle of Flowers, Martinique also offers a multitude of botanical gardens and marvelous museums.
With a much sunnier and drier climate than most of the Caribbean Islands, Aruba is almost always breezy and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Palm Beach and Eagle Beach stretch for roughly seven miles and are some of the cleanest, widest and most scenic in all of the Caribbean. Thousands of windsurfers come annually to Aruba’s Fisherman’s Huts for some of the best sail-boarding conditions available. Additionally, historical attractions include the Aruba Numismatic Museum, containing displays of money used worldwide from the 3rd century BC to the present, and the historic gold mines at Bushiribana on Aruba’s northern coast. The island derives its name from “oro ruba” meaning “red gold”, which was first discovered in the center of Aruba in the 19th century.
With estimations close to seven thousand islands within the 2,500 square miles of the sparkling Caribbean Sea, a lifetime of vacations could be filled with their exploration.