Snapshots of the Caribbean

The many masts in St. Thomas' harbor.

The Caribbean. It’s known for mascara wearing pirates, rum in every form, and underwater scenes that lure tourists of all shapes and sizes to their islands.

What makes the Caribbean interesting to me is its diversity. Each island has its own specific flavor which comes from it’s topography as well as which European power planted their flag there first.

St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) is tourist town at first look, but mostly consists of homes for the luxurious and wealthy. The number of yachts in the harbor is a testament to that fact.  Secluded beaches and coves with 15ft of water visibility make up for the long line of tourist and typical duty-free shops that crowd the ports.

The rustic and untouched shoreline of Tortola.

St. Maarten takes a cue from its Dutch and French ancestors in giving it a Rivera seaside type of feel complete with historic architecture while still catering to the tourist bent of Duty-Free heaven.  The island is actually split in two (the north half is France’s territory Saint-Martin while the southern half is the Netherlands’ Sint-Maarten) and you can distinguish a difference in the culture on each end.  It’s  not at all unpleasant to spend your day sitting outside at a cute café under a palm tree, drinking coffee to die for, and watching the tropical blue waters pass you by.

Yellow umbrellas spot the beach in St. Maarten.

Tortuga (British Virgin Islands) and Antigua are untouched in their wild beauty. They are rustic and simple but if you travel off the beaten path a little, you will find areas that will make up for the lack of shops, restaurants, and restrooms.

Traveling from East (above) to West you will find the drastically different islands of the Bahamas. The tollbooth to the Caribbean, so to speak, they were the first stop for European visitors and continue to have the feel of a median on a highway, just sitting there while everyone whizzes past.

The biggest (and best by far) tourist attraction in Nassau, Bahamas is the Atlantis resort.

The Bahamas best assets are the numerous untouched (or almost untouched) islands. Owning your own little bit of Bahamian sand doesn’t seem that out of reach once you’ve witnessed all of the “privately owned” islands in the region.

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