This is the Caribbean you’ve been missing. Baked by the sun at all times, lapped by salty waves and powered by rum. After a year or more away, your next trip to the Caribbean should be all about remembering why you love it; why you’d choose that little shack on the sand for your last meal, and why life lived at the beach is just…better. There are a thousand or more islands to castaway on in the Caribbean – here are three of our favourites and three of our favourite ways to see them.
There are two Grenadas – the one above ground and the world below the waves. The Spice Isle has a myriad of wreck dives beneath its baby blues, with fifteen or so sites off the southwest coast alone. The mighty Bianca C is the star of the show, a 180-metre-long ship with a storied past that saw it sunk by German forces in 1944, raised and revived as a cruise liner in 1949, and eventually come to rest upright on the seabed off Pink Gin Beach in 1961. Today, moray eels and barracuda slunk around its rusty superstructure seemingly on cue.
Another popular spot is British artist Jason de Caires Taylor’s otherworldly Underwater Sculpture Park at Molinière Bay, where the years since 2006 have seen coral encrust the concrete sculptures to create a hauntingly beautiful dive site.
There are three spice-scented isles to Grenada, their green rolling hills edged with sandy strands and neon seas. Carriacou is peaceful, idyllic in a way the Caribbean was 50 years ago. Similarly serene is Morne Rouge Beach, while the capital, St George’s, leads the way to Grand Etang National Park. Hiking trails here range from leisurely strolls to Morne La Baye, to arduous treks to the summit of Mount Qua Qua. If you were one of the many who took a renewed love for the great outdoors as a positive of the pandemic, Grenada offers day-long hikes from Grand Etang to Concord Waterfall or Mount St Catherine, the island’s highest point.
St Kitts is a stunner from any and every angle, but she sparkles from the sea. Getting out on the deepest blue by catamaran embodies that warm and fuzzy holiday feeling we’ve missed so much, and there’s something about looking out towards the Pitons with an ice cold rum in hand that is worth waiting for. There are a handful of good catamaran cruise operators on St Kitts, with the best of the them combining scenic sailing with time to dip inland to explore island highlights such as the exotic Diamond Botanical Gardens between swims in Caribbean waters. If you’re finally getting around to celebrating a big anniversary, a sunset cruise whispers romance, while a full-day sail to nearby Nevis and back makes for an adventurous day of snorkelling and beach barbecues.
Some may plead the case for leaving the beaten track behind in search of lesser-known spots, but sometimes it has to be said that a crowd attracts for a reason. The Scenic Railways is a star of St Kitts, snaking its way around the island since 1912. Back then, the narrow gauge railway line was used to transport sugar cane to the outskirts of Basseterre, but since the industry came to a close in 2005 the train has trundled along the Atlantic coast with a view purely to enable the island’s visitors to take in the sights. The two-hour trip in breezy double-decker carriages is sweet respite for tired feet after a busy shore day – sit up top for the best photo opportunities.
Like Grenada, Aruba has dive sites galore, with an entire sunken world of treasures to explore. The Antilla Wreck is the largest shipwreck dive in the Caribbean, a 400-foot long 1939 German freighter that came to rest just 60-feet below the surface. It’s close enough to the shore for snorkelling too, if you haven’t quite got your official diving flippers yet.
Elsewhere, the Jane C cargo ship attracts advanced divers with turtles, barracuda and manta rays, while Aruba’s popular protected barrier reef spots of Mangel Halto and Seagrass Fields are more accessible to beginner and intermediate divers.
Aruba’s miles of sweeping sandy vistas and its colourful capital, Oranjestad, make for plenty of ways to laze and shop a day away, but the island has more. There’s hiking and horse riding, wild stretches of rugged scenery, and wildlife reserves that break up a day’s sunbathing. The Aruba Ostrich Farm is a fun detour on route to the northern beaches, with ostriches and emus, plus a plethora of ducks, geese, peacocks, chickens and turtles. Handfeed the ostrich and enjoy a breakfast of ostrich egg al fresco at the open-air restaurant.
Another excursion that’ll pull on your heart strings is the Aruba Donkey Sanctuary. The non-profit reserve in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood feeds and shelters about 40 donkeys at any given time, taking in those that have found themselves abandoned or injured since alternative transportation arrived on the island. It’s free to visit, but you’re encouraged to make a donation to the work they do (and come ready for feeding time with apples and carrots!)
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