Special Collector’s Edition — 25th Anniversary Issue!
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JULY / AUGUST 2 0 0 6
DREAM TRIPS 25
The Most Amazing Islands on Earth
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CONTENTS
Explore YourDreams
Ju l y / Augus t 2 0 0 6
Features
» ISLANDS’ 25 Club: Has
anyone been to every one of the 25 dream islands we have written about in this issue? If so, we’d like to hear from you. Drop us a line at editor@islands.com. 25TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE:
55
» On the Cover: Bora-Bora,
by Larry Dunmire
Our editors scoped out the world, and although we’ve never met an island we didn’t love, we chose 17 that we frequently find ourselves dreaming about. Then we turned to 8 writers and asked about the journeys that most affected their lives. 17+8 = 25 119 Make it Happen: Here’s some information to help you follow in the footsteps of our writers. 120 Reader’s Trip of a Lifetime: This past January, we invited you to tell us about your trip of a lifetime in 1,000 words; the winner would go to Tahiti. Your e-mails — nearly 850 of them — flooded our e-mail box. We hated having to choose just one …
25 Trips of a Lifetime
» This page: Alphonse Atoll,
Seychelles, by Darrell Jones VOLUME 26 / NUMBER 5
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CONTENTS
Explore the World
Ju l y / Augus t 2 0 0 6 Iceland p85 Ireland p74 Nantucket p80 Kauai p86 Big Island p61 Cuba p66 Jamaica p70 Bora-Bora p90 Hilton Head p72 Bahamas Out Islands p84 Dominica p64 Venice p62 Santoríni p71 Shikoku p82 Maldives p75 Papua New Guinea p81 Bali p91 Fiji p60 Seychelles p96
Bequia p76 Tobago p95
Sri Lanka p92 Zanzibar p65
Lord Howe p56
Discover
24 Polynesian Fireworks Fall in love ... with Bora-Bora. 26 The Art of Escape Help pufflings catch air on Iceland’s Heimaey island. 27 By the Numbers Unpack in these inns off one of the most scenic drives in the United States. 28 Living on the Seas How to take a world voyage. 30 A Monumental Mission Grab your walking stick and make like Shackleton over South Georgia Island. pg 30
Adventures
43 Worldly Pursuits We’ve pulled together 25 of the world’s most thrilling activities to help you plan your next adventure. BY PATRICIA SCHULTZ
New Zealand p94
Island Life
pg 32 32 How Do I Get Here? The caye to paradise. 34 Armchair Traveler Let music carry you through the Antilles and read true-life tales of extraordinary journeys. 49 Happily Ever After Once upon a time you found an island you really loved then decided to call it home. Now your family and friends love you for it. BY ANDREA BENNETT &
CHRISTINE RICHARD
pg 43
Departments
14 From the Editor 25 Years of Island Dreams 20 Explorers Our contributors 22 Mailboat Your letters and comments 138 What’s next? A Hero’s Weight in Stone
pg 39
The Best
39 Authentic Caribbean Allinclusives Stay in these Caribbean gems. One price pays for it all: Room, meals and the great outdoors.
12
F R O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y H AT T E N W I N E S ; T Y S AW Y E R ; C O U R T E S Y T I A M O ; B O B K R I S T
F R O M T H E E DI T O R
pg 61
pg 43
pg 66
pg 24
There was a saying that was drilled into my head during my college years: “Time, tide and formation wait for no man.” Of course, the formation part of that idiom has been toppled by the interesting twists that have become the passage of my life, but the time and tide have remained hard and true. I can remember the first year ISLANDS came out. I was an extremely restless teen and an absolutely avid traveler. The magazine appeared during the summer of my 18th year, in 1981 (please don’t tell anyone I’m that old). I still own most of those early copies of the magazine. They’ve followed me around the world — much to the chagrin of my wife, who has helped me pack and carry the boxes. The power of the words, the transcendent majesty of the images, the water, adventure and passion that leapt from those early pages fueled my young wanderlust. And they still do today. The world has folded in on itself many times since 1981, and the exotic edges, the unknown corners near and far, the authentic island travel experiences we crave here at ISLANDS have become more and more accessible. My first travels through Indonesia were fraught with rickety boats and, literally, days of travel. Now it’s just an airplane ride to most islands there. My first round through the Caribbean was a combination of sailing, death-defying flights on single-engine planes, a bicycle that literally crumbled away into a heap of rust as I rode it, rum (for the plane rides) and the lucky passing of a few good Samaritans. On my last trip to Puerto Rico, in April, I was roaming El Morro in San Juan by noon after a leisurely morning flight from my Orlando home. And at last count I had five passport stamps from various travels to Tahiti. I still dream of going to Tahiti (and pinch myself when I’m there) and to islands I would never have known existed if not for ISLANDS magazine. Like you, our readers, the staff of ISLANDS has obsessively kept lists of Ultimate Islands, places that ignite our collective island dreams of the ultimate escape. We’ve filled the pages of this special issue with those experiences and the adventures of some of the most famous travelers: our writers and photographers. But we also want to remind you that these past 25 years have slipped away quickly on that wild horse of time and tide, so, as Mark Twain once said, “Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Ty Sawyer, editor@islands.com
JU S T B A C K F R O M
Vanuatu
DOWN a bowl of the most potent kava in the Pacific, then sit and enjoy the euphoric ripple of this traditional drink through your veins. DIVE the SS President Coolidge, an emotionally charged foray into the path of destruction and redemption that was WWII. SNEAK off into the jungle on Bokissa Island to encounter legions of ancient and massive coconut crabs. FEEL the rhythm of the drumbeats emanating from Kastom villages deep in the green heart of these volcanic islands. WATCH the spectacle of the N’gol on the island of Pentecost, as men and boys tie vines to their ankles and leap off rickety wooden towers to see who can come closest to the ground. bokissa.vu — TS
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F R O M L E F T: S T O N E / G E T T Y I M AG E S ; L E S L I E G A R L A N D / A L A M Y; I M AG E S TAT E / J U P I T E R I M AG E S ; P H I L I P P E B AC C H E T; I N S E T: Z AC H S T OVA L L
25 Years of Island Dreams
ISLANDS
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR E XECUTIVE EDITOR FE ATURES EDITOR AS SO CIATE EDITOR CO PY EDITOR
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Art Brewer, Linny Morris Cunningham, Macduff Everton, Robert Holmes, Darrell Jones, Bob Krist, Andrea Pistolesi, Theo Westenberger, Nik Wheeler
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E XPL ORERS
“How do you sum up 13 fascinating years?” So mused Joan Tapper, who was editor in chief of ISLANDS from October 1988 to August 2001. She’s traveled to over 100 islands and molded stories by greats like Jan Morris, Simon Winchester and Paul Theroux. “When ISLANDS contacted me to write about a trip of a lifetime, my first thought was my trip to Leningrad in 1988. I would have loved to return, but that meant Russia in February.” Tapper then chose another favorite, Hilton Head, South Carolina (page 72), where her summers were filled with perfecting her doubles game and peeling fresh shrimp. “We spent so much time there that the trips I made are hazy and vivid at the same time.”
Author Pico Iyer says he feels as though he spent 10 lifetimes in Cuba (“Arriving in a New Life,” page 66), during the six trips he made there (once for ISLANDS) during the 1980s and ’90s. “Cuba is an intoxication of sorts that gets under your skin and sets you buzzing. Even in the midst of its sorrows and shortages, something is happening every moment. I heard Fidel speak on the anniversary of the Revolution in 1987; I befriended telephone operators who would call up my room and sing Spanish love songs throughout the night; and people even offered me jobs with the Cuban CIA.” Based now in Japan, Iyer is writing a book on the 14th Dalai Lama, an undertaking that coincides with another interest of his: the Irish rock band U2. “They fit the Dalai Lama’s particular ideas about global conscience and the need for compassion and inspiration.” In November he flew from Japan to L.A. to see U2 perform — for research purposes, of course.
Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, can reel off more trips of a lifetime than perhaps anyone. “It’s a challenge to create an intriguing mix of places well-known and unsung, far-flung and in our backyard, then see what kind of response they get,” she says. Schultz lent ISLANDS her expertise (“Worldly Pursuits,” page 43) and reminisced about her past travels. “Once complete strangers on the tiny island of Lamu off the coast of Kenya cared for me when I was ill, as if I were family.Their kindness is something I will bring with me forever.” Schultz’s 1,000 Places is slated to become a reality show on theTravel Channel in 2007.
Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
M A I L B O AT
Letter of the Month
We asked about your island dream and this is what one island-lover said:
Dear (Y have the best dream job in the world) Editor, ou My dream island would be just that ... my island! A small, secluded island with white sand, crystal-clear blue water and a dream bungalow just past the palm trees. The only inhabitants would be my husband, myself and perhaps the dolphins swimming in the waves. At our convenience, a beautiful native chef would take a boat to our island and create gourmet meals. — Shereen Hunt, Los Angeles, California
“lobster dinners that are de rigueur.” So eating lobster is required behavior? The writer seems to think that the phrase means either “fabulous” or “popular,” or something along those lines. Unless this is the only dish available for dinner on the island, or you won’t fit in with the natives unless you eat it, then the sentence is un peu bizarre. — Name withheld, via e-mail
Ed. Note: This was NO mistake. We strongly believe our readers should consider lobster dinners required. Unless, of course, they’re vegetarians.
Page-by-Page Travel I really enjoyed the article about the Paul Gauguin cruise (“Legendary Cruises,” April/May 2006), particularly since my wife and I were on board and met the writer. Each island featured in the April/ May issue was meaningful to us. We have snorkeled on Jellyfish Lake in Palau (“Palau’s Toy Box”), traveled to Botswana’s Okavango Delta (“Island Safari”) and have also been to St. Lucia on a Windjammer cruise (“Island of Innocence”). On my return to the United States after WWII my plane landed on the western side of Newfoundland (“A Walk Along the Edge of the World”). I first heard of your magazine in 1988 when my wife and I were at the Karawari Lodge in Papua New Guinea and met another of your writers. We hope to meet a third somewhere else on the globe! — S.P. Ostiller, Pacific Palisades, California Time for a Vacation “25 Best Kept Island Secrets” (January/ February 2006) included an interesting recommendation regarding the cuisine on Nicaragua’s Little Corn Island:
Don’t Feed the Fish Although the wonderful attributes of Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve (“The Best: 7 Snorkeling Spots,” April/May 2006) are accurately described, several points were overlooked: In an effort to stem the damage caused by overcrowding, entry into the preserve is now tightly regulated. And the suggestion for your readers to “Take a little food with you” to attract the fish would result in a citation that carries up to a $1,000 fine and/or 30 days in jail. Also, one would have to swim beyond the boundaries of the bay to be surrounded by the pyramid butterflyfish mentioned in the article. This would put your readers out of sight of our lifeguards and expose them to the strong currents and turbulent waters of the open ocean. — Alan C. Hong, manager Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Oahu Ed. Note: We sincerely apologize for any inaccuracies.
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BY THE NUMBERS THE ROAD TO HANA ...
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LIFETIME JOURNEY SHACKLETON’S FOOTSTEPS
32
HOW DO I GET HERE? RANGUANA CAYE
34
ARMCHAIR TRAVELER ISLANDS OF MUSIC
D I S Ce OV E R experience th ultimate escape
Polynesian Fireworks
FALL IN LOVE ... WITH BORA-BORA’S CULTURE
YEARS AFTER AN IDYLLIC HONEYMOON ENSCONCED IN A BEACH BUNGALOW, I RE-
turned to the Hotel Bora Bora. This time, though, I arrived in the back of a pickup truck, jammed in with a fire dancer and his troupe. It was a banger of a truck, growling and aromatic as it sped along in the moonlight, everyone singing. Bora-Bora I found myself in such grand company thanks to Patrick Tairua whom I’d met at the Le Maitai Polynesia Bora Bora after his show there. He was breathless from exertion and gleaming with perspiration. His tattoos shone like wet ink. No wonder — he had just vaulted up a palm tree, hacked down some coconuts and torn one apart with his teeth. He had juggled torches lit at both ends, walked on fire and swallowed flames, all to the wild beat of sharkskin drums. He does all this a couple of times a night. Because I am from Hawaii and dance hula, he invited me along to his next show. There’s a carefully nurtured sisterhood and brotherhood among Polynesian dancers, and that was all the credential I needed. “My grandfather was the best male dancer in all of French Polynesia,” Patrick
P H I L I P P E B AC C H E T
»
DI S C O V E R
where to go now
said. “He told me I was chosen to dance. Parents and aunties took us to Heiva every July. Half the island would be there. They’d watch the dancing with us and point and comment.” Heiva Rau is a two-plus-week festival that celebrates BoraBora’s cultural traditions. Baraques, stalls festooned with flowers, serve as restaurants, game halls, bars, dance floors and pool halls. Everyone plays Tahitian roulette, and the winners take home bags of rice, tins of corned beef and whole suckling pigs. The highlight of the festival, however, is always the dancing. At Vaitape, we discovered the Chin Lee store, where we Everyone comes to watch, sing and move to the music they’ve picked up just-baked baguettes, a slab of the creamiest Camheard from the womb while their mothers danced the aparima. We pulled up to the Hotel Bora Bora and rushed through embert and a bottle of French champagne. We pedaled home the lobby to the beach. The luau was already pulsing, mai and picnicked on the deck of our own bungalow over the latais flowing. Patrick was borne in upon the shoulders of goon, dropping crumbs to schools of gem-colored fish. Over the years, I’ve become a Bora-Bora regular, visiting two other fire dancers. Everyone gasped. I stood ankleduring many passages of life. Love remains the best excuse for deep in the lagoon and remembered that long-ago honeymoon when my husband and I had gone for a midnight an escape to this storied island, and a bicycle the most intimate swim and how the wind sounded in the thatching at night. way to get acquainted — although a pickup truck full of dancOn that first visit to Bora-Bora, my husband and I had ers on a moonlit night isn’t too bad, either. — RITA ARIYOSHI ridden around the island on old clunky bicyF PL AN YOUR TR IP islands.com/borabora cles. The same melancholy fragrance of frangipani was in the air, the same rich, clean scent of Why here? The island landscape is like a perfectly painted picture of the tides and the coconutty breezes. Polynesian paradise, and it’s a place we all dream of — c’mon, admit it. I recall gazing upon the jagged peak of Why now? For two-plus weeks, Bora-Bora — and Tahiti — celebrates its Otemanu and thinking it was so dramatic — and culture, traditions and native identity during Heiva Rau. This year’s festival familiar — that I must have conjured it from starts June 29 and culminates on July 14. Expect everything from fi re walksome imprint made on my soul before birth. ing to fi reworks; and you may even win a pig. tahiti-tourisme.com
THE ART OF ESCAPE
» Puffling Launch
Every August on Heimaey island, off Iceland’s southern coast, millions of baby puffins stoically attempt their first flight. All month, Icelanders patrol town, seeking out confused pufflings who’ve crashed back to earth. What happens next may sound a bit alarming, but it’s absolutely necessary. Locals hurl the babies toward the ocean — if tossed too gently, they can’t catch air — then watch them fl y away. And you are more than welcome to participate. visiticeland.com
» Got Jerk?
Put in your time in line at Jamaica’s Portland Jerk Festival near Port Antonio (July 2); fork over your eight or so dollars and you’ll be handed a plate heaped with jerked meats and side dishes: roasted breadfruit or yams, rice and peas, and slightly sweetened, fried dough called festival. Jerk seasoning, mainly allspice and hot-as-hell Scotch-bonnet peppers, adds a nice tang to everything, even conch. Stop by that stall after dancing off your first course to the reggae bands. visitjamaica.com
» Wild Music
Musicians with different skin tones and native tongues, many wearing traditional garb and playing exotic instruments, converge at Borneo’s Rainforest World Music Festival (July 7-9) in the Sarawak Cultural Village. Expect round-the-clock immersion in all things musical: Days are consumed by workshops, ethno-musical lectures and listening to jam sessions, and nights are given over to the concerts performed near the edge of the thick Borneo rainforest. rainforestmusic -borneo.com — KELLY LA CK
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F R O M T O P : B O B K R I S T; I N G R A M P U B L I S H I N G / AG E F O T O S T O C K ; C O U R T E S Y JA M A I C A T O U R I S M B OA R D ; C O U R T E S Y S A R AWA K T O U R I S M ; O P P O S I T E , C L O C K W I S E F R O M B O T T O M L E F T: M AT T H E W H R A N E K / A R T + C O M M E R C E ; C O U R T E S Y M A M A ’ S F I S H H O U S E ; D O U G L AS P E E B L E S / C O R B I S ; B O B A B R A H A M / PAC I F I C S T O C K
BY THE NUMBERS
The Road to Hana ...
... needs no destination — it’s the journey that counts. Allow at least three hours to travel a snaky 50 miles around 600 hairpin turns and across 54 one-lane bridges. Listen to Hawaiian music on KNUI at AM 900, roll down the windows to smell the jungle and reach out to touch waterfalls. — RA
$
45
Fall asleep to the lullaby of a cobalt sea rolling against a dramatic lava shore. You are snug in your cabin off the Hana road. Waianapanapa State Park has a dozen cozy cabins, each with kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath with hot shower. You get bed and bath linens, basic cooking utensils, and one of the most dramatic settings on Maui. Swim out from the dark smile of a black-sand beach, explore lava caves, see sea stacks and arches. Hike the Coast Trail with its temple ruins and blow hole. $45, no credit cards. state.hi.us/dlnr/dsp/maui.html Mama’s Fish House is famous for its seafood, but even most devotees don’t know there are a few cottages secreted within the ginger-choked garden. Discover these breezy one- and two-bedroom gems beneath the coconut trees in the perfect sandy cove of Kuau, right at the beginning of the optimistically named Hana Highway. Cottages have terra-cotta floors, island decor, snorkel gear and beach toys. Guests receive a 20 percent discount at Mama’s restaurant where the seafood is so fresh that even the fisherman gets credit: “Opakapaka caught by Earle Kaiwi bottom fishing outside his home port of Hana Bay.” Rates from $175. mamasfishhouse.com
$
175
$
425
The Hotel Hana-Maui is tucked into yesterday’s Hawaii. The collection of luxe cottages is scattered in gardens and along a lava shore. Sea Ranch cottages 217 and 218 each have a hot tub on a deck that is open to trade winds and the rising moon. Salts, soaps and lotions come from the hotel’s Honua Spa.The dining-room menu changes nightly depending on what the fishermen haul in and what the farmers bring to the kitchen door. The weekly luau is like an old-fashioned backyard luau — no pro entertainers, just the staff from the maids all the way up to the manager singing and dancing hula. Cottages from $425; cottages 217 and 218, $795. hotelhanamaui.com
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DI S C O V E R
ISLAND-BUILDING 101 The Caribbean’s youngest island
rests, literally, on seashells. Happy Island, in Union Island’s Clifton Harbor in the southern Grenadines, was built by an enterprising islander named Janti. Tasked with ridding Union’s shoreline of its excess conch shells — a byproduct of the local fishing industry — he began dumping them alongside the harbor’s outer Grenadines reef. In time, one man’s trash became another’s 1,000-square-foot island paradise, blanketed in sand, dotted with transplanted palms and completed with a shelter walled with discarded yacht sails. As the government-recognized owner of Happy Island, Janti now hosts regular barbecues for yachties who dinghy over in droves. Think island-building is all work and no play? Check out the rafters, where abandoned bikini tops surf the trade winds. svgtourism.com — TIM JACOB
The Living Seas Can you imagine waking up in a new port nearly every three days for approximately four
months? Sounds like a dream come true. Lucky for you, in 2007 there will be a record seven world voyages. — CHRISTINE RICHARD
S I LVER SHADOW
QE2
THE WORLD
Superlatives
126 days, 61 ports and 33,040 nautical miles A boutique ship with all outside suites, most of which have verandas. Huahine, Tahiti; Townsville, Australia; Mumbai, India, on Easter (and Easter Island on Feb. 6) Take a hiatus from ship life and visit the sacred sites of Borobudur in Java. Rejoin the ship in Singapore. $2,000 on-board credit; fi ve shore excursions $419 per day ($52,794)
108 days, 41 ports and 41,950 nautical miles Quintessentially British, the Cunard line started the world voyage in 1922. Christchurch, New Zealand; cruising the Gulf of Thailand; Cape Town, South Africa Sri Lanka and PNG are island stops. But then there are visits to theTaj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Angkor Wat Up to $500 shipboard credit per couple $155 per day ($16,845)
1 year, 36 countries (193,000 nautical miles since its ’03 launch) Architectural gems of studios and apartments. Rent one for a minimum of 6 days, or just buy. Cruising near South America; Belem, Brazil; Las Palmas, Canary Islands Brazil during Carnival; Cannes during that little film fest; and Valencia during the 2007 America’s Cup event. A pied-à-terre at sea; some come with kitchenettes $3,562 per day (Studios start at $1.4 million) Year-round; aboardtheworld.com
Your world vehicle
Where will you be on Valentines Day? St. Patrick’s Day? Easter? Monumental moments
World voyagers get …
Price per day
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Jan. 15; silversea.com
Jan. 10; cunard.com
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Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y T I M JAC O B ; C O U R T E S Y R E S I D E N S E A ; C O U R T E S Y C U N A R D ; C O U R T E S Y S I LV E R S E A
DI S C O V E R
the ends of the earth
An Enduring Adventure
Earn bragging rights for the rest of your life: This Christmas, head to Argentina and then set off on an Antarctic adventure that includes the chance to retrace the final footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 journey over South Georgia Island. His successful Antarctic mission led to the rescue of all 27 of his crew, most of them stranded for 19 months since their vessel, the Endurance, was beset and then crushed by ice. Ninety years later, you can disembark from a modern ice-breaking vessel and hike 15 miles (or three, if you wish) of Shackleton’s original route, which led him to the now-abandoned Norwegian whaling station Stromness on South Georgia. Expect your senses to be fully engaged: You’ll see big skies, clear air, snow-covered stony mountainsides and the world’s largest colony of king penguins (500,000 breeding pairs). When you first glimpse the village from the mountaintop, you’ll imagine the excitement that Shackleton and the two crew members with him must have felt as they neared the end of their epic journey. The memorial trek ends at the tiny whaling cemetery where Shackleton’s widow interred his body in 1922. Try this: Expedition photographer Frank Hurley re- Ultimate Antarctica II, Deturned to South Georgia Island in the winter cember 27, 2006-January 17, of 1916 to finish the story of the 22-month2007; for divers and nondivlong saga. It was from this spine on South Georgia that Shackleton and two crew had ers, from $11,600. biganimals first sighted salvation: Stromness. .com — MEGAN PADILLA
Born of Bali
Can you really find great local wines in a tropical paradise? Absolutely. In Sanur, northern Bali, Hatten Wines produces eight wines from its homegrown Bali muscat-like white Belgia grapes, and also locally purchased grapes. Harvest is year-round, and you can tour the vineyards and winery and visit the company’s nearby shop Cellardoor where Hatten’s wines — whites, rosés and reds — are available for tasting. The prizewinning Alexandria is an aromatic white with a floral bouquet. Before 1994, Hatten was just a local rice-wine business, then owner Rai Budarsa hired French winemaker Vincent Desplat, who shared Budarsa’s intoxicating passion … and the rest is history. hattenwines.com » Try these tropical wines: Maui’s Winery at Ulupalakua Ranch (Hawaii): champagne-like Maui Brut. Gentilini Winery (Kefaloniá, Greece): savory, old-world Gentilini Syrah. Tenuta Capofaro (Salina, Italy): the sweet amber Malvasia di Salina. — JENNY WOOLF
R O YA L G E O G R A P H I C S O C I E T Y / A L A M Y; C O U R T E S Y H AT T E N W I N E S
DI S C O V E R
island insights
HOW DO I GET HERE?
The Caye to Paradise
Ranguana Caye is one acre of sand, palms, pelicans and four stilted bungalows minutes from the Belize Barrier Reef. To get to this peaceful haven, fl y to Belize City, then transfer to a fl ight to Placencia on Maya Island Air. From Placencia’s airport, take a fi ve-minute taxi ride to the Inn at RobBelize ert’s Grove, which manages Ranguana Caye. Catch a launch from the inn’s marina to the caye. It’s about a one-hour boat ride, past mangroves and other tiny spits of sand. Arrange to stay overnight in the simple bungalows and eat conch with coconut rice in the open-air hut that houses a restaurant and bar. There are kayaks on the island, too. robertsgrove.com — CR
If it’s Friday, it must be Hawaiian Plate day. While most hungry visitors in Waikiki gravitate toward the freshly seared catch of the day covered in mango salsa, few venture into the realm of Hawaiian comfort food known as the “plate lunch.” For less than $10, a typical plate lunch offers a hearty serving of rice, two scoops of macaroni salad dripping with mayonOahu naise, shredded cabbage with a splash of vinegar and your choice of a deep-fried entrée, such as chicken katsu and mahi-mahi, all of which is crammed into a styrofoam box. Low-cal it is not! On Fridays, many places offer kalua pork and lau lau, Hawaii’s answer to the tamale. Try This: Grace’s Inn (1296 S. Beretania St.), Rainbow Drive-In (3308 Kanaina Ave.), and L&L (various locations). If you really want to go native, wash it all down with a shave ice at Wailoa (525 Kapahulu Ave.), just down the street from Rainbow. Ono-licious! — JENNIFER MERKLE
ALOHA SPECIAL
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F R O M T O P : T Y S AW Y E R ; TA M I DAW S O N / P H O T O R E S O U R C E H AWA I I
DI S C O V E R
ARMCHAIR TRAVELER
Islands of Music
IT’S NOT VERY PRACTICAL, GIVEN THE BARriers of politics and airline routes. But if I could take my musical island dream trip, I’d spend a few months connecting some rhythmic dots, following the arc of the Antilles from north to south. This was the first part of the New World the Spanish came to, and the slaves they brought created the powerful Afro-Antillean tradition that has exerted an incomparable influence on the world’s music. (Geographical fine point: The Caribbean’s a sea, the islands are the Antilles.) Since I’ve lived in New York City for the last 30 years, I’ve had the music of this region coming at me all along, and I’ve traveled at one time or another to several of these islands. If I could, I’d visit them in geographical order, shipping out from New Orleans across the Gulf of Mexico. My first stop would be my favorite musical place of all ... Cuba. It’s the island of music. Period. The Buena Vista Social Club wasn’t even one percent of it. Travel tip: The United States doesn’t allow its citizens to travel to Cuba, except under very limited circumstances. If you can legally travel there, don’t worry about timing it to catch a festival. Cuba is a music festival. It’s a big island, with more land area than the rest of the Antilles put together, and it has distinct musical regions. I’ve crossed it several times — starting in Havana in the west, making my way slowly overland, arriving in the great music city of Santiago de Cuba in the east. And then, since this is my fantasy trip, I’d hop a plane for ... Jamaica. A no-brainer, right? How many worldwide hits have hot-stepped out of this little island? It has one of the most prolific record industries anywhere. Simultaneous with achieving independence in 1962, Jamaica experienced a creative surge that looked its African heritage straight in the eye. Its music never stands still. Travel tip: Walk along the beach in Negril and you
might hear John Holt, Gregory Isaacs or Freddie MacGregor for $10. I probably wouldn’t want to leave, but when I did, I’d go on to ... Hispaniola. The second-largest island of the Antilles is uneasily shared by two wary nations. Haiti is the home of vodou, with its rich drumming tradition, updated into a dance-band format as racine (roots) music. But the big thing you hear everywhere you go is the midtempo dance style known as kompa. Y ou already know that Haiti is socially and politically problematic, but if you can handle it, you’re going to hear some strong music. Travel tip: Get invited to a danse vodou. There’s a bus that takes you in a few hours from Port-au-Prince over the mountains to one of tourism’s best-kept secrets, the Dominican Republic, home to bachata (danceable country music with sad, cry-in-your-beer lyrics) and merengue (fast and hip-swaying, often with satirical lyrics). Santo Domingo, the capital, was the first Spanish city in the New World. There are buildings from the early 16th century there — I’m talking 500 years old, folks. Travel tip: For a strange but agreeable experience, go to the Guácara Taína, a giant disco inside a subterranean cave. And on to the next island over, a must for any lover of first-class music ...
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F R O M T O P : M A R K A / AG E F O T O S T O C K ; N I C K H A N N A / A L A M Y; O P P O S I T E , R I G H T: Z AC H S T OVA L L
Puerto Rico. This little island (onetwelfth the size of Cuba) has been in an open musical dialogue with New Y ork City since 1917, when the Jones Act made Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens. Salsa, my favorite music, is everywhere. And, of course, Puerto Rico is where reggaetón blew up to become a major force. Travel tip: Each town in Puerto Rico has an annual fiesta patronal, featuring salsa stars and folkloric groups. Y stand a chance ou of finding one pretty much whatever time of year you go. Moving on along, we head down into the Lesser Antilles, where the islands get downright tiny. I’d be sure to satisfy my longtime desire to visit ... Martinique. One of France’s sugarcane colonies, Martinique is still a “department” of France, and its functionaries are French civil servants. With a population of less than half a million,
Martinique (along with yet smaller Guadaloupe) gave us zouk (remember Kassav?) back in the ’80s and, before that, the beguiling beguine. Travel tip: I’d check out the night life in the capital, Fort-deFrance, and then I’d head for the north coast to catch my breath, because I’d be sure to run out of gas in ... Trinidad and Tobago. Two islands comprise this nation, home to calypso and its offshoot, soca (as in “soul calypso”). Thanks to a wave of immigration from India in the 19th and early-20th centuries, T&T has a remarkable Indiameets-Africa musical fusion known as chutney. The music industry revolves around Carnival, so all the calypsonians release their records around the same time to get a shot at having the party anthem of the year. Travel tip: Carnival. Carnival. Carnival. — NED SUBLETTE
They Call Me Fred
Stick your face underwater and try to name what you see. Chances are you’ll turn to the gold standard series: Reef Fish, Reef Coral and Reef Creature identification books. Co-authors Paul Humann and Ned Deloach are widely known as the Fish ID guys. Now you have the chance to scout for new critters alongside Ned Deloach and his wife Anna — they’ll be resident experts this September at Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire. Join them for scheduled boat dives (day and night), guided mangrove snorkels and their weekly slide presentation. buddydive.com — MP
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A soundtrack, impulsively selected, for the Antillean music dream trip: 1 » CUBA: Various Artists: La Rumba Soy Yo, v. 2 (BisMusic) 2 » JAMAICA: King Tubby: Dub Gone Crazy (Blood and Fire) 3 » HAITI: T-Vice: Vinn Prann Not (Antilles Muzik) 4 » DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Various Artists: Merenhits 2006 (Sony International) 5 » PUERTO RICO: El Gran Combo: Aquí Estamos y ... ¡De Verdad! (Sony International) 6 » MARTINIQUE: Various Artists: Music of Martinique 1929-1950 (Flyright) 7 » TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Various Artists: Hot and Spicy Chutney (Music Club)
ARMCHAIR TRAVELER
IN
Lost in the World
THAT SIREN SONG OF THE UNKNOWN
world has been answered for centuries. And always there has been the desire to document the journey and the discoveries with words and images. Farid Abdelouahab’s Journeys and Journals: Five Centuries of Travel Writing (Art Stock, $45.64) assembles pages from actual journals, logs and sketchbooks, which reveal many first moments from the collision of cultures: a tattooed Maori warrior as seen during one of Captain Cook’s voyages; an Amazonian hunter as drawn by a tribesman, who’d never before held a pen, in the 1968 sketchbook of artist Sam Scott. We also see an evolution of journaling, beginning with straightforward recordings of foreign lands, flora, fauna, people and cultures, and then moving toward expressions of the writers’ inner lives. — MP
DANGER. INTRIGUE. CLASHES WITH PIRATES.
Worlds to Explore (National Geographic, $23) documents 54 real-life experiences by explorers who snuck across borders and helped map maps before globalization, homogenization and even before safe transportation: from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s air crossing from Cape Verde to Brazil to Ida Treat’s journey to the forbidden Dankali coast. Collected from the pages of early issues of National Geographic, these stories reveal the genesis of travel writing — when the few who were able to do it opened up the exotic world we live in to a legion of armchair travelers. — CR
IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEYS (CADOGAN, $16.95), author Mathew Lyons dedicates each of his chapters to a different historical journey. Interestingly, islands seem to conjure up the grandest notions of adventure for intrepid souls. Indeed, as this book reveals, islands are worthy opponents for even the most stouthearted traveler. Read real accounts of Englishmen resorting to cannibalism on Newfoundland, a could-be episode of Lost in the subantarctic Auckland Islands and a certain journeyer who impossibly meets the “Queen of Sheba” on what is known today as Java. Penned in a very proper and aristocratic manner, appropriate for many a gentleman’s journey, this collection will even have you reading through the dense footnotes. And perhaps it will light a fire under you, making your own impossible journey possible. — KL
Z AC H S T OVA L L ( 3 ) ; I L L U S T R AT I O N O P P O S I T E : B E C K Y H E AV N E R
DI S C O V E R
obsession
Nevis and Me
STUMBLE UPON MICHAEL MAXON’S website on Nevis, nevis1.com, and you’ll quickly discover that it’s useful — it’s billed as the “Non-TouristTrap Guide.” But this is more than a little moonlighting job: Maxon maintains 375 pages for his site. Given its thoroughness, we can assume that there’s a lot of time involved in this hobby, not to mention research in the form of island visits. He’s been struck by island-itis, and that’s why we admire him. — CR
headlights on to give the pilot something to shoot for.)
Q: When did you know you were undeniably hooked? A: I was staying at the Yam Seed Inn [no
longer around] and showering in their outdoor showers. I looked up at the darkest sky I had ever seen, and I listened to the tree frogs. I knew I was in love.
Q: What are must-dos on Nevis? A: I like snorkeling off Oualie Beach. Q: What’s your weirdest Nevis affectation besides your Nevis nickname of Tragic Magic? A: I fly a Nevis flag outside my house in To-
Q: How many times a day do you think about Nevis? A: Let’s just say, today I rooted
ledo, Ohio. My license plate says “Nevis1.”
Q: How many times? A: Twenty-one trips since 1989. (On
through 200 e-mails from a Nevis newsletter and spoke to someone on island at length and it’s only 11 a.m. [He also spoke to ISLANDS’ executive editor for 68 minutes.]
one of Maxon’s first landings, taxi drivers lined the dark runway and put their
There aren’t a lot of reefs, but the water is calm, so you can see lots of marine life. On Sundays I take a water taxi from Oualie Beach to Turtle Beach Bar & Grill on St. Kitts. You’ll see plenty of monkeys — and even one that smokes cigarettes. Also, I like the botanical gardens. Definitely eat at Gallipot restaurant; and everyone should go to Sunshine’s and Chevy’s even though they can get touristy. +
THE
authentic caribbean all-inclusives
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BEST
T O P : C O U R T E S Y R P M M E D I A ; B O T T O M : C O U R T E S Y A N S E C H AS TA N E T
» THE IDEA OF AN ALL-INCLUSIVE IS NOBLE: ONE PRICE FOR EVERYthing, no sticker shock at the end of your journey. But what we’ve found on our travels around the world is that some all-inclusives aren’t really the sorts of places where you want to stay. These “campuses” keep the local environment out. Here are those we do like because they excel at becoming part of the island.
Plan to arrive at Nisbet Plantation on Thursday; you’ll be treated to one of the best West Indian buffets in the Caribbean. What we also like about Nisbet is that it’s the Nevis only plantation-turned-inn in Nevis located on the beach. Cocktails and dinner are served in the 1778 greathouse — the family home of Fanny Nisbet, who went on to fame by marrying Admiral Horatio Nelson. Reserve one of the 16 cottages with screened porches that are scattered along the Avenue of Palms on the 30-acre grounds facing
Beach Club
»
the sea. For breakfast, definitely order the almond French toast or coconut pancakes. nisbetplantation.com
» The only way to get to Young Island
Resort, a private island off the south coast of St. Vincent, is by water taxi. Ride time? A short three minutes. Walk along the Young Island island’s pathways through a forest of coconut palms, almond trees, hibiscus, white ginger and flamboyants. Stone cottages — some with private plunge pools — are tucked
Stay in these resorts and you’ll always feel part of the landscape. Above: Swim up to Young Island’s coconut bar. Below: Tuck into Anse Chastanet. St. Lucia’s Pitons will lull you to sleep.
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THE BEST
along the shore and the hillsides. Legend has it that a Carib chief once lived on the island. youngisland.com
» Step onto Guana Island and you’ll immediately feel at peace: Guana Island is a nature reserve. A long-term program has restored the abunGuana Island dant flora and fauna, including the red-legged tortoise and six roseate flamingos that reside in the pond. The resort’s 16 whitewashed rooms and cottages cling to hilltops and
Venture into the little-explored Caribbean, Cayos Cochinos — part of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The only proper resort Bay Islands in this bio-reserve is Plantation Beach Resort, with 10 simple cottages built of local stone and mahogany. Although there are hiking trails on the island, days are mostly spent diving on this well-preserved section of the barrier reef. Nearby are a turtle and coral marine research center and Garifuna villages that can be visited. plantationbeachresort.com
»
are situated to maximize views of the sailboat-studded Caribbean and other Virgins. All produce is grown on the island (and even sung to) by gardener Dr. Liao. And if the soft sand beach that cups supremely swimmable White Bay, complete with a floating platform, is too, uh … crowded (which is not likely since this private island holds a maximum of 36 guests), there are five other beaches from which to choose. guana.com
» Watched over by the Pitons, Anse Chastanet is one of those resorts that make it easy to imagine never going home. Nature is the focal point, and it’s incredibly lovely on St. St. Lucia Lucia. There’s nothing you’ll lack for getting to know it. Biking trails: check. Nooks that command mountain views that move your soul: check. Quiet beaches: check. On the hillside and along the beaches are suites that bring in local life with regionally made furniture and madras fabrics. Guides offer walking tours of the resort’s 600 acres. ansechastanet.com +
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T O P : C O U R T E S Y P R O G R E S S I V E E A R T H D E V E L O P M E N T; B O T T O M : C O U R T E S Y G UA N A I S L A N D
Above: At Tiamo, sit on your deck and stargaze the Bahamian sky. Below: Guana Island in the BVIs is a nature reserve with just the one resort on the island.
» If you think of a concierge as your key to the hottest tickets in town, think again. At Tiamo Resorts on South Andros Island in the South Andros Bahamas, the nature concierge will lead you on a hike to see orchids and iguanas, introduce you to the ecology of the 11 different snorkeling sites or point you to the best hammock for an afternoon nap. Tiamo’s 11 screened-in beach bungalows keep you comfortable indoors without sealing you away from the outdoors. Locally made wood carvings and straw crafts appear throughout; and fresh “fruit of the sea” is served almost daily. tiamoresorts.com
Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau
EVERY NOW AND THEN IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO REVIEW YOUR INVESTMENTS.
W h a t ’s r i g h t w i t h t h e w o r l d . ™
Call 888.231.4021 or visit fortmyers-sanibel.com for more info and your free visitor guide.
A DV E N T U R E S
the world’s greatest
2,000-year-old rice terraces climb the hills of Banaue, a town in northern Luzon, in the Philippines.
worldly pursuits
LESLIE GARLAND PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY
25 Island Adventures to Do Before You Die
BY PATR IC I A S CHULT Z
» PATR ICIA SCHULTZ , AUTHOR OF 1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFOR E YOU DIE AND THE
forthcoming 1,000 Places to See in the USA & Canada Before You Die (Workman, spring 2007), knows a good adventure when she comes across one. Schultz chose 25 — from following in the footsteps of Japanese shoguns to swimming with Caribbean reef sharks to white-water rafting in Fiji — that should be on any island-traveler’s life list. So if you are looking for your next big adventure, we invite you to turn the page.
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A DV E N T UR E S
Right: Specially designed jet boats deliver a thrill on New Zealand’s Shotover River. Below: Learn the stories behind this island art when you visit the Tiwi Aborigines in Bathhurst, Australia.
POWER WALKER
(Dominica).
Wilderness Retreat, a simple but special place sensitive to nature’s ways. It’s just a 15-minute hike from there to the nearby Trafalgar Falls, a twin cataract, or you can amble about the inn’s five-acre botanical garden where geese and peacocks roam freely amid bamboo, bromeliads and begonias. Others L The Moors Of Donegal (Ireland). Donegal is Ireland’s northernmost county, a sparsely inhabited corner of Ireland that sees few travelers, leaving the heather-covered moors and the lonely loveliness of the county’s Glenveagh National Park to you. Head for the 19th-century Scottish-style castle that is the park’s centerpiece. Z Bali (Indonesia). Walk the Island of the Gods’ interior city, Ubud, to experience the theater of its dance, music and mystery. Y might happen upon ou a cremation ceremony, a coming-of-age tooth-filing or the haunting rhythms of a village gamelan orchestra. L The Nakasendo (Japan). Follow in the footsteps of shoguns, samurai and itinerant merchants and pilgrims along the best-preserved, most scenic and historically rich stretch of the Nakasendo, literally “the road through the mountains,” a 322-mile 17th-century byway linking Kyoto and Tokyo. Z The
Banaue Rice Terraces (Luzon, Philippines).
Take a walk through the primal island rainforest that is Dominica’s Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Much of the island’s fame as the Caribbean’s “Nature Island” derives from this wild movie set of a park, a slice of pure nature, just over 26 square miles, that is an ungovernable refuge of huge ferns, ancient trees, wild orchids and bright anthuriums. Waterfalls, like the one feeding the fern-bedecked Emerald Pool grotto, hide among lush, steep-sided peaks; the centerpiece is the three-pronged mountain after which the park is named. Those who want a little less Shangri-La and a little more fire and brimstone can trek to Boiling Lake, the earth’s second-largest flooded fumarole. The volcanic field called the Valley of Desolation lives up to its name, with steaming vents and boiling mud cauldrons. Nestled at the edge of it all is the Papillote
Z Go to Morne Trois Pitons National Park
ADRENALINE JUNKIE
Zealand). Beneath that Kiwi reserve must throb a vein of derangement. How else can you explain why New Zealand is the recognized home of jet boating? Revolutionary flat-bottomed jet propulsion boats allow navigation in shallow or difficult waters where others dare not go — namely, the Shotover River, 10 minutes outside Queenstown. The Shotover Canyon’s steep rock walls and fast-flowZ Go to Shotover River (South Island, New
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F R O M B O T T O M L E F T: C O U R T E S Y A AT K I N G S . C O M ; B O B K R I S T
Tourism authorities are not unrealistic in calling the engineering feat of this 2,000year-old “earth art” the Eighth Wonder of the World; the still-productive rice paddies form a living, growing staircase that rises to heights of 3,000 feet. Use the town of Banaue as your base to visit the villages of the Ifugao region, where an ancient lifestyle still survives.
ing waters are the scene of heart-stopping trips that will have you flying over shallows — sometimes only inches deep — while executing trademark jet boat 360degree pirouettes within inches of rocky outcrops, and skimming around crags and boulders and missing them by this much. Y boat captain will be babbling our something about “thrill therapy” and explaining how studies show that a good thrill awakens dormant biochemical pathways. All you know is that this is one hell of a ride and you haven’t whooped this much since you were 12. Can we do it again? Others L Long Island (Bahamas). Witness, firsthand, the awesome beauty and graceful power of the apex predator of the Bahamian waters, Carcharhinus perezi — the Caribbean reef shark. Stella Maris Resort blazed the trail and still offers two to three shark dives a week. Z Navua Gorge (Viti Levu, Fiji). Thrill-seekers will find 12.5 jungle-filled miles of class II and III rapids that shoot through what is
All you know is that this is one hell of a ride and you haven’t whooped this much since you were 12. Can we do it again?
known as Fiji’s Grand Canyon. The 2,900-foot Mount Stromboli is one of the world’s few volcanoes in a state of permanent activity. Z Madeline Island
Stromboli (Aeolian Islands, Italy).
L Isola
(The Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, Wisconsin). Y can mush your own team of husou
kies or sit back and be whisked along the quiet forested trails of Madeline Island and out onto the frozen waters of the lake among the 22 beautiful Apostle Islands.
CULTURE CLUBBER
Z Go to La Vucciria Market (Palermo, Sicily). Sicily’s remarkable cultural diversity is
the result of approximately 25 centuries of tumultuous history: No city in Europe has hosted such a variety of civilizations
and waves of conquerors as Palermo. Take a stroll through La Vucciria for a heady glimpse of the lingering influences of those ethnic groups and civilizations. Its souk-like passages are another reminder that from Sicily, just “one hop, and you’re out of Europe,” as D.H. Lawrence wrote. La Vucciria is a vibrant spectacle, full of merchants shouting and singing about their wares, vying in volume and ribaldry; if the local vernacular were not so completely unintelligible, outsiders would catch comparisons of succulent pomegranates to parts of the female anatomy. Succumb to the mélange of smells, from briny octopus and anchovies to fresh mint, basil, capers and oregano. Palermo has been likened to an Afri-
A DV E N T UR E S
Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
can city in Europe; after a stroll through the market, that may start to make sense to you. Others L Savonlinna Opera Festival (Finland). The region of Savonlinna consists of hundreds of tiny islands, and the medieval town holds one of the most important opera festivals in Northern Europe every July. By night, enjoy the alfresco performances in the courtyard of
the 15th-century Olavinlinna Castle. Z On this French outpost, unpack at the lovely Hotel l’Ocean and pedal past vineyards and oyster parks.
Ile de Re (France). lia). Bathurst and Melville are the ancestral home of Tiwi Aborigines, who escaped colonization. Non-Tiwis (that would be you) can visit through TiwiL Tiwi Islands (Northern Territory, Austra-
owned and -operated tours that leave from the town of Darwin and drop you off for a crash course in bush medicine and dreamtime stories. Z Tamar Valley Wine Route (Tasmania, Australia). Tasmania has more than 200 vineyards that invite you to stop and sample their elixirs, many of which are not exported beyond the Australian market.
NATURE LOVER
Z Go to BWCAW (Minnesota). This area of staggering beauty, crystal-clear waters and Zen-like serenity in northern Minnesota is one of America’s best canoeing destinations. The BWCAW (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness) is the largest wilderness preserve east of the Rockies and north of the Everglades, with 1 million acres and seemingly as many lakes, spangled with thousands of islands and mapped with 1,500 miles of canoe routes. Even during the busy month of July, you’ll still feel like you have the place to yourself. This is loon country, but you’ll also see eagles, moose and beaver. This is how it must have been in the 17th century when voyagers came looking for precious pelts to send back to fur-crazed Europe. Shack up at the handsome Burntside Lodge in the gateway town of Ely. Williams and Hall Wilderness Guides and Outfitters offers two-day or longer trips with or without a guide. Others L Islas Los Roques (Venezuela). This archipelago of 42 coral-reef islands is a 35-minute flight — and many light-years — from Caracas.
chelles). The first marine park in the west-
ern Indian Ocean, Ste. Anne’s waters teem with a science-fiction seascape of multicolored coral gardens. L Vancouver Island (British Columbia). Secure your front-row seats at the rustic but elegant
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Z Ste. Anne Marine National Park (Sey-
Wickaninnish Inn. The winter months can be mesmerizing for their howling winds, sheets of rain and crashing 20-foot Pacific waves, which have spawned the pastime of winter storm watching. Z Cayos Cochinos (Honduras). These jungledraped keys, part of the Bay Islands, and the waters that surround them are some of the least-disturbed in the Caribbean.
nous plants (and probably the greatest concentration of baobab trees on the planet), clouds of butterflies and half the world’s chameleons. Z Bio-luminescent Bay (Vieques, Puerto Rico). The concentration of dinoflagellates in Mosquito Bay creates a liquid bluish light when agitated. Take a nocturnal cruise and troll your hand overboard to leave a sparkling
trail behind you. L Lamu (Kenya). For a song, you can rent a dhow, one of the traditional wooden sailing vessels that still ply the waters off the coast of this tiny island in the Indian Ocean. The oldest inhabited site south of the Sahara is still a seat of ancient Swahili and Islamic cultures. Drop anchor at Peponi Hotel, the coolest place around. +
SWIMMER
Z Go to Fernando De Noronha (Brazil).
Off the coast of Brazil, this archipelago, comprised of 21 islands, offers visitors an ecosystem that some consider a near Galápagos-like experience (Darwin dawdled here, centuries after it was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1503). Fernando has been a closely guarded national marine reserve since 1988. Its untroubled waters ensure year-round visibility of more than 160 feet, making it heaven for divers and snorkelers. But this volcanic mini-archipelago is perhaps best known for the school of roughly 600 (some say 1,000) whitebelly spinner dolphins that has chosen to make the Baia dos Golfinhos their home since the 1700s. Early-morning boat excursions join the dolphins at their friskiest. From these waters you can see the lush, verdant mountains that drop down to wide, sandy beaches that are cabana-free. Only 420 visitors are allowed on Fernando de Noronha at any one time. The main island, which has the same name as the archipelago, has dozens of pousadas, or inns. The solar-powered Zé Maria is perhaps the loveliest, and it’s ecologically sensitive despite the incongruous presence of a flat-screen TV in your room. Others L Vava’u Islands (Tonga). Arguably the Pacific’s best kayaking destination, the Vava’u Group is some 50 reefencircled, bush-clad islands separated by narrow waterways and protected within an emerald lagoon measuring about 13 by 15 miles. Go from June through November to see humpbacks. L Mangoky River (Madagascar). Raft through a veritable laboratory for evolution that promises dozens of species of lemurs, indige-
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I S L A N D paradise F E LI owning
What’s it like to live on your own island? Heaven, says the owner of Melody Key.
» THERE ARE THOSE WHO GO ON AN ISLAND VACATION AND THEN JUST return home. But then there are those of us who get tangled in that ultimate dream — of staying forever; or at least of owning our own slice of tropical paradise. So what’s it like purchasing property? Or living like a local? ISLANDS talked to an island buyer and an island-home buyer for insight. Then we came up with other ways you could make your dream a reality. Think of it: This time next year you could be inviting your family and friends to your own island pad.
C O U R T E S Y M E L O DY K E Y
happily ever after
»
Looking to own a piece of paradise? Here are a few ways out of the daily grind.
BY ANDRE A BENNE T T & CHR IS T INE R I CHARD
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ISL AND L IFE
BUYING THE DREAM
of the band 311 Price: $2.8 million in May 2003 What: The six-acre island came with a 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath house, a boat, a sea-walled lot on the mainland for parking and launching the boat, and a floating beach, which looks like a floating sandbox. Favorite corner of the house: The great room has panoramic views of the mangroves. And there are huge fish tanks in that room. Why here: The first time Hexum came to Melody Key as a renter, it felt like home, he says. “I thought, ‘I must have this.’ If it meant my financial ruin, at least I would know I went down in pursuit of something I really love.” Hexum, who spends a lot of time touring, comes to decompress — and to create. He wrote the lyrics
MELODY KEY, FLORIDA KEYS Owner: Nick Hexum, frontman
From top: The great room is owner Nick Hexum’s favorite room in his house. It has 360-degree views of the mangroves. He also likes to relax outdoors under a palapa.
to “Speak Easy” on the island.
Technicalities of living on your own island: 6 (10 being the worst), “but it’s
worth it!” People contract Keys disease; that is, they work at a job until it gets too stressful and then they quit and go fishing … In 2004, 13 Cubans landed on the key in a boat made for four that had a motor fashioned from a 1950s American tractor engine … 2005 was a tough year — the island had to undergo cleanup four times due to hurricanes … When Hexum first took ownership, he drove
O P P O S I T E F R O M T O P : W W W. V L A D I . D E ; C O U R T E S Y M E L O D Y K E Y
his boat out to Melody Key, loaded down with a month’s worth of supplies and two dogs; the boat broke down halfway there. “I didn’t know anyone in the Keys. I jumped in the water, put the tow rope in my teeth and pulled the loaded boat the rest of the way. It was very reminiscent of the scene in The African Queen when Bogart comes out of the water covered with leeches.” Favorite snorkel spot: Anywhere off the island, and also just a little over a mile away is Looe Key, a national marine sanctuary. Stay here: When Nick Hexum is off the island, he rents out Melody Key. melodykey.com.
CASA ZAMA, ISLA MUJERES Owners: Melanie and Ron Herrman,
I jumped in the water, put the tow rope in my teeth and pulled the loaded boat the rest of the way. It was very reminiscent of the scene in The African Queen.
80-year-old man smoking a cigarette came to the lot with dynamite, climbed down the well and then hopped out again.” The dynamite starts water flow. The Herrmans’ five-bedroom home is on the south side of the island. Favorite corner of the house: “Anywhere you can hear water. In the entranceway is a fountain and from the dining room, you can hear, see and smell the ocean.” Why here: The Mexican culture, the turquoise water as backyard, the seafood, the Spanish language. Plus, it’s close to the United States and safe. The Herrmans tool around the island by golf cart and by boat. On Sundays, the couple heads to Playa Norte for a swim and to play Scrabble. One of their favorite places to eat is Bistro Francaise downtown. Technicalities of purchase: 6. Mundaca Real Estate facilitated the transaction. But the land goes into a trust and the bank owns the trust. Plus there was the matter of installing electrical wiring and dealing with minor damage from Hurricane Wilma. “You can’t do something like build a house from afar. You have to be available.” The Herrmans started construction in 2004 and finished in 2005. casazama.com
attorney and Web designer Price: $95,000 in 2001 What: For the price, the couple got a half-acre empty lot with a well on it. “An
YOUR ISLAND LIFE
You can purchase land outright or buy
ISL AND L IFE
an island as above, but here are other ways to own a slice of paradise should the idea of day-to-day maintenance or the vagaries of owning property in foreign lands prove to be too cumbersome.
DESTINATION CLUBS
»
Spend your summers in a 2,700square-foot ocean-bluff cottage on
Hana Coast on Maui and your winters lounging in a 4-bedroom Caribbean beachfront villa on Canouan in the Raffles Resort. Price: $325,000 one-time fee, plus $15,000 annual dues What you get: Membership into Leading Residences of the World, which gives you access to these two properties
as well as 10 others around the world. Why join: There’s no limit to the weeks per year that you can use your membership. It is subject to club availability. Also, if you travel and stay at Leading Hotels of the World, you’ll have privileged status. Technicalities: It’s as easy as signing a check. Because LRW shares the services of the hotels that host and manage its private homes, you’ll be close to or within the bounds of a resort and get to use its spas and restaurants. The membership fee, however, does not give you equity — it only gives you flexibility. lrwclub.com
» Island hop the years away, choosing
from 11 islands around the world $185,000 one-time fee, plus $18,000 annual dues What you get: Membership in Ultimate Resort and six weeks per year at one of its multimillion-dollar estates. Stay at the 3,200-square-foot villa in Mahogany Run on St. Thomas. In the next year, Ultimate Resort will add estates on 10 more islands, from Fiji to Barbados to Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Why join: Remarkably risk-free, your enrollment fee is 100 percent refundable after you’ve been with the club for seven years (80 percent after four years). Ultimate is the only club with a loyalty program: Members automatically earn points toward spa visits, chef services and show tickets. Technicalities: The island estates on Kiawah, Hawaii’s Kohala Coast and Great Exuma will be ready in June; you’ll have to wait for access to the other estates until 2007. ultimateresort.com
Price: FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP Price:
» Own a piece of luxurious St. Bart’s.
$275,000 to buy a fraction of a villa, plus $10,000 annual dues What you get: A share in a one-bedroom residence that is part of the Folio Collection — also known as fractional ownership. Each villa typically has six to 10 owners, and each owner
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THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
Just in case you were worried the world would run out of private islands, Nakheel Developments, the property company whose portfolio includes Dubai’s extravagant manmade Palm Islands, is busily adding 300 more to the mix. The World, a cluster of islands off the coast of Dubai in the shape of — you guessed it — Earth’s continents, countries and islands, is for sale. The islands — with layouts and names that take some poetic license, and that, according to the company, may include an eco-island and a culinary island — range in size from fi ve to 20 acres, with prices from $11 million to $36 million per island. Expect the World to be fully operational by 2008. theworld.ae — AB
gets to stay for five weeks per year. These residences are in the seaside resort of Isle de France Club, overlooking the Baie des Flamands. You’ll also be able to go to the Molton Brown Spa and eat in the resort’s restaurant. Why join: During high season on this fashionable island, it’s nearly impossible to get a room. This way, you’ll always have one guaranteed. Technicalities: Buyers become deeded owners of the villa, so you build equity. Owners get a fixed week in high season — guaranteed. foliocollection.com
CONDO-HOTELS
» Invest in a condo or villa in Rose Hall, Jamaica, at Palmyra Resort & Spa. Price: $400,000s to $5 million, plus monthly association dues equaling $0.60 per square foot of your property. What you get: A fully furnished vacation home, fronting the ocean, that you didn’t have to build or decorate; membership to Rose Hall’s Golf Association; and access to the hotel’s amenities — like E’SPA, concierge service and the Beach Club. Why buy: You’ll be mere stories up from some of the Caribbean’s sweetest waters and get a taste of rich Jamaican culture. A rental program that puts your condo in the rental market can help offset your mortgage and association dues; you receive 65 percent of the income from the rental of your condo. Technicalities: Ownership is no different than buying stateside. Your title will be guaranteed by the Jamaican government, but optional title insurance is offered by Stewart Title. the palmyra.com — KELLY LACK
C O U R T E S Y T H E WO R L D
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Dream Trips
the mostislands amazing on earth
In celebration of our 25 years of opening up the world
to our readers, ISLANDS presents 25 Dream Trips. We want you to pack up and experience all that life has to offer. Travel, you see, is more complicated than moving physically from A to B. It’s about knowing your world. It’s learning to know yourself as you pass through it. It’s about living your dreams.
»
» Find yours at islands.com/dreamtrips
Lord Howe
Journey of a Lifetime
the last paradise
STORY AND PHOTOS BY TY SAWYER
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“I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Lord Howe, mate,”
said a man riding alongside me on his bike. He was barefoot — the sign of a local. I hadn’t asked him a question. He’d just pulled up beside me and started talking. “I haven’t watched a telly in 10 years. My mind is bliss. I wake up every morning, look at the lagoon, Lidgbird, Gower and all them birds and still think I’ve fallen through heaven’s hedge and straight into a postcard of paradise.” He looked at me, down at my shoe-clad feet, and said, “Have ya met Ian? He can tell ya all about this make-believe island. Weeds, birds, fish. The lot.”
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The bucolic view from Capella Lodge looking over Salmon Beach; in the distance are Mounts Lidgbird and Gower. Lord Howe, it has been said, has the world’s most perfect climate.
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Journey of a Lifetime
IN
1988 I READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT LORD HOWE ISLAND. THE words and images were like an enchanted net. I could close my eyes and imagine the tingly scent of its salt air, see the quiet hush of green on the steep cliffs and feel the downy touch of the water in the lagoon as it swirled and wrapped around my body. My traveler’s heart had been caught. But Lord Howe is on the way to nowhere, and for 18 more years it sat in the middle of the southern Pacific, waiting, wrapped, unchanging. Always at the edge of my memory. When I finally found a way to get to Lord Howe, I did no more research. No articles, no videos, no books. I refused to break the spell I’d carried with me for all those years. I wanted the island to surprise me. I wanted to sense and feel everything as though a dew-fresh kiss; to travel like T.S. Eliot and “know the place for the first time.” Now, 18 years later, I’d been on Lord Howe for almost 24 hours. I’d also been awake for most of those 24 hours because I’d fallen through the same hedge and knew if I slept and truly dreamed, my sleepy reveries would pale in comparison. Dreams here are idle time in wait of the dawn. But I couldn’t rip my gaze from the night sky anyway: a sky that sits so low over the island that you’ve no doubt you could readily sail the world using just the thick carpet of stars and galaxies above for guidance. The images I’d carried with me, the memories of a place I’d never been, were all coming alive, virtually unchanged, with every glance. And, yes, I was on my way to meet Ian.
LORD HOWE RISES FROM THE OCEAN LIKE A FAIRLY-TALE CASTLE. Its two ramparts, Mounts Gower and Lidgbird, reach almost straight up into the misty heights of the sky. White strips of water fall from their sides like ribbons from a maypole. From above, the island looks like it was pieced together from a thousand perfect island dreams. Thick forests and open, green grass fields curl around each other, crescent sweeps of sand smile up from the island on all sides, and the water in the lagoon is the kind of blue that only Merlin could conjure. I soon found myself walking through a forest of Kentia palm and thick-trunked banyan trees,
about three steps behind Ian Hutton. Ian is the world’s expert on the flora and fauna of Lord Howe and is a gatekeeper of sorts for the island. If you want to truly see Lord Howe, I’d been told, Ian can show you more in 20 feet than you could ever observe in a lifetime on your own. The way he talks, it’s as if he was around when the island was discovered in 1788, maybe since the first bird landed on the shoreline. He knows, literally, everything about this 6.2-mile-long island. As we walked past the lagoon, Ian was able to name every fish. On the other side of us, a cloud-hushed banyan forest climbed the steep hillside to the summit a thousand feet above us. We stopped and Ian started clapping as if we’d passed through some border crossing and it was time for impromptu applause. I circled around 360 degrees, looking for the audience. It’s like that with Ian: About 10 minutes earlier, we’d been chatting about how the locals all go barefoot when he suddenly stopped, reached into a hole along the side of the path and pulled out a gray ball of fur with a beak — a baby shearwater. “Its mum won’t be back for about three days, so she digs a big hole for the chicks to wait in,” Ian had said. “It’s pretty easy access, which is why we don’t allow cats on the island. Cats are like furry A hawksbill turtle little demons on Lord Howe.” patrols the southern end of the EAC (East It was quiet, that chick. Never peeped. Australian Current), “No good calling for its mum. She’s and ducks compete a hundred miles out to sea. It’s better with kingfi sh for an afternoon feeding at off keeping quiet, hoping I’ll go away.” Ned’s Beach. Inset: He then stuffed the little downThe author’s autoball back into the hole. And yanked a graphed fi eld guide by Ian Hutton. weed out of the (continued on page 115)
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I N S E T: Z AC H S T OVA L L
I’d been on Lord Howe for almost 24 hours and knew if I slept and truly dreamed, my sleepy reveries would pale in comparison. Dreams here are idle time in wait of the dawn.
The untamed and the manicured exist in a state of equilibrium on Lord Howe. Age-old banyans and endemic Kentia palm-tree forests edge meadows, and the waters off the island are home to the world’s southernmost coral reefs.
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Dream Trips
LIFETIME FACTOR: Fiji’s more than 300 islands simmer with an unyielding romantic allure. It is a life-changing destination, from the tangy taste of kokoda (marinated fish) to the traditional kava ceremony to the soul-touching Fijian songs pouring from Sundaymorning windows at the village church. Not bad for a place that came into the annals of Western history as the “Cannibal Isles.” CLAIM TO FAME: Fiji is the world of island travel. But the people — warm and genuinely welcoming — are by far the islands’ greatest asset. TRY THIS: Start at the private-island resort of Royal Davui, witness a traditional fire-walking ceremony in neighboring Beqa and, if you’re brave, surf the waves at Frigate’s Passage. Then head to Namale to dive the famous soft-coral-laden northern reefs, head inland for a rainforest and waterfall trek and, on Sunday, attend a Fijian church service in the village. End at Vatulele where you can see authentic tapa cloths being made, participate in a kava ceremony and enjoy some of Fiji’s best beaches. Rates for the ISLANDS 12-night package start at $8,293, including airfare from Los Angeles, interisland transportation, activities and most meals. pacificholidaysinc.com — JACKIE D’ANTONIO Photo: aerial view of the Fiji islands
Fiji
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Big Island
LIFETIME FACTOR: With 11 of
the world’s 13 climate zones, you can pretty much name your escape and find it here. Ski, surf and dive in the same day, hike through waterfall-riddled rainforests within an hour of wandering across bone-dry lava fi elds, and lie on beaches that come in black, green, white and gold. The waters off the Kona and Kohala coasts are world-famous for humpback and pilot whales, spinner dolphins, giant manta rays, green sea turtles and crystal-clear visibility. Pele’s red-hot touch still pours from the Kilauea caldera into the sea, and Hawaiian culture pops up around every corner. CLAIM TO FAME: Luaus, leis and hula — immerse yourself full-force in Polynesian culture. TRY THIS: Take a hula or ukulele lesson while staying at Kona Village Resort at Kahuwai Bay. Jon Lomberg also conducts his stargazing programs from Kona Village. The four-night Village a la Carte package includes all meals and eight credits to use as you wish — a ukulele lesson is one credit, dinner on the beach is two. Rates start at $2,825 for two. konavillage.com — TS Photo: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
S T O N E / G E T T Y I M AG E S ; O P P O S I T E : M AC D U F F E V E R T O N
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Journey of a Lifetime
Venice
BY DAVID LANSING
The only reason I even stopped in Venice was because
there’d been a change in my flight plans and I suddenly had a couple of weeks to fill before flying home. It was the end of a very long trip, a personal sabbatical of sorts: I’d spent late summer and fall living in an atelier in Paris before moving on to Madrid, Florence and eventually Greece. I wasn’t exactly jaded at that point — just tired. Too many smoky train cars, damp hotel rooms, plats du jour.
Venice has inspired artists — and writers — for centuries. David Lansing found his muse in Harry’s Bar, Hemingway’s long-ago haunt.
And since my return flight was out of Rome, which I’d already visited, why not go to Venice? The fact that it was off season, just after Carnival, made it even better. The weather would be dreary, Piazza San Marco no doubt covered in sloshy duckboards and the cafés empty — which perfectly suited my subdued mood. I intentionally decided to stay away from touristy San Marco and reserved a room in the Dorsoduro Sestiere near the Accademia, a pretty-enough neighborhood and home to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The late afternoon was cold and damp when I decided to take a stroll along the Zattere, a waterfront path that stretches along Dorsoduro’s southern shore past stylish cafés (mostly closed) and the rustic bars known as bacari to Punta della Dogana — the site of the old customs house, which is one of the best places in Venice to view, from a distance, the
Doge’s Palace and the Campanile di San Marco. Wait. I am being disingenuous here. I am giving you a rather Baedeker-like tour of my first trip to Venice (Be sure not to miss the church of Santa Maria della Salute, an outstanding example of Baroque architecture!), when in fact, at the time, my heart was beating like that of a young schoolboy who has suddenly spied his heart’s most ardent desire standing alone at the end of the school hallway. I wasn’t out for a casual wander in Venice; there was purpose in my step. My mind knew where my heart was leading me: to a crossing of the Grand Canal. The only question yet to be resolved — and the reason my heart was racing so — was whether I’d have the courage to take it. The church of La Salute is, indeed, a fine structure, but I don’t care about that. I only mention it because it was from
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L E F T: M I C H A E L B E L A R D O / A L A M Y; I N S E T: DAV I D L A N S I N G
there that I caught the traghetto that changed my life. A traghetto, if you don’t know, is a gondola that ferries mostly Venetians across the Grand Canal inexpensively. There are several different traghetti crossing points in Venice, but the boat I stepped aboard that day crossed from the point near the church of La Salute to a gondola mooring at San Marco. It is a Venetian tradition that when you cross the Grand Canal in a traghetto, you stand. That can be a bit tricky if it is late in the day, as it was now, when clouds of winter fog, called nebbia, come rolling in across the lagoon. So there I was, standing nervously in a traghetto, my vision blurred by a soupy fog, worried that I might be pitched over the side or, worse yet, that we might be struck by a vaporetto, or water bus, also plying these waters. That is one thing to consider, but there is something I
haven’t told you yet: The reason I was heading home in a couple of weeks after this rather extended European tour was because I was going to law school. The European sabbatical, you see, was my way of postponing the inevitable: becoming an adult. But here’s the thing: While in Europe, I’d penned a few inept short stories in a blue notebook I carried around, and every so often I’d have this heretical notion that perhaps I should be a writer instead of a lawyer, even though I knew that was just crazy and a sure recipe for disaster. I mean, lawyers make money and writers don’t, right? Still, I couldn’t quite get the idea out of my head. It was as if I was engaged to a very nice, very proper young woman from a wealthy family yet couldn’t stop thinking about some saucy street busker I’d come across who (continued on page 112)
JON ARNOLD/ALAMY
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Dominica
LIFETIME FACTOR: Nature rules here. Soak in geothermal pools, hike to a boiling volcanic lake, and trek, bike or kayak past untamed waterfalls and the 365 rivers that wind through the thick tropical rainforest in Morne Trois Pitons National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). You’ll also find the last bastion of Caribs in the Caribbean still practicing their ancient way of life. Head offshore to interact with the Caribbean’s only resident pod of sperm whales. Between explorations you’ll be fueled by spicy African, French and Carib-influenced Creole dishes. CLAIM TO FAME: The ultimate “green” Caribbean island — in terms of both the lush natural life and the admirable sustainability practices demonstrated throughout Dominica. TRY THIS: Base yourself in a 17th-century stone manor. Habitation Chabert, tucked between two rivers near the Atlantic coast, offers over 15 different full- and half-day trips in conjunction with Dominica Tours. Room rates start at $160 if you stay seven nights or longer; tours range from $100 to $200 for one to four people. habitationcha bert.com; dominica-tours.com — TS Photo: Trafalgar Falls
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G I OVA N N I S I M E O N E / F O T O T E C A 9 X 1 2 ; O P P O S I T E : C O U R T E S Y C C A F R I C A
Dream Trips
Think The Arabian Nights, but with amazing beaches. In Stone Town, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Arabic-inflected Swahili is exchanged at the bazaars, and minarets of mosques pierce the sky at sunset. Once you’ve shopped for treasure and explored the storied sites, head for the beaches of your dreams: palm fringes, white sand, impossibly blue water and pristine underwater ecosystems. CLAIM TO FAME: A hub of Indian Ocean trade routes for two millennia, Zanzibar has been imprinted by the influences of many cultures, among them African, Arab, Indian, Portuguese and British. TRY THIS: Spend two nights in StoneTown then lose yourself in the natural beauty at Mnemba Island Lodge, part of the Zanzibar Archipelago. You’ll feel like you’re on a safari at sea: Watch nesting green sea turtles, dive the reefs or strip some line off your reel when fly-fishing. Rates for the seven-night package start at $4,742 per person, based on double occupancy. E-mail reservations@ccafrica.com for details about the ISLANDSTrip of a Lifetime to Zanzibar and Mnemba Island. — MP Photo: Mnemba Island
Zanzibar
LIFETIME FACTOR:This eastern African archipelago is an Indian Ocean jewel worthy of Queen Scheherazade.
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A symphony for the senses Clockwise from bottom left: Watch a performance by the Ballet Nacional de Cuba at the GranTeatro de la Habana; musicians provide the soundtrack on the street; admire the classic lines of a 1957-58 Plymouth Fury; join the Habaneros in a sunset walk along Malecón’s waterfront.
Ip eugiam iure ming ex eu faccumsan heniat wissi. Bore te con hendrem qui pisl irit et, con esequ issed dolorercin vull amet, quisim ver se quisl Lisim dolutpa tummod igna esto.
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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: A L F R E D O M A I Q U E Z / L O N E LY P L A N E T I M AG E S ; I M AG E S TAT E / J U P I T E R I M AG E S ; B O B K R I S T / C O R B I S ; N O N S T O C K / J U P I T E R I M AG E S
Cuba
Journey of a Lifetime
Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6
arriving in a new life
BY PICO IYER
Something in me cracked open the moment I set foot
in Cuba. There was an almost palpable buzz in the airport — salsa music coming from the shadows, a press of whispers and kisses and passionate saludos — and as I took a taxi into town I could see bus stops and billboards, the hopeful, long-abandoned fragments of a tropical island made over in the light of a single intellectual’s dreams. It is rare to see a whole country given over to an idea, and whether that idea is wise or foolish, it gives an
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When a trip goes right, things take on an inevitability, a momentum they never have in real life.
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Journey of a Lifetime
Cuba has many faces. Men here have watched the passing of timeless decades; Lenin looks over the shoulders of schoolgirls; the mountains, along with the sea, offer respite from hectic city life. Inset: Correspondence between the author and ISLANDS regarding a 1990 story about the myth of Cuba.
intensity to things, a point that things seldom have in our more settled homes. Havana in 1987 felt like a song that someone had had to stop singing because the electricity had gone off and he’d been left flailing in the dark. Just three months before I arrived on the island, I had been cooped up in a jacket and tie and a 25th-floor office in Manhattan. Five months later, I would go off to Kyoto to live in the chosen enclosure of a temple. But in the hallowed interregnum between the two points (the space between is always the place of potential, of strange promise, I was coming to see) I wanted to visit a nation only 90 miles from American shores that remained, in 1987, a myth, a nostalgic romance, a wild suspicion to almost everyone around me. Cuba was island paradise, Cuba was socialist hell — that was all I heard; this meant that (as is seldom the case with other places) the whole island remained to be filled in, free of expectation or any preconception at all. When a trip goes right, things take on an inevitability, a momentum they never have in real life. With a place, as with a person, you sometimes find the one you have been looking for all your life and your surrender is immediate, and you talk and talk all night, getting to know one another as if to pack several past lifetimes into a single evening. You could find reasons for it — that the object of your affection is tropical or exuberant or very much itself — but you know that fascination is well beyond the reach of reason. The definition of love is that it defies all explanations. That is how it was my first time in Cuba. My first morning, near the little Hotel Colina, across from the university, I was inspecting a futuristic ramp, a typical beached elephant from a blueprint no one had thought to complete, when a man with a Chinese face asked me the time. Almost instantly I was off, into his apartment, into his life, into his dissident dreams. He was asking me if I’d let him steal my passport, introducing me to a “brother” who looked less like him than I did, setting me up with a local companion, talking excitedly about Spinoza and Saroyan. We wandered out onto his rooftop and all Havana sat before us like a promise in the sun.
Everything seemed to come in on me in the days that followed, all the collected romance and comedy and tragedy and hopefulness of a country consecrated to an ideal and, therefore, peopled on every side by disappointed idealists. I was going to a baseball game and eating stale pizza with grizzled revolutionaries, reading madly from the 1938 Blue Guide to an American friend suddenly shown up here as we walked the streets of Old Havana, following a new friend from the ice-cream parlor to his house amidst the deserted mansions of Miramar. Very, very few people knew about Cuba then; the visitors were largely pasty-faced Soviets living in socialist-bloc towers, North Koreans with pictures of their Great Leader on their hearts, Bulgarians lined up for the canned peaches at the Hotel Nacional, whose handoperated elevators were run by kids as excited as if they were changing the gears on a Ferrari (no computers or movie stars in sight then!). In the lobby of the Nacional, most of the chairs were occupied by languid black boys and dolled-up girls, overhearing the room numbers of unattached men as they asked for their keys at the ancient wooden counter and then using the house phones to call up to those same numbers and whisper their undying love. I soon found myself, therefore, a mild-mannered tourist barely 30, in the middle of plots and escapades I had never known before, people longing to escape, talking of jobs with the CIA, turning their misery into a melodrama that could divert them in the absence of telenovelas in the afternoon. Everything was buzzing, but no one was going anywhere. I was traveling out to see Hemingway’s house, another museum piece in the sun, walking around Lenin Park with my new friends, going dancing with a swirl of señoritas and intellectuals from around the campus eager to talk about being and nothingness as if we were in Montmartre in 1953. More things happened than I can remember now. But it was the times when nothing happened that convinced me that I had been changed for good; something had been placed in me — a thought, a dream, a question — that I would never manage to uproot. I was walking along the Malecón, the great, gorgeous corniche that stretches along the side of the city looking out on the worlds that no Cuban could enter, and I had just been to see the State Department man at the U.S. Interests Section. (“Mister Imperialists! We have Absolutely No Fear of You!” read the billboard Castro had set up outside the U.S. office; sometimes Cuba had, and has, the charm of a series of gestures dressed up in block capitals.) There were almost no cars running then, just a few boys splashing around by the rocks, a figure or two sitting on the (continued on page 112)
CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE TOP: CHARLOTTE HINDLE/LONELY PLANET IMAGES; MARK DOWNEY; BARRY LEWIS/CORBIS; INSET: ZACH STOVALL
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Dream Trips
feeling like you just get it. Start beachside at your luxe resort then cross the street for jerked meat and a Red Stripe at a roadside shack where you’ll witness the palpably easy cadence of the locals as rich, melodious English rolls off their tongues. The mystical Blue Mountains — veiled by the bluish mist for which they are named — shelter herb doctors, Maroon descendents and an extraordinary coffee bean. CLAIM TO FAME: Bob Marley, who spread his One Love vibe; all those musicians who came before and the many who followed. TRY THIS: Island Outpost created the Boutique Hotels of Jamaica Road Trip exclusively for ISLANDS. Spend two nights at each of its four eclectic properties. Perks include a massage at The Caves in Negril; a boat tour from Jakes, on the south coast, to the Pelican bar perched on stilts in the midst of the Caribbean; a hiking tour from Strawberry Hill Living resort in the Blue Mountains to Alex Twyman’s Old Tavern Coffee Estate; and a Bond-style Jet Ski safari while staying at Goldeneye in Oracabessa. Transportation is provided by a knowledgeable driver who will stop at jerk stands, record shops and craft markets. Rates from $6,500 for two, including all meals, beverages and on-island transportation. islandoutpost.com — KELLY LACK Photo: Port Antonio
Jamaica
LIFETIME FACTOR: After one week on the island, Jamaica’s smooth style settles in your blood and you leave
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LIFETIME FACTOR: This is a stunning display of a Mediterranean island: sugar-white villages clinging to the rim of a caldera, unique cave dwellings, jaw-dropping cliffs, an ancient city with ruins dating from the Minoan, Roman, Byzantine and Hellenistic eras, and tavernas well-stocked with feta, calamari and island-produced Boutari wine. CLAIM TO FAME: An ancient history that may have given rise to the myth of the lost city of Atlantis. TRY THIS: Set foot on the island of Santoríni and essentially descend into ancient times. Headquarter yourself in Vedema, a luxury property in the medieval town of Megalohori. Its 45 whitewashed villas are wrapped around a 400-year-old vineyard; taste wines in catacombs that have been converted to a wine bar. Three miles from the hotel are the ruins of Akrotíri, a Minoan town buried by ash. The fi ve-night Ultimate Santoríni package is loaded with perks, including a private tour of the island, a day cruise to the volcano on a private yacht and a seven-course Mediterranean meal. Rates from $3,563 for two. E-mail reservations@vedema.gr and quote code ULTSAN for details. vedema.gr — CHRISTINE RICHARD Photo: the village of Oía
Santoríni
M I L E S E R T M A N / M AS T E R F I L E ; O P P O S I T E : DA R R E L L J O N E S
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Journey of a Lifetime
Hilton Head
BY JOAN TAPPER
The sweat was rolling down my face, bathing my arms, forming tiny rivers
on my back, but I kept swinging and running, watching the seams on the fuzzy yellow orb and reminding myself to stop before I hit it. Twenty-five years ago, I relished my time in Hilton Head, and if my husband, Steve, and I could only go in the middle of a South Carolina summer, when stepping out of the air-conditioned townhouse we were staying in reminded me of walking into a hot, steamy wall, well, somehow that never stopped me from chasing a tennis ball through hours of drills, games and clinics.
FOR MOST PEOPLE THE WORDS “TRIP OF A LIFETIME” WOULD
conjure up an adventurous journey to some exotic destination halfway around the world. I merely made a car trip, more than once, some 600 miles down the interstate to a low-country resort. Yet those vacations pointed the way to habits and perspectives that are still part of my life and that connected me more closely to people who were important in it. For me, it was the trip of “a way of life” — as decisive and character-forming as any distant getaway. The story begins with my aunt and uncle; they always were ahead of the crowd. Long before the concept of a second home had trickled down to much of the middle class, they bought real estate far from their suburban Chicago residence — first in Arkansas and, after research trips to the Cayman Islands and Costa Rica, in Hilton Head, where my uncle could play golf and my aunt could occasionally ferret out antiques in a sleepy town called Beaufort. As a lucky niece, I was invited to use the accommodations whenever it was convenient. That mostly meant July and August, when Steve wasn’t teaching.
We’d pack up the car, leave early and head south from our house in Annapolis. After hours of monotonous highway, at last we’d come to the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. We crossed the span onto the ankle of the slipper-shaped island and headed toward the toe, a dozen miles away. You could see right away why they call this low country: The ground is unvaryingly flat with marshland at the inland edges. The first few times we made the trip, the roadside was mostly empty, except for occasional shrimp shacks, till we finally came to the “plantations,” where Spanish-moss-draped oaks gave the place a moody air and the green of golf courses predominated. Not visible from the highway were 12 miles of hard-packed beaches and ocean that offered respite from the heat and humidity. Aside from golf courses, there were restaurants, a pretty lighthouse, shops, dozens of tennis courts and an emphasis on “lifestyle” that was undoubtedly ahead of its time. For Steve and me, “lifestyle” meant an unending series of daytime activities. In the morning we’d bicycle down the plantation road and cut through the brush to get to one of the tennis clubs. We’d sign up for clinics or classes or play against each other, though Steve invariably won. After a couple On this 12-mile-long of hours, we’d bicycle back to the barrier island off South Carolina, time townhouse for lunch, sometimes moves at a slow stopping to swim in the bathtubpace in the Southern warm ocean. In the afternoon we heat. It’s a life lived outdoors: on tennis went back for more tennis. courts, on boats or in I loved those clinics. The focus the respite of shade was less on individual tips than on beneath a canopy of ancient live oaks. doubles play. (continued on page 111)
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B O T T O M L E F T: E R I C H O R A N ; I N S E T: C O U R T E S Y W I L S O N S P O R T I N G G O O D S C O. ; O P P O S I T E , C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : E R I C H O R A N ( 3 ) ; B O B K R I S T
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Ireland
LIFETIME FACTOR: Travel here to taste the
past. From the storied city of Dublin to the traditional village of Claddagh you’ll find it all, from prehistoric tombs to castles built by Irish chieftans. Then there’s the landscape: iconic green countryside, spectacular seaside cliffs, barren mountain bogs. And nowhere is the Irish love of music and language more evident than at the pub, where the hearth is always warm and the pints are artfully pulled. CLAIM TO FAME: St. Patrick brought Christianity to the island in A.D. 431 and is the saint responsible for worldwide partying each year on March 17. TRY THIS: Follow the rainbow west to Ireland’s most authentic shore, where Irish is still spoken. Start in Galway, a lively university town, then explore points farther west where locals will welcome you home — even if you’ve never been there. Ride a one-speed bike along the Dingle Peninsula and spend the night in a castle in the pretty village of Adare. Book the ISLANDS eight-night self-drive package. Rates start at $1,299 per person, based on double occupancy. sceptretours.com — MP Photo: Blarney Castle, Cork
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Dream Trips
I M AG E 1 0 0 / J U P I T E R I M AG E S ; O P P O S I T E : L L O Y D S U T T O N / M AS T E R F I L E
LIFETIME FACTOR: A dreamy, off-the-coast Indian Ocean locale with far-out wooden boats plying thousandshades-of-blue seas. Once a stop for travelers on the Silk Route, the Maldives today has an exotic culture: a peppering of South Asia, a dab of East African influences. It’s here, on one of the 87 resort islands, where you’ll learn the ultimate lifetime lesson of vegging out, simply because there’s not much else you’ll want to do besides, well, play in the water. CLAIM TO FAME: The region is 99 percent ocean and 1 percent land — a blue playground like no other. TRY THIS: See the Maldives on your own private dhoni, a traditional Maldivian vessel. A 65-foot wooden boat comes with your beachside bungalow at Dhoni Mighili, located on a resort island in the Ari Atoll. Your own thakuru is on call 24 hours a day to cater to your whims. Next stop is Huvafen Fushi on Male Atoll. Ocean bungalows have glass floors that look into the sea, and the Jacuzzi bath is cantilevered over the Indian Ocean. Rates for a 10-night package — five at each resort — start at $15,290 for two people, including island transfers and some meals. linaratravel.com — CR Photo: typical over-water bungalows
Maldives
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Journey of a Lifetime
I’d arrived in Bequia off-season when the lively Frangipani bar, placed
almost as an afterthought next to the A-frame inn overlooking Admiralty Bay, wasn’t so lively. The blender was, for the most part, inactive before 4 p.m. The barstools and white chairs positioned underneath coconut palms facing the bay were empty. The jetty was quiet, where normally, in season, a dozen or so dinghies roar up every hour and out climb tanned, barefoot world voyagers discussing dinner plans. Would it be Mac’s famous conch pizza? The Gingerbread Restaurant’s curries? No matter — it would all start with a Hairoun beer at the Frangi.
»
Admiralty Bay fi lls with yachts from around the world during season, which is December through April.
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DARRELL JONES
a dreamer’s escape
BY CHRISTINE RICHARD
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Bequia
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DURING THE DARK HOLE OF OFF-SEASON, WHEN THE CHAR-
BEQUIA AT THAT TIME — 15 YEARS AGO — was accessible only by yacht or by ferry from the mainland of St. Vincent. It was hard to find, buried as it was in an archipelago deep in the Caribbean; thus, I like to think, it was hard for me to find my way out. The three of us — two girlfriends and I — had taken a basic room on the top floor of the main house of the Frangi. We had just graduated from college, so the room rate ($30 a night in 1991) trumped the amenities. We shared a bath with all the guests on the floor, and there was no air conditioning. But at night it was cool enough: The curtains danced in the trade winds as the smell of the sea blew into the room. If I found myself there during the heat of the day — although I was usually at ’De Reef in Lower Bay — I’d turn on the oscillating desktop fan and listen to the wisps of conversation that would blow up from the kitchen below. The women cooks would use words like “dotish,” “peckish” and “lashed” in ordinary conversation, as if this were the time of Jane Eyre. They’d spend the afternoon chirping in an English/Caribbean dialect while gutting a fish, pulling together a far better tuna salad than Starkist. It was all so fascinating to me, so simple. So one day, as
ter yachts were gone sailing the Med, I’d take long thinking walks. My favorite was following the dirt road that cut through pastures of coconut trees to Spring, a village that felt like an escape to the grassy countryside. Rain would fall from the sky to cool me down as I made the 30-minute walk from Port Elizabeth; the storm would blow over by the time I reached a lonely spot on the shore. I’d pick up mangoes that had fallen and go sit in the ocean, peeling them and letting the fruit juice run down my elbows and into the sea. I was like a child, or maybe an adolescent at the height of my rebellion. Top: The soft sands of Princess Margaret Beach. I didn’t know whether I was Opposite: The view from fighting for something or against the Frangipani; nearly next it, but removed from the comdoor to the Frangi is the Gingerbread (below). Inset: fort of life as I knew it, I believed The author’s visa extenI could find myself. Exotic lands, sion, permitting her another I was convinced, were romantic month to romp on the beach.
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TOP: EYE UBIQUITOUS/ALAMY; BOTTOM: DAVID SANGER PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY; INSET: ZACH STOVALL; OPPOSITE: DARRELL JONES
I walked the winding sea path that joins pretty Port Elizabeth to Lower Bay, I decided not to leave. Just like that. I had stopped in at the Green Boley on my way to the beach. I sat close to the bar, eating my chicken roti, drinking my ginger ale and listening to the obits that were broadcast on the radio at noon straight up. Every fourth cousin, every nephew was mentioned. Everyone listened. Maybe it was hearing these end-of-life announcements that made me start defining my own life. I became frantically obsessed with hanging onto Bequia and this lifestyle, but I wasn’t sure why.
Journey of a Lifetime
— not in a love kind of way, but in a curious way. Don’t novels that take place in Sri Lanka, Kefaloniá or Wonderland describe something bigger and better, something evocative? I was convinced, at 22 years old, that Bequia and the Frangi were the gathering place for bigger and better. One early December morning, high-season came. The yachties started to appear, these drifters that I envied. I embraced them all, physically, hoping to find what I was looking for — one night I’d enjoy a late-night bonfire with an Austrian skipper on Princess Margaret’s soft beach, the next week have a love affair with an Italian who owned a private jet and flew me to then-low key Canouan Island for pizza, the next flirt with a West Indian who knew the hidden places, like The Bedrock, where Shabba Ranks and dance-hall blared from loud speakers. Many nights I’d walk, always with someone different, along the sea path. When the moon’s gravitational pull was at its maximum, the waves would come crashing over the path. I’d arrive slightly soaked at the Sunny Caribee, where there’d be a reggae band, but I’d be happy that I seemed to be winning, that I’d managed to hang on to my dreams at least for another month — all of which came at the bargain-basement price of
20 EC, which is what immigration charged to stamp my passport with yet another one-month visitor extension. Even in December, when I got sick, it was all so perfect. I visited the one doctor on the island, and when his clinic door was shut, I did what the sign on that closed door instructed: I stood back and yelled, “Doctor, doctor.” When my cough persisted, I went to the village of Hamilton, across the bay from the Frangipani, where legend had it a demon lived — half horse, half human — and met with a bush doctor. A water taxi driver and good friend, Jolly Joseph, brought me over there on his orange-and-blue-painted boat and waited while I knocked on a door. A wrinkled lady in a turban answered and then administered a concoction of, according to my journal, “trumpet bush, cotter bush and boley” that tasted like rotting vegetation (although I can find no reference to the above herbals on Google, today I commend myself for even asking). It was after I took that bush medicine, however, that things started to happen. Sure, my cough got better, but less fortuitously, I took a fishing boat called Think Twice to Mustique and endured 15-foot swells for the 90-minute crossing. At the helm — the helm being an outboard motor steered by a piece of string — was a 15-year- (continued on page 110)
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line streets cobbled from centuries-old ship ballast. Sand dunes pinned by sea grass and estates owned by America’s elite front the beaches. Evenings revolve around fresh seafood meals with family and friends in rented cottages. CLAIM TO FAME: “Call me Ishmael.” The novel that follows American literature’s most famous fi rst line is forever entwined with Nantucket, the whaling capital of the world during the time of Melville’s Moby-Dick. TRY THIS: Fly or take the ferry to Nantucket, where most everyone rides bikes. Stay at the Union Street Inn, a lavishly restored circa-1770 building that has operated as a 15-room inn since the early 1920s. Rates for the ISLANDS three-night package start at $895 for two, including breakfast, a whale-watching excursion, a Great Point Natural History Tour and a sunset cruise on the Friendship Sloop Endeavor. Venture out on your own and shop for lightship baskets, a craft evolved from Nantucket’s unique maritime history; and sailors’ valentines, intricate shell mosaics; then stop for cocktails at the elegant Club Car, a Pullman coach retired from service in 1917. unioninn.com — MP Photo: Great Point Lighthouse
Nantucket
LIFETIME FACTOR: New England on an island: Stately 18th-century homes built by ship captains
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Dream Trips
E R I C C H E N G ; O P P O S I T E : O N N E VA N D E R WA L / B L U E G R E E N
matched on the planet. Imagine fog-enshrouded highlands, the lush meadows of floodplains, mangroved fjords and densely jungled lowlands navigable only by river. PNG’s inhabitants are so isolated — from Western culture and from each other — that the islanders collectively speak some 800 different languages. On this immense island, tribes still rule; you might see a bride price payback ceremony or a fish sing-sing. Hike to see bloodstones, once stained with the blood of enemies’ severed heads to celebrate victory. CLAIM TO FAME: Since 1961, sing-sings are PNG’s friendly alternative to warfare and a chance for the traveler to witness tribal ceremonies and dances. More than 50 tribes converge in Mount Hagen each August for an epic performance. TRY THIS: Take PNG Trans Niugini Tours’ ultimate offering: The Vista is a fully escorted 15-day tour that includes the Mount Hagen sing-sing. Rates start at $5,658 per person, based on double occupancy. On-island charter flights are extra. pngtours.com — MP Photo: Mount Hagen sing-sing
Papua New Guinea
LIFETIME FACTOR: PNG’s cultural and biological diversity are un-
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Journey of a Lifetime
Shikoku
The elder gravely took a pitcher from the tray and poured sake that had been blessed by a Shinto priest into the topmost of three layered saucer-like cups. He took the cup in both hands and passed it to me. I accepted it with hands that I couldn’t quite keep from trembling, my heart pounding. I bowed, then slowly brought the cup to my lips and sipped three times. I then passed it with both hands to Kuniko, who took it from me, bowed and brought it to her red-painted lips three times. She returned it to the elder, who ceremoniously placed it to one side, then poured more sake into the middle cup and passed it to me. We repeated this ritual with the second and third cups and then, after Kuniko had bowed low and returned the final cup to the elder, the two dozen family and friends assembled in the room burst into applause. In the eyes of the Japanese Shinto gods, we were now husband and wife. This moment was the fulfillment of two journeys. The first had begun five years earlier when I had moved to Japan on a two-year fellowship to teach at a university outside To-
BY DON GEORGE
Kuniko knelt beside me, resplendent in her red, gold, green and white
wedding kimono, the fabric embroidered with pine boughs, plum blossoms and long-winged cranes, traditional symbols of celebration, longevity and happiness. I was in my own traditional garb, black and white pleated hakama pants and a black haori coat over them, with the crest of Kuniko’s family standing in white at heart’s height. A town elder in a black kimono knelt facing us, and a young girl in a red and white kimono approached bearing a lacquered tray with an ornate lacquered sake set.
kyo; during the course of those two years I had met Kuniko and begun a romance that transformed into a trans-Pacific courtship after I returned to the U.S. The second was the culmination of that courtship, a wedding journey to Kuniko’s home village — and deep into Japan’s countryside. That second trip began in Osaka, where we boarded a train to the port of Uno. We spent the night with friends there, then rose early to catch the ferry that traverses the Inland Sea to Takamatsu, the principal city on Kuniko’s home island of Shikoku. The ferry set off in a thick mist, and soon we were plowing by tiny islands — a stand of pines and a solitary cabin or two — that hovered uncertainly, as in a sumi-e painting, in the fog. At one point Kuniko took me by the hand. “This ferry is famous for its sanuki noodles; it’s a specialty of my prefecture — we have to have some!” So we bought two big, steaming bowls of udon — the wheat noodles rolled, cut and boiled right in front of our eyes — and settled inside. A veritable symphony of slurping surF R O M L E F T: DAV E B A R T R U F F ; C O U R T E S Y D O N G E O R G E ; H A R T M U T P O H L I N G / JA PA N - P H O T O
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rounded us: construction workers in sweatshirts and headbands, schoolkids in shorts and baseball caps, grandmothers in somber kimonos, all vigorously sucking away. Maybe it was the combination of salty air and poignant scenery, or maybe it was just plain romance, but those noodles were the most delicious I’ve ever had (especially after I started slurping). At Takamatsu, we transferred to a rickety local train that wound along the rugged northern and western coasts, where the mountains plunged to the sea, past forests of pine and scatterings of houses tucked into the hills, with smoke pluming from their chimneys. In the late morning, housewives bundled onto the train, burdened with bags bulging with radishes, onions, eggplants and carEven by today’s stanrots. In the early afternoon, school- dards, Shikoku requires a long journey to reach children in white shirts and dark the countryside, where skirts or shorts clambered on; one traditions are still upgroup squealed when I greeted them held. Inset, opposite: Author Don George on with “Konnichiwa!” — and their eyes turned wide as the sun when Kuniko his wedding day in 1982. explained we were getting married. As sunset approached, farmers, factory workers and fishermen filled the car, slouching back with their feet on the opposite seat, dropping mandarin orange peels onto the floor and lining up tiny glass bottles of sake along the windows.
We rode that train for six hours, to the end of the line in a town called Uwajima, about 40 miles from Kuniko’s hometown of Johen. Shoppers and salarymen gaped as we skittered hand in hand across the wide plaza that separated the train and bus terminals in Uwajima and boarded the Johen-bound bus as it was preparing to leave. We rode for an hour in darkness punctuated only rarely by house lights, finally arriving in Johen, which sits among thickly forested hills and lush green fields in a rugged and virtually untouched region of southwestern Shikoku. In the past quarter-century Japanese and foreign travelers have slowly begun to discover the delights of this area, but in 1982 very few foreigners had ever (continued on page 107)
T O P : C O R B I S ; B O T T O M : DAV E B A R T R U F F
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Out Islands
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J E R E M Y W O O D H O U S E / M AS T E R F I L E ; O P P O S I T E : JA M E S DAV I S P H O T O G R A P H Y / A L A M Y
LIFETIME FACTOR: These white-sand gems surrounded by calm turquoise seas are the Caribbean as it once was. The Out Islands are far from the Bahamas’ most populated islands, and they’re delightfully stress-free. Even some of the largest towns have only one stoplight. Expect authenticity: Powdery beaches will be empty; holein-the-wall restaurants serve conch charbroiled, steamed or fried; rousing regattas draw everyone to the waterfront; and at the Carnivalesque Junkanoo festival, held after Christmas, islanders in costumes blast up-tempo goombay music. CLAIM TO FAME: Once the stomping ground of thriving British Loyalist communities that left behind many architectural treasures. TRY THIS: Stay three nights in an ocean-view room at the Coral Sands Hotel on Harbour Island’s pink-hued beach and three nights in a funky cottage, also on the beach, at Fernandez Bay Village on untrammeled Cat Island. While there, visit Father Jerome’s abandoned hermitage on Mount Alvernia, the highest point in the Bahamas. Dream Beaches package rates start at $1,252 per person, based on double occupancy, including all inter-island flights. majesticholidays.com — KL Photo: Harbour Island
Dream Trips
Iceland
LIFETIME FACTOR: This is an otherworldly
landscape where you can soak in hot springs, walk beneath the midnight sun and hike monumental fjords. And then there are rivers to raft and the aurora borealis to see. Moss-covered lava — green fur on black rock — and the occasional splash of baby-blue thermal water give Iceland its own trio of primary colors: green, black and blue. Meet Icelandic culture and Viking history head-on in the countryside and in the chic city of Reykjavik. CLAIM TO FAME: The 1.2-acre Blue Lagoon, though less than two degrees south of the Arctic Circle, stays a constant 100 degrees. TRY THIS: Hike through volcanic craters, journey up a glacier tongue and eat the best salmon and lamb of your life. Butterfi eld & Robinson’s next seven-night walking tour departs August 27. Rates from $7,995 per person, based on double occupancy. butterfi eld.com — MP Photo: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
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Mana is a life force believed to reside in all people and objects. Explore the Garden Isle and feel mana everywhere you look: the Na Pali Coast, a hula dancer, a surfkissed beach, a tiki carved from coconut palm and the decor in Hanalei.
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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: M AC D U F F E V E R T O N ; G A I L M O O N E Y / M AS T E R F I L E ; W I R E I M AG E S T O C K / M AS T E R F I L E ; D O U G L AS P E E B L E S / A L A M Y; A N D R E J E N N Y / A L A M Y
Journey of a Lifetime
Kauai finding mana
BY MICHAEL SHAPIRO
Towering above the north shore of Kauai, just west of Hanalei, is the
soaring spire of Bali Hai, known to Hawaiians as Mount Makana. Made famous in the 1958 movie South Pacific, the verdant pinnacle of Makana juts skyward above 700-year-old taro terraces. Centuries ago, Makana was one of only two sites where oahi — fire-throwing ceremonies — were held on special occasions, such as the arrival of a visiting chief. Young men climbed the treacherous 1,600-foot peak carrying light, tapered logs from papala or hau trees. After dark they set the shafts on fire and hurled them into the night. Caught by updrafts, the javelins
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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: D O U G L AS P E E B L E S / A L A M Y; C O U R T E S Y M I C H A E L S H A P I R O ; G A I L M O O N E Y / M AS T E R F I L E ; I M AG E B A N K / G E T T Y I M AG E S ; M E D I O I M AG E S / A L A M Y; A N D R E S E A L E / A L A M Y; R I TA A R I Y O S H I / PAC I F I C S T O C K
Clockwise from top left: Polynesians believe Tiki was the first man; a sea turtle necklace carved from shell, gifted to the author by his wife; a delicate orchid lei; Mount Makana; Waimea Canyon; a monk seal on Poipu Beach; horseback riding in Hanalei
seared tracers into the darkness, and — as the story is told — often traveled a mile or more before sizzling into the sea. The oahi ceremony is history, but it was that image that burned itself into my memory during my first visit to Kauai four years ago when my wife and I were on our honeymoon, and it is what pulled me back to the island last spring. It was here at Mount Makana that I could sense, almost like gravity, what Hawaiians call mana, a spiritual power believed to exist in all things. Naturally I yearned to return to Kauai’s uncrowded golden beaches, to swim in its warm, clear waters and to snorkel with rainbow-striped fish and sea turtles. But first things first: I went straight to the slopes below Mount Makana on the north shore. Floral-scented breezes perfumed the air as my wife and I walked among the native plants and exotic Polynesian trees at Limahuli, the botanical garden below Makana. Carpeted with lush green shrubs, Makana reached heavenward, and I found myself drawn closer to its base. Standing still I could almost feel a low vibration, a sense that I’d finally returned to a sacred place that had been calling me back for years. On the other side of Mount Makana is the dramatic Na Pali Coast: Picture a 4,000-foot-high green accordion, tilt it at a 45-degree angle and squeeze it tight to get an idea of the shape of Na Pali’s steep, sharp cliffs that plunge into the Pacific. Traversing a muddy ribbon of trail along the coast and then turning inland, we reached the fernshrouded 300-foot showers of Hanakapiai Falls, immersing our mud-splattered legs in its chilly pool. After the challenging eight-mile hike, we returned to one of the most magnificent trailheads in the world: Kee Beach, which offers a drop-dead view of the Na Pali Coast and easy swimming and snorkeling. At this northern tip of the Na Pali Coast, a reef subdues the breakers and provides food and habitat for all sorts of colorful fish. After longing to return to this mystical outpost for four years, I waded waist-deep into the warm, buoyant sea and planted my face, strapped with mask and snorkel, into the water. Surrounding me were boxy fish with dorsal polka dots and foot-long fish with neon blue and yellow stripes. A four-foot-long green sea turtle swam a couple of feet in front of my mask, gracefully paddling above the reef. This encounter felt like a gift — I’d (continued on page 106)
In this magical place, where anything seemed possible, I imagined an ancient warrior atop Makana, hurling fiery javelins into the night.
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that has travelers hocking their worldly possessions for a romantic sojourn: nights spent in the island’s over-water bungalows that belly up against its dreamy lagoon and days spent on the beach, nearly always in the shadow of the mythically sculpted Mount Otemanu. Then there are the beautiful and friendly Polynesians. CLAIM TO FAME: Tahiti and its islands are legendary for creating experiences that have fi lled the pages of books and explorers’ journals. To name a few passersby: Samuel Wallis, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London and James A. Michener. TRY THIS: Sail through the islands of Bora-Bora, Tahaa, Huahine and Raiatea on a yacht that is specially designed for the shallows and coral reefs. Some activities include a motu picnic, kayaking and snorkeling. Afterward, pamper yourself at the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort & Spa: The spa is on a motu with its building hidden in banyan trees, and breakfast is delivered via canoe to over-water bungalows. The Motu Miti (island and sea) package includes six nights at sea and three at the resort. Packages start at $13,085 for two. boraboralagoon.com — CR Photo: Bora-Bora and its motu-studded lagoon
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B O B K R I S T; O P P O S I T E : T O M C O C K R E M
Bora-Bora
LIFETIME FACTOR: Nothing says South Seas escape more than Bora-Bora. This is the very island
Dream Trips
Bali
LIFETIME FACTOR: Zen-like hotels, with ponds adorned by the fragile pale pinks of lotus blossoms, overlook terraced rice pad-
dies. Stone temples stand in nearly every village and the ephemeral chimes of their gamelan music needle through the air’s sultry press. In this culture, many Balinese — even those, like farmers, who you might least expect — may also be trained artisans, musicians and dancers, and 90 percent of the people practice a form of Hinduism with a disappearing caste system. CLAIM TO FAME: Bali has many col-
orful dances and ritualistic ceremonies such as Galungan, which celebrates the world’s creation. Hand-carved masks are made from wood and are often decorated with metallic foils, leather and horsehair. TRY THIS: Explore Ubud’s shops and art galleries, then bike past rice fi elds and through small villages. Visit Lake Bratan’s iconic Ulun Danu temple, and travel to Lovina Beach for a boat cruise around the north coast. Watch a gamelan performance in Tembok and later browse for ikat textiles in Tenganan. Rates for a nine-day/eight-night Multisport Trip in premier inns start at $3,698 per person, based on double occupancy. backroads.com — KL Photo: a village temple, Mengwi
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Journey of a Lifetime
Sri Lanka
Dilan was a strange fellow; he’d sometimes swerve toward sheep nibbling grass by the roadside, raising an eyebrow and inquiring, deadpan, “Fresh mutton?” Still, his words stung. It was late February, 2005. I’d just finished two months of tsunami-relief work, and was heading towards the town of Dalhousie to climb Adam’s Peak — for the second time. Adam’s Peak, located about 40 miles southeast of Colombo, is known by various names. Locals call it “Sri Pada,” which literally means “Saint Foot.” Though it’s only the fifth-highest peak in Sri Lanka, it is a spot of great reverence, visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims each year (most come during February’s full-moon celebration, which I’d very deliberately missed). According to legend, the oval-shaped depression on the 7,360-foot summit is the imprint of Adam’s foot, or Buddha’s, or Shiva’s. In any event, the perpetrator wore a size 143 shoe. My first pilgrimage to Sri Pada happened more than 20
BY JEFF GREENWALD
“We have a proverb in Sri Lanka,” my driver, Dilan, informed
me as we took the island’s serpentine mountain roads at speed. “Anyone who visits Sri Lanka and does not climb Adam’s Peak is a fool. And anyone who visits Sri Lanka and climbs Adam’s Peak twice is a fool.”
years ago, on my first assignment for ISLANDS (“Of Elephants and Islands,” June 1984). As a traveler, I often find myself snared by unbidden ideas. My inspiration for this trip had been a chapter from The View From Serendip, Arthur C. Clarke’s collection of essays about life in Sri Lanka, his adopted home. A single paragraph, from a chapter called “The Sea of Sinbad” (first published in 1972) had snared my attention:
Fifty kilometres south of Kandy is … the 2,200-metre-high mountain, Adam’s Peak — an equatorial Matterhorn, completely clothed with trees. Perched on its summit is a tiny temple, and every year thousands of pilgrims make the ascent up what must be the longest stairway in the world. The climb is not difficult, but can you imagine a stairway several kilometres long? I managed it once, and my The slopes of Adam’s legs were paralyzed for the next three days. But Peak are carpeted with fields of tea it was worth it, for at dawn I saw the spectacle plants. But during the for which the peak is famous. As the sun rose, the Poya Festival, a string perfectly triangular shadow of the mountain was of lights illuminates the path for pilgrims cast on the clouds below, stretching for perhaps hoping to reach fifty kilometres to the west. It lasted for a magical the peak in time to ten to fifteen minutes, then faded out to cries of witness the famed pyramidical shadow. ‘Sadu, Sadu’ (‘Holy, Holy’) from the pilgrims.
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Which element of this vignette, one might wonder, appealed to me? The endless climb? The potential paralysis? It was, of course, the prospect of seeing the miraculous shadow. And so, at 3 a.m. that long-ago morning, I set out from a small hotel in Dalhousie, near the holy mountain’s northern slope, and began what truly did seem an endless climb: more than four miles up an obscenely steep pathway, through darkness punctuated only by clapboard drink stalls and the glimmer of light bulbs strung between trees above the twisting route. I’d climbed and climbed, watching the sky, hopeful, as the moon appeared and disappeared. Sometimes the stars were almost visible; but most hours I hiked in cold mist. I clung to the wet railing along the path with eternal hope — but when I finally
reached the top the moon was gone, obscured by a shroud of fog. The metallic chanting of resident monks rang out over a primitive loudspeaker, encouraging the dawn. Hills and lakes began to emerge on the landscape below — a fabulous place laced with wraith-like clouds. Soon drums were heard, and a small procession of monks circled Sri Pada’s truncated summit. But I never saw the shadow; the sun was lost behind thick clouds. Just after 7 a.m. I began, ruefully, to descend. At that point, the sun broke from its fortress of clouds. I leaped back up the steps, taking them two at a time, hoping beyond hope to catch a glimpse of that famous shadow. I was too late to see the pyramid; that effect was long gone. But the morning mists enveloping the (continued on page 103)
I N S E T: C O U R T E S Y J E F F G R E E N WA L D
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Dream Trips
New Zealand
LIFETIME FACTOR: Vast, untouched landscapes including mountain ranges, rainforests and active volcanic cones make this a fantasy for travelers and fi lmmakers alike. This is the land of extremes, not just for nature-lovers, but for thrill-seekers, too. Bungee-jumping was invented at the 141-foot Kawarau Bridge near Queenstown. Infl uences of indigenous Maori culture are found everywhere. CLAIM TO FAME: The entire country became a stage for
the fi lming of the epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings and, more recently, The Chronicles of Narnia. TRY THIS: Explore North Island by foot, bicycle, kayak and raft. Hike through rainforest and past percolating mud pots and geysers to waterfalls; soak in thermal pools; raft Class III rapids on the Tongariro River; and stay in local inns. Rates for a nine-day/eight-night Multisport Trip in premier inns start at $4,998 per person, based on double occupancy; on-island charter fl ights extra. backroads.com — MP Photo: Rangitikei Gorge, Taihape
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Tobago
B O B K R I S T; O P P O S I T E : J O C H E N S C H L E N K E R / M AS T E R F I L E
LIFETIME FACTOR: This is Daniel Defoe land, so lush and laid-back that we don’t even care if the legend that Robinson Crusoe swept ashore here isn’t true. There are winsome beaches for swimming, and scenic Main Ridge Forest Reserve — the Caribbean’s oldest protected rainforest — twitters with avian activity. Here, travelers are joyfully welcomed at Sunday School, the weekly nighttime steel-band bash. Tobago is an island paradise — only with castaways to keep you company. CLAIM TO FAME: Defoe, of course. And the island was a backdrop for The Swiss Family Robinson. TRY THIS: The chic Palms Villa Resort’s seven-night DiscoverTobago package includes a day tour of the island with, most notably, a hike to triple-tiered Argyle Falls; lunch in a treehouse that doubles as Miss Jemma’s Sea View Kitchen; glass-bottom boating around Pigeon Point Beach; and a guided tour of the forest, among other adventures. Rates start at $1,980 per person, based on double occupancy. thepalmstobago. com — KL Photo: Pigeon Point Beach
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Dream Trips
Seychelles
LIFETIME FACTOR: The most romantic 115 dewdrops of granite islands and coral atolls in the exotic Indian Ocean where an intact Creole culture remains. The Seychelles is exclusive (you’ll be 1,000 miles from the closest neighbor) and well-preserved with fi ve marine parks and 45 percent of its land protected. Expect birds, birds and more rare birds. CLAIM TO FAME: Possibly the most photogenic beach in the world, Anse Source d’Argent on La Digue has been photographed a thousand times over. Remember the Bacardi ads? TRY THIS: Pack your binoculars, because your fi rst overnight is on Cousine Island, a nature reserve where 60,000 birds nest during spring. Then stay at Lemuria Resort on Praslin and see Vallée de Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This 10-day island-hopper package also includes nights at ultra-luxe, once-in-a-lifetime Frégate Island, North Island and Banyan Tree Beach Resort on Mahé. Rates start at $9,000 per person, based on double occupancy; transfers are extra. islandsplendor.com — CR Photo: La Digue Island
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E S T O C K P H O T O / J U P I T E R I M AG E S
THIS FALL IN ARUBA, THE BOATS WON’T BE THE ONLY THINGS ROCKIN’
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Thank God it’s Monday.
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Welcome to Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino. Where an authentic, 12-acre resort on world-famous Palm Beach is just waiting to be discovered. Filled with charming stone walkways that lead to romantic little nooks. Crystal waters lapping endless white sand beaches. The sparkle of a three-tier pool complex with two-story waterslide. And the thrills of a Carnival in Rio-style casino, a 54-foot catamaran and golf nearby whispering challenges to all who dare.
For reservations, visit www.aruba.hyatt.com or call 1-800-55-HYATT
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Write a Caption —
This year ISLANDS magazine is celebrating its 25th birthday, and we want to give a gift to one of our lucky readers - a dream trip to the ultimate island paradise. Send the ISLANDS editors your most clever caption to the sketch featured here.The winner’s caption will be published in the January/February 2007 issue and will receive an all-inclusive trip for two to Fiji (see details below).
Win a DreamTrip toTurtle Island, Fiji
To enter to win, log on to islands.com/turtleislandcontest
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Sri Lanka (from page 93)
peak did not leave me empty-handed. As I stood atop the peak, looking west, I witnessed a very different, almost ironic phenomenon: the “Specter of the Brocken,” or “Glory.” This is a halo of colored rings, visible when an observer stands in thin mist with his or her back to the sun. My own shadow danced upon the vapors, ringed by a nimbus of rainbow hues. But I had missed the famous pyramid, and that was what I had come to see. As I descended, my disappointment was heightened by an equally distressing fact: one day I’d have to return, and climb that monstrous stairway again. That day has come. As Dilan and I pull up to my hotel in Dalhousie, the sun rests low on the horizon. Sri Pada rises to the southwest, backlit, the silhouette of a shark’s tooth. The incandescent lights lining the steep ascent are just coming on, glittering like moonstones. The guidebooks say the walk up can take four hours, but Dilan insists I can do it in three. No one can predict whether or not tomorrow’s sunrise will be clear, but I’m determined to be there for it in any case. The last time I made the ascent it was a month before my 30th birthday; now I’m on the flip side of 50. After a mild curry dinner I put myself to bed, hoping for six hours rest before beginning the infamous climb. By 2:30 a.m. I’m on my way, walking past the myriad shops, souvenir stands and tea stalls, most of them already open, that flank the beginning of the route to the peak. Back in 1984, there were only a few ramshackle businesses lining the ascent, but now it’s a virtual strip mall. This has become the new challenge for pilgrims worldwide: avoiding the pull of consumerism while navigating through holy sites. With frequent rests and copious quantities of ginger tea, I make my way upward. There are dozens of other climbers, from high-school students to elderly women in flowing white sarongs. After an hour, the pace transcends drudgery, becoming hypnotic: One foot follows the other in mindless
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Sri Lanka
cadence, the aches in the thighs and knees as impersonal as the chirping of insects in the surrounding jungle. Stars burn overhead, a good sign, although clouds could roll in at any instant. About 200 minutes after leaving Dalhousie I tackle the last series of steps, and pant my way into the complex of temples — far more elaborate than during my last visit — atop Adam’s Peak. Hundreds of devotees throng the tiled terraces, chanting to the beat of drums. Incense fills the air, and the brass bell hanging above the sacred footprint rings continually. I study the concavity, wondering at the leap of faith (and imagination) required to decide that this oblong depression has anything to do with a foot. Still, the pilgrims come in droves: bowing, praying and touching their heads to the stone. I light a candle, burn a few sticks of incense, and ring the brass bell. The bell is rung to indicate a pilgrimage completed, and this seems appropriate; I’m celebrating the long string of lucky events that has made it possible for me to return to this summit, 21 years down the road. It’s a disconcerting thought to have lived so long, driven by the same obsessions. Gradually, the sky lightens. One by one the stars, then the planets, wink out. The verdant landscape of the island once called Serendip, miles below, seems bathed in a pinkish glow. And then the edge of the sun breaks over the eastern horizon, and a thousand pilgrims raise their voices in a swelling, collective “Namaskar”: a greeting to the earth’s favorite star. At this moment I collect my shoes, and race to the far, west-facing side of the shrine. This is where the restrooms are located — but it’s the place to be if I hope to witness the sight I’ve come for. At first, there is nothing, and I fear a re-run of 1984. But as the sun climbs higher, and brightens, a miracle occurs. Slowly, like an image developing on a sheet of photographic paper, a shape appears on the undulating plains below. All who see it gasp in astonishment: a clean-edged pyramid, dark as a sapphire, as perfect as the symmetrical shadow of Cheops. For nearly 15 minutes it hangs there, lengthening, fading … then it is gone, as ephemeral and wondrous as a solar eclipse. And like an eclipse, the afterglow offers only daylight and memories. There’s nothing more to see. I begin the descent down the steep stairway, my legs nearly buckling from the endless repetitive effort. By the time I reach the bottom, I can barely stand. My feet are on fire, and my knees feel like they’ve been hobbled by Kathy Bates, a la Misery. As I stagger into the hotel, Dilan takes my arm, shaking his head but slapping me on the back. A fistful of ibuprofen later, he loads me back into the car. “Y ou’re officially crazy,” he says, and I grin triumphantly. I’m raving and aching, but unrepentant: the happiest fool in the world. +
Kauai (from page 88)
never have gotten so close to a turtle, but this one approached me, took a quick look at me and seemed to nod, I imagined as a blessing for my return, and nonchalantly swam on. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, a pod of humpback whales appeared in the distance, slapping tails and fins on the ocean’s surface. Suddenly one of these huge animals heaved itself out of the water, and then another whale soared into the air before they both slapped sideways against the sea. My wife and I found that every day on Kauai made us swoon: One day it was a rainbow plunging into the pellucid sea, the next day a sunset that turned the sky into a smoldering Koloa, Kauai, is the Our too-few days on plantafire. Another day we gaped oldest sugarHawaii. the north shore flew by. tion town in at Waimea Canyon, often Here, reminders of Paul Reiser writes that even called the Grand Canyon of the past — such as when a dog is on a walk, you Hawaii, a dark red cleft in this retro petrol pump can shout “walk” and the dog — are always present. the earth carved over milwill get excited. That’s how I lions of years by the Waimea River. feel about Kauai: Mention the idea of a The sculpted canyon is laced with trip there and my heart leaps — even if waterfalls that project rainbows when I’m on the island. As our departure apilluminated by the setting sun. proached there seemed only one sensiWe passed one rainy afternoon at a ble course of action. I called the airline slack-key guitar concert. Twice a week and extended our trip by two days. at the Hanalei community center, Doug For our final Kauaian sunset, we and Sandy McMaster play the authen- returned to Kee Beach with a bottle tic acoustic music of the islands (he of bubbly. We weren’t the only ones on guitar, she on ukulele) and discuss with champagne: Down the beach a slack-key’s roots. The mellifluous slack- couple was getting married as the sky key sounds seemed to bring out myna turned shades of burgundy, mauve and birds that chirped along with the songs. pink. In the distance, Mount Makana Perfectly suited to the languid pace of loomed over us. As the sky darkened, the island, slack-key developed after a streak of light shot across the forea few Mexican and Spanish cowboys boding sky. Logic would say it was a shared their guitars with Hawaiians in bolt of lightning, but in this magical the 19th century. The music transport- place, where anything seemed posed us to a simpler time on the island, sible, I imagined an ancient warrior when families entertained one another atop Makana, hurling fiery javelins with their own music and stories. into the night. +
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G I OVA N N I S I M E O N E / F O T O T E C A 9 X 1 2
Shikoku (from page 83)
visited there, and sometimes wandering its streets — seeing adults stop in their tracks to gape at me, and little children turn away in terror or, conversely, run up to touch this strange being’s skin — I felt like a medieval European explorer. It was — and for the most part still is — a quiet place of fishermen and farmers, wooden houses arranged along roads that follow the contour of the land, rice fields and vegetable plots and shops open to the street where housewives gather every day for groceries and gossip. In the days before our wedding, we visited Kuniko’s friends and relatives in the area, bringing small gifts, and explored the country around the town. On our first day we bicycled through the rice paddies to a favorite aunt’s house, where, over mandarin oranges and green tea, we talked about the “other foreigner” who had married a girl from the town across the hill. On the way back, grandmotherly shopkeepers gap-toothed smiles, and showed us how they were planting pearls in oyster shells. On the way home we turned inland and saw children flying long-tailed kites in a field and an old mustard-colored farmhouse with a thick thatched roof set alone among deep green rice paddies. The following night we walked to a neighbor’s garage, where a group of elementary-school students in shorts and crew cuts excitedly led us to two folding chairs, then proceeded to perform a spine-tingling Chinese lion dance — the kids beating their drums with all their might and the lion leaping and whirling under the garage’s single bulb. On the way home we walked handin-hand in the moonlight through the quiet streets, past wooden houses softly lit from within — and for a moment I wasn’t sure what century we were in. It was in the accumulation and sharing of such experiences — of the meticulously tended (continued on page 108)
Rafting through Oboke and Koboke, the gorges respectively known as “big steps dangerous” and “small steps dangerous.”
nodded and smiled as we pedaled past. On the second day Kuniko’s older brother drove us along the coast and stopped at a fishing village where yellow nets were strung out to dry. Men and women in white sunbonnets sat under tents surrounded by oysters and seaweed; they beckoned to us, smiling great
BOB KRIST
Shikoku (from page 107)
gardens outside even the simplest houses, of mornings loud with wind and rain and birdsong, of the wooden steps at the local shrine grooved by centuries of soles — that I first began to understand the Japanese sense of richness in simplicity, of vitality in the unadorned. The climax of the journey was the wedding ceremony itself, a glorious gathering of friends and relatives in Kuniko’s family home for five hours of feasting, drinking, laughing and singing. At the end of the night, after we had shared our wedding pledge of sanctified sake and danced a long and lingering waltz around the room, I was sitting back holding Kuniko’s hand and listening to everyone clap and sing an ancient folk song. I looked at her gorgeous kimono, and the lavish feast, and the animated faces — and suddenly the simple and the elaborate seemed joined, rounded, in celebration, and it was then I felt that one journey had been accomplished and another had begun, and that I had found a home in the heart of the country. +
This o-henro-san (pilgrim) crosses the Iya Vine Bridge as part of the 88Temple Pilgrimage.
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BOB KRIST
Bequia (from page 79)
old. Within weeks, my open-jaw plane ticket back to the states fell into the Bequia Channel, I inadvertently drained chicken blood into my laundry and almost served fiberglass instead of wine to yachties during a catering job. I got stung by bees three times in a week, and when I tried to tie up Sally the goat, her tether tangled around my ankles, nearly tripping me up. I began to miss home. One February morning, two months after the elixir, I left on the 2 o’clock ferry to St. Vincent, caught a flight to Barbados and then another plane home. I’ve been back at least a dozen times in the past 15 years, but none has caused as much of an impression as that first trip — even though many places are still
Bequiarians are expert boat-builders, from the real thing to models found in workshops.
there (Gingerbread, ’De Reef, Mac’s Pizzeria, the Frangipani), and some aren’t, in a sort of Cinema Paradiso blow-up-thetheater kind of way (Canouan is more developed, Jolly Joseph died at the age of 30, and many of the locals I became friends with have moved to London, Toronto and other cities, perhaps to find reality where I sought to avoid it). An airport has been built, but I still arrive by ferry. When the boat docks in Port Elizabeth, I wander past the cab drivers and the melee. I find the sea path that starts right near downtown, and I follow it past the bookstore and the Port Hole restaurant, rolling my luggage along the newly improved paved walkway. I stop when I hear the blender. I’ll usually come in season now, December through April, so the jetty is full of dinghies and it’s frequently hard to nab a chair facing the bay. But once I find my spot, I try not to think of the way it was all those years ago, or even who I was then, but what it will be while I’m here now — and how that first visit made me who I am: someone who is not too firmly rooted and still romanced by the notion of escape to exotic islands. Who may think of it again. +
Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
GARY JOHN NORMAN/BLUEGREEN
Hilton Head (from page 72)
With jokes and games and perceptive coaching, the teachers would get us running and reacting almost by rote. Since I’m 5 foot 3, my opponents always lobbed me. “When that happens, yell, ‘yours,’ and run to the hot spot,” the coach would tell me, sending me to a place in the center of the court, where I’d be perfectly positioned to put away the next shot — which, amazingly, I often did. Occasionally Steve and I would head to Harbour Town marina to stroll the waterfront that curved out from the red-striped lighthouse. And when we finally wanted to stop moving, I’d stretch out on the chaise longue on the townhouse deck and scan the creek for signs of alligators. At least once every trip we’d treat ourselves to a low-country boil, a festive buffet of spicy she-crab soup, peel-’n’-eat shrimp, corn on the cob and cornbread, served on a veranda under the trees. Our first time in Hilton Head we stayed for weeks, never venturing beyond the island. But later we’d make forays out — to a genteel Savannah of old cotton warehouses and gracious squares, and not a hint of gardens good or evil. Once we went to historic Beaufort. Every trip I vowed to take the
HarbourTown marina
ferry to Daufuskie, where Pat Conroy had taught elementary school, an experience he later immortalized in The Water Is Wide (filmed as Conrack). Go now, I kept telling myself, before Daufuskie changes, but I missed my chance. Eventually my aunt and uncle sold their house and moved to Charleston, trading golf for the Spoleto Festival
and other urban pleasures. Since then, of course, the notion of a second home has become commonplace, and as for lifestyle, I embraced it wholeheartedly by moving to Santa Barbara. There I play tennis every weekend, and when my opponents lob me — as they frequently do — I yell “yours,” run to the hot spot and put the next ball away. +
T R A N S PA R E N C I E S , I N C .
Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
Cuba (from page 69)
wall, gazing off toward America and the warm air coming in over the sea as it did to the sound of strummed guitars in the evenings. Nothing was happening, and I was happier than I’d been anywhere. It’s hard to explain in a place full of so much sadness and restlessness, but being moved, transported, really taken somewhere on a trip confounds all the simple laws of logic. I went back to Cuba three months later to see Carnival and the celebration of the 28th anniversary of the Revolution. I went back to Cuba two years later, and four years later, and five years, and seven years. But there is only one time that you fall in love and feel, with trembling assurance, that your life is slipping away from you irreversibly, and you are delighted at the loss. I would go to many more obviously exotic and unusual places than Cuba — to North Korea and Easter Island and Bhutan — but none of them would lodge inside me like
Endless games of dominoes are Cuba’s cultural pastime.
the song whose words I’d been trying to retrieve from my memory since birth. Anyone who has been to Cuba knows something of the feeling. You become a note in a spiced salsa song that could go on for decades, and that will keep reverberating inside you long after you’ve returned to the place that once upon a far-off time seemed to be your home. +
Venice (from page 63)
played her violin for coins on the Piazza San Marco. You see the problem. Which brings us back to the fog and the traghetto and Venice. Even though I couldn’t see it, I knew that on the other side of the canal was a slightly louche grand dame called the Gritti Palace, a sumptuous hotel known for its Murano chandeliers and 16th-century damask furnishings. It’s the place where, in the winter of 1949, Ernest Hemingway took a suite to work on a short story set in Venice, “about shooting ducks before dawn in the chilly, foggy waters of the Lagoon.”* But at the Gritti something else happened: The head waiter introduced Papa to a nearby bacaro, called Harry’s Bar, where he spent many a late afternoon entertaining a 19-yearold Venetian named Adriana, who was fictionally transformed into the beautiful countess Renata in the short story that expanded to become the novel Across the River and Into the Trees. “The book came to me in a sort of vision in Harry’s Bar in Venice,” said Papa about the novel. And that vision, I think, was a young Venetian girl. I thought of that line as the bank of San Marco slowly appeared out of the fog, for there, directly ahead of us, was Hemingway’s old haunt, Harry’s Bar. Let me be honest with you: There is nothing memorable about Harry’s Bar. It is smaller than one would imagine, it’s aesthetically unremarkable, and its cocktails are small and overpriced. Yet I felt that the ghost of Hemingway was palpably present, which both frightened and excited me. It is said that the bellini was created here by owner Giuseppe Cipriani, and if you go to Harry’s Bar in Venice at least half the patrons will be sipping the vaguely pink drink made with pureed white peaches (continued on page 114)
112
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RICHARD I’ANSON/LONELY PLANET IMAGES
Be aut i f ul by Na t ure
Point Grace
An extraordinary Caribbean retreat located at the point of the pristine twelve-mile beach of Grace Bay. Seemingly untouched by time, each suite has been designed to include every luxury leaving you free to encounter your own personal state of grace. For reservations call 1-866-924-7223 and visit us at www.pointgrace.com
Royal West Indies Resort
Royal West Indies is an all suite, luxury, beach-side condominium resort located on Grace Bay Beach. Featuring Studios and 1 or 2 Bedroom Suites, the resort is perfect for honeymooners, sun lovers and families alike. Enjoy non-motorized water sports and fabulous meals at the resort’s international restaurant, Mango Reef. For reservations call 800-332-4203 and visit us at www.royalwestindies.com
Turks & Caicos Club
Oceanfront 21 suite five-star resort on Grace Bay Beach next to the island’s best snorkeling reef. Full gourmet kitchens, private balconies, pool, water sports, fitness, restaurant and bar. Perfect for Honeymoons, Intimate Weddings & Escapes. For reservations call 888-4TCCLUB and visit us at www.turksandcaicosclub.com
The Sands at Grace Bay
The Sands at Grace Bay is a combination of seclusion and sophistication. Spacious, beautifully appointed suites for enjoying real vacation living on Grace Bay Beach renowned for more than 12 miles of white powdered sand and transparent turquoise waters. For reservations call 877 77-Sands and visit us at www.thesandsresort.com
Venice (from page 112)
and prosecco, as they were on my visit. But I couldn’t imagine Papa drinking a bellini. It just didn’t feel right. So I ordered a grappa and sipped it slowly, watching the crowd — a mixture of well-dressed Italians and weatherbeaten tourists — stumble in and look around for an open table where they could shed their wet coats and scarves before ordering a drink. As I said, there was nothing remarkable about Harry’s — except that it was warm and cozy, the busy barmen in their white jackets quite solicitous, particularly of single patrons like myself, and everything about it made me feel as if I had been there before. I settled in. The pale light from the frosty windows dimmed as evening came on. I looked over the menu while ordering un’ ombra, a small glass of white Veneto wine. A young woman came in, shook her damp hair out of a wool beret and sat on the barstool next to me, leaning a to Venice just in the evenings to make a little extra money. She said this was the first time she had come to Harry’s Bar. I asked her why she’d stopped, and she just shrugged. “I don’t know why,” she said. “It just looked inviting.” Then she finished her espresso and said she should be going. She stood up and put on her long wool coat and scarf and, after shaking my hand, invited me to stop by Florian later in the evening to hear her play. I promised I would. “And what do you do?” she asked as she tucked her violin case under her arm. Without even thinking about it, I blurted, “I’m a writer.” “Really?” she said. She nodded approvingly. I smiled as I watched her leave Harry’s. And I knew from that moment on who and what I was. +
More than 10,000 gondolas plied Venice’s canals in the 16th century. Today, gondolas remain delightfully motor-free.
wet instrument case up against the bar. She ordered an espresso. I asked her if she spoke English; she nodded, and we made small talk. She told me she played the violin in one of the groups that roamed Florian and Quadri, the old coffeehouses on the Piazza San Marco. She lived in Mestre and came
DAMIR FRKOVIC/MASTERFILE
* Quote credited to Carlos Baker from his
biography Hemingway.
Lord Howe (from page 58)
ground, pocketing it. “We’ve almost rid the island of weeds,” he’d said. “Get heaps of people here in summer to help pluck the weeds.” A few steps later he was clapping. I’d already figured out that if Ian stops and does something unannounced and somewhat out of the ordinary, there’s probably a good reason. But that said, suddenly clapping in the dark shade of the forest still seemed like a mildly crazy thing to do. Then I heard it. “You’ll see it now. The woodhen. It’s unique to Lord Howe. Almost disappeared, but we’ve got the population up to 220 now from just six about 30 years ago.” With that, a red-eyed woodhen stepped out to the middle of the path to protect its territory. Apparently the clapping (as opposed to our loud talking, branches snapping or the occasional lightning strike) sounded like a rival woodhen, and we needed to be dealt with. Ian beamed. “We’re quite lucky to see one.” Having given us her dagger-eyed, this - is - my - part - of - the - forest stare, the woodhen scuttled back to the underbrush, confident in its bravado, and we continued on a path that began to rise up into the clouds. I’d arrived during winter, when (continued on page 116)
Ned’s Beach, Lord Howe Island
TY SAWYER
Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
Lord Howe (from page 115)
most of the seabirds are away, so we stopped about halfway up the cliff. “Of course,” said Ian, “if you come during the right season you’ll see millions of seabirds — sooty terns, flesh-footed shearwaters, black-winged petrels — nesting along the cliffs and at the summits. During nesting season the sky darkens when the birds leave their nests for the open ocean.” We jump on our bikes the next morning and ride over to Ned’s Beach. No one on the island knows why it’s called Ned’s Beach — or if they do, they’re not telling the story. But it doesn’t matter. When we arrive, this perfect crescent of silky, golden sand is empty except for one kid, his mom and a bunch of ducks that strut around like a motorcycle gang. The kid stands at the edge of the surf, works up his courage and tosses in some bread. The surface of the water explodes with kingfish, chub and a whirlwind of ducks. Several years ago, a local man started coming to Ned’s to throw his kitchen leftovers into the water. Fish and fowl caught on, and now several dozen four- to five-foot-long kingfish patrol the shallows 24 hours a day, their dorsal fins slicing figure-eights in the flat surface of the water. Things like this are why the locals don’t watch television. It’s become an evening ritual for many families to come to Ned’s at sunset. Me, I want to join the fray. I don a wetsuit, mask and snorkel and pad down the beach accompanied by a phalanx of ducks. I look back up the beach and see my footprints flanked by web-footed impressions and chuckle to myself. I wade into the water through a cloud of giggles just as the kid throws a massive handful of bread into the waCapella Lodge, Lord Howe Island
ter. For a moment I’m engulfed in Armageddon, bumped and ignored from below and surrounded by a cartoon halo of brawling ducks above. But as soon as I dip my head underwater it’s as if I’ve slipped into a daydream. The frenzy has calmed, the kingfish polarize and circle me in a hush of nonchalant movement. The water is so clear it’s like heavy air, and the colors of the world’s southernmost reef stretch out on the undersea horizon. Jolts of life are everywhere. A green sea turtle comes in for a look, then banks over the reef revealing a kingdom of pink, gray and electric-orange corals. When I finally pull myself from the water at low tide, Ian and I stand on the shore talking, sipping hot tea as the tide rolls in. We don’t really need to do anything else. The great sidereal movements of time and tide meander around us without the slightest sense of urgency. As the shadows lengthen and the breeze slips crisply off the water, I feel like I could go 10 years without television. I don’t need to know anything more than what I know right now. The dawn will come and, with it, another unexpected moment will reveal itself, trembling and full of life. And like it has done every day since it was first discovered, the island will rise from the deep ocean at first light, and everyone who makes it to this idyllic place will awake and, like me, Ian, the man on the bike and the first sailor who felt the brush of Lord Howe’s sand on his feet, fall through the hedge again. And again. +
Ju l y/Au g u s t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
TY SAWYER
Journeys of a Lifetime
Your journey of a lifetime could be to anywhere. But if our writers’ trips have intrigued you, here are some tips to help you start packing.
Make it Happen
Lord Howe Island (pg 56)
from Sydney on Qantas Link. STAY at Capella Lodge, with its spectacular mountain and ocean views. Rates from $343; lordhowe.com Go on a tour with Ian Hutton, who runs Lord Howe Island Nature Tours. lordhowe-tours.com.au INFO at lordhoweisland.info
FLY
Cuba (pg 66)
LEGAL ways of getting to Cuba are limited. And we really can’t tell you about the other ways.
you’ll be at the hub of the world. Thursday nights are its jump-up with a steel band and buffet. Rates for deluxe units start from $100, and the original rooms are $35. frangipanibequia.com DON ’T MISS a Sunday at ’De Reef in Lower Bay. INFO at bequiatourism.com
Hilton Head (pg 72)
from Charlotte, South Carolina on US Airways. STAY at the Sea Pines Resort’s Inn at Harbour Town. The Stan Smith weekend workout package includes daily breakfast and three hours of tennis instruction per day, focusing on stroke and playing strategy. Package rates from $132 per person per night. seapines.com INFO at hiltonheadisland.org
FLY
Shikoku (pg 82)
FLY to Tokushima from Tokyo on Japan Airlines, or cross the Inland Sea on the bridge from Honshu. STAY in a ryokan, a Japanese inn, such as Kazurabashi, near the Iya hot springs. For other ideas, try japaneseguesthouses.com. WATCH the Dance of Fools performance at the Awa Odori festival in August, held in the city of Tokushima. This dance welcomes back the dearly departed during the Buddhist observance of Obon. INFO at jnto.go.jp
Hanalei Colony Resort, on the ocean, fi ve miles west of Hanalei. Two-bedroom condos with kitchenettes from $210. hcr.com SEE the Na Pali Coast and Mount Makana by helicopter. Jack Harter Helicopters offers 60- and 90-minute tours. Rates from $229 per person. helicopters-kauai.com INFO at kauaidiscovery.com
Sri Lanka (pg 92)
FLY from Newark to Colombo via Delhi on Continental Airlines. STAY at Ceylon Tea Trails, a tea estate with bungalows that were built for British estate managers. Although most were built in the 1920s, Tientsin Bungalow is from 1888. Ceylon Tea Trails is about a three-hour drive from Colombo. Rates from $165. teatrails.com CLIMB Adam’s Peak, which is near the Ceylon Tea Trails. Or raft on the Kelani River, where part of The Bridge on the River Kwai was fi lmed. INFO at srilankatourism.org
Venice (pg 62)
from Rome on Alitalia. in the Gritti Palace on the Grand Canal, built in 1525 as the residence of the doge of Venice. Rates from $950. gritti.hotelin venice.com SIP a bellini, a cocktail of peach juice and prosecco sparkling wine, at Harry’s Bar in Piazza San Marco. Or take a seat at 300year-old Caffé Florian. INFO at italiantourism.com
FLY STAY
Bequia (pg 76)
FLY from Barbados on Mustique Airways. Or fly to St. Vincent via Barbados on SVG Air and then make the hour-long ferry crossing. STAY at the Frangipani where
Kauai (pg 86)
FLY from Los Angeles on American Airlines. STAY on the north shore at the
Journey of a Lifetime
The Write Stuff
What we loved most was discovering how island travel has affected our readers’ lives: a man who is hell-bent on becoming a father after witnessing a tender moment between a Hawaiian father and his baby; the rekindling of a 40-year friendship between two women on Isla Mujeres — the island of women; a return trip to St. Kitts solely to learn the identity of a shopkeeper woman the author had photographed some 14 years before; a man who was on Montserrat when the volcano erupted. And of course there are experiences: searching for the delicate rice wine of Hainan Island; sharing a boat cabin near Kosrae with a woman who gives birth (and names the child after the
When we invited you to write your way to Tahiti,
we never expected that nearly 850 of you would write in; by our estimation that means you created some 850,000 words in all. We read every essay; we selected our favorites; we engaged in spirited discussions about which one should win. You see, there were just so many that took us on journeys, that ignited our wanderlust and that touched our every emotion.
author); exchanging songs and a lasting friendship with Tongan school kids. We learned about your obsessions with aloha shirts, with reading atlases and best of all with this magazine. It’s no exaggeration to say that judging this contest was the most difficult task we editors faced in compiling this 25th-anniversary issue of ISLANDS. We thank each of you for sharing your trip of a lifetime, and we invite you to keep sharing your thoughts with us — just drop us a line … it doesn’t have to be a 1,000-word essay.
» All of our finalists’ essays are on the
Web at islands.com/readeressays.
The ultimate-island dream must be Tahiti. Grand-prize winner Rebecca Munsterer of Vermont and a very lucky friend will ... FLY to Tahiti compliments of Air Tahiti Nui. All ground and inter-island transportation is courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme. SLEEP one night at the Sheraton Hotel Tahiti followed by fi ve nights at the Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa, where they will each receive a complimentary treatment at Mandara Spa. SWIM in one of the clearest, most colorful lagoons on Earth, right at the resort. MAKE new friends with some of the warmest people they’ll ever meet. FIND out more at tahiti-tourisme.com.
Tahitian Dreams
July/Augus t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
GRAND-PRIZE WINNER
Running with Whales
A
BY REBECCA MUNSTERER
6 A.M. RUN IS NOT A TYPICAL VACAtioner’s idea of a relaxing morning on an island. Yet, I had packed my running shoes along with my bathing suit and flip-flops, and after hauling them crosscountry to Maui, I was going to use them. I really wasn’t much of a runner (I usually spent my vacations mostly at the hotel pool and at the tiki bar), but I wanted to make every moment of my maiden trip to Hawaii memorable. So, at dawn on my first morning in Kaanapali Beach, I fumbled in the darkness of my hotel room to lace up my running shoes. A fleck of sunlight flirted with me through the window curtain. It reminded me that this morning would be different from my ho-hum treadmill routine. This was going to be a run to remember. As I exited my room and greeted the Pacific sunshine, I realized that I wasn’t the only early-morning riser. Honeymooners holding hands strolled the cobblestone walkways. Fishermen departed from their rickety wooden docks, leaving behind odors that only a cat could love. Native islanders kissed their children goodbye and sent them off to the island school. The island was waking up slowly, and the purplish-pink sky looked like eye shadow around the sun. I stretched against a wooden sign while a lizard playfully peeked at me
from the sign’s post. Kaanapali Beach stretched for about a mile in front of me. To my left, imposing green mountains and volcanoes reminded me of my humility. To my right, the deep, vast Pacific Ocean reminded me of my humanity. But straight ahead lay a playground for the senses. All I had to do was follow the Hawaiian brick road. The first couple of steps were difficult. Yet, the air was refreshing, and the scenery was playful. The bright colors surprised me, and the landscapes were ever-changing. I saw flamboyant red birds dipping and rising in the palm trees overhead. I smelled the remnants of fresh pineapple being sliced and diced for breakfast buffets. I felt the salty morning breeze steam my skin. I slowed my pace, just to soak it all in. As my run progressed, it seemed like everything around me slowly woke up. The pathway became more crowded. Surfers splished and splashed in the crashing waves in the distance. The air got warmer; the purple eye shadow surrounding the sun disappeared; and the flora and fauna opened up as if to welcome the travelers. Y I was slowing down. My body et, was tired from our flight from New Hampshire, and my head was stiff from the celebratory (continued on page 126)
F L I P N I C K L I N / M I N D E N P I C T U R E S ( P H O T O O B TA I N E D U N D E R N . M . F. S P E R M I T # 9 8 7 ) ; O P P O S I T E : T Y S AW Y E R
July/Augus t 2 0 0 6 ISL A N D S . c om
ISLANDS FREE Travel Information
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Central America
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Anthony's Key Resort - Bay Islands, Honduras - Everyday is a new Adventure at Anthony's Key Resort a resort designed by nature. See page 127 Belize Tourist Board - Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret. Choose your advernture! On the Caribbean coast of Central America 2 hrs from the U.S. See page 126 Radisson Fort George Hotel - Belize - Your headquarters for fun and adventure, within two hours to reef, ruins and rainforest. See page 126 Ramon's Village - Belize - Exotic beachside island paradise, Palm Thatched Cabanas, Fabulous restaurant, Scuba Diving. See page 126 Roatan Charter - Honduras & Belize Tropical beach resorts, Mayan ruins, jungle and mountain adventure lodges. Lowest airfare. 24 years experience. See page 127 Sueno del Mar - Belize - Carefree Caribbean Living. World's #1 dive spot. Fish or sun on our white sand beach. See page 126 Turneffe Island Lodge Resort - Belize Escape to your own private island all-inclusive resort for scuba divers, fishermen and snorkelers. See page 126
Request a Free travel planner today. See page 35
84.
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53.
Marriott Hotels & Resorts Hawaii - Oahu, Kauai, Maui & Big Island - Whether you want beautiful beaches or an array of delightful amenities, Marriott puts you in all the right places. See page 17 Maui Vistors Bureau - The Magic Isles of Maui, Molokai and Lanai invite you to our tropical paradise. See page 119 Outrigger Hotels & Resorts - The leader in island-style hospitality with resorts in Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Fiji and Tahiti. See page 29 Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation - Kauai Located on sunny Poipu Beach, these one- and two- bedroom deluxe condominiums are reminiscent of old Hawaii. See page 114 Poipu Beach Resort Association - All of sunny Poipu Beach, Kauai. Free 48-page guide to beaches, dining, recreation, and accommodations. See page 114 Poipu Kapili - Kauai - Elegant and spacious, oceanfront one-and two-bedroom luxury condos, pool, tennis, BBQ, near golf. See page 114 Prince Resorts Hawaii - Big Island, Maui, Oahu - Four luxurious oceanfront resorts on three Hawaiian islands. Enjoy the best beaches, championship golf & exquisite cuisine. See page 30 Princeville Resort- Kauai -A place of stunning beauty and romantic harmony. Princeville, a spectacular setting for your island vacation. See page 51 The Plantation Inn - Is Maui's premier bed and breakfast. Turn-of-the-century architectural style combined with modern amenities. See page 127
Down Under Answers Travel - Specializing exclusively in Cook Islands and South Pacific destinations. Knowledgeable, friendly, competitive pricing, and excellent service. See page 16 Fiji Escapes Travel – Be pampered in Fiji’s most enchanting resorts when you travel with Fiji Escapes Travel. See page 121 New Zealand Tourism – Escape and discover 100% pure awe, wonder, exhilaration, welcome, and indulgence. 100% Pure New Zealand. See page 103 Tahiti Legends – Let Tahiti Legends take you on the journey of a lifetime – the vacation of your dreams. See page 115 Tahiti Tourism - Plan your Tahiti vacation, search Special Offers, learn about Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea. See page 115 Turtle Island, Fiji - A magnificent 500 acre island paradise laced with powder soft white sand and ringed by a vibrant coral reef. See pages 53 & 102
85. 86.
69.
54.
70.
87. 88. 89.
55.
56.
71.
57.
72.
Vacation Rentals
90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99.
Bluefield's Bay Villas - Jamaica -See page 129 Calypso Realty - USVI - See page 129 Caribbean Villas & Resort Mgmt. Caribbean - See page 129 Creative Leisure - Multiple locations See page 130 Destination St. John - St. John, USVI See page 130 East Sister Rock Island - Florida Keys See page 130 Exotic Escapes - South Pacific - See page 131 Fort Recovery Estates - St. Thomas, USVI - See page 131 Hideaway Beach Resort - Dominican Republic - See page 131 ICI & LA St Barthelemy - St. Barts - See page 132 Cayman - See page 132 See page 131 page 129
58.
73. 74.
Cruise Lines
59.
Princess Cruises - Princess Cruises® offers more balcony staterooms, more dining choices, exceptional service, and world-class entertainment. Escape completely. See pages C2-3
75.
Florida
60.
Hawk's Cay Resort - Duck Key - A place to celebrate your love in the heart of the Florida Keys. See page 47 Holiday Isle Beach Resort & Marina Islamorada - Oceanfront resorts. Rooms, suites, cottages. Many restaurants. Three pools. Fishing fleet. Dive. Watersports. Free entertainment. See page 47 Sunset Key Guest Cottages - Key West Luxury island resort located 10 minutes by launch from Key West. Victorian-styled cottages. Superior amenities and services. See page 47 The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel Discover what's right with the world: The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. See pages 40-41
76.
61.
Mexico
77.
Cozumel Tourism Board - With a Mexican heart and a Caribbean soul, Cozumel is a paradise where tradition, flavor and joy come together. See page 13 Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Retreat & Spa - Cabo San Lucas - For a spiritual wellness experience unlike any other, discover yourself at Cabo’s only holistic resort for adults. See pages 8-9 Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort & Spa - The warmth of a magnificent Mexican home awaits in this oceanfront setting of relaxed luxury. See pages 8-9
100. Lacovia Condominiums - Grand 101. Palm Terrace Villas – St John, USVI 102. Property Network Ltd – Hawaii - See 103. ReMax Island Properties - St.
Maarten/St. Martin - See page 132
62.
78.
63.
79.
Hawaii
64.
Brookfield Homes Hawaii, Inc - Live the difference in an island inspired home that reflects the beauty and spirit of Hawaii. See pages 4-5 Hanalei Colony Resort - Kauai's only north shore oceanfront resort - unspoiled, unplugged, unforgettable. Call today for 7th night free promotion. See page 108 Kaanapali Beach Hotel – Maui - Discover Maui's Hawaiian Hotel. Kaanapali Beach Hotel is the ideal vacation experience for travelers worldwide. See page 127 Kauai Vistors Bureau - From endless beaches to green valleys, discover Kaua'i.
Misc.
80. 81. 82.
Canon USA Inc. – Canon Image ANYWARE. See pages 22 & 23 Divers Alert Network - Dan is celebrating 25 years of helping divers through research, products, services and education. See page 137 Professional Association of Diving Instructors – PADI is the way more than one million people worldwide learn to dive each year. See pages 124-125
104. Silent Waters Villa - Jamaica - See page 132 105. St. Barth Properties Inc. - St. Barts - See
page 132
106. Suite St. John Inc. - St. John, USVI See page 132
65.
107. Tierra Del Sol - Aruba - See page 133 108. Villas By Linda Smith - Jamaica - See
page 131
109. WIMCO - Multiple Locations - See page 130
66.
South Pacific
83.
Cook Islands Tourism - Explore the Cook Islands. Discover the Pacific's best kept secret. See page 16
67.
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Maui (from page 121)
margaritas at the hotel luau the evening prior. My senses were becoming more acute, but my hamstrings were become more uncooperative. The most beautiful scenery in the world couldn’t keep me pounding the ground. I stopped to take a breather. Then I saw the puff. It came from approximately one mile off the island, deep into the sapphire shade of the ocean, just past the aquamarine color but before the midnight blue. It was a high spout, like an oil spout in the depths of Texas, only white. It was a whale. I stopped for a moment and waited for the second spout, just to make sure I wasn’t delusional. The second spout was higher than the first. The honeymooners around me didn’t seem to notice it. They had their eyes on each other, not the ocean. I had heard that North Pacific humpback whales were often spotted off the coast of Maui, but I never really planned on seeing one. As I watched the beautiful beast spout, I realized that he happened to be traveling in my direction — back toward the hotel. He also happened to be traveling with two partners. I started running again. With one eye on the path, and one eye on the spout, I began to race the whale. He was ahead at first, then I was ahead, and then he again. He navigated the waters. I navigated the tourists. He puffed. I huffed. He splashed. I sweated. The island cheered us on as we raced on land and sea. The seagulls followed us, almost like paparazzi witnessing our race. The surfers separated us, while the salt spray from the ocean baptized us. The Pacific waves crashed against the shore as if the whale was sending a signal that he was mightier than I. When we reached the last stretch, I sprinted toward the end. The whale (with his entourage in tow) turned at a sharp angle and headed out toward the sea. He was free. I was island-bound. And we were both in our element. The island had officially captured me. I couldn’t be more in awe. +
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Special Advertising Section
ISLAND MARKET
ISLAND MARKET
A complete guide to island accommodations, travel & adventures, and information to help you live the island life.
FEATURED PROPERTY
SUNVILLAS.COM
YOUR JAMAICAN VILLA SPECIALIST. Experience the privacy, elegance and comfort of an ocean front, fully staffed Jamaican villa. SunVillas represents over 70 personally selected private villas for all budgets. We will provide you step by step assistance, from selecting the perfect villa through villa departure. Our personalized service will assure you a wonderful villa vacation from small groups to large weddings. Credit cards accepted. www.sunvillas.com Toll free: 888-625-6007 E-mail: jamaica@sunvillas.com
CUPECOY BEACH CLUB
ENJOY THE PRIVACY AND TRANQUILITY that sets Cupecoy Beach Club apart from the hustle and bustle of other St. Maarten resorts. Situated on the top of the Cupecoy cliffs these condo’s offer spectacular views of the Caribbean Sea. All these luxurious units have 2 bedrooms, 3 baths. Each can be rented as double deluxe rooms, one bedroom suites with private balconies overlooking the ocean or garden and pool, one cannot help but feel on top of the world. Phone & Fax: 599-545-2243 E-mail: cupecoy@sintmaarten.net
Real Estate
SPECIAL
THIS ISSUE
If your favorite vacation spot feels like the perfect home away from home, make it official. Start shopping in this special real estate section for your ideal property, and then buy your own piece of paradise. You’ll discover just how sweet a home can be.
To advertise in Vacation Rentals, please contact Ryan Fridley (407) 571-4712 ryan.fridley@worldpub.net
R E A L E S TAT E / R EN TA L
SPECIAL
THIS ISSUE
ISLAND MARKET
SPECIAL
THIS ISSUE
Calypso Realty — St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands
FOR A WEEK OR A LIFETIME! WE OFFER MAGNIFICENT properties from beachside condos to luxurious pool villas. Beautifully appointed, fully equipped, maid service, pools and/or beaches, all with extraordinary views of turquoise waters, palm fringed islands & lush, colorful landscaping. CALYPSO REALTY, P.O. Box 12178, St. Thomas, VI 00801-5178. (800) 747-4858 or (340)774-1620, Fax (340)774-1634, Visit www.CalypsoRealty.com today!
Private Condominiums Cupecoy Beach Club
Enjoy the privacy and tranquility that sets Cupecoy Beach Club apart from the hustle and bustle of other St Maarten resorts. Situated on the top of the Cupecoy cliffs these condo’s offer spectacular views of the Caribbean Sea. All these luxurious units have 2 bedrooms, 3 baths. Each can be rented as double deluxe rooms, one bedroom suites with private balconies overlooking the ocean or garden and pool, one cannot help but feel on top of the world. Phone & Fax: 599-545-2243 e-mail: cupecoy@sintmaarten.net
SPECIAL
THIS ISSUE
Discover the Big Island of Hawaii
RELAX IN A BEAUTIFUL CONDOMINIUM OR PRIVATE HOME in the tropical surroundings of Hawai’i. Property Network, Ltd. offers a wide variety of Vacation Rental Properties along the Kona Coast from economy to luxury. Looking to buy real estate? Search listings on-line or call one of our friendly sales staff at (808) 329-9300. Visit us at: www.hawaii-kona.com (View our Live Webcam & Activities Page) Toll Free: 800-358-7977 or Direct: 808-329-7977
St. John & Tortola — www.caribbeanvilla.com
110 BEAUTIFUL BEACHFRONT & HILLSIDE VILLAS & CONDOS WITH 1-6 bedrooms from $110-$2200/night. Enjoy the best in privacy, comfort & tranquility in many lovely & ultra romantic locations. All with pools, hottub, magnificent views or tennis. Our friendly, attentive island staff meet you at the ferry and serve as your island hosts. Since 1985 Caribbean Villas & Resorts Management P.O. Box 458 St. John, Virgin Islands 00830 1-800-338-0987 (207) 871-1129 www.caribbeanvilla.com
Waterfront Villas on Bluefields Bay, Jamaica
VACATION IN TROPICAL LUXURY WITH SEAFRONT PRIVACY. Pampered with full service in one of five all-inclusive waterfront homes. Gourmet meals, private pools, four-poster canopy beds, fine furnishings. Beach pavilion, sea kayaks, night-lit tennis, snorkeling. Airport transfers. Safe secure area, no commercialism. Posh weddings/private parties for up to 42 guests. Photo: San Michele, on 1+ seafront acres. www.bluefieldsvillas.com Owners: 202-232-4010; or via E-mail: vacations@bluefieldsvillas.com
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ISLAND MARKET
Win A Villa Vacation To St. Barts!
VAC AT I O N R E N TA L S
Imagine 7 nights in a private two bedroom villa in world-famous St Barts in the French Caribbean. Visit us at www.wimco.com/islands for your chance to win this unforgettable villa vacation. Prize includes roundtrip airfare for two. We have been providing exclusive access to the most desirable villas on St Barts and many other islands since 1983. Visit us at www.wimco.com to view our complete selection of private villas, then pick up the phone to speak with one of our experienced agents to select a villa. We will arrange everything including air travel, local restaurant reservations, rental cars, babysitters and more!
Exclusive agent for SIBARTH Villas on St Barts
Call 877-698-4557 Or visit us at www.wimco.com/islands
Catered To — St. John, US Virgin Islands
CATERED TO VACATION HOMES OFFER A BIT OF PARADISE for every taste from moderate to luxurious. Our private homes are beautifully furnished and landscaped, all with spectacular deck views and most with swimming pools or spas. Each has a fully equipped kitchen, all linens, TV, VCR, CD, tape deck, gas grill, beach chairs, beach towels and coolers. Join us and be... catered to! Call 1-800-424-6641 or 340-776-6641, Fax 340-693-8191. See our website at www.cateredto.com
Villas of Distinction
EXTRAORDINARY SELECTION OF PRIVATE VILLAS AND townhouses throughout the Caribbean and Europe. Elegant but affordable. Barbados, St. Martin, Caymans, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jamaica, Anguilla, St. John, St. Barth & Mexico; Portugal, Italy & The South of France! Accommodations range from simple beach cottages to grand mansions, suitable for captains of industry, and heads of state! Call 1-800-289-0900 or Fax: (707) 781-2840. www.villasofdistinction.com
Destination St. John
A UNIQUE & EXCLUSIVE SELECTION OF PRIVATE VACATION homes on the beautiful island of St. John, U.S.V.I. Private waterfront & hillside homes ranging from luxurious villas to Caribbean cottages. All offer lush landscaping, private decks and glorious ocean views. Most with pools or hot tubs. Personalized, experienced service from the moment you arrive on St. John. Discount airfare packages available. Call Destination St. John Toll-free: 1-800-562-1901 or (340) 779-4647 • www.destinationstjohn.com 130
East Sister Rock Island — Marathon, Florida Keys
VIEWS, VIEWS, VIEWS FROM YOUR OWN PRIVATE ISLAND in the Florida Keys. 5,000 sq. ft., 3 bed/2bath home including veranda surrounding the house. Finest snorkeling, diving & fishing at your door step. Surrounded by beautiful coral reef. Completely self-sufficient, pool table, swimming pool, TV w/ satellite. Sleeps 8. Boat for transportation to & from mainland. $4,995-$5,500/wk. Call (305) 446-7377 or (305) 796-8439. E-mail: island2@comcast.net www.floridaisland.com
Jul y/Augus t 2006 I S L A N D S . c o m
Jamaica Villas by Linda Smith
VAC AT I O N R E N TA L S
ISLAND MARKET
Fifty exquisite private villas adorn Linda Smith’s remarkable collection in the heart of “the Jamaican Riviera.” The warmth and service from dedicated staff in each home distinguish the villa vacation. Large or small, each villa comes with its own private pool and staff (chef, butler, housekeeper, gardener and laundress). Nannies, masseuses and drivers available too. Golf and tennis on site or nearby. Intimate honeymoon cottages to breathtaking beachfront villas, a dramatic 18-acre mountaintop estate, and even a magical 18th Century plantation on 2,000 acres renowned for its dreamlike weddings. Wonderful for weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries, special birthdays, offshore meetings and memorable family reunions (children welcome!) Simply the best.
www.jamaicavillas.com (301) 229-4300 linda@jamaicavillas.com
Copyright: Nigel Lord
Palm Terrace Villas
LARGE, LUXURY CONDOMINIUMS WITH PRETTY WATER VIEWS in Cruz Bay! Beautifully furnished and conveniently located, these brand new 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units are a block from the Caribbean, and a short walk to our bustling village of Cruz Bay. With only 6 units in a private and intimate setting, Palm Terrace has the location, amenities and value to make your next St. John vacation special! For more information or reservations, call 800-324- 5107/ 800-562-1901 or on ST. JOHN 340-779-4647 www.palmterracevillas.com.
Paradise Found at Matangi Private Island Resort
MATANGI RESORT, SITUATED ON ITS OWN PRIVATE ISLAND encircled by white sand beaches, offers 11 bures and 3 treehouse villas to its guests. Set on a 240-acre private exotic Fijian island, Matangi offers gorgeous beaches, tropical rain forests and some of the world’s best diving sites. Enjoy the privacy, romance and peace of your own tropical hideaway called Matangi Private Island Resort. For your Fiji Escape, contact Exotic Escapes at 866-666-8922, or via email at info@eevacations.com or go to www.eevacations.com
Hideaway Beach Resort
WELCOME TO HIDEAWAY BEACH RESORT, AN ELEGANT ESCAPE combining action and Serenity. Right on the shores of a mile-long stretch of beautiful and secluded white-sand beach, framed by tall palms whistling in the breeze, Hideaway Beach Resort invites you to live the adventure of the tropics in utmost luxury and privacy. Our villas are equipped with all the comforts you deserve, a true home away from home! (888) 990-9955 or (212) 627-2878. www.hideawaybeachresort.com
Jul y/Augus t 2006 I S L A N D S . c o m
Fort Recovery Tortola Villa Beach Resort, BVI
SUPERB 1-4 BDRM BEACHFRONT VILLAS ON BLUE CARIBBEAN W/ COOL breezes– magnificent views, patio, living rm, kitchen, bdrm, bath, AC, TV, Maid, Pool & Dock. Package includes: 7 nts Villa, Jeep, B’fast, 3 Dinners each, Boat trip, Massage, Pedicure, Yoga & Tax. Featured Discovery’s Ch., Fodor’s & AAA. Complimentary Wedding Planner. From $1,995 per couple (800) 367-8455 (wait ring) ftrhotel@surfbvi.com www.fortrecovery.com Also located Bequia (Bek-way), St. Vincent & The Grenadines www.bequiabeachvillas.com 131
ISLAND MARKET
VAC AT I O N R E N TA L S
ICI & LA ST BARTH: Rent the Best Selection of Villas
OVER 15 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN VILLA SALES AND RENTAL. We will assist you in choosing your private villa among the best choice of select villas. From beachfront cottages to hillside luxurious villas with pool overlooking the ocean, many of our villas have been featured in decorator magazines. Car rental, boat, Spa & restaurants reservations between other services can also be provided. (011 590) 590 27 78 78, Fax (011 590) 590 27 78 28/(011 590) 590 27 72 72. villas@icietlavillas.com • www.icietlavillas.com
Lacovia Condominium Resort, Grand Cayman
LACOVIA IS A LUXURY CONDOMINIUM RESORT SITUATED ON 400 feet in the heart of fabulous Seven Mile Beach. Spacious 1, 2, and 3 bedroom condominiums overlooking the ocean or large freshwater pool and Jacuzzi. All units are fully equipped, AC, cable TV, kitchen and laundry facilities. Imagine yourself sitting on a patio with a cool tropical drink watching the most amazing sunset over beautiful white sand and crystal blue water. The perfect get-a-way. (345) 949-7599, E-mail: lacovia@candw.ky www.lacovia.com
RE/MAX Island Properties – St. Maarten/St. Martin
Your Caribbean Dreams can come true…for a week or two…at your own private villa. For over 20 years, Island Properties has been villa rental specialists on St. Maarten/St. Martin. We are renown for full product knowledge, ensuring the highest quality villas and unsurpassed service for all our guests. We offer everything from a romantic one bedroom cottage to breathtaking beachfront villas. Call the Rental Specialists today…Toll Free: (866) 978-5852 or (599) 543-6160 E-mail: info@islandpropertiesonline.com Website: www.islandpropertiesonline.com
Silent Waters Villa, Montego Bay, Jamaica
EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE LUXURY ESTATE SURROUNDED BY A bounty of tropical flora overlooking Montego Bay. Indulge in an atmosphere of lush gardens and tranquil ponds, exquisite décor, fine dining, on-site tennis and helipad, Olympic size pool, nearby golf and beaches. Suites include A/C, fans, phones, CD/stereo, king or queen beds, private baths. Accommodates 2-20. Spectacular setting for special events! 16 staff/electronic security. (847) 304-4700 (U.S.A.), or www.jamaicavillas.net
St. Barts – Live your Dream
DISCOVER TINY ST. BARTH AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHY it is the only island we represent. Offering the finest selection of private vacation villas and preferred hotels on the most beautiful island in the Caribbean. Representing St. Barth since 1989, our expert staff personally inspects all properties, ensuring superior service while helping you plan your dream vacation. Call for a full color “Dream Portfolio.” Tel. (800) 421-3396 or (508) 528-7727; Fax: (508) 528-7789; E-mail: info@stbarth.com www.stbarth.com 132
Suite St. John at Gallows Point Resort — St. John, USVI
WATERFRONT TROPICAL LUXURY! SUITE ST. JOHN IS THE exclusive agent for only the most elegant loft and garden Gallows Point suites. All suites offer Central A/C, Cable TV, Phones, the finest furnishings, and most spectacular views! King size beds. Sleeps 4. Seaside pool and jacuzzi. Private snorkeling beach. DVD, CD-Tape Players. Suites: 1D, 8B, 8C, 8D, 9A, 9C, 12D, 15D. For information call Richard: 1-800-348-8444 or 301-948-8547 or visit http://www.gallowspoint.com
Jul y/Augus t 2006 I S L A N D S . c o m
VAC AT I O N R E N TA L S
ISLAND MARKET
SunVillas.com – Your Jamaican Villa Specialist
EXPERIENCE THE PRIVACY, ELEGANCE AND COMFORT of an ocean front, fully staffed Jamaican villa. SunVillas represents over 70 personally selected private villas for all budgets. We will provide you step by step assistance, from selecting the perfect villa through villa departure. Our personalized service will assure you a wonderful villa vacation from small groups to large weddings. Visit us online at www.sunvillas.com or call toll free, 888-625-6007. Email, jamaica@sunvillas.com. Credit cards accepted.
Tierra Del Sol Resort & Country Club, Aruba
ENJOY YOUR VACATION WITHIN THE SERENITY OF ARUBA’S ONLY master planned Villa Community, home to a spectacular 18-hole championship golf course. Beautifully appointed 2 & 3 bdrm luxury Villa Homes & Condos – some with private pool - modern amenities. Tropical landscaped pool. Tennis courts. Beach shuttle. 2 Restaurants & Bars. “Body & Soul Spa and Fitness Center” w/ a variety of spa treatments & state-of-the-art fitness equipment. Call (800) 992-2015; E-mail: info@icon-hotels.com; www.tierradelsol.com
Villa Kismet
KISMET ENCOMPASSES 360° VIEWS WITH EVERY WINDOW offering a delight to the eye. On very clear days Puerto Rico can be seen from Kismet’s scenic site. Kismet is beautifully decorated throughout with tiles from Morocco, custom woodwork and exquisite furnishings, with ample room for 12 persons, comfortably. Take a stroll in Kismet’s garden, enjoy the pool, hot tub, theater room, or billiard room. Visit www.kismetsj.com or call (212) 688-8729.
Bahamas Luxury Nygard Cay
ROBIN LEACH OF LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS calls Nygard Cay “the most unusual villa rental in the world.” John Greer, CEO of Unusual Villas is exclusively offering the rental of Bahamas Luxury Nygard Cay. New Providencia, Bahamas. Rental of Nygard Cay includes 10 bedrooms, 5 jacuzzis, 2 pools, tennis, 7 boats, staff of 20, 2 Hummers, 48’ yacht, movie theater, More! (800) 846-7280, (804) 288-2823, See villa at www.unusualvillarentals.com
ISLANDS CLASSIFIED
ISLAND ART
FINE ART OF PARADISE – www.Island Studio.com Voted #1 online tropical Art Gallery. Original paintings, Giclées, and More. BEACH DÉCOR AND ISLAND STYLE GIFTS – Your on-line source for tropical metal drum wall art. Palms, Sea life, Geckos, www.the funkygecko.com
PROPERTY RENTAL PROGRAM
ADVERTISING ALL VACATION ACCOMMODATIONS. LOW rates! 2000+ words, Unlimited pictures, Currency Auto-Conversion Display, Tourist pays Owner Directly (PayPal), NO Commissions, Agency specials! 1-888-533-2538 www.bluewatervacationproperties.com
NATURISM
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NATURISM, Continued
CLOTHING-OPTIONAL & NUDE GETAWAYS
SAIL TO GREEK ISLANDS / ITALY / FRANCE / MEDITERRANNEAN!! YACHT CHARTERS & CRUISES. ALPHA YACHTING. (954) 234-2203 www.alphayachting.com
BERMUDA ACCOMMODATIONS
BERMUDA – 60 cottages island-wide from US $80/couple, www.bermudarentals.com (416) 232-2243.
tanr.com/is
REAL ESTATE
CARIBBEAN ISLAND PROPERTY – ISLA SOLARTE, Bocas del Toro, Panama…1/4 - 3/4 acre lots with million dollar views, $36,000$73,000. Visit: www.tropicalproperties.com (800) 390-8818. FIJI – Stunning beachfront/lagoon view property on famous Coral Coast. Large lots priced from $70,000. Clubhouse, pool, nearby resorts. Financing with 10% down. 1.888.FIJILAND or 415.662.9677. SOUTH PACIFIC: Cook Islands, Beachfront Resort: 12 deluxe cottages, swimming pool, owner’s beachfront residence. Once-in-a-lifetime “lifestyle” opportunity in tropical paradise: www.resortforsalecookislands.com ST. JOHN, USVI – Town & Country Real Estate, 2 offices covering all of beautiful St. John. Cruz Bay (340) 693-7325, Coral Bay (340) 7747962. www.towncountryusvi.com ST. JOHN, USVI. Outstanding selection of properties for sale or rent. Now serving St. Thomas and St. Croix. St. John Properties, (800) 283-1746, www.stjohnproperties.com WATERFRONT & WATERVIEW OCEAN ACCESS HOME SITES – In gorgeous Pacific Harbour, Fiji. Championship golf course. Gamefishing. Scuba. All Utilities Included. 31K-115K. www.tropicalproperties.com Email: tropical properties@earthlink.net
CARIBBEAN ACCOMMODATIONS Anguilla
ANGUILLA. Rent this exclusive oceanfront private estate villa with two identical master bedroom air-conditioned suites, maid service, pool, all amenities, spectacular day and night views of St. Martin. Reasonable rates. Call 954-7578882. Fax 954-757-8883. Web http://www. BaliHaiVilla.com VILLA AZURE – Your Dream Realized! New Mediterranean 5-Star Villa with every amenity overlooking Amazing Shoal Bay Beach. Over 8,000’, infinity pool, spa, sunsets, 360 views, private! It was built just for you. www.azure villa.com 414.278.0554
TRAVEL SUPPLIES
TRAVEL ITEMS, MONEY BELTS, Fanny Packs, Shoulder/Passport Wallets, Tilley Hats, I.D./Ticket holders. Save Big! Visit www.Belt Outlet.com (888) 355-2358
WEDDINGS
AMERICA’S PARADISE, ST. THOMAS! Unique Ceremonies ~ Romantic Tropical Locations. WEDDINGS THE ISLAND WAY, (800) 582-4784, (340) 777-6550, www.weddingsthe islandway.com
Antigua
ANTIGUA UN-SPOILED. Small, Simple, Special! www.longbayhotel.com Telephone (268) 463-2005.
YACHT CHARTERS & CRUISES
#1 ABSOLUTELY! THE BEST VACATION EVER! Personally designed yacht vacations. Bajor Yacht Charters, Virgin Islands. (800) 5248292, www.bajoryachts.com #1 – VIRGIN ISLANDS SAILING LTD. – AFFORDABLE CARIBBEAN/MEDITERRANEAN. Power – Sail – Mega Yachts. Crewed- Bareboat. Credit Cards Accepted. (800) 382-9666, www.visailing.com
Bahamas
ABACO, BAHAMAS, BEST WATERFRONT PROPERTIES! RENTALS and SALES. (242) 366-0224, www.HopeTown.com ABACO – DOLPHIN BEACH RESORT – Intimate Out-Island hideaway, Fodor’s Choice 2005 / 06. Unique beachfront cottages, rooms, pool, new Blue Water Grill. Swim to reef, on-site Scuba, tennis. Honeymoon or family escapes. 1-800-2222646; 242-365-5137 www.dolphinbeachresort.com ABACO, BAHAMAS – “OUR SPECIALTY” 70 Tranquil Hideaways. (800) 633-9197, www.AbacoVacations.com ABACO HIDEAWAY. Idyllic cottage on unique Man-O-War Cay. Beach front/ back, affordable! (317) 849-5308.
TIMESHARE
TRAVEL & ADVENTURE
ISLAND INFO – www.IslandSuperPages.com. Free Copy of Island Super Pages on DVD W/ Free Caribbean Screen Saver. Order your free copy at www.IslandSuperPages.com.
ABACO, HOPE TOWN – TURTLE HILL VILLAS Accessible, Affordable luxury. (800) 339-2124, (242) 366-0557. www.turtlehill.com
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BAHAMAS, ELEUTHERA, “KOKOMO” on a secluded pink sand beach. Large, 3-bedroom, air-conditioned home completely equipped. Great Snorkeling! Kayaks! $2,195/week. (800) 454-2299 or (239) 732-5112, www.koko mo1.com
Magnificent 5 Bdrm, 5.5 Bath Villa in Virgin Gorda, BVI with Superb Views for Rent by Owner. Pool, A/C, DSL Internet & Computer, 6 Color TV's, Pool Table, Generator. Excellent Kitchen & Cook available. Staff Included. Steps From Beach, Sailing, Diving, Tennis and Resort Facilities. Affordable Luxury for Couples, Retreats, Family Reunions, Weddings, and Wheelchair Accessible. All Welcome!
St. Barthelemy
FRENCH CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL – The leading resource for private villas & lodging. (800) 322-2223…. www.frenchcaribbean.com ST. BARTHELEMY – LIVE YOUR DREAM! The finest private villas and preferred hotels for rental and sale. Book on-line at www.stbarth.com Free “Dream Portfolio.” St. Barth Properties, (800) 421-3396, (508) 528-7727; E-mail: info@stbarth.com
www.CoconutGroveBVI.com
284-495-7313
BVI – 12 charming beachfront cottages on almost uninhabited COOPER ISLAND. Remote, casual, informal. Restaurant, wonderful snorkeling, & SCUBA. $105-$195 double. (413) 863-3162, (800) 542-4624; www. cooper-island.com BVI, VIRGIN GORDA. Elegant, secluded, affordable 1-6-bedroom beachfront and hillside villas/cottages at Mahoe Bay and Leverick Bay. Fully equipped, pools, tennis, water activities. VG Villa Rentals, Box 63, Virgin Gorda, BVI, (284) 495-7421, USA (800) 848-7081, Canada (800) 463-9396, E-mail: leverick@surfbvi.com Web: www.VirginGordaBVI.com VIRGIN GORDA – BRAND NEW 1-3 bedroom luxury, ocean view condominiums with unique boulder-studded pool, restaurant & fitness center. www.oldeyardvillage.com (800) 653-9273
St. Lucia
BEAUTIFUL ST. LUCIA – Private Villas with pools. Spectacular views! www.stonefield villas.com (758) 459-7037 CELEBRATE ROMANCE AT YOUR OWN PRIVATE PLANTATION. Great family vacation, too. (802) 867-5992, www.brigandhill.com ST. LUCIA – 2 BR romantic Villa - 3 lush acres, on coast 200-ft above Caribbean with spectacular 180˚ view, Pool, maid, gardener. (203) 322-5352, www.cashewvilla.com
Come experience our unique ambience of “Rest, Relaxation, & Rediscovery...” Great Diving & Bonefishing (800) 223-6961 or (242) 368-2013 shbmkt@smallhope.com www.smallhope.com
St. Maarten/St. Martin
BEACHFRONT VILLA – DAFFODIL – Some select weeks still available. Virtual tour: www.bestcaribbeanvilla.com (239) 593-7357 FRENCH CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL – The leading resource for private villas & lodging (800) 322-2223…. www.frenchcaribbean.com ST. MAARTEN/MARTIN – Fabulous Oceanfront Villas; Beachfront Cottages, Apartments, Hotels. (800) 338-4552, (718) 464-0769, www.villalady.com VISTAROYALE – Breathtaking panoramic view. Private pool and Jacuzzi. For 1-4 guests. (888) 844-4149, www.vistaroyale.com
Cayman Islands
CAYMAN VILLAS – Over 100 BEACHFRONT condos/private houses on Grand Cayman and Little Cayman, 1-6 bedrooms, economy-deluxe. (800) 235-5888, (345) 945-4144, reservations@caymanvillas.com, www.cayman villas.com
Barbados
BEACHFRONT LUXURY VILLA – Exclusive west coast, 3 spacious airconditioned bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, pool, complete with gourmet cook, housekeeper, sat TV. High-speed internet. www.emeraldbeachbarbados.com or 1-800-565-2599
Jamaica
ON NEG RIL’S FAMOUS 7-MILE BEACH
Belize
A BEACHFRONT VACATION VILLA INCLUDES BOAT & CAPTAIN to Fish & Snorkel Ambergris Caye. Explore the Reef & Jungle! 888-280-7013 www.PlayaBlanca.biz THE LODGE AT CHAA CREEK, Belize’s Award Winning Jungle Lodge, Features Exotic Tree-top Suites, Elegant Candlelight Dining, Exciting Tropical Adventures and a Rejuvenating Rainforest Spa. E-mail: reservations@ chaacreek.com Website: www.chaacreek.com
800-NEGRIL7 1 TO 5 BEDROOM VILLAS
. . . STAY I N A LU X U R I O U S V I L L A FOR LESS THAN HOTEL RO OMS 5% OFF WITH AD! w w w. n e g r i lj a m a i c a v i l l a s . c o m
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
BEQUIA – SUGARAPPLE INN – 8 spacious, breezy apartments near Friendship Beach. (784) 457-3148, sugarappleinn.com
JAMAICA ASSOCIATION OF VILLAS – Over 300 private Villas, Condos, Cottages Islandwide. Negril – Montego Bay – Ocho Rios, Port Antonio. Visit: www.villasinjamaica.com 1-800845-5276
Tobago
TOBAGO – Spectacular 4-bedroom private villa. Stunning views. Pool, cook, housekeeper. Golf. (203) 221-1969. TRINIDAD * TOBAGO Villas, Cottages, Hotels, Bed/Breakfast. Carnival! Tropical adventures, diving, bird-watching. 24 years experience. (800) 525-6896, www.pancaribetours.com
VILLAS by LINDA SMITH
50 EXQUISITE PRIVATE VILLAS each with full staff and private pool. $1,500-$38,500/week (301) 229-4300 • email linda@jamaicavillas.com
British Virgin Islands
******BVI, TORTOLA. Beautiful villa, pool, private, panoramic views. Walk to romantic beach. Experience paradise. (772) 692-1064.
www.jamaicavillas.com
SEE OUR COLOR AD IN THE VACATION RENTALS SECTION
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Turks & Caicos
ABSOLUTE VIEW VILLA: PROVIDENCIALES BEACHFRONT PRIVACY! 3 Bedrooms w/ AC, pool, sandy beach, ADSL, Kayaks, honeymoon/watersport packages. Ph: 649-2321143 WWW.ABSOLUTEVILLA.COM paola@ absolutevilla.info
KONA COAST – Condominium & Homes, Property Network, Ltd. (800) 358-7977, www.hawaii-kona.com MAUNA LANI POINT OCEANVIEW CONDO, 1 bedroom, 15th (overwater) tee. (808) 881-1008 MAUNA LANI – spacious, luxurious 3 & 2 bedroom golf course townhouses. Golf/resort privileges. (415) 789-9623, www.HawaiiG4.com
U.S. Virgin Islands
ST. JOHN – “PALLADIO’S VIEW” – 3 bedrooms, pool, spa. www.palladiosview.com (610) 544-8283, ST. JOHN, USVI – STAR VILLAS. Small private homes. Ocean views. Sunsets. Convenient to everything. (888) 897-9759. www.star villas.com ST. THOMAS – Luxurious Seaside Villas, Cowpet Bay, 2-4 bedrooms. Fantastic Location. Pat (800) 788-4VIP, www.viprentals.com
Kauai
A LAKEFRONT ESTATE – KAUAI. Secluded, 3 acres, private beach. Boat, swim, fish, golf. New luxury home. www.kauaihoneymoon.com (310) 379-7842 AFFORDABLE TO ELEGANT vacation homes/condos. Na Pali Properties, (800) 7157273, www.napaliprop.com ANINIALOHA.COM – Beachfront Homes, Tropical Hideaways, Luxury Estates. (800) 2465382, (808) 828-0067 ANINI BEACH COTTAGES – Idyllic Hawaiian Hideaways. (800) 323-4450, (808) 828-0068, www.aloha.net/~cottage ATTRACTIVE BEACHFRONT HOME, Moloaa Bay, 3 bedrooms, $1,050/ week. (800) 331-7626, www.kauaibeachhome.com irvdumm@yahoo.com KAUAI – 2-bedroom cedar home. Waterfalls, rainbows. $165 nightly. (808) 822-5131, www.makaleha.com KAUAI – Hanalei Beachfront Cottages, Homes, Condominiums. Hanalei Vacations, Brochure (800) 487-9833 or www.800hawaii.com
COOK ISLANDS
Enjoy the best of both worlds, lush Rarotonga, sublime Aitutaki, in the heart of the South Pacific ~ the delicious Cook Islands! Laze on the beach at award-winning Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa, slip away to your own private island with overwater bungalows at The Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa. www.therarotongan.com aitutakilagoonresort.com
DREAM ISLAND ESCAPE
ST. JOHN US VIRGIN ISLANDS
Homes and Villas for 2 to 10
Simple to sophisticated, very private. All with spectacular views, large decks and lush landscaping, most with pools.
Summer 2006: $1850 to $8800 Winter 2007: $3200 to $13,200
800-481-9026 paul.rec@therarotongan.com
FLORIDA ACCOMMODATIONS
CAPTIVA / SANIBEL – Unique 1- 8 Bedroom Cottages • Condominiums • Homes • Estates. Cottages-to-Castles.com (800) 472-5385
800-424-6641
Book on-line at cateredto.com
340-776-6641 Fax 340-693-8191
HAWAII ACCOMMODATIONS
5-6 STAR EXTRAORDINARY LUXURY VACATION ESTATES – DIRECT SOURCE! Visit www.TropicalVillaVacations.com. The best villas in Hawaii. Licensed Real Estate Broker and Travel Agency. Phone 888-875-2818 ext. 206.
Big Island
****ALOHAHAWAIIVACATIONS.COM – Waikoloa, Mauna Lani Resorts. (800) 66-ALOHA (2-5642), (808) 883-8300 – Hawaiian Time.
Maui
*******ANDREA’S MAUI VACATIONS. Luxury Condos And Homes. Oceanfront From low $100’s. Rare 3 bedrooms. Contact Maui’s Mother & Daughter team. We really care. www.maui condos.com 800.289.1522 #1 AFFORDABLE LUXURY HAWAII VILLAS, charming cottages, condos on the beach with pools. (800) 711-6284, (808) 8777984, www.hawaiibound.com ALL-NEW “WAILEA BEACH VILLAS” ON WAILEA BEACH! Exquisite & breathtakingly beautiful 2 & 3 bedroom ultra-luxurious villas exclusive to Tropical Villa Vacations. Private elevators, plunge pools. 2-3,000 sq. feet. www.LuxuryWailea BeachVillas.com Phone 888-875-2818 ext. 206
(800) 323-7229
Unique one and two story, 1-bedroom full-equipped suites on the ocean – close to Cruz Bay yet worlds away!
BigIslandVillas.com – Beach/Golf Villas at Four Seasons • Mauna Kea • Mauna Lani • Waikoloa. (808) 936-3870 Hawaii. KONA BEACH AND POOL HOUSES 1 / 9 bedroom beach houses. Some with pools, kayaks, bikes. 4 houses in row – family reunions, weddings! Kid friendly/cribs. Only 10% deposit. Great cancel policy. 800-588-2800 – 7 days. www.hawaiibeach.com
www.GallowsPointResort.com
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BEACHFRONT MAUI – Quality vacation resort rental condos and homes. Free brochure: (800) 822-4409. Virtual tour: www.resortquest maui.com BEAUTIFUL LAHAINA/PUAMANA TOWNHOUSE – Comfortable, three-bedroom nestled near the ocean. Pool, tennis, great clubhouse! (707) 865-2998, www.alohapua mana.com HANA, HAMOA BEACH OCEANFRONT – Spectacular views, $225+ nightly. (808) 248-7558 www.hanaoceanfrontcottages.com *KIHEI – WAILEA. Oceanfront condo – endless beach. (415) 255-8989, http://members. aol.com/condo4maui MILES OF SANDY BEACH – Luxury condos. Maalaea Bay Realty and Rentals, LLC. www.maalaeabay.com, (800) 367-6084
Oahu
BEACHFRONT HOMES – NORTH AND SOUTH SHORE – 2-8 BEDROOMS. $175$750/NIGHT. www.hawaii-beachhomes.com (800) 442-6901 NORTH SHORE – Affordable 1-3 bedroom condos. Golf. Tennis. Beaches. Estates at Turtle Bay (888) 200-4202, www.turtlebayrentals.com
PALAU ACCOMMODATIONS
FIJI ACCOMMODATIONS
Fiji: Gorgeous one acre free-hold home-site in secure, exclusive Taveuni Estates. Golf course, pool. Spectacular views. Give-away at $50,000. starreachus@yahoo.com.
TURTLE ISLAND
2006 RATES: All rates are net and include a free advertisement and photograph on ISLANDS.com. Links available for $25 per insertion. Visit ISLANDS Classified advertisers and view color photos online at ISLANDS.com Classified Marketplace. Classified Display, one time ad $710 per column inch; four consecutive ads $630 per column inch; eight consecutive ads $545 per column inch. E-mail digital materials for display ads to Amanda.Jackson@worldpub.net. ISLANDS charges a minimum of $50 to typeset and prepare digital ad materials. Column width 21/4". Word by word, one time ad $13.95 per word; four consecutive ads $12.00 per word; eight consecutive ads $10.10 per word. 20-word minimum. Payment for all insertions (check, VISA, MasterCard, or American Express) must accompany order to use frequency discounts. Send to ISLANDS Classified at World Publications LLC, 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789, or Call Ryan Fridley at (407) 571-4712, Fax (407) 571-4713, E-mail: Ryan.Fridley@worldpub.net Closing for September/October 2006 issue is June 23, 2006.
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G U E S S W H AT ’ S N E X T
A Hero’s Weight in Stone
Considered the most renowned navigators in the Pacific, the people from this island traveled by outrigger canoe some 500 miles round trip to return with massive disks mined from limestone, (shown here). Their value represented more than what they bought in trade; it was the journey involved that had the power to turn a common man into a hero. Visit this island today and you’ll see that these centuries-old symbols still serve their owners as a bank statement on display. Y ou’ll also find an incredibly intact culture characterized by a peaceful people who win status and power through elaborate dance competitions rather than war. Walk between villages on stone paths built and tended by women, but remember to carry a broken-off tree limb as a symbol of your honorable intentions. And don’t be alarmed when your hosts flash you a bloodred smile. No vampires here, just some good old-fashioned betel-nut chewing — the national pastime.
ISLANDS (ISSN 0745-7847) is published eight times a year (Jan./Feb., March, April/May, June, July/Aug., Sept./Oct., Nov., Dec.) by World Publications, LLC, P.O. Box 8500, Winter Park, FL 32790; 407-628-4802. Vol. 26, No. 5, July/August 2006. One year (8 issues) $24 in the U.S. Copyright © 2006 by World Publications. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written consent of World Publications, LLC. Periodicals postage paid at Winter Park, FL, and at additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ISLANDS, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Printed in USA. PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NUMBER 40018707 CANADA RETURN MAIL: 4960-2 WALKER RD. WINDSOR, ONTARIO N9A 6J3
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BOB KRIST
If you can guess on which island photographer Bob Krist shot this image for the September/October issue, send your answer to editorial@islands.com by August 15, 2006. Readers who submit the correct answer will be entered to win an ISLANDS gift. April/May winners Pat and Pam Kelly from Muskegon, Michigan, were randomly selected from among those who correctly guessed the island of Grenada and the La Sagesse Nature Center.