Caribbean Cricket Island Hopping

Caribbean Island Hopping

Caribbean islands that are quite close to one another can have a completely different atmosphere and so it is well worth getting in some island hopping while you are in the region. The cricket teams themselves will hopping from island to island during the Super Eight stage you may want to pick and choose as you follow them.

Here are thumbnail sketches of the islands and some suggestions for island hopping including special crewed yacht charters.

Antigua
Antigua is exactly what people expect of the Caribbean. It has many, many excellent beaches and a lively atmosphere, with good day sails.

Island Hopping from Antigua
it is well worth exploring the islands nearby, including the delightful Nevis and possibly St Kitts. A little further afield are the British Virgin Islands, where the sailing is simply superb and there is a beach bar in every isolated cove.

Barbados
There is plenty to do in Barbados. It is a very lively and well developed island with excellent beaches and facilities. If you wish to island hop, it has direct flights to all the other islands in the area.

Island Hopping from Barbados
You might pick Tobago, Grenada or St Lucia, all large islands with strong character. Or for a complete change in pace you might try the Grenadines, a string of small and lovely, dozy islets. There are regular day tours to the Grenadines frm Barbados, enabling you to spend the day sailing to sandbars with just a few palm trees.

Grenada
Grenada is a charming Windward Island and there is plenty to do there, in the rainforests and gardens. It has some of the loveliest beach bars in the whole area.

Island Hopping from Grenada
From Grenada you can travel northwards along the length of the Grenadines. Links are frequent to Carriacou, one of the most charming, dozy islands in the whole area. From there you can explore the northern Grenadines. Or you can take one of the regular day tours to the Grenadines, enabling you to spend the day sailing to sandbars with just a few palm trees.

Jamaica
Jamaica is one of the larger islands of the Greater Antilles and not that well positioned for island hopping, though there are direct flights to Cuba, which makes an extremely lively foil to Jamaica, and to a couple of other islands such as Cayman and the Dominican Republic, see below.

Island Hopping from Jamaica
The best island to visit from Jamaica, because of its difference and fashionability, is Cuba, a large Latin island with a very lively culture, particularly in Havana, superb beaches and excellent nature. There are weekend packages from Montego Bay to Havana, Varadero (the main beach resort to the east of the capital) and to Santiago (a shorter flight directly north of Jamaica). Montego Bay, the main hub in Jamaica, also has flights to the Dominican Republic, another lively Latin island, and Grand Cayman, a very developed island with some of the best scuba diving in the whole of the Caribbean.

St Kitts
St Kitts has some nice natural life in its canefields and mountains, and there are a few plantation house hotels as well as beach life.

Island Hopping from St Kitts
The obvious island to hop to if you are staying in St Kitts is Nevis (if you are not already staying there). It is ten minutes by air and just 45 minutes on a ferry, but it is a world away in character, gentle, quiet and utterly charming. If you are flying via Antigua to get to St Kitts, you might consider stopping off for a few days. It has a radically different character again, and some of the finest beaches in the whole Caribbean.

Nevis
Although no matches are being played in Nevis, inter-island transport will be arranged for the matches based in St Kitts so that spectators can stay here. Nevis is a really special spot - gentle, quiet and utterly charming. An alternative is Antigua (especially if you have flown via here), which has magnificent beaches, or you might even try the remoter (and more expensive) Anguilla or St Barths.

St Lucia
St Lucia is large enough to explore in itself - the ‘south’ of the island around Soufrière has a completely different atmosphere, some excellent hotels (with great character) and the most famous natural landmarks in the Caribbean, the Pitons.

Island Hopping from St Lucia
For something different again you might take the hydrofoil to the French island of Martinique next door (which is very developed but has good beaches and an interesting culture and food. There are also regular day tours to the Grenadines from St Lucia, enabling you to spend the day sailing to sandbars with just a few palm trees.

St Vincent
St Vincent is a lovely example of an undeveloped Windward Island. It has a rainforest to explore and a volcano that people regularly climb.

Island Hopping from St Vincent
The Grenadines are right there, a magnificent string of the Islands and cays, some of which barely make it above the surf at high tide. Bequia, Mayreau and Carriacou are some of the loveliest islands in the Caribbean. All the Grenadines can be linked by ferry or by plane journeys, right down to Grenada, another good option. Or you can spend the day sailing to sandbars with just a few palm trees.

Trinidad
A lively, busy island with excellent natural life to explore. It is hardly a ‘typical’ Caribbean island and has few notable beaches and little conventional tourism, but it has a very strong culture (steel pan was invented here).

Island Hopping from Trinidad
The easiest island to reach from Trinidad is its sister island Tobago (about 20 minutes flying time). If you wish to go farther afield, try Grenada, which has some lovely small properties tucked away in coves, and the Grenadines, a string of sandbars and dozy outcrops.

Tobago
No matches are being played on Tobago and it is too far to travel back and forth to matches on a daily basis, but the island is an ideal place to visit en route or after matches. It also has direct flights so you might consider flying into here.

Cricket World Cup 2007 Yacht Charters
Horizon Yacht Charters in Grenada is offering bareboat, skippered and fully crewed yacht charters from Antigua to Grenada, and from Grenada to St. Lucia and Barbados for the Cricket World Cup 2007 cricket matches held during March, April and May 2007. For details on package options (match tickets excluded) please see here.

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