Caribbean Island Hopping
Island Hopping in the Caribbean
It's infectious. You visit one Caribbean island then suddenly spot another. Maybe it's from the beach, some huge volcano rising enigmatically on the horizon. Or from the air, when you spy far below a gorgeous isle fringed with turquoise waters and just one lucky, lonely yacht enjoying the tranquility.This is a region where travel maps become the stuff of dreams and airport departure screens are a poem of weird and tantalising place-names. Beef Island, Pointe-à-Pitre, Deadmans Cay, Carriacou, St Eustatius... Then there's the people you meet, who don't hesitate to tell you about other islands where it's “still like the old Caribbean”, or which have the best beaches / rum / carnival / diving / jerk chicken – ever.
One joy of travelling here is that it is easy to hop around using scheduled flights and ferries or privately chartered planes and yachts. Some countries, like the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands and St Vincent and the Grenadines, are sufficiently large and varied that you can have a great time just zigzagging between their many parts.
Others are conveniently bundled together so you can take a mini-European tour, for example you can fly into St Martin/St Maarten then easily take in Anguilla (British), St Barths (French) and Saba (Dutch) in the space of a week. Another attractive hub is Antigua, from where you can hop over to Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis. Another attraction is the ease with which you can combine very different landscapes, switching swiftly from green, mountainous and volcanic to flat, dry and sandy. You can glide from party central to desert island bliss, swap serious hiking for even more serious lazing, pig out on chocolate from Grenada then work it off at a spa resort in St Lucia.
Where to start? A lot depends on your arrival airport - which could well be in San Juan, St Maarten, Montego Bay, Antigua or Barbados – and your airline. Most major carriers fly to several islands, enabling you to go into one and back from another. Some travellers like to start with an upmarket hotel, getting over the jet lag and into the Caribbean vibe – then heading off for some adventure. Others like to push on to the furthest point first then work back, perhaps with a little shopping, sport and partying at the end. It's important to pick contrasting islands, and to see the travelling between them as part of the fun.
Some recommended combinations are St Barths and Anguilla, Antigua and Montserrat, and Barbados then a private island in the Grenadines such as Palm Island or Petit St Vincent.
