The Spanish Virgin Islands

9 November 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Vieques - Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vieques – Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Spanish Virgin Islands, formerly called the Passage Islands and also known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands, primarily consisting of the islands of Culebra and Vieques, are part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and are located east of the main island of Puerto Rico.   read more…

The Cayman Islands

18 September 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Grand Cayman - Goerge Town - Welcome to the Cayman Islands - Owen Roberts International Airport © Lhb1239

Grand Cayman – Goerge Town – Welcome to the Cayman Islands – Owen Roberts International Airport © Lhb1239

The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is a major world offshore financial centre.   read more…

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

9 August 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Mayreau - Saline Bay © Moiom

Mayreau – Saline Bay © Moiom

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean. Its 389-square-kilometre (150 sq mi) territory consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines, which are a chain of smaller islands stretching south from Saint Vincent Island to Grenada.   read more…

Tortuga in the Caribbean

3 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Tortuga Island © NASA

Tortuga Island © NASA

Tortuga (French: Île de la Tortue, Englisch: Turtle Island) is a Caribbean island that forms part of Haiti, off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. It constitutes the commune of Île de la Tortue in the Port-de-Paix arrondissement of the Nord-Ouest Department of Haiti. Tortuga is 180 km² (69 mi²) in size and has a population of 30,000. In the 17th century, Tortuga was a major centre of Caribbean piracy. Its tourist industry and reference in many works has made it one of the most recognized regions of Haiti. Although Tortuga was already known by the native peoples, it was never used as a permanent settlement until European pirates made it into a launching ground for piracy activities. The first Europeans to land on Tortuga were the Spaniards in 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World. On December 6, 1492, three Spanish ships entered the Windward Passage that separates Cuba and Haiti. At sunrise, Columbus noticed an island whose contours emerged from the morning mist. Because the shape reminded him of a turtle’s shell, he chose the name of Tortuga.   read more…

The Montego Bay on Jamaica

24 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Montego Bay © flickr.com - Annsabananna

Montego Bay © flickr.com – Annsabananna

Montego Bay is the capital of St. James Parish and the second largest city in Jamaica by area and the fourth by population (after Kingston, Spanish Town and Portmore). It is a tourist destination with duty free shopping, a cruise line terminal and several beaches. The city is backed by picturesque low mountains.   read more…

Port Royal on Jamaica

22 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Port Royal Cays © NASA World Wind

Port Royal Cays © NASA World Wind

Port Royal is a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and a subsequent tsunami, and fires. Severe hurricanes have regularly damaged it. Another severe earthquake occurred in 1907.   read more…

Roatán in the Caribbean

8 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

 West Bay © Roatanavi/cc-by-sa-3.0

West Bay © Roatanavi/cc-by-sa-3.0

Roatán, located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, is the largest of HondurasBay Islands. The island was formerly known as Ruatan and Rattan. It is approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) long, and less than 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) across at its widest point. The most populous town of the island is Coxen Hole, capital of Roatán municipality, located in the southwest. Other important towns include French Harbour, West End, and Oak Ridge. The easternmost quarter of the island is separated by a channel through the mangroves that is 15 meters wide on average. This section is called Helene, or Santa Elena in Spanish. Satellite islands at the eastern end are Morat, Barbareta, and Pigeon Cay. Further west between French Harbour and Coxen Hole is Stamp Cay and Barefoot Cay.   read more…

Virgin Gorda in the Caribbean

27 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Moon Rise over Saba Rock Island © Louis 92 B/cc-by-sa-3.0

Moon Rise over Saba Rock Island © Louis 92 B/cc-by-sa-3.0

Virgin Gorda is the third-largest (after Tortola and Anegada) and second most populous of the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Located at approximately 18 degrees, 48 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area of about 8 square miles (21 km2). Christopher Columbus is said to have named the island “The Fat Virgin”, because the island’s profile on the horizon looks like a fat woman lying on her side.   read more…

Curaçao in the Caribbean

12 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Sea Aquarium © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sea Aquarium © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast, that forms part of the Dutch Caribbean. The Country of Curaçao (Dutch: Land Curaçao; Papiamento: Pais Kòrsou), which includes the main island and the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao (“Little Curaçao”), is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of over 150,000 on an area of 444 km2 (171 sq mi) and its capital is Willemstad. Prior to 10 October 2010, when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved, Curaçao was administered as the Island Territory of Curaçao (Dutch: Eilandgebied Curaçao, Papiamentu: Teritorio Insular di Kòrsou), one of five island territories of the former Netherlands Antilles.   read more…

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