Theme Week Colombia – Santa Marta

23 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Tayrona National Natural Park © Felipe Restrepo Acosta/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tayrona National Natural Park © Felipe Restrepo Acosta/cc-by-sa-4.0

Santa Marta, officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (English: Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fourth-largest urban city of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, after Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Soledad. Founded on July 29, 1525, by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, it was one of the first Spanish settlements in Colombia, its oldest surviving city, and second oldest in South America. This city is situated on a bay by the same name and as such, it is a prime tourist destination in the Caribbean region.   read more…

Saba in the Caribbean

25 February 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment Reading Time:  14 minutes

View of Windwardside from Mount Scenery © Radioflux/cc-by-sa-3.0

View of Windwardside from Mount Scenery © Radioflux/cc-by-sa-3.0

Saba is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality (officially “public body“) of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the active volcano Mount Scenery, which at 887 metres (2,910 ft) is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands. Together with Bonaire and Sint Eustatius it forms the BES islands.   read more…

Theme Week Caribbean – British Virgin Islands

28 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Jost Van Dyke - White Bay beach © Pinkhousejvd/cc-by-sa-4.0

Jost Van Dyke – White Bay beach © Pinkhousejvd/cc-by-sa-4.0

The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and north-west of Anguilla. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles and part of the West Indies.   read more…

Theme Week Caribbean – Montserrat

27 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Montserrat Cultural Center overlooking Little Bay © flickr.com - David Stanley/cc-by-2.0

Montserrat Cultural Center overlooking Little Bay © flickr.com – David Stanley/cc-by-2.0

Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about 16 km (10 mi) long and 11 km (7 mi) wide, with roughly 40 km (25 mi) of coastline. It is nicknamed “The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean” both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants. Montserrat is the only non-fully sovereign full member of the Caribbean Community and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.   read more…

Theme Week Caribbean – Dominica

26 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Scotts Head © Postdlf/cc-by-sa-3.0

Scotts Head © Postdlf/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically situated as part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. Dominica’s closest neighbours are two constituent territories of the European Union, the overseas departments of France, Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast. Dominica comprises a land area of 750 km² (290 sq mi), and the highest point is Morne Diablotins, at 1,447 m (4,747 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census.   read more…

Theme Week Caribbean – Anguilla

25 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Island Harbour © Roy Googin/cc-by-3.0

Island Harbour © Roy Googin/cc-by-3.0

Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla, approximately 16 miles (26 kilometres) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The territory’s capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 35 square miles (91 km²), with a population of approximately 15,753 (2021).   read more…

Theme Week Caribbean – Saint Barthélemy

24 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Starus/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Starus/cc-by-sa-3.0

Saint Barthélemy is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in English. The island lies about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the Caribbean island Saint Martin, and is northeast of the Dutch islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, and the independent country of Saint Kitts and Nevis.   read more…

Theme Week Caribbean

23 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Parliament building in Nassau, Bahamas © Crm18

Parliament building in Nassau, Bahamas © Crm18

The Caribbean is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean) and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.   read more…

Eleuthera in the Bahamas

7 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Sunset explored at Tippy's Beach © flickr.com - Trish Hartmann/cc-by-2.0

Sunset explored at Tippy’s Beach © flickr.com – Trish Hartmann/cc-by-2.0

Eleuthera refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the smaller Harbour Island. Known in the 17th century as Cigateo, it lies 80 km (50 miles) east of Nassau. It is long and thin—180 km (110 miles) long and in places little more than 1.6 km (1.0 mile) wide. Its eastern side faces the Atlantic Ocean, and its western side faces the Great Bahama Bank. The topography of the island varies from wide rolling pink sand beaches to large outcrops of ancient coral reefs, and its population is approximately 11,000. The principal economy of the island is tourism.   read more…

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