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 – 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…

St. Kitts Scenic Railway

20 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

© flickr.com - David Stanley/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – David Stanley/cc-by-2.0

St. Kitts Scenic Railway is a 29 kilometres (18 mi) long narrow gauge railway line along the coastline of the island of St. Kitts in the eastern Caribbean, with a track gauge of 762 mm (2 ft 6 in). The original track was laid from 1912 to 1926, to deliver sugar cane from the plantations to the new centralised sugar mill in Basseterre. The sugar mill was built by a group of investors in 1912, to reduce processing costs and increase profitability by applying the principle of economies of scale, due to a sugar price drop caused by the worldwide introduction of sugar beets. Previously, each plantation had its own sugar mill. The first section of the railway line, from the Factory Pier to the St. Kitts Basseterre Sugar Factory, with a West Line branch running 4 miles (6.4 km) to Palmetto Point at Trinity and a North Line branch running out to Mills’s at Bourryeau Estate, was completed on 28 February 1912. It was celebrated with a special train carrying invited dignitaries. The railway was then operated seasonally from February to June for the annual sugar harvest.   read more…

Kralendijk on Bonaire

24 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Fort Oranje Lighthouse in Kralendijk © flickr.com - Larry Syverson/cc-by-sa-2.0

Fort Oranje Lighthouse in Kralendijk © flickr.com – Larry Syverson/cc-by-sa-2.0

Kralendijk is the capital city and main port of the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. The language spoken in the town is Papiamentu, but Dutch and English are widely used. As of 2017, the town had a population of 10,620. In Papiamentu, the town is often called Playa or “beach”. Off the coast of Kralendijk lies the uninhabited island of Klein Bonaire, noted for diving and snorkeling activities. This small island can be reached by water taxi, or, for divers, by practically all of the local dive operators.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Margarita Island

25 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Juan Griego Pier © The Photographer

Juan Griego Pier © The Photographer

Margarita Island (Isla de Margarita) is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. Primary industries are tourism, fishing and construction. Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive on Margarita Island in 1498. The local natives were the Guaiqueries people. The coast of the island was abundant in pearls, which represented almost a third of all New World tribute to the Spanish Crown. Margarita Island was fortified against the increasing threat of pirate attacks, and some fortifications remain today. It was the center of Spanish colonial Margarita Province, established in 1525.   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…

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