Basse-Terre in the Caribbean

26 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Town Hall of Basse-Terre town, the capital of Guadeloupe © LPLT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town Hall of Basse-Terre town, the capital of Guadeloupe © LPLT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Basse-Terre is the western and larger of the two main islands of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The capital of Guadeloupe, also called Basse-Terre, is located on the island. The eastern main island is called Grande-Terre. As Saint Marie and Honoré, Basse-Terre and the town of Deshaies in the northwest of the island have been the main filming and setting locations for the British-French dramedy television series Death in Paradise since 2011.   read more…

Tobago Cays in the Caribbean

11 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Stefan Schäfer, Lich/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Stefan Schäfer, Lich/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Tobago Cays are an archipelago located in the Southern Grenadines of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines comprising five small islands and extensive coral reefs. The cays – Petit Rameau, Petit Bateau, Baradal, Petit Tabac and Jamesby – are a popular tourism destination.   read more…

Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas

26 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Great Strirrup Cay © Armsoo/cc-by-3.0

Great Strirrup Cay © Armsoo/cc-by-3.0

Great Stirrup Cay is a 268-acre (108 ha) island that is part of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. Norwegian Cruise Line purchased the island from the Belcher Oil Company in 1977 and developed it into a private island for their cruise ship passengers. The northern part of the island has a sandy beach surrounded by rocks with snorkeling areas. The southern part features a helicopter airfield (with a sign reading “Great Stirrup Cay International Airport”), a large area without vegetation, and numerous concrete blocks. These are all remnants of a previous U.S. military installation and satellite tracking station. The island’s lighthouse was originally constructed in 1863 by the Imperial Lighthouse Service. Great Stirrup Cay is adjacent to Little Stirrup Cay, Royal Caribbean Cruises’ private island.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – San Juan

28 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Calle de la Virtud © G. Edward Johnson/cc-by-4.0

Calle de la Virtud © G. Edward Johnson/cc-by-4.0

San Juan (Spanish for “Saint John“) is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico (“City of Puerto Rico”, Spanish for rich port city).   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Desecheo Island

27 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  8 minutes

© US Fish & Wildlife Service

© US Fish & Wildlife Service

Desecheo (Spanish: Isla Desecheo) is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; 13 mi (21 km) from Rincón on the west coast (Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and 31 mi (50 km) northeast of Mona Island. It has a land area of 0.589 sq mi (377 acres; 153 ha; 1.53 km²). Politically, the island is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge, but part of Barrio Sabanetas of Mayaguez.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Mona Island

26 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pajaros Beach © Serge Aucoin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pajaros Beach © Serge Aucoin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Mona (Spanish: Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island. It measures about 7 miles by 4 miles (11 km by 7 km), and lies 41 mi (66 km) west of Puerto Rico, of which it is administratively a part. It is one of two islands that make up the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio in the municipality of Mayagüez.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Culebra Island

25 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Dewey © Steven595/cc-by-sa-4.0

Dewey © Steven595/cc-by-sa-4.0

Isla Culebra (Snake Island) is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico and geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. It is located approximately 17 miles (27 km) east of the Puerto Rican mainland, 12 miles (19 km) west of St. Thomas and 9 miles (14 km) north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 barrios and Culebra Pueblo (Dewey), the main town and the administrative center of the island. Residents of the island are known as culebrenses. With a population of 1,792 as of the 2020 Census, it is Puerto Rico’s least populous municipality.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Vieques Island

24 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

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

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

Vieques, officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and retains strong influences from 400 years of Spanish presence in the island.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico

23 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Old San Juan with the Luquillo Mountain Range in the background © U.S. National Park Service

Old San Juan with the Luquillo Mountain Range in the background © U.S. National Park Service

Puerto Rico (Spanish for rich port), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States with official Commonwealth status. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques. It has roughly 3.2 million residents, and its capital and most populous city is San Juan. Spanish and English are the official languages of the executive branch of government, though Spanish predominates.   read more…

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