Travel the Caribbeans Archives

Guadeloupe Attractions

BY Janice 4 February 2015 Travel the Caribbeans

There is an island archipelago in the Eastern Caribbean under the name of Guadeloupe that enchants visitors with its evocative blend of natural beauty, culture, and fascinating history. The Guadeloupe looks like a butterfly in shape with two main islands such as Grand-Terre in the east and Basse-Terre in the west, separated by a narrow mangrove channel called the Rivière Salée. Apart much hot spots at the exterior, which has lush mountainous with waterfalls, hot springs, an active volcano at the interior. Guadeloupe’s islands boast excellent opportunities for birding, photography, hiking, and water sports such as surfing, snorkeling, swimming, and diving.

Guadeloupe National Park, Basse-Terre Island:

Begin your trip in Guadeloupe by watching the Guadeloupe National Park in Basse-Terre Island. It spreads over 300 kilometers of hiking trails, where you could find the wide range of flora and fauna, including 100 species of orchids and 11 species of bats. This would be right spot for Birdwatchers. Here you will enjoy the diversity here with resident species such as the black woodpecker, pearly-eyed thrasher, and lesser Antillean pewee.
Along this route, visitors will find lookouts, picnic areas, jungle waterfalls, and a staffed roadside center at Maison de la Forêt. Many visitors also stop for a cooling swim at Cascade aux Ecrevisses, a small waterfall spilling into a pond.

La Soufrière:

La Soufrière is an active volcano and it is the highest peak in Antilles, where you can find the hot springs, mud pools, and fumaroles punctuate its barren black sides. Hikers love this two-hour climb with panoramic views from the highest points. There you could also encounter the largest of the mountainside lakes formed in craters on the volcanic massif surrounded by lush hillsides.

Terre-de-Bas Island:

Terre-de-Bas is the western island of Les Saintes and features small fishing villages swimming beaches and hiking trails. Two hours is sufficient to cross the island, which is considered one of the most natural and wild in the Guadeloupe archipelago. Grande Anse on Terre-de-Bas features a small 17th century church, a pretty bay and beach with huts for swimming and snorkeling, and a hiking path to the promontory of 273-meter Grande Montagne. Gros-Cap is the main village of Terre-de-Bas with a ferry landing, hotel, restaurant, and the starting points of roads and hiking trails.

Enjoy the trip…..

Most Scenic Destination in the Caribbean-Cayman Islands

BY Janice 12 December 2014 Travel the Caribbeans

Cayman Islands, an only place allow you to discover it, on land, in the air and even under the water, which is a British Overseas Territory, located in the western Caribbean Sea. Cayman Islands comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman; it is the excellent spot for the scuba-diving; Even though the Cayman Islands one of the world’s popular scuba-diving destinations, but divers try to avoid the islands visit in August and September, during these days, tropical storms can churn the waters. However, the islands have so many dive sites; you can always find places to dive, even in August and September.

Winter period, from mid-December to mid-April is the peak season in Cayman Islands, if you visit this spot, during that time, you would feel the difficulties like, hotels changes their prices to high, each attraction over flow with many visitors and you can’t able to enjoy each and every attractions completely, though many reasons reverse our trip plan but this high season from mid-December to mid-April is perfect time for hanging out on the beach, so weather-wise, April is the best month to visit the Cayman Islands; It boasts perfect warm weather before the heat of summer, Europeans prefer to visit this spot during summer.

While every diver need a unique in their diving spot, for those types of people Cayman Islands offers seven distinctive spots.
Bloody Bay Marine Park, Little Cayman: best diving area in the Caymans, boasts a spectacular combination of beauteous marine life and alluring water; it offers vertical forest of neon-yellow tube sponges, giant waving fans and bioluminescent corals and dive along with the gorgeous eagle rays, turtles, lobsters, Nassau groupers and cheeky triggerfish.

USS Kittiwake, Grand Cayman:

In 2011, a former navy ship was stripped of hazardous materials and sunk off in seven mile beach, during this trip you can explore the fun by discovering the 76.5m vessel; it comprises all five levels such as mess hall, hospital station, propulsion rooms and ammunition lockers, you can enjoy dive of max depth of 20m for all levels, while even snorkelers can get an awesome vista overthere.

Babylon, Grand Cayman:

Entire Island is covered by Grand Cayman, with popular dive sites on all four sides, but the most famous site is found along the North Wall, that’s Babylon, while dive you can truly enjoy the breathtaking scenery of mélange of black coral, giant purple sea fans and barrel sponges. Dive along with the parrot fish, barracuda, eagle rays, and green and hawksbill turtles and so on. Enjoy the Full-day diving safari in Babylon.

MV Captain Keith Tibbetts, Cayman Brac:

MV Captain Keith Tibbetts bring you the great experience wrecked parts during soviet moment, now this is a by over from home to barracudas, big groupers, moray eels and colorful tube sponges. Portions of the vessel are also still penetrable.

Stingray City, Grand Cayman:

Stingray City is the best choices of many divers, due to stingrays, where it’s possible to feed them by hand, walk around in the shallows and ‘hug’ the rays, and so on. Best shallow dives among all in the world.

Jackson’s Bight, Little Cayman:

Most divers come for Bloody Bay Wall, in Little Cayman, but Jackson’s Bight comprises chutes, tunnels, crevices and reefs located in the Bloody Bay Marine Park, it is spectacular by the tiny sailfin blennies to graceful eagle rays and sleek Caribbean reef sharks, and talk with tilefish, yellow-headed jawfish, peacock flounders and garden eels.

Ghost Mountain, Grand Cayman:

North point of Grand Cayman’s you can find a stunning diving site in Ghost Mountain, a giant, mushroom-shaped peak in the underwater, encircled by schooling fish boost this spot.

Never miss to enjoy the best diving experience from the world’s unparalleled Cayman Islands.

Featured image courtesy by blueheronco

Dominican Republic- Must Explore Caribbean Wonder

BY Janice 10 December 2014 Travel the Caribbeans

Best affordable beach destination in the group of Caribbean Islands is the Dominican Republic, which is brimming with package tourists and exciting activities. The Dominican Republic beckons tourist people across the country with the vast coral reefs, jungles, secluded islands,waterfalls, pine forests, and the highest peaks in the Caribbean, which has been enriched with the diverse ecosystems. However, the country enhanced with great culture and history. Santo Domingo is the capital city of Dominican Republic, which is the cultural jewel and a UNESCO World Heritage Site too.

Santo Domingo, the oldest city, preserves its rich history and culture yet, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with cobblestone streets, stunning Spanish Colonial architecture, and excellent restaurants. The most holiest America’s first Cathedral located in Santo Domingo, where as a visitor you must explore the list of attractions such as The Plaza de la Cultura is museum central,Fine Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Columbus Palace, Ozama Fort, National Botanical Gardens, Malecón, and the National Palace.(image by Rotuli)

Now begin to explore the eastern National Park, which is a home for hundreds of species of plants and animals, including 112 species of birds, where you can also find one of the Caribbean’s largest marine parks with an immense coral reef system. This marine park encompasses four species of sea turtles as well as manatees, bottle nose dolphins, and numerous species, which especially lives in tropical waters. All these attractions are the major aspects induces the diving and snorkeling activities. So enjoy the diving along with the manatees, bottle nose dolphins, and numerous species.

Next spot is Jarabacoa, located in the heart of Dominican Republic, which is the apt place to do mountain biking and exploring the alpine trails. The Jarabacoa is nested in the loop mountains so it emerging eco-tourism scene, where you can find three waterfalls such as El Salto de Baiguate, Salto Jimenoa Uno and Salto Jimenoa Dos. Among these three you can find the more spectacular scenery in Jimenoa waterfalls, so it would be the first preference all visitors than Baiguate.

The Salto Jimenoa Uno is 196ft) height, such a tremendous sight, with water gushes from a hole in the rock and crashes into a huge pool. It’s possible to swim here but the water is bracing to say the least.

While not as dramatic as Salto Jimenoa Uno, Salto Jimenoa Dos (40m/130ft) has a more inviting swimming hole (but it’s still icy cold!) and is reached via an interesting trail that takes you through a canyon and along suspension bridges.

Dominican Republic is not only offer natural wonders it also offers well-developed beach resorts and world-class golf courses, and many recreational opportunities to you. This is the great home of many attractive sites, almost all the sites will come in to the category of
vast coral reefs, waterfalls, jungles, secluded islands, pine forests, and the highest peaks in the Caribbean.

Right from the beginning the Dominican Republic is the right place for adventure seekers, where you can enjoy the white water rafting at Río Yaque del Norte. There you can also explore the rugged alpine terrain for hikers and bikers with many mountain trails, coast for water lovers can snorkel, dive, kayak, kite board, sail, and surf.

Enjoy this abundance of nature in Dominican Republic.

Featured image courtesy by ►CubaGallery