St. Maartin rewards the curious shopper. The two main streets are connected by clean, crowded alleys, full of interesting shops. here are two: A little cigar and sundry shop, called Juggie’s Place. The motto on his door is “We don’t do fakes,” and it’s run by a somewhat intimidating-looking but friendly fellow. His claim to fame is that he advertises “You can use clean restrooms, free!” Apparently the islond gives you two restroom choices—be a customer, or use an uncared-for facility. He said he suddenly started getting people into his store when he offered this third alternative. He has this guy outside his door:

Rasta Claus

The watchword for this guy is the vaguely sinister admonition that you need to watch out for what he might bring you for Christmas.

The other remarkable business is an excursion available from your ship, called Snorkel Safaris. “Safari” might be a bit of an overstatement, but the two young guys (mid-20′s) who run the operation have fixed up a pretty good underwater park (scuttled some wrecks, built an underwater walkway) a few minutes by water from the port. They have a nice, well-equipped pontoon “island” equipped with a grill and coolers for beverages. They serve the best hamburger I had on the whole cruise. You get some training and gear, and spend as long as you want poking around the bay. When you’re done, they’ll drop you off in town or at the port. Money well spent. I can’t find the photo of the very photogenic couple who was with us, or I’d share it. Maybe my wife deleted it.

We saw two retired America’s Cup sailboats on the way to town. St. Maartin is the only island to offer a ride on one, and you get to pick between them.

America's Cup racers

The town has a reputation for good shopping— the price one place offered on a Nikon camera body was really tempting. But the town has a million jewelry stores—at this point the theme of two breaks down.

Have you been to the French side? Tell us about it.

If Dominica has 365 rivers, Antigua boasts 365 beaches. It also has the best harbor in the Caribbean, bar none. Admiral Lord Nelson built a naval port there, and now it’s a World Heritage Site. It was restored about 20 years ago, and it’s the finest example of Georgian architecture in the Western Hemisphere (my opinion). The harbor reaches far into the island, and by way of an S-shaped channel, so it’s even safe during a hurricane, unlike the other ports in the Caribbean.

Sailors have a long tradition of music. One song has the chorus:

I’m marching inward from the shore
Over me shoulder I’m carryin’ an oar
When someone asks me “what’s that funny thing ya got?”
I know I’ll never go to sea no more no more.

All that to mention that the song mentions Lord Nelson in one of its verses (sorry—I don’t know the exact words). He has a cure for seasickness: “Sit underneath a tree.”

Nelson's bay seen from a home on one of the hillsides.

Have you ever sat underneath a tree in Antigua? Tell us about it in the comments.

The island is noticeably different from Dominica. Barbados, unlike many Caribbean islands, is not volcanic. It’s a pile of limestone, so the hills are low and rolling, and grass is clearly evident on the slopes. This has the advantage that the ground water on the island is drinkable—the limestone filters the water, unlike the hard basalts of the volcanic islands that let their rainwater run off.

Barbados is by far the most touristy of the islands mentioned so far in this series, and that’s saying a lot. You have to walk through a (bright, clean) shopping building to get to the tour buses, and the port is in an industrial area, so you pretty much need to take a taxi or tour bus to get anywhere.

The snorkeling is pretty good. The island is dotted with wrecks in fairly shallow water, and the sand on the beaches is a beautiful white. Beware the word “pirate,” though. It means “party, rum included.” they might take you to a nice wreck to snorkel around, but it’ll be accompanied by unbelievably loud Caribbean music and a lot of carrying on on the way back.

You'll note that not everyone on a cruise is beautiful.

If you care to go on a more land-based excursion, a fellow named Carlos has a little shop outside the terminal. He will rent you a four-wheeled ATV and lead you to the northern tip of the island and back, and you get to stop at a nice beach or two while you’re at it. Barbados supports other water sports than diving, by the way. The east side—they call it the Atlantic side—is pretty rocky and windy and the surfing is excellent there, not to mention highly popular wind surfing on the south. Which I don’t think you can do in Texas.

Have you ever visited Barbados? Tell us about it in the comments.

Buildings dot the mountainsides

Dominica is one of the islands they recommend you not visit independently, but join a tour group from your cruise ship. The place does not look dangerous, but as you travel around the island you will see a lot of rusted corrugated sheet metal patchwork, peeling paint, and buildings either incomplete or utter disrepair. The streets are narrow and often steep.

A lot of homes are both occupied and extremely shabby. The building code must be a lot more casual than in the US. English is the official language, but unless you speak Creole French or Spanish, and know the island and the culture already, you will probably feel uncomfortable. And you’ll probably look like a tourist no matter what you chose to wear.
The island has some industry, particularly coconut products and bananas, not to mention tourism.
All that aside, though, the island is beautiful and the people are friendly. The tops of the unbelievably tall and steep mountains are in the clouds. Rain forest is no exaggeration, either. The dry side of the island gets maybe 50 inches of rain a year, and the wet side gets several hundred. You need all those rivers!

Travellerspoint – Active online community of international travellers. Travellerspoint features a wiki travel guide, forums, blogs, photography, interactive trip maps, accommodation and more. (I’d put a comma before the “and more,” but hey, I’m a curmudgeon.)

I applied to see if maybe they’d include us in their list of associates, but even if they don’t, their site is worth a look.

In other news: Look for an ezine article about costs they don’t tell you about when they advertise a cruise. It should be out in about a week. Start saving up—the fare is the least of your worries.

Have you found another good travel site? Mention it in the comments.

Oh off we went a-traveling, one nasty snowy day,
We heard of warmer climate south and headed off that way.
We made it through security and carried all our gear—
We’re both too cheap to pay a fee to someone else, I fear.

The flight was boring, long, and dark, and narrow was my seat,
Except my wife was next to me and that was quite a treat!
The arms tilt up between the seats, and if you are a pair
It lets you have a bit more room, and you can snuggle there!

We landed in San Juan that day and wondered where to go,
But then we found a taxi cab who knew the traffic flow
and promised he would get us there all safely to our ship.
He aimed that car! ‘Twas flying low, he drove at such a clip!
He got us to the ship in time, and sent us on our way;
I hope I never have a ride like the one I had today.

Consider an all-inclusive resort.

All-inclusives generally have a single price that includes airfare, all food, all beverages, all lodging, all activities, all tips. Cruises can take you to several locations, but the resorts try to make up for it by having a large enough (say, 20 acres) and interesting enough physical plant to make up for the variety of destinations on a cruise.

One resort's accommodations

At an all-inclusive resort you don’t need to go on a paid excursion to take in horseback riding, snorkeling, scuba, sailing, fishing, hiking, and guided tours into town or nearby historic sites. They are included, and generally offered several times a day. You won’t run out of things to do, and the schedule is yours. Not into snorkeling? They have a pool too big to fit on a cruise ship, and at least one resort features big-name video games that aren’t even on the market yet. Maybe you like active (volleyball, tennis) sports or sedate (billiards) games. Included. Not to mention lounging on a really nice beach, or spa services (some of the spa services might be extra), and food.

Maybe golf is your game

Food! All-inclusives have several restaurants, all part of the package. Calling them “restaurants” might be an understatement. Take your pick of these modifiers: exotic, themed, gourmet, high-class (or casual), always open, sushi, French, Italian, western, seafood, even local.

Beaches is the foremost family-oriented resort, and they have several attractive locations. Sandals is a popular couples and honeymoon location. Do a quick internet search and you can find a pile more.

You can even get married at an all-inclusive. Included, but you have to bring your own spouse-to-be.

The goal of an all-inclusive resort is to offer so many things on site that you feel no need to go elsewhere. Eventually you have to come home, though. When you do, come back to this site and tell us about it.

Here are a few tips from an expert:

• Look for several taxis from the same company. These are more likely to be legitimate and have a stake in giving good service.
• Ask to see their business license. No license, no customer.
• Ask to take their picture. On the one hand, it’ll make a good keepsake, and on the other hand, a bad guy won’t want his likeness available to the authorities.
• Avoid taxis and other services that sport a magnetic sign on the door as their evidence of being legitimate.
• Don’t go with anyone you have a funny feeling about.
• Pick a driver/captain whose grasp of English is good, unless you speak the local lingo yourself. Clarify everything in advance.
• Pay at the end, not up front. Tipping is okay.
• Expect something more informal than a sponsored excursion.

When you come back, come here and leave tell about your adventure.

The islands allow you to just get off the boat and walk around, and most (all?) ports have plenty of local taxis offering to squire you about and show you the sights. Shop carefully.

The cruise lines themselves screen and approve certain vendors, and even though you pay a premium for them, you are pretty much guaranteed a safe and enjoyable experience. Cruise-sponsored excursions come in two types. The ones that you sign up for in advance, and the ones you buy on board. The cruise company web site lists them all, and you are wise to look over  the sign-up-in-advance excursions and get on the list early because many have limited capacity (when the bus is full, they don’t stack passengers on the roof) and you can miss out.

Golf Outing

Here is some idea of that to expect to pay, per person:

• Golf excursions run in the $185 range
• Scuba dives start at about $100
• Snorkeling starts at about $35
• You can rent a Harley (motorcycle) for about $500
• Cheapest were  visits to some butterfly gardens, and a cable car ride, each for around $20.

Excursions vary considerably in content. You can get dropped off at a beach, go on a dozen kinds of bus tour, take a boat to a hundred good snorkel spots (gear provided), hike up mountains, and go horseback riding. And that’s by no means everything. The amount of included food and drink varies. The amount of shopping varies. The amount of exercise varies! The duration varies from about an hour to about 5 hours.

You can’t possibly do everything, but you short-change yourself if you don’t do something on shore. Take some of that money you saved on the boat tickets and go on an adventure!

And when you get back, come here and leave a few comments.

• Lay out everything you plan to pack on the bed. Put half of it back; pack the rest.
• If you’re a guy, and you’re going on a cruise, pack your old undies. Throw them out as the cruise progresses. You eliminate laundry and having to pack dirty underwear when you return home. (Sounds gross, but speaking as a guy, it makes sense.)
• Don’t fold your clothing when you pack. Roll all your clothes into cylinders. The clothes don’t wrinkle, and for some reason, the items seem to take up less space. Easier to find stuff, too.