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Tourism Lagging, Staten Island Refuses To Hype Wu-Tang Connection

December 1, 2008 at 2:00 PM | 2 Comments

Hating on New York's oft-overlooked fifth borough is a bit of a cliche, but you can't argue with the facts: An information kiosk at Manhattan's Whitehall Ferry Terminal about arts and culture on the island has been shuttered due to lack of interest.

Not surprisingly, most of the questions asked of staffers--whose ostensible mission was to encourage culture vultures to visit SI--were simply about the free Staten Island Ferry or about visits to the Statue of Liberty, located on a different island in New York Harbor.

And so the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island will close the kiosk, replacing its part-time staff of six with an informational video playing on a loop. Of course, if they really wanted to drum up interest in the island's cultural offerings, they'd be flogging Wu-Tang tourism 24/7.

Related Stories:
· Ferry Terminal Culture Kiosk Kaput [Staten Island Advance]
· Airport Photo Shoot: Staten Island Travel for J-Lo [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bob Jagendorf]

Somali Pirates Strike Again Near Nascent Tourist Hotspot

November 25, 2008 at 9:05 AM | 0 Comments

These Somali pirates have hijacked everything from a freighter full of tanks to a megacruiser awash in oil. But the latest report out of the Gulf of Aden involves the soon-to-be-hot Yemeni island of Socotra: Bandits overwhelmed the MV Adina sometime in the past few days, Yemeni officials determined, after its shipment of steel didn't arrive on the island as planned on November 20.

Remote Socotra, which was featured in T magazine in 2007, is right in the middle of the pirate-friendly Gulf of Aden, far enough away from all other civilization that it has the most biological diversity on Earth after Hawaii and the Galapagos.

At the time of the T article, only about 2,500 tourists visited annually, though that was 10 times the number of visitors seen just a few years prior. With a UN plan for slow and sustainable development, Socotra is hoping to cash in on expanded tourism while keeping the local culture and environment intact. Sounds terrific, though we could do without the pirate assaults!

Related Stories:
· Socotra Archipelago Conservation and Development Programme [Official Site]
· Somali Pirates Hijack Yemeni Cargo Ship [Reuters, via NYT]
· Keeping up with the Pirates [Jaunted]

[Photo of Socotra: UncleEddy]

Cage-Free Swimming With Sharks

November 21, 2008 at 10:15 AM | 0 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

I was standing on the edge of a pontoon boat as a dozen Caribbean reef sharks circled below, watching, waiting, ready to feast. I popped my regulator into my mouth, adjusted my mask and lept fin first into the killer fish-infested waters.

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Captain Bill’s Wild Blue Hole Ride

November 20, 2008 at 5:00 PM | 2 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

It was the sixth day of my week-long Andros Island vacation when I realized that I had yet to set even one (bare) foot outside the 100 yard beach radius surrounding Small Hope Bay Lodge. Between all the amazing scuba diving trips, an abundance of hammocks and a self-serve beach bar, there wasn't a whole lot of incentive to leave . But considering there were miles of uninhabited and virtually untouched wilderness just beyond the lodge's borders, I figured a little DIY exploration was in order.

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Mythical Creatures Of Andros

November 20, 2008 at 12:35 PM | 1 Comment

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

The Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, The Abominable Snowman. Until a recent trip to the Bahamas, I thought I had all my legendary monster bases pretty much covered. That was before I landed on Andros and started hearing the names Chickcharney and Lusca thrown around in casual conversation. Apparently there were a few mythical creatures my school teachers neglected to mention.

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The Great Bonefish Debate

November 19, 2008 at 5:15 PM | 0 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

With a little time to kill in the Nassau airport before we hopped a puddle jumper to Andros Island, my travel buddy Mark and I had decided a little "Welcome to the Bahamas" drink was in order. So we pulled up a few bar stools at Marshall's--it's in the domestic terminal--and ordered our first of many island rums. It was Marshall, the delightfully friendly owner, himself who poured our drinks before asking us to fill out his NFL fantasy football card. Since I’m pretty much a college-ball only gal (Go Seminoles!), I can only hope I didn’t lose too much money for poor Marshall that day. But I digress!

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The Art Of Androsia

November 18, 2008 at 4:30 PM | 0 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett continues her Andros Field Trip...

You’ve seen them used as beach blankets. You’ve watched women tie them around their bikini-clad waists. Perhaps your college roommate even used one as a wall hanging. Give up? The answer is batik.

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but if you’d asked me what batik was before my recent visit to Andros Island in the Bahamas, my top three guesses probably would have been:

1) Exotic hard wood used to make furniture. Boring!

2) Stiff sugarcane rum. Much better!

3) An indigenous plant with hallucinogenic properties. Um... no comment!

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Journey Into The Great Blue Hole

November 18, 2008 at 10:15 AM | 0 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett just got back from diving in The Bahamas, and this week, she'll have a full report on the shark-seeing, rum and mythical creatures that make the islands worth visiting.

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Oman's Daymaniyat Islands, Where The Sharks Are Friendly

November 18, 2008 at 7:55 AM | 0 Comments

Marketers at the tourism board of Oman keep talking up the country in a way that makes us want to go there, and the latest attraction is the Daymaniyat Islands, a bit more than an hour by boat from Muscat.

We already knew that sea turtles are a big deal in Oman, but apparently near the Daymaniyats you can also find hawksbill turtles, clown fish, stingray, moray eels and barracuda. With dive tourism just starting up the locals are advocating "hands-off" interaction with the local wildlife:

Most notably with moray eels, sea snakes and sharks that inhabit the waters (though the sharks do not attack humans).

No wonder Oman has such great tourism potential--they've even trained their sharks not to eat us. We're on our way with our tanks and flippers.

Related Stories:
· Oman Ministry of Tourism [Official Site]
· Oman's Beautiful Daymaniyat Islands [eTravel]
· We Love Oman, Because You Can See Sea Turtles [Jaunted]

[Photo: boens]

Masters Of The Andros Island Dive Universe

November 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM | 0 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett just got back from diving in The Bahamas, and this week, she'll have a full report on the shark-seeing, rum and mythical creatures that make the islands worth visiting.

Before you (scuba) dive headfirst into the third longest reef system in the world (and second largest in the Atlantic Ocean), you’re gonna want to call in the professionals. So that’s exactly what I did on my recent getaway to the Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros.

Check out my video interview with my two favorite dive masters, Amanda Lee and Loren Kearney, for an insider's take on diving the 142-mile long Andros Barrier Reef and all the bad-ass sites that make Small Hope a scuba diver’s paradise!

Related Stories:
· Bahamas Travel coverage [Jaunted]

Big Love For Small Hope

November 17, 2008 at 10:15 AM | 2 Comments

Lost Girl Jennifer Baggett just got back from diving in The Bahamas, and this week, she'll have a full report on the shark-seeing, rum and mythical creatures that make the islands worth visiting.

Every time I see one of those Corona commercials with the bare feet and beer bottles chillin’ out on a stretch of palm-fringed, powdery white sand, I always think "If I could be anywhere in the whole world right now, it’d be there." Sitting by the ocean, a frosty cocktail in hand, completely sans shoes... Ahh! As luck would have it, I discovered just such a place during an impromptu vacation to Andros Island.

Desperate to escape the chill and gloom that had settled over Manhattan, I accepted a spontaneous invite from my friend Mark for a week of beach bumming, bungalow-side boozing and world-class scuba diving in the Bahamas. In less than a New York minute, I’d stuffed my passport, PADI card and a few bikinis in a bag and was ready to head south in pursuit of the much hotter sun. Although it's the largest island in the Bahamas, Andros is far less inhabited and touristy than its Nassau neighbor yet just 15 minutes by plane from the US, making it an ideal destination for a quick trip.

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Laurence Fishburne Lights Up The Bahamas

November 10, 2008 at 4:00 PM | 0 Comments

Film buffs should slather on the sunblock for a trip next month to the Bahamas International Film Festival, taking place in and around Nassau December 4-11. In its 5th year, the festival celebrates both international films and Bahamian works. A nice perk in this economy? Tickets to individual showings are just $5.

This year Laurence Fishburne will receive the Career Achievement Award and Anna Faris will be honored with the festival's Rising Star Tribute. Films scheduled to be screened include "Appasionata," a German short made up of moments in which soldiers try to escape the demons of war, "Artists of the Bahamas," a documentary film that explores the lives and artistic works of eleven of the seminal visual artists of the Bahamas, and "The Deep," based on a poem written by Eric Best for his daughter while he was sailing alone from Hawaii to San Francisco.

Spring for the "Producer" package to the festival ($2,500) and you'll get passes for four to about everything including the Chopard VIP Opening Reception, Gala Celebration, Career Achievement Tribute Ceremony, backstage events and Closing Ceremony. Hotel options offering deals with the festival in Nassau abound at the British Colonial Hilton Nassau ($150 a night), Comfort Suites Paradise Island ($125 a night) or Bay View Suites ($135 a night).

Related Stories:
· Datebook: Nassau, The Bahamas [NYT]
· Bahamas International Film Festival [Official Site]

[Photo of the 2007 fest: BIFF]

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