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ISLANDS photographer Jon Whittle recently filed this report from his trip to the Caribbean island of Martinique.
I’m going to die...
The thought came to me just two hours into the strenuously beautiful hike up the slopes of Mount Pelee in Martinique. I had been fine making my way up the more gentle pathway from the first refuge - I was even OK, though certainly winded, as we crested l’Aileron, the first and shortest dome en route to the summit. But after a near vertical ascent we came to the bowl shaped caldera marking the halfway point to the highest peak of the volcano. Upon staring up at the fearsome climb to the 1902 blast dome I realized that my fate was sealed. I was hiking with three extremely fit people, two Martinique islanders: my driver and guide Marc Martial, and local hiking expert Christian Bapin. We were joined by an older French woman whose name I never got as I’m positive she hated me for being a portly American.
She turned and glared my way as I stared up at the steep slope ahead of us. “Hey chubby,” she said in French, “You’re going to die.” At least that what I assume she said, because I don’t speak French. In fact, I had known for a long time that I don’t speak French but it never became obvious to me until I came to Martinique to hike Mt. Pelee. This exchange didn’t phase me a bit as I forced her aside with my camera pack and made a bold stride toward the edge of the precipice. She passed me several minutes later while I was paused, wheezing, with a smug look on her pointy face. I pretended to take a photo as an excuse for my halt and I’m sure she was fooled. After a time the spots cleared from my eyes and I stopped hearing Elvis telling me to sit down and take a load off. I continued onward.
Tags: Martinique
Everyone wants to live the island life, whether for a week or a decade or all the way through retirement. We're researching our annual Best Islands to Live On special issue right now, and it got the ISLANDS editor thinking about the best islands to "rent" on. If you're not ready to make the big leap yet to pack up your worldly possessions and move to an island, you can still try the island life with an extended stay at a villa. Which brings us to the latest "Best" survey below. Make your pick for the best island villa and you could appear in the July issue of ISLANDS magazine. If the survey doesn't appear in your browser, go directly to the villa survey here.
The new "Pure Escapes" issue of ISLANDS magazine is on sale now at newsstands everywhere, plus now on the iPad! Visit the ISLANDS Store for all the ways you can read ISLANDS now. And I just posted this gallery of my favorite photos from this new May 2010 issue.
Tags: best photos
ISLANDS' most intrepid traveler, Ty Sawyer, is currently on the "Trip of a Lifetime" -- the ISLANDS Magazine Melanesia Discovery cruise with Orion Expedition Cruises. His full story and photo gallery will appear later this year in ISLANDS magazine. But for now, he has sent in these dispatches for a taste of the trip so far.
I thought this extreme angle of the front of a Maori War Canoe seemed interesting. It's from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Island, New Zealand, which is the place where the treaty was signed between the Maori and the English. This is considered the "birthplace" of New Zealand. In Maori the translation is: "te pitowhenua."
Behind the scenes here at ISLANDS, we're rolling out streamlined, more visual content with the launch of the new islands.com. As part of that, we're planning to offer you an easier-to-navigate directory of recommended island destinations. You can click on this interactive Google map at right to see what we have planned -- highlighting the popular Hawaii and Caribbean destinations more in-depth, while still covering every region of the world. Leave a comment to let me know what you think.
We're very excited about the March issue of ISLANDS magazine that debuts on newsstands Tuesday, February 16. (You can read the digital version right now in the ISLANDS Store.) Yes, this issue has the two covers shown at right. The eastern U.S. will get the Tahiti sailboat, the western U.S. will get the Kauai cover. All of us editors would love to hear your feedback by leaving a comment at the bottom of this blog post or by visiting ISLANDS on Facebook. And for a sneak preview of what's inside the issue, take a look at this table of contents below or click to the online table of contents that I just posted. Hope you enjoy the issue!
Save $7,000 on this "Trip of a Lifetime" cruise -- the ISLANDS Magazine Melanesian Discovery with Orion Expedition Cruises. This special deal was just announced for free round-trip airfare and luxury hotels as part of this 18-night exclusive cruise from Auckland to Rabaul, March 1-17. Find out more about the deal and take advantage of it by clicking here.
Just added a Twitter widget to the ISLANDS blogs that tracks live Caribbean deals. Hope it helps you with your trip planning. If you like it, we'll sprinkle more of these live feeds into our destination pages and other content.
Tags: Deals


