Tag: adventure vacations
Secret Bay in Dominica isn’t a secret to the staff at ISLANDS. We visited the breathtaking resort a few months ago and shared our findings. Now, TripAdvisor has named Secret Bay its No. 1 small hotel in the Caribbean. We couldn’t agree more, and this gallery shows why it’s worth a second look. | More photos from Secret Bay | Travel with the ISLANDS photographers
Just because January is over doesn't mean you can blow off those New Year's resolutions. At least one resort is happy to provide financial incentives for you to meal those pesky goals. The Westin Resort & Casino in Aruba is encouraging wellness year-round with a new "13 Resolutions for 2013" program. The year-long initiative offers guests 13 perks catered to the top 13 most commonly-broken resolutions. For example, looking to "unplug" more in 2013? Then you'll get a nice room credit if you turn in your cell phone to the front desk. Find out what other incentives await.
Lavish resorts. Infinity pools. If there’s such a thing as a complaint in the Maldives, it’s that my visits rarely allow much exploring or a chance to meet many locals. The resorts – and the scattered nature of the region’s 1,190 islands -- make staying put easy. Too easy. On my last trip, however, I discovered the Four Seasons Explorer, a luxury dive boat that carries 22 guests on 3-, 4-, and 7-night safaris through the archipelago.
It's no small task to be known as Australia's most awarded luxury nature resort, but Hayman Island has proven time and again that it's up to the challenge. I was tasked with spending a few days at this incredible resort island and let me assure you the hype is real. By the time my stay had come to end I'd taken a scenic flight over the Great Barrier Reef, eaten my weight in 5-star cuisine, picnicked on a private sandbar, and seen humpback whales from my window. It's hard to make time move slowly in the face of this much pampering but thanks to the magic of photography I have plenty to dwell on until the next time I can find my way down under.
ISLANDS travel expert Ty Sawyer journeys with Orion Expedition Cruises on this rare trip to secret islands of the Pacific, plus iconic places from New Zealand to Papua New Guinea.Find more cruise trip ideas in the ISLANDS Best Cruises Travel Guide.
Discover war canoes, exploding volcanoes, and more on the remote island outposts of Melanesia in this adventure with Orion Expedition Cruises. See more cruise trip ideas in the ISLANDS Best Cruises Travel Guide.Read Ty's full cruise article. See his Melanesia travel tips.
ISLANDS reveals the secrets of the Easter Island statues and more in this exclusive feature article
Wales. It's all about castles and ancestries. That's what I thought until a stop in Burry Port, along the country's south coast, about an hour into our first day. We'd stopped here because when Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air in June 1928, the plane landed right here. It would be worth a look. Through a proud Welsh accent, peppered with lots of strange consonants shot from the roof of his mouth, Rhys Anthony stood on the pier and pointed to two beaches behind this centuries-old limestone wall. They total 15 miles in length. It's the start of the summer season here and on 15 miles of beach we saw fewer than a dozen people. But ...
“Bamboo is taking over St. Lucia. I’ve seen it used to make vases, chairs, walls and (hit the brakes!) bicycle frames. But nowhere does it get my attention like it does on the massage table at the Jalousie Plantation. Not the bamboo cabinets or the bamboo light shades, but the bamboo club in the hands of a masseuse named Lucita. ‘What have you been doing?’ she asks, rolling the bamboo over my hamstrings. I start to tell her, just as something kicks loose from my legs...
It's day 3 in New Zealand. I'm sitting overlooking the break at Raglan. I've spent the last two hours paddling through these waves, and wish I could have stretched the session longer. It's Autumn here, and my wetsuit was no match for the chill of approaching Winter. My whole body has gone numb, and after hiking from Auckland to Raglan, I'm thankful for a bit of relief.
