EssentialExcursions
A Caribbean expert shares his
favorite beaches where you can...
Avoid other people
When I arrive on Conception Island in
the Bahamas, my reward is nine miles
of beaches with sand as soft as silk. No
ferries travel to this uninhabited
nature park, but Stella Maris Resort
Club (800-426-0466; stellamaris
diving.com), on neighboring Long
Island, runs diving trips there roughly
once a week. If there’s room, you can
come along ($50). Three hundred
miles south is tiny Salt Cay, in the
Turks and Caicos, home to North
Beach, my second-favorite deserted
shore. North Beach is a long, straight
strand as white as the salt that made
this cay famous back in the 17th century.
To get there, rent a bike at Salt Cay
Divers ($10) near Balfour Town, the
island’s only settlement. It’s an easy
(and flat) 15-minute ride to the beach.
View a volcano
Thanks to the ongoing eruptions of
the Soufrière Hills Volcano, you can’t
stroll along the Caribbean’s newest
strand: Sugar Bay Beach in Montser-
rat. But Captain Troy Deppermann of
the Green Monkey Inn and Dive Shop
(664-491-2628; divemontserrat
.com) gets me daringly close on one
of his boating Island Tours ($55 per
person for a minimum group of four).
Beyond the dunes I can see the haunt-
ing ruins of Plymouth, Montserrat’s
former capital and now a modern-day
Pompeii. If you like your scenery more
sedate, Deppermann will drop you
and a kayak at Rendezvous Beach,
a private little scimitar of sand acces-
sible only by boat or on foot ($15 plus
$10 per hour for the kayak).
VOLCANIC VACA TION On Montserrat
a boat tour will take you so close to the
rumbling Soufrière Hills Volcano that
you’ll smell the sulfurous fumes.
Ride a horse
“It’s everyone’s fantasy, galloping
through the waves on an empty
beach,” says Craig Barker as I saddle
up on a Paso Fino horse next to Shacks
Beach in Isabela, Puerto Rico. Barker,
a California surfer, came to the island’s
wild northwest coast for the waves
but stayed to run Tropical Trail Rides
(787-872-9256; tropicaltrailrides.com).
He and wife Michelle run twice-daily
trips ($45) along Survival Beach, a
wide swath of honey-colored sand
backed by 150-foot limestone cliffs
pocked with eerie sea caves.
HORSE PLA Y Why walk when you can
gallop next to the waves on Puerto
Rico’s unspoiled beaches?
Watch for whales
Pillory Beach, on Grand Turk island in
Turks and Caicos, has a front-row seat
to one of the planet’s greatest wildlife
migrations. From January through
early April, hundreds of humpback
whales pass 400 yards offshore
through the Turks Island Passage on
their way to mate and give birth farther south. Sit on the deck at the Ike
& Donkey beach bar at the Bohio Dive
Resort (649-231-3572; bohioresort
.com), order some conch salad, and
have your camera ready. Another
option: whale whisperer Captain
Everette Freites with nearby Oasis
Divers (800-892-3995; oasisdivers
.com) runs three-hour up-close excursions in February and March ($65)
aboard his boat, the Prince of Whales.
Build a sandcastle
Pack your pail and shovel and head to
Grenada for perfect sugary southern-Caribbean sand. Want to dazzle an
audience with your castle-building
skills? Go to Grand Anse Beach, a
smooth horseshoe of white sand with
panoramic views of St. George’s, the
quaint port capital. If you’d rather
build in silence, visit quieter Morne
Rouge Beach, a more secluded strand
a little farther south, beyond Quarantine Point. —Jad Davenport
