Introduction

In 2016, for over three months from mid-May to mid-August, we island hopped through the big sweeping arc of islands that is the archipelago of the Caribbean. We started in the south, in the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao and finished a quarter of a year later in the north, in Jamaica and Cuba. In total we visited twenty one states and territories.

The trip had everything: great beaches and snorkelling (of course), friendly locals everywhere we went, spectacular waterfalls and forests, compelling and often dark history, good food, lots of reggae music and local rum. What more could you want?

We wrote many posts during the trip. Click here to see a list of those.

But, at this time, when COVID -19 still makes international travel virtually impossible, we decided to revisit this trip via producing some posts with our favourite shots. We’ve divided this project into three parts: Southern Caribbean, Central Caribbean, and Northern Caribbean. The overall order follows the sequence in which we visited the islands.

the abandoned town of plymouth, montserrat

In December 2020 we published the first part – Southern Caribbean. Here we present the Central Caribbean which covers Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Sint Maarten, St Martin, and Saba. We hope you find it interesting.

Dominica

Nature Isle

For those who don't know, Dominica, the ex-British colony is not to be confused with the Spanish speaking Dominican Republic far to the NW. It's a small island nation of just over 70,000 inhabitants. Dominica is volcanic and mountainous with much of the original rainforest vegetation still intact, hence it’s reputation as a nature isle.

Black Sand Beaches

It does not have the long stretches of white sandy beaches that lend themselves to large resort development, so it has escaped this to date. Though it does have some very nice black sand beaches such as Mero and Purple Turtle.

Trafalgar Falls

Trafalgar Falls is one of Dominica's most popular tourist destinations. In the high season it gets a lot of visitors, especially when cruise ships are in Roseau as it is only a short drive from the capital.

Indian River

The buttressed roots of the trees along the river are an interesting feature of Indian River and look positively surreal in some stretches, especially if the light is right. A rowing boat trip with a local boatman is a popular tourist activity.

Roseau View

Roseau is Dominica’s capital. Roseau's Botanical Gardens are a short walk from the centre of town. From the gardens there is a track that ascends the hill behind the city from where you can get a great view of busy Roseau below – this is Jack's Walk.

Antigua

Nelson’s Dockyard

One of the most important historical sites in the Caribbean is Nelson's Dockyard at English Harbour, Antigua. The British Navy occupied the dockyards for nearly 150 years from 1745 to 1889, and it was critical in servicing the British fleet across the region during those years.

Fort Berkeley

Adjacent to Nelson’s Dockyard is Fort Berkeley. It was built in 1704 and sits guarding the entrance to the dockyard harbour. It is a short walk from the dockyard and there is enough remaining from the original fort to make it a worthwhile short detour.

Middle Ground Trail

From near the fort is the beginning of Middle Ground Trail (1mile/1.6km). It traverses the cliffs along the coast for that distance. There are great views and a number of remnants of the colonial era fortifications.

Pidgeon Beach

There are many excellent beaches in Antigua. Our favourite was Pigeon Beach.

Shirley Heights

Shirley Heights is another important historical site and National Park with more 18th century fortifications perched overlooking English Harbour. But, it's other claim to fame is its Sunday night barbecues which attract locals and tourists in big numbers with performances from a local steel band adding to the Caribbean vibe.

Montserrat

Getting There

We flew in on a small plane (pilot and 7 passengers and it was full) with Air Montserrat from Antigua with the flight taking only 20 minutes. All flights to Montserrat start from Antigua.

The Capital Abandoned

A series of volcanic eruptions starting in 1995 by the Soufriere Hills volcano led to the capital Plymouth being evacuated, with the bulk of Montserrat's population shifting to the north away from the danger zone in the centre and south.

Plymouth Buried

Over the coming years the Soufriere Hills volcano continued to be volatile with many dramatic incidents where pyroclastic flows sent huge volumes of lava, rock, dust, and deadly gases in the region where Plymouth stood, increasingly buried by volcanic debris.

A Modern Day Pompeii in the Caribbean

With our local guesthouse host we did a tour of the volcano-affected zone (that part to which people are allowed access – two thirds of the island is a permanent exclusion zone for all except the volcanologists).

Oriole Walkway Trek

Of course, there is more to Montserrat than just the volcano. The steep slopes of the various hills are covered with forest and make for wonderful walks. We chose to do the Oriole Walkway trek.

Montserrat Sunset

Doesn’t need any explanation.

St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN)

The Capital, Bassterre

With a population of just over 50,000 and a landmass of only 270 square kilometres, St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) is one of the world's smallest sovereign states. The capital is Bassterre on St Kitts.

Wandering the Town

The small capital has some interesting Georgian stone buildings which give it a particular character and also a sense that it would survive a hurricane with such sturdy structures. It's roots go back to French settlement in 1627 which makes it one of the oldest towns in the Eastern Caribbean.

Charlestown, Nevis

A 45 minute ferry ride from Bassterre delivers you to Charlestown, the largest town on the island of Nevis.

Hamilton - Pre the Musical

Alexander Hamilton, one of the USA’s founding fathers, and the subject of the hugely successful musical – Hamilton, was born on Nevis. We visited the house of his birth and associated museum.

Anyone for Cricket?

Being an ex-British colony and part of the West Indies SKN is cricket mad. We were lucky enough to attend a local match between SKN and St Lucia. SKN won, much to the local fans’ delight.

Saint Martin/Sint Maarten

The island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten is written this way, with two names, because it is an island shared by two cultures, two nations, France and the Netherlands. Each half of the island has a quite different feel to the other.

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

The Dutch half is resort central, where big is beautiful. Philipsburg is the capital.

Marigot, Saint Martin

The French section is much lower key and laid back. This shot is Grand Case Beach in Marigot, the capital.

Creole Food

Enjoying some good creole cooking in Marigot. Yum.

Lots of Beaches

Sint Maarten

St Martin

Both sides have good beaches.

Saba

Getting There

The island of Saba is easily accessed from Sint Maarten (the Dutch side) by ferry. It takes 1.5 hours.

Getting Around

Saba has two main settlements: The Bottom and Windwardside. We caught a taxi from the dock the 5 plus kms to Windwardside, all of it on Saba's one road, called The Road, which is very steep and narrow. It's not for walking

Mount Scenery, the Netherlands Highest Mountain

Quiz question: What's the highest point in the Netherlands. Answer: Mt Scenery on the island of Saba in the Dutch Antillies.

Windwardside

The pretty town of Windwardside on Saba.

Admiring the View

Taking in the view of Windwardside after scaling Mt Scenery.

Iguana

A local iguana greeted us at our accommodation.

Conclusion

We loved travelling the Caribbean. We did this by island hopping, using ferries and short plane trips. This was in contrast to most travellers visiting the region who predominantly do so on cruise ships or by sailing in yachts.

We weren’t sure how feasible it would be to island hop in this way and it turned out be pretty straight forward. Once the world recovers from COVID-19, and such travel is feasible again, we’d highly recommend a trip to the Caribbean.