Author Archive

Steve

Wish You Were Here

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Enjoying Super Bowl Sunday with a little football, Caribbean-style, on the beach at Dickenson Bay, Antigua.

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Steve

Saturday Video: La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge

La Ruta Maya

We’ve told you about a half-marathon versus a volcano, an eco-challenge versus another volcano, a kayak race out at sea, an impossible trail race, grueling cycling contests, and a triathlon pitting athletes against a beast! Indeed, the Caribbean offers a great many opportunities for active travelers to test their mettle competing in some very uncommon sporting events. La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge is certainly no exception.

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Steve

Friday Happy Hour: Ron Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23

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In the no rules world of rum, imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, it’s also quite often a recipe for something very, very special. Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 is a prime example.
Like Dos Maderas P.X. from Spain, which we told you about last summer, Zacapa borrows heavily from the winemaker’s art to achieve its uniquely sweet, refined flavor. Sherry is once again the wine in question, though its role in crafting this premium rum is expanded beyond what we’ve enjoyed with Dos Maderas.
Initially crafted in 1976 to mark the centennial founding of the town of Zacapa, located in eastern Guatemala, Ron Zacapa is a premium blend comprised of rums aged between six and 23 years with a few unique characteristics that separate it from the the rest.

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Steve

Night Falls On Cane Bay, St. Croix

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Your monthly moment of zen.

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Steve

On-Site Trinidad: Serene Safari Meets Amazing Avian Spectacle at the Caroni Swamp

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This, was a mistake.

That rueful refrain kept racing through my head at the onset of my excursion into the Caroni Swamp in Trinidad a few weeks ago. It wasn’t fear of the Spectacled Caiman, or the “relatively aggressive” Cook’s Tree Boa snakes, both notable Caroni residents, that had me so unnerved either.
No, the real source of my trepidation was the young 20-somethingish kid sitting next to me on our tour boat. The problem: he was wearing nothing short of his Sunday best.

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Steve

Taste of the Caribbean: Browning Makes Everything Better

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Few are the secret ingredients more essential to creating that uniquely West Indian flavor we all know and love than a simple sauce called Browning. Even if you’ve enjoyed island food your whole life, it’s entirely possible you’ve never heard of this stuff, so understated and surreptitious are its magical methods.
The proverbial straw that stirs the drink of so many island favorites – oxtail stew, peas and rice, stew chicken, stew beef, even black cake – Browning is an absolute essential in any West Indian kitchen… and yet, you won’t find a bottle of it like this in many of ‘em.

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Steve

Re-living Post-War Joy with the Music of Ernest Léardée at the Coco Bar in Martinique

Coco Bar at Hotel Bakoua, Martinique/SBPR

Those of us too young to have anything beyond a cursory textbook understanding of WWII can’t possibly imagine the joy that must’ve swept the world once the fighting stopped in Europe and the Pacific. Our unbridled celebrations today are generally reserved for the comparatively trite triumphs of our sports heroes, political reps and American Idols. Back in the early-1950s, though, there was real joy, real relief, optimism and an irrepressible joie-de-vivre vibe we can only dream about today.
Or so I thought until I spent an afternoon at the Coco Bar in Martinique last November.

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