Don't go packing your bags for New York just yet ... Canada gets top marks

The good news is JFK Airport and Newark Airport in the New York City area have reopened.

The bad news is there's still limited service. The even worse news is that LaGuardia is still a wet, watery mess (as you can see from this picture taken yesterday) and it's not clear when they'll be up and running again. Let alone the damage and blackouts in southern Manhattan...

USA Today reports the number of cancelled flights due to Hurricane/TropicalStorm/Pain-in-the-butt Sandy is nearing 19,000. No doubt the number will climb well past that by this afternoon given LaGuardia's situation and limited service in Newark and JFK.

What a mess...

ON THE OTHER HAND, GOOD NEWS FOR CANADA

In case you missed it, FutureBrand, the folks who run the Country Brand Index that rates countries according to their key attributes, have dropped Canada from the number one spot on the globe.

Canada came tops last year and the year before, but the latest rankings put Canada in the number two spot, behind Switzerland. Still, a silver medal ain't chump change, and we're ahead of third place Japan, fourth place Sweden and fifth place New Zealand.

Canadian Tourism Commission vice president Greg Klassen said there are "tremendously encouraging" bits in the report, including the strength of our ski resorts.

He also pointed to a note that Canada jumped from 25th to 10th in Heritage and Culture in the latest rankings and that Canada's culinary reputation leapt from 30th to 11th; also a key factor for incoming tourists who probably harken back to the back bacon days of Bob and Doug McKenzie.

Canada also is getting better marks in the value for money category, Klassen said.

Of course it would be better to stay as number one, but number two with some encouraging rankings is still a pretty impressive thing. It would be nice if the Canadian government would recognize those strengths and do more to help our tourism folks, however.

 

Sandy still making a mess of things ... Langdon Hall makes top 15 in world hotels

Things are looking up as far as the Hurricane/Tropical Storm goes. But not for everyone.

I got a note from Air Canada at 6 p.m. Tuesday to say that, "Following the re-opening of the following airports in the U.S. northeast, Air Canada and Air Canada Express will resume their normal schedule of flights beginning Wednesday October 31 to/from: Philadelphia, Boston, Washington National, Washington Dulles Baltimore, Harrisburg PA, Providence RI and Hartford CT.

"However, pending resumption of airport operations at New York City area airports: LaGuardia, Newark and J.F. Kennedy, flights to and from these three airports remain suspended until further notice," officials said.

To facilitate rebooking for affected customers, change fees have been waived for flights to/from US northeast airports until Wednesday October 31, and to/from New York City area airports until Friday November 2, Air Canada said. "Customers are strongly encouraged to consult the latest information online at
aircanada.com and rebook themselves online using our self-service rebooking tool in order to avoid longer call centre wait times."

Air Canada’s domestic Canada and international flights continue to operate normally. 

Porter flights were cancelled to and from US northeast today as were WestJet flights to LaGuardia.

I got a note at 6:20 p.m. Eastern time to say that WestJet has cancelled all flights tomorrow to New York/LaGuardia because of the continued closure of the airport. The first two flights on Thursday, Nov. 1 also were cancelled, officials told me.

Guest have received notifications by phone and email and we will continue to accommodate these guests as they require until we can get them up and on their way, WestJet said.

It's not just the airports, of course. Due to treacherous road conditions, some folks are finding it hard to even make their way to the airport, let alone hop on a flight.

Some cities appear to be returning to something approaching normal. Baltimore officials today lifted a travel ban. A few flights, meanwhile, were getting out of Logan International in Boston.

Scott Armstrong at Pearson told me terminals are quiet and 25 per cent of flights were cancelled today, although that still leaves 1,000 flights in and out for the day.

Folks have been very understanding but Armstrong said there's no way yet to predict tomorrow's schedule. The best thing is for folks to use the flight search tool at torontopearson.com, where you can get real time info by plugging in a city or a flight number. Individual airline websites have similar information.

Of course, Porter flies out of the Island airport so checking the Pearson flight won't help would-be Porter fliers.

Stay tuned, as this likely will remain a fluid situation (pardon the pun) for a couple days...

CONDE NAST BEST TRAVEL LISTS

It's that time of year, when the magazines pull out their best-of lists. One item that caught my eye is that Langdon Hall (officially, just so ya know, Langdon Hall Country House Hotel and Spa) in Cambridge was named the 15th best hotel/resort in the world. And, yes, tops in Canada, too.

The only North American property to top Langdon Hall was the Waldorf Astoria in Chicago, so that's mighty heady company. And something to be proud of, for sure.

Also in the top 100 were King Pacific Lodge in British Columbia (21st in the world) and the Four Seasons in Whistler (62).

If you look strictly at hotels, the top three in Canada were Langdon Hall, then the wonderful Auberge Saint-Antoine in Quebec City and Queen's Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which means two of the top three for Ontario.

Top resorts in Canada were King Pacific, The Four Seasons Whistler and the Long Beach Lodge Resort on Vancouver Island, giving BC a sweep of the podium.

 

 

A good week to stay home/Porter saves Star reporter/WestJet sun destinations

What a mess.

Porter AIrlines has cancelled all its flights from Toronto to Newark, New Jersey and to Boston and Washington (Dulles) due to Hurricane Sandy. Naturally, that means the flights aren't going the other way, either.

Judging by the flight status tools on the Air Canada website and WestJet's site, they, too, have cancelled all or most flights to and from Toronto and the northeast U.S. states affected by the hurricane.

"WJ for sure has cancelled their LaGuardia service," Pearson spokesman Scott Armstrong wrote to me in email. "I"m quite sure AC has done the same for the eastern seaboard."

Armstrong said 20 per cent of regularly scheduled flights have been cancelled at Pearson; roughly 300 in all. But that still leaves 1,000 flights operating as normal, he said.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick sent me a note and said customers should be sure to consult aircanada.com or the local airport website before going to the airport today to be sure their flight is operating.

"Most airports in the US northeast have been closed for today which has resulted in the cancellation of approximately 150 of our flights (Air Canada and Air Canada Express combined) today to and from LaGuardia, Newark, JF Kennedy, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington National, Baltimore, Harrisburg PA, Providence RI and Hartford CT. (Typically, we operate about 1,500 flights a day total across our entire network)," he said.

"Our domestic flights within Canada and international flights are operating normally," Fitzpatrick said.

Air Canada has waived change fees for flights to and from US northeast airports until Wednesday Oct 31.  Customers are strongly encouraged to consult the latest information online at www.aircanada.com and rebook themselves online using our self-service rebooking tool in order to avoid longer call centre wait times.

"We are monitoring the situation in the US northeast very closely with local airport authorities and will be adjusting our schedule as necessary over the coming days as airports re-open and we are able to get our customers to their destinations safely and as quickly as possible," FItzpatrick said. "We thank our customers for their patience and encourage them to continue consulting our travel alerts at aircanada.com for updates."

Associated Press reports that airports in the metropolitan New York City area are open, but air carriers are not operating. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Monday that travellers shouldn't even try to go to Kennedy, Newark Liberty or LaGuardia.

According to some reports, some 7,000 flights in and around the eastern seaboard of the U.S. have been cancelled, and some already are cancelled for tomorrow. American Express just sent me an advisory saying that, for today, there are 774 cancellations at Newark, 428 at Dulles in Washington and 355 cancellations at Philadelphia. I can only imagine how crazy it must be for folks trying to get in a vacation or business trip...

It's not so bad for flights within Canada, but there appear to be some issues with high winds in Toronto and also with fog in the Maritimes. So even if you're travelling elsewhere, BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR FLIGHT STATUS early and often as this is shaping up to some kind of terrible, terrible week.

It was pretty messy in New York City yesterday. Here's a good report on how Porter folks in Newark saved the day for Star reporter Richard Ouzounian...

Trying to leave New York City on Sunday night while Hurricane Sandy moved ever closer, I was reminded once again why many Torontonians prefer Porter via Newark for trips to the Big Apple.

At the end of a weekend getaway with my wife, we woke Sunday morning to discover a city under siege. All major stores announced a 4 p.m. closing, restaurants were calling to cancel evening reservations and any shows planning performances called them off.     The subways were due to shut down at 7 p.m. and word of that (only the second closure in the city's history)triggered a kind of "last chopper out of Saigon" mentality in the city.

We were holding reservations on a 7:30 p.m. Porter flight back to Toronto out of Newark and we started for the airport three hours in advance.  Not for the first time, we were delighted that we were taking the New Jersey Transit train from Penn Station to Newark International Airport. (If you've never done it, it costs $12.50 one way, takes 25 minutes and leaves frequently.)

Penn Station was jammed beyond belief, but the trains left on time and the bottom line is that we were at the airport in 45 minutes from the midtown theatre matinee we attended, while we heard and saw traffic reports of gridlock on all the bridges and tunnels going in and out of Manhattan. That cab ride to LaGuardia? Your limo through the Lincoln Tunnel? Fuggeddaboutit.

Any short-term joy we may have felt was dispelled by the longest line waiting to go through security at Newark I'd ever seen.  A combination of airlines moving flights earlier to beat the storm and airport employees not showing up because of Sandy Mania created a perfect storm (if you'll pardon the expression) of congestion.

We started waiting two hours before our departure time. We were still waiting 90 minutes later and might be waiting still were it not for a Porter ground worker in Newark who suddenly appeared, called for all Porter passengers, got us together, went up to airport security and demanded we been taken through at once so we wouldn't miss out flight.

The hundreds of people waiting with us for flights on British Airways, Air India and other carriers had no such luck. But our valiant wizard (I think of him as Harry Porter) talked us through with a mixture of calm confidence and perfectly-estimated aggression. We even had time to enjoy a free cappuccino at Porter's new airport lounge at EWR before boarding the plane, pulling away from the gate on time and landing in Toronto on schedule.

I thanked our rescuer personally as he got us on board, but I didn't ask his name. So, whoever you are, Porter ground employee in Newark, I salute you and your company for taking care of us Sunday night.   I'm now an even bigger fan.

 

WEST JET LAUNCHES SUN DESTINATIONS

WestJet on Sunday began twice-weekly service between Toronto Pearson and Antigua and Barbuda's V.C. Bird International Airport. Weekly service to Curaçao International Airport also began on Sunday from T.O.

Today (Monday), WestJet commences twice-weekly non-stop seasonal service to Liberia, Costa Rica. And on November 16 they'll add daily non-stop seasonal service between Pearson and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

"With the addition of three more sun destinations from Toronto Pearson today and tomorrow, plus another one two weeks from now, WestJet continues to expand service from Canada's largest airport," said Peter Tong, WestJet's Director of Network and Schedule Planning. "We have almost doubled our service from Toronto Pearson to international destinations in just three short years, and have grown our overall service by almost one-third in the same period. Clearly, we remain focused on continued growth at a key Canadian gateway."

 

 

Fabulous Soho Beach House Miami and great food at Timo in Sunny Isles

MIAMI BEACH - I have a new favourite hotel.

I spent Wednesday night at the Soho Beach House in Miami Beach. Even with lousy, Hurricane Sandy-influenced weather I absolutely loved the place.

Soho House began as a private club in London in 1995 and now includes restaurants, hotels, cinemas and more in cities across Europe and North America. The latest is in Toronto, adjacent to the new Shangri-La hotel.

Soho Beach House is located on Collins, just north of 43rd, in the heart of Miami Beach and on the site of the Sovereign Hotel. And it’s a stunner; without doubt the coolest, hippest place I’ve seen in my travels.

Although it’s a private club, the hotel can be booked by the general public. The main restaurant, Cecconi’s, also is open to the public and is worth checking out just so you can get a sense of the property.

Soho Beach House has 50 bedrooms for rent with a private beach area, a tiki bar in a lush garden and two pools. One pool, on the ground floor, is a long, linear affair with bright blue and white cushions and is backed by thick gardens and towering palm trees; very Miami cool. The upstairs affair is a small plunge pool on the 8th floor and is for adults only. It offers fine views of the sunset and also a very cool, outdoor tequila bar (closed due to the weather when I was there) called Ocho, which features funky Mexican artifacts on the wall and a long row of faded red, yellow, blue and green chairs at a wooden bar with views out to the beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

Cecconi’s dining area is in a covered (when needed) outdoor garden with beautiful lights at night and features fine Italian food. They also have a good deal at lunch; with a starter, main course and dessert for $23. I had a cool salad with kale, radish, ricotta and mango, a fabulous spaghetti pomodoro with deep red tomatoes and fresh basil and key lime pie, which I quibble with a bit as it had pistachios in the crust and there was no warning for folks with nut allergies. I’d never heard of a key lime pie with pistachios so didn’t think to ask about the nuts, but I also think in this day and age nuts should ALWAYS be pointed out on a menu. But it was an excellent lunch.

Dinner was even better. I went to the 2nd floor club bar and had stone crabs and a fine plate of Caribbean-roasted chicken. I also sampled the Jamaican-spiced shrimp. But the best part was a drink called Picante de la Casa with tequila, lime, cilantro and agave, topped with a bulbous red chile pepper that infused the drink with a smoky, spicy tang. Possibly the best mixed drink I’ve ever tasted.

The lobby (see photo at left) is ultra-cool, with warm furniture and artsy black and white prints and a cigar bar. The second floor features rough wooden floors and walls and a spa, as well as one of those fun, cheesy photo machines. The hallway is littered with thousands of prints people have pinned on the walls.

My room featured an incredible bar and beautiful furniture, plus a huge shower and stand alone tub and a fabulous view out over the beach. The hallways have beautiful art and furnishings and it seemed like every time I turned a corner there was an interesting array of books or an old board game or a fun knick knack to gaze at.

They also have fun with their Cowshed toiletries. The shampoo and bath bottles have names like Lazy Cow or Horny Cow or Knackered Cow.

Some rooms go for $600 and higher but the web site also lists rooms at $435. That’s a lot of money, sure, but it’s worth the splurge for a place that’s utterly unlike any place I’ve stayed.

I’d be remiss if I also didn’t mention Timo, a fabulous restaurant in Sunny Isles Beach, just north of Bal Harbour. It’s an intimate, fun Italian place with a beautiful bar and a terrific menu. I tasted a wonderfully rich lobster risotto with an entire lobster in it, plus a perfectly cooked veal chop. They also make a beautiful fennel and arugula salad with figs, oranges and a pistachio vinaigrette.

As excellent as the meal was, the desserts were even better. They brought out a giant baked alaska with blueberries and a huge, thick, toasty meringue on top. Even better for my money was a chocolate genoise with cheese flan, topped by lovely vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted coconut and surrounded by a sea of salted caramel with chocolate drizzle. Unbelievable.

 

Beer-drinking pigs and funky rum recipes, plus historic Christiansted, St. Croix

ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - One of the fun things about being a travel writer is the variety you can get.

Yesterday it was the glamour of seeing parts of The Bachelor TV show get filmed at Buccaneer resort. Today it’s beer-drinking pigs.

I hadn’t heard of the pigs in Toronto, but when I got to St. Croix I had several people ask me if I was going to see them. I must admit it sounded interesting. And awful.

But I was told the place where they have the pigs is a fun, quirky bar/restaurant in the rainforest where the owner makes her own spiced rum, called Mamma Wanna. So it suddenly became more than just watching the pigs.

You’ll find the Mt. Pellier Hut Domino Club up a winding road in the rainforest district on this island’s western half; only a few minutes from Frederiksted and not too far from Christiansted, the main town. It’s a highly entertaining place with a giant pig smiling out at you on the main sign.

You park your car and wander into what looks like a Florida tiki bar, with a long bar and a dance floor area. It’s VERY casual and funky and fun, and they have license plates pertaining to pigs or with the name Norma on them, Norma George being the woman in charge. She was away when I visited but Coretta James told me about the place.

George is famous for her Mamma Wanna, s a rum drink originally brought from the D.R. and made differently everywhere you go in the Caribbean. Norma starts with Cruzan rum (made on the island) and adds cinnamon and secret herbs and spices and tree bark and lets it mature.

It’s absolutely wonderful stuff; smoky and rich and sweet and spicy all at the same time. And just $30 for a full bottle. Mind you, the rum itself costs only $8 at the Cruzan factory store and I suspect her ingredients come off various trees and roots, so I suspect she’s doing okay with the stuff.

George serves food, including a famous Saturday breakfast with renowned biscuits and gravy.

“Some folks come for breakfast and don’t leave until Saturday night,” James said with a smile.

More than the Mamma Wanna and the biscuits and gravy, the Domino Club, as it’s generally known, is famous for its beer-swilling pigs.

James told me that a pet pig called Buster was the original swilling swine. He allegedly once grabbed a beer can from a customer, crushed it with his powerful jaws and gulped down the beer. The customer liked it so much he bought him a second one, and a legend was born.

Sadly, Buster went to Budweiser heaven (more like Carib or Presidente, I guess) a few years ago. But there’s a monument to him near the bar.

A few steps from the monument is a closed gate. If you ask, someone will sell you some O’Doul’s non-alcoholic beer at the bar. They’ll then open the gate and take you into a courtyard with four pigs in separate stalls. You take the beer can in your hand and pound on the top of the pen and the pigs, in their best Pavlovian style, realize what’s at hand. They immediately (the fatter ones take more time) jump on their hind legs and prop their front legs on the gate, sticking their enormous snouts in your face and bellow out for their ration.

I thought we’d gently pour the liquid into their mouths. But, no. Instead, you VERY CAREFULLY hold out the can, unopened, and let the pig grab it with its powerful teeth. Their mouth promptly clamps down on the can, crushing it and allowing the beer to spill out all over their mouths.

It sprays and foams and the pigs chortle and guzzle it down in just a few seconds. You then repeat it with the other pigs down the line.

Yes, I know. It’s definitely politically (and swinally, if that’s a word) incorrect. I feel guilty for doing it. But it was hilarious and I’m defending this only because folks repeatedly have voted this activity one of the top activities for folks who visit St. Croix.

So there you go. And I promise not to do it again.

On the subject of Cruzan rum, it’s understandably the most popular variety on St. Croix, where folks are known as Cruzans (Saint Croix in Spanish would be Santa Cruz). It’s only partly made on island, however. Since the sugar mills and sugar cane industry collapsed here a couple decades ago, they have to import the molasses from Central and South America.

They add the yeast and water at the plant in St. Croix and do the hard work there as it bubbles and froths away and becomes rum. But then it’s shipped to Kentucky where they bottle the stuff and also add flavours to the flavoured rums. (disgusting ones for the most part if you ask me).

Still, it’s a source of local pride and it’s not bad. It’s not my favourite rum, but it’s pretty good stuff. And the tour is fun. It’s only a few bucks and then you get two rum drinks at the end and a chance to sample a couple of other rums. They sell a basic bottle for just $8, which is enough to make you cry if you shop at the LCBO….

I also had a chance to tour around Christiansted, the main city on St. Croix. Tour guide Celeste Fahie took me on a tour of the town’s historic, waterfront fort – a brilliant yellow and green affair with some scary dungeons and lovely harbour views – and also showed off some of the town’s graceful churches.

There isn’t a lot to the town but there are some fun restaurants and shops selling jewelry and local crafts (not like St. Thomas with its duty free craziness). The Government House has a beautiful courtyard and a stunning board room with deep brown, polished mahogany floors that positively gleam.

“One thing I love about Christiansted is it has kept its character,” Fahie tells me as she points out the historic arcades that run along the main streets; arched walkways that the Danish built when they ruled these parts.

There are several hotels along the waterfront and they’ve built a nice boardwalk that runs for several blocks so you can watch the boats and float planes come and go and dine at waterside cafes.

That’s it for my U.S. Virgin Islands posts. Check this space tomorrow for a report from Sunny Isles Beach and Miami Beach….

 

 

"The Bachelor" films in St. Croix USVI (I'm pretty sure) ... incredible Buck Island

ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - There are a half dozen beautiful women parading about the Buccaneer Hotel and Resort here in St. Croix. There are movie cameras all over and folks wandering about with walkie talkies. There was a helicopter hovering over nearby Christiansted for much of the day.

Nobody can quite confirm it, but I’m pretty confident the hotel is being used for a filming of The Bachelor. I gotta say the women are pretty attractive. I’ve also heard a lot of giggling and a few whiny comments about responsibilities and a couple of what look like rum drinks being consumed near the beach.

It’s certainly a beautiful spot for the show to be filmed, with gorgeous beaches and grounds and lovely rooms and lots of privacy. I’ll be interested to see how the show unfolds, and those are words I’d never thought I’d say.

Because of whatever they were filming, the main restaurant at the hotel was closed the last couple nights. I did manage, however, to check out Mermaids, their ocean-side, casual restaurant. It was a tad rowdy on Sunday Night Football night and the pasta with sausage was a mushy mess. But the chicken kabobs were decent and they make a pretty good hamburger.

Most of the units at the Buccaneer are good size; 500 square feet or larger. We were given an ocean unit, with fabulous beach views and a small patio with chaise lounges. The room has marble floors and dark wood furniture with a four-poster bed with carved pineapples. There are colourful, local prints on the walls and a huge TV and they have free Wi-Fi, which is easy to access.

The hotel is painted pink and sits high on a hill where a sugar mill once stood. Some of the buildings date back to the 1600s, so it’s got plenty of character. The units are somewhat spread out but the grounds are quite well done and there are five beaches on the property, plus several pools and a basketball court, golf Frisbee course and a full, 18-hole golf course. You also can take scuba lessons in the pool and take a kayak out for free and they have a free kids’ camp.

The spa has manicures and pedicures and they also offer facials, wraps and massage treatments, including in-room massages for couples. The gym features a variety of machines, including Stairmaster units with their own TV’s.

++++

There are a ton of activities folks can do when they visit this beautiful island; four by four tours inthe rainforest, kayaking trips, golfing, sailing and lots more. One of the best trips you can take is a snorkeling visit to Buck Island, a U.S. national park

I did one with Big Beard’s Adventure Tours and it was absolutely outstanding. We took a 10 or 15 minutes ride out to the island, a small affair surrounded by the clearest aquamarine waters you’ve ever seen and with a beautiful beach straight out of Castaway with Tom Hanks. They’ll give you the drill on how to snorkel properly and you can swim around near the beach, where you’re frankly unlikely to see any fish. But it’s a nice swim and a pretty beach and high-energy types can take a hike through a scrub forest.

After an hour they motor over to the national park and anchor near a horseshoe shaped reef. A guide will show you the underground trail and make sure you don’t touch any coral. There are underwater signs along the way and glorious coral reefs with shapes straight out of a Rohrshach test. The fish are plentiful; deep blue tangs and canary yellow schoolmasters and lots more. I spotted a small barracuda and a couple guests spotted a two-meter reef shark.

“I see a shark everytime I come out,” said Brad, our good-humoured guide who looks like Owen Wilson meets Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys. “They won’t hurt you.” You don’t’ have to go far from the boat to see plenty of fish, and you’re provided with vests that inflate so you don’t have to get tired from treading water. The tour guides also will keep an eye out for you, so there’s no real safety issue. It’s $68 for a half-day tour and it’s well worth it.

 

The diversity of beautiful St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; gardens, beaches, diving

ST. CROIX, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - A short 20 minute flight. A world away.

You leave the busy, bustling waterfront of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas on a 17-passenger (or so) seaplane and quickly rise up over the blue Caribbean. Twenty minutes later you've slid to a gentle stop on the water outside the seaplane port in Christiansted, the biggest "city" on this most diverse of the three main islands in the U.S.V.I. chain.

St. Croix has a fairly dry, hilly eastern end with long beaches and a few golf courses. It's quite lovely and looks a bit like Barbados or the less mountainous sections of St. Lucia. The western end isn't technically a rainforest as it doesn't get enough precipitation, but it's quite moist and the mountains rise more than a 1,000 feet up over the sea, attracting plenty of wet stuff.

We had tours of the luscious St. George Villa botanical garden (see photo), where old plantation buildings now mix with herb gardens, fabulous displays of bougainvillea and cactus and plenty of oddities from around the world; giant kapok trees with huge, billowing trunks, sausage trees with giant fruit that look like World Series hot dogs and something called a noni tree, which produces a fruit so foul smelling (think three-day old bleu cheese after a power outage in downtown Toronto in summer) it's sometimes called "starvation fruit."

We also had a look at the lovely, old-time plantation buildings at the Whim Plantation Museum. There's beautiful period furniture dating back to the 1600's and also an old windmill and other buildings from the time when almost all of St. Croix was covered with sugar cane.

The island relies heavily on tourism these days, and it's going to get even more dependent on Canadians and Americans soon as one of the biggest employers on the island, the Hovensa oil refinery, announced earlier this year that's it's shutting its doors.

The town of Frederiksted is a small, colourful affair on the far western side of the island. There's a beautiful and stately promenade that goes along the waterfront and some fun shops on the main street. We had good sandwiches and salad and excellent coffee at Polly's on the Pier, then drove up to another old estate called Mt. Washington. It sits high on a hill in the rainforest area and also is a working farm. There are more ruins of old sugar mills to be seen, plus there's a labyrinth and a working garden with avocados the size of a volleyball. Simply amazing.

We stayed Saturday night at the Renaissance Carambola beach resort (see photo at right), which is nestled in a lush valley near the rainforest and feels a bit like the area near the Pitons in St. Lucia or Hana on Maui or the north shore of Kauai with its steep mountains clad in deep green trees and vines. The staff at Carambola were some of the nicest folks I've ever met on the road and the pool is lovely. The beach is a pretty one but not terribly long and it's a bit rocky for swimming.

There's also a Robert Trent Jones Sr. golf course on property that looks stunning.

I'll have more to say tomorrow on Christiansted and the utterly fabulous Buck Island snorkeling/diving scene...

 

The lure of beautiful St. John's, USVI; great food, resorts and A-1 beaches

PICS IN ORDER 2558 cruz bay ferry 2568 view from Bordeaux 2576 Concordia 0074 Trunk 0411 close up from trunk beach

ST. JOHN, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS – The difference is enormous.

One minute you’re on bustling St. Thomas, driving past a series of homes and shops on your way to the Red Hook Ferry. Fifteen minutes later the ferry deposits you in Cruz Bay on St. John.

Even before you hit the dock you sense the slower pace. There are homes on the hills on St. John, but not nearly as thick as in St. Thomas. The town of Cruz Bay, where the ferry drops you off, is slightly busy with its parade of taxis waiting to ferry folks to the beach or a hotel, but feels like a funky resort town; a bit like Lahaina on Maui if you’ve been, or maybe a Caribbean Port Carling. There are two storey, wooden buildings painted a wild shade of lavender and the pretty town square is filled with plants and a cute bandstand.

Nearby bars and cafes spill outdoors into the sunshine and you get a sense of a very cool, understated beach town. The town’s nickname is Love City, which I guess tells you a lot.

It only takes a minute or two to escape what passes for bustle, and then you’re sailing up (on the left side, this being the only U.S. territory, I’m told, where folks drive on the left) a mountain road in your open-air jitney/cab and passing hiking trails and the odd white tailed deer as you crane your neck for awesome views of the blue Caribbean, which is never far away on an island that’s roughly the size of Manhattan but covered with steep, green mountains and winding roads and funky roadside spots.

The island is almost entirely made up of land in the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park, thanks to a huge donation from American tycoon and philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller.

Only 15 or 20 minutes into our ride to the Eco-Concordia tent resort, located on a pretty spur on the eastern side of the island, we passed the Bordeaux Mountain View Point, a wildly-coloured, casual dining spot with a gift shop, ice cream shop and artists’ studio attached. It sits high on a hill that looks down a series of folded ridges to the jigsaw puzzle islands and bays and nooks and crannies of eastern St. John. In the distance you can Tortola, Virgin Gorda and other islands in the British Virgin Islands chain.

Treat yourself to a Dirty Monkey (coconut, I think, with chocolate and rum and ice and other good stuff) and drink in the view. It’s awesome.

The resort is a fun, off-the-grid spot where most units are in tent-like structures with electricity and a small fridge but not a lot of extras. There’s a small pool and a yoga center and, at times, a café.

The real lure lies in being close to nature and living in a structure high on a hill overlooking a deep green peninsula with the crashing Caribbean of Drunk Bay on your left and the calm waters of Salt Pond Bay on your right. There are terrific hikes, especially out to Ram's Head. I didn't have time for the full Monty but did enough to whet my appetite and recommend it. I also got in some good snorkeling Friday morning at Salt Pond Bay.

I can highly recommend Concordia. The tents are almost full structures with lots of ventilation and washrooms and places to cook and all. Units at the far end, away from the office, have awesome views of the coast along Drunk Bay and the staff takes great care to make everything right. They also have month-long volunteer programs where folks can work maybe six hours a day five days a week in exchange for free board in a paradise-like setting.

There’s a fun spot for drinks or sandwiches on the main road near the resort’s entrance called the Tourist Trap, which has an old “Rock ‘em Sock ‘em” robots game on display and small statues of Elvis, plus a space to make donations to help the wild cats in the area.

We had a couple hours at Trunk Bay in the middle of the afternoon (see photo) and I have to say it’s perhaps the most beautiful beach I’ve seen anywhere. There’s hardly a structure to be seen and it’s surrounded by thick, green hills. The sand is a shade invented by a tourism bureau and the sapphire blue water looks straight out of the Bahamas or the Aegean. There’s good snorkeling and an underwater snorkel trail marked by buoys, and you can gaze out at a small island plunked right offshore or out towards small cays and Jost Van Dyke, one of the British Virgin Islands.

Just down the road is stunning Maho Bay and Cinnamon Bay, also lovely. There are a few folks about, especially during cruise season, but it shouldn’t be that crazy crowded, especially in mornings and late afternoons when cruisers are back on board.

We had dinner at a fabulous Italian spot called Zozo’s near Cruz Bay, with an outstanding supersized, grilled shrimp with risotto and also a terrific salad with lump crab, fennel, greens, almonds, goat cheese and a citrus vinaigrette. It’s an open-air affair with dynamite views of St. Thomas off in the distance.

Today was a bit of time to shop and dine at Ocean Grill, part of the lovely Mongoose Junction shopping complex. Very nice shops in an outdoor, jungle setting with huge trees and flower displays and fun shops. Ocean Grill makes great pulled pork tacos and a fabulous salad with greens, grilled mahi or salmon, pineapple, green beans, crispy won tons and bean sprouts that's perfectly fresh and delicious. Oh, and the Tap Room nearby has great local beers, including one with mango.

Tonight it's the lush confines of the Westin (see photo at left), which sits on a nice beach and has tons of amenities; restaurants and tennis and lawns like Augusta National Golf Club and flaming red ginger and bougainvillea plants and more. There's a trampoline floating just offshore that I just have to try, too.,

I’ve only been here 24 hours but I’ve fallen in love with this island and can’t wait to come back some day.

You can email me at jbyers@thestar.ca or follow me on Twitter @jimbyerstravel 

Great history and awesome Caribbean beauty in St. Thomas, USVI

 

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS – Like anyplace else you choose to visit, the island of St. Thomas is what you make it.

You can step off your cruise ship or your airplane and head straight to the duty free shops on the main shopping drag and walk into air-conditioned shops (thank goodness on a day like Wednesday) and look for Swiss watches and six dollar bottles of local rum and French perfume and Tommy Hilfiger polo shirts (guilty as charged) and all sorts of goodies. You can dine at one of 1,314 Senor Frog’s restaurants in cruise port cities around the Caribbean. Or shop at the little stalls near the waterfront and load up on knock-off Coach purses and five dollar t-shirts and sandal-shaped key rings or Bob Marley towels.

Or, you can wander a block or two off the main street and find an entirely different city. You can wander down one of the quiet laneways and find yourself in the wonderful Gladys Café (see photo below), where they have local art work on the exposed stone walls and you can sip on freshly made passion fruit juice and fork out $18 for a lunch of curried goat, rice and peas, sweet plantains, sweet potatoes and a block of mac and cheese. Or sample the fungi, a polenta-like dish made from cornmeal, or jerked mahi-mahi topped, if you like, with one of the tremendous, homemade pepper sauces they sell for six bucks a pop.

If you choose to wind your way up, WAY UP, to Mountain Top you can pose outside with the pirate statues or wander into what’s billed as the Caribbean’s largest gift shop (some of the stuff isn’t bad, actually). Lots of folks stop for the alllegedly world's best banana daiquris, but that's not really my thing. There are all those touristy things available if that's your thing, and God bless you for it. Then again, if you like you can bypass the kitsch and go straight out to the deck and stare down in wonder at the lovely strand of sand at Magens Bay and gaze off to the east and take in St. John and the deep green British Virgin Islands of Jost Van Dyke and Tortola rising from the blue water of the Caribbean. It's a stunning sight, for sure (see photo below left).

We did a little bit of all of those things on Wednesday, and quite enjoyed ourselves.

The remarkably knowledgeable Felipe Ayala, a local institution, gave us a great tour of the Blackbeard’s Castle historical complex, a series of historical homes that rise up a hill just a few steps from downtown. It’s a complex sometimes called The Williamsburg of the Caribbean.

Ayala showed us the inside and outside of several old homes in the area. Villa Notman dates from 1861 and features acres of white wrought iron trim and railings brought in from New Orleans.

Haagensen House dates to 1822 and was built by a Danish banker and has Greek revival elements. Better for visitors are deep orange walls inside and a lovely balcony high over the harbour with excellent views (see photo below right) and cooling breezes. The period furniture in the dining room and bedroom are lovely, and they also have some Camille Pisarro prints as Pisarro was born and raised in Charlotte Amalie. (Another famous St. Thomas celebrity, just fyi, is Kelsey Grammer of Cheers and Frasier fame).

At the top of the hill is the SkyTower or Skytsborgtarn in Danish, also known as Blackbeard’s Castle. It’s unlikely Blackbeard actually used it as the Danes were pretty good about keeping pirates at bay.

Still you can’t blame folks for the marketing angle. They also have a Blackbeard Ale made on the island that’s pretty good, and Bluebeard’s Castle is a popular hotel that houses the Room With a View restaurant I wrote about yesterday.

We finished the night with a good if not overwhelming meal at Amalia Cafe, a Spanish place with a nice, covered, outdoor patio on a quiet laneway (Charlotte Amalie is VERY quiet at night) and drinks at the bar at Hotel 1829, where Patrick entertained a small but enthusiastic group with tunes from The Beatles, Bob Seger, Willie Nelson, Jim Croce and more. It was the sort of casual, fun, sing-a-long, goofy night you'd almost certainly never get at a big resort, which is another great advantage of staying in town at a small hotel.

On today (in iffy-looking weather with big, dark clouds) to St. John, where I have a reservation at an eco-tent place called Concordia on the far eastern edge of the island and then, for something completely different, a night at The Westin resort.

You can email me at jbyers@thestar.ca or follow me on Twitter @jimbyerstravel

 

 

 

 

 

Magical Magen's Bay on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; a top world beach

ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS - Those travel magazines we read each winter that talk about Magens Bay being one of the best beaches on the planet?

I get it now.

We arrived Tuesday in St. Thomas, the best known (due to the cruise ships, I suspect) of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and made our way to the main city of Charlotte Amalie and to the 1829 Hotel, an historic property that sits on a hill overlooking the beautiful harbour. It’s a fun spot with a series of rooms step up the hill, reachable via a series of stairs that aren’t too much problem unless you’re hauling your typical North American suitcase crammed with stuff you really shouldn’t have brought in the first place.

There’s a small pool and a nice bar where they’ll serve up a number of local specialties. We tried a Frozen Bushwhacker, which has vodka, rum, amaretto and chocolate and tastes like an adult slushie, and also a Blackbeard’s Revenge, with five types of Cruzan rum (made on nearby St. Croix) and fruit juice. It was much too sweet and syrupy for my tastes, but I can see why lots of folks would love them.

With all the cruise business and tourism in Charlotte Amalie, there are a huge whack of open-air jitneys with rows of five or six seats for touring folks about. Campbell Rey, the wonderful driver we have for a few days, picked us up at the airport and, after we checked into the hotel, started up over the hill to Magens Bay.

It’s a steep, STEEP drive for the first couple minutes, with several switchbacks that offer fine views down to the harbour and the green hills that rise majestically around the deep blue water and past small bars and roadside businesses, including at least one pediatrician housed in a bright green home and also a “Spinologist.”

A couple minutes of driving through thick, overhead vegetation and you find yourself at Magens Bay. It’s a long, luscious strand of soft-golden sand; nearly a mile long and hemmed in on both sides by tall, green hills that are thick with jungle vines and trees and the odd home.

You look northwest out past the flanking hills to a small, cone-shaped island that someone with a higher authority placed there just for a perfect framing.

The water is gentle and warm and clear and clean, with nothing but smooth sand so you don’t stub your toe on any coral or rocks. They say it can get crowded on cruise days but there was only ship in port yesterday so it was just fine. I also walked down to the far western end and I think on even the busiest days you’d find plenty of space at that end; away from the parking lot and the gift shop and beach bar/restaurant.

They make a pretty good rum punch for just five bucks, by the way.

It’s a great spot for sure, and easily one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen anywhere on the planet.

We were treated to a fabulous sunset, with the sky all gold and apricot and deep grey and pink. And then wandered across town for a terrific dinner at a place called Room With A View.

The restaurant is situated at a lovely, hillside hotel called Bluebeard’s Castle. They make outstanding fresh snapper and also a fine steak au poivre, both with nice servings of veggies and crispy, red-skinned potatoes.

The views of the harbour are outstanding, and it’s a very romantic spot. Definitely a recommendation if you're ever down this way...

You can email me at jbyers@thestar.ca or follow me on Twitter @jimbyertravel