Caribbean Travel + Life November Map

Grand Bahama

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united statia-AMERICA

Depending on who you talk to, tiny St. Eustatius was the first nation to recognize America’s independence, and the island commemorates the event on Nov. 16, now known as Statia Day or Statia-America Day. On Nov. 16, 1776, the USS Andrew Doria sailed into Statia’s harbor and fired a 13-gun salute indicating the fledgling nation’s independence; the reply was an 11gun salute from the canons at Fort Oranje. However, because St. Eustatius is part of the Netherlands Antilles and not an independent nation, the honor officially went to Morocco, which recognized the United States in 1777. No need to stand on a technicality, though: Statia Day celebrates the occasion with plenty of food, parades and fireworks. statiatourism.com

Bimini

Great Abaco

Nassau/Paradise Island Eleuthera Andros

ourCaribbean Cat Island

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San Salvador

Great Exuma Cuba Long Island

Cancún Turks + Caicos ➋ Great Inagua

Cozumel Mexico

A PIRATE’S LIFE

Play pirate at Grand Cayman’s Pirates Week from Nov. 12 to 22. This kid-friendly celebration begins with fireworks and includes a mock pirate invasion and plenty of street dancing and parades. piratesweekfestival. com. Right on Pirates Week’s heels, Nevis is inaugurating the Peppered Pickled Pirate Party (say that five times fast) Nov. 22 to 28. Some famous buccaneers (Black Bart and Captain Kidd) left their marks on the island, and related festivities include a sailing regatta from St. Kitts to Nevis, a costume party and, of course, copious quantities of grog. piratesofnevis.com

Riviera Maya ➋

St. John British Virgin Islands

Vieques Cayman Islands ➍

Haiti

➎

➍

Anguilla ➋ ➍

Dominican Republic

St. Martin

Puerto Rico

Jamaica

Ambergris Caye

St. Barts St. Croix

➋

Belize

3 Guanaja

Utila

Guatemala Honduras

El Salvador Providencia Nicaragua

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blissed out

Google “heart’s desire,” and the first entry that pops up is a cross-stitch store in Wichita, Kansas. Not that there’s anything wrong with arts and crafts, but in our feature story of the same name, we suggest our preferred ways to fulfill your deepest yearnings for relaxation, romance, and sun-, sand- and sea-filled adventure: Check what’s happening in Mexico, Belize, Anguilla and Turks and Caicos, starting on page 44. And by all means, bring along your needlepoint!

San Andrés

booked solid

The 4th annual Antigua and Barbuda International Literary Festival is booked for Jolly Beach Resort & Spa, on Antigua, Nov. 5 to 8. Authors include Trinidadian winner of the American Book Award, Elizabeth Nunez, and Jamaican author Marlon James. Guests will be treated to readings, signings and writing workshops, plus Caribbean cooking demonstrations by Trinidadian cookbook author Wendy Rahamut. antiguaandbarbudaliteraryfestival.com

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➊

all that jazz

Fans of fluid musical stylings with Caribbean flavor will have lots of choices this month as jazz festivals break out across the region. Start swinging with either the Latin-flavored Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, Nov. 6 to 8 in Cabarete and Santiago (drjazzfestival.com), or Anguilla’s Tranquility Jazz Festival, from Nov. 12 to 15, featuring Dianne Reeves (anguillajazz.org). Then you can kick off December with a visit to the Grand Cayman Jazz Fest to catch big-name acts including Alicia Keys, Peabo Bryson and Oleta Adams, Dec. 3 to 5. caymanislands.ky/jazzfest

Barbuda

Saba St. Eustatius St. Kitts

Antigua ➌

➎ Nevis

Guadeloupe

Montserrat Dominica Martinique St. Lucia

Barbados Aruba

St. Vincent + the Grenadines Curaçao Bonaire Grenada

Tobago Trinidad Costa Rica

Colombia

Venezuela

map by lon tweeten

Roatan

not to scale

St. Thomas Culebra

Costa Maya

Bermuda

Panama online now

d e s t i n at i o n s i n t h i s i s s u e

The Caribbean’s low season may be coming to a close, but seductive hotel and resort deals just keep rolling in. Log on to caribbeantravelmag.com/hotdeals for some of our favorites — then check out page 93 for more of what’s new on the site, including brand-new contests, destination spotlights and webisodes from our Travel Channel series, Affordable Caribbean.

Anguilla............................ 50 Barbados.......................... 39 Belize................................ 48 Curaçao............................ 39

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november 2009

c a r i b b e a n t r av e l m a g . c o m

Grenada............................ 54 Grand Cayman................. 29 Jamaica............................. 39 Martinique.................22, 40

Mexico Riviera Maya.................... 26 Tulum................................ 46

St. Lucia............................. 18 St. Martin.......................... 34 Turks + Caicos...................52

USVI St. Croix.............................40 St. John............................. 42 St. Thomas....................... 24

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