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Christmas in the Caribbean

Posted by Mark Sullivan on December 25, 2025

Posted in: Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, North America, St Lucia, USA. Leave a Comment

The harbor in Soufrière, St. Lucia on Christmas Eve

I saw this bizarre looking boat after we left Virgin Gorda and did some Googling. It’s Black Pearl, the largest sailing yacht in the world, owned by some Russian billionaire.

A Christmas Eve toast from Jim

We are not normally “cruise people,” but we decided to take a Christmas break this year on a week-long Caribbean cruise. How did that come about? To begin with, the Internet marketing gods determined that I was a good target for ads from the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Clicking on one of those ads certainly didn’t help matters, so they kept coming, and I found myself intrigued by the product.

This is a cruise line targeting a very different audience from other lines. The “yacht” holds hundreds rather than thousands of people, and it feels like a luxurious hotel — one that happens to be on the water. It is like being at a really nice resort. The food is great, the service is top-notch, and the room is ultra-comfortable. We’ve been meeting lots of interesting people, and they all seem to be having a great time. Many profess to also be “non-cruise people.” And some are downright addicted to this company.

One of the reasons we don’t normally do cruises is that we are travelers who want to do justice to the places we visit. We’re not normally content to drop into a place for half a day. We want to stay in places, get to know them, meet local people, enjoy the cuisine. But these Caribbean islands are places we’ve already been to or wouldn’t likely get to otherwise. So we’re pretty happy to enjoy the “resort” and pop off to a nice beach each day.

Our cruise was launched from San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we spent a couple days before boarding the yacht Ilma. So far we’ve made stops in Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands), Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda), and St. Lucia. Today we are anchored in Guadeloupe for Christmas. Our next two stops are in St. Barthélemy and St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands). Then back to Puerto Rico to catch a flight home. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!

We spent a couple days in San Juan, Puerto Rico before boarding the cruise

Jim was on the beach in San Juan when storm clouds moved in out of nowhere. I was at the gym and was shocked to look out the window and see torrential rainfall…

…and minutes later it was all back to beautiful sunshine

Pool time aboard Ilma

The Baths in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands

Swimming in The Baths

Climbing through the caves of Virgin Gorda

The spot in the caves known as The Cathedral

In The Cathedral

The stunning Dickenson Bay Beach in Antigua

A tiki bar off the beach at Dickenson Bay

Our “yacht” Ilma anchored in the harbor in St. Lucia

Some beach time in St. Lucia

We spent Christmas Day anchored near the lovely Îles des Saintes in Guadeloupe

Kailua-Kona

Posted by Mark Sullivan on August 15, 2023

Posted in: USA. Leave a Comment

Sunset in paradise

Palm trees in paradise

A cute little guy on our porch

From the volcano park we drove a few hours north and west to the sunny side of the Big Island for the final stop of our summer adventure in Polynesia. Kailua is the island’s second largest town. And it’s in a region called Kona. And apparently nobody can make up their mind about what to call the place, so it’s most frequently referred to as Kailua-Kona, as weird as that seems.

This is the stretch of the Big Island that is lined with beautiful beach resorts. And because it’s the Big Island, there’s a lot of volcano action, so the beautiful beach resorts are surrounded by lava fields. It’s an interesting and beautiful juxtaposition.

So we spent our last six days in Polynesia doing what we are very good at — enjoying a gorgeous beach and bunches of books and not much more. We had a rental car here, but it sat in the parking lot for six days because we weren’t motivated to leave the resort.

While we love nice beach resorts, we do tire a bit of fussy (and annoyingly expensive) resort restaurants. So we took a disproportionate share of our meals, sitting at the bar, at the restaurant that was more casual than the rest. And it turned out to be surprisingly homey, especially for Jim.

One great bartender turned out to be from Bemidji, Minnesota. Not only is she a member of the same Ojibwe tribe as Jim, but she is also the niece of Clyde Bellcourt, famed founder of the American Indian Movement. The other great bartender hailed from New Jersey, but his mother grew up in Billings Park, the same neighborhood in Superior, Wisconsin where Jim’s mom grew up. Weird connections at a fancy Hawaii resort!

And thus our adventure in Polynesia comes to a conclusion. As we await a long flight back to New York, I’ll just share the last pretty pics.

The beach in paradise

It’s not hard to spot Jim

A pretty relaxed lunch

From the beach we could see Maui in the distance, the beleaguered island that experienced so much tragedy while we were here

Frangipani blossoms always make me feel like I’m in a happy place

Palm trees and lava. That’s the Big Island.

Tahiti & Volcano, HI

Posted by Jim St. George on August 11, 2023

Posted in: French Polynesia, North America, Oceania, UNESCO World Heritage Site, USA. Leave a Comment

Stopping for a selfie at a lava field on Chain of Craters road in Volcanoes National Park

Two quick stops with a long flight in between. From Bora Bora the goal was the Big Island back in Hawaii, but instead of trying to arrange a connecting flight we stopped for a day-and-a-half back in Tahiti. Same hotel that we liked, the Hilton, but this time we made reservations in advance to have dinner at a very nice French restaurant in downtown Papeete. Definitely better than resort food once again.

I walked around Papeete a little and it had the potential to be a cute place for a day or two. Nothing you ever need to see but possibly charming.

Steak tartare at L’O A La Bouche, a lovely French restaurant in Papeete

Then it was back to Hawaii, a six-hour flight north and then a connecting flight to the Big Island. (The island is officially called Hawaii but since that would constantly confuse people wondering if you were talking about the island or the state, everyone calls it the Big Island.) Our first stop was again pretty short, just two days in a rustic lodge very near the entrance to Volcanoes National Park.

If you are really into geology and how the earth was formed and all that, Volcanoes National Park would be just your cup of tea. There were lots of trails to hike around various volcanoes and lava flows, and lots and lots of boards explaining how this had happened and why that had happened. It turns out that I was just never a science guy and after just a few of those my eyes were glazing over.

One of the smaller craters we hiked by. If you’re from northern Minnesota it looks a lot like an abandoned iron ore pit…

With that said it was still interesting to walk around and see stuff. We hiked quite a ways around the rim of Kīlauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Lots of steam but sadly no spewing orange fire balls. And we did a drive along the Chain of Craters road that passed by lots of smaller craters and lava flows.

That’s me out on one of a million lava flows

Beyond that I loved just the peace and quiet of the place. The park is up at a pretty high altitude and so the weather was surprisingly cool, a nice change of pace for us. Our little cabin was a decided change from the fancy resorts we usually stay in and it was a nice diversion. It was in a pretty remote spot so I could do long walks on quiet country lanes that were beautiful.

And that was that, four days and a long flight. We have one last stop on the other side of the Big Island before we go back to the small island we call home.

The Tahiti Hilton at sunset. Not too shabby.

The deck on our little cabin made for a great spot to read and maybe have a little scotch. The lodge was in the town of Volcano, so there we were, staying in a volcano!