By Jayne Clark—
Looking to experience the Caribbean like a local? Best bet is to query a well-informed, well-traveled islander. At a conference last week in Guyana, 300 or so members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization were meeting to discuss sustainable tourism. With so many resident experts on hand, I asked some of them where they take friends who are visiting their respective islands.
Their tips:
Jamaica: Janet Silvera, senior writer for the Jamaica Gleaner –Frenchman’s Cove beach in Port Antonio. Located on the northeast coast, Port Antonio is low-rise and low-key and gets only a fraction of the tourists that Montego Bay, Negril and other hotspots attract.
“It has a low-key beauty,” Silvera says. “It’s not like the day when the rich and famous would fly in for their holidays. Lots of Jamaicans go there.”
Don’t miss the nearby Boston Jerk Centre, birthplace of Jamaican jerk-style cooking. There’s spicy, slow-roasted jerk pork, chicken and, more recently, jerk lobster.
“There is no jerk lobster in the world like what you get there,” Silvera says.
Dominica: Tyrella Alexander, reporter for Dominica Broadcasting Corp. — In Dominica, where nature is king, a new island-long trail shows off wild attributes, along with more domesticated ones.
The Waitukubuli National Trail (“Tall Is Her Body” in the native Carib language) meanders north-south for 114 miles. It’s divided into 14 well-marked segments rated by difficulty. By design, each portion crosses through several communities, enabling visitors to experience island culture, as well as nature.
Antigua: Anika Kentish, correspondent and radio host for Observer Media Group — Shirley Heights Lookout on Sunday nights. The bluff at the island’s southern tip has signature views of English Harbour and the restored Georgian-era Nelson’s Dockyard.
“Sundays are special. They have a steel band, and in the evening as the sun sets you can see Guadeloupe in the distance,” Kentish says. “Then after sunset, there’s a live band – reggae, soca, calypso. It goes late into the night and it’s a big party. I’ve never taken anyone there who didn’t love it.”
Barbados: Loreto Duffy-Mayers, green hotel expert — Ostins fish fry on Friday nights. Vendors in this south coast fishing town cook fish and chicken to order in stands set up along the streets. There’s also music and dancing. The action starts around 6 p.m. and goes until “all hours,” she says.
“Anybody can go to a hotel. But to see a country, you need to get out and meet the people,” adds Duffy-Mayers. Smaller weekly markets/parties are in Moon Town and Six Men’s Bay, both in the northern part of the island.
Grenada: Linda Straker, freelance journalist — The Granada Chocolate Co. on the island’s north side. Tours of the island’s first organic cocoa farm take visitors through the chocolate-making process from cocoa bean to chocolate bar. And if you’re staying at the more touristy southern end of the island, you’ll get a mini tour of the island on the ride there.
Afterward, visit Belmont Estate, a 17th-century estate that spotlights Granada’s agricultural and cultural heritage.
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