31 January 2016
Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The Turks & Caicos, one of the relatively untouched corners of the Caribbean: eight main islands and more than 229 smaller ones—some barely large enough to pitch a beach umbrella.

The two groups—the Turks and the Caicos—sit just north of Hispaniola (home of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and east of Cuba.

The population of about 31,500 live on eight main islands: in the Turks, the Caicos, and the mostly privately held outlying or boutique Islands.

The primary natural resources are in the water: spiny lobster, conch, and other shellfish. Not much grows on the land, except for tourist attractions.

It has a bit of history as a refuge for pirates and friends including Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read.

And later as refuge for astronauts–the waters offshore were used as the landing zone for many of the early American space launches.

Now, let’s pause for a moment and consider this pressing question: What in the world does a Caribbean island have to do with Turkey?

Not much, actually, except for one thing: amongst the relatively sparse vegetation in the islands is the slightly suggestive Melocactus intortus cactus.

It has a distinctive red cap, which at least to one long-forgotten visitor suggested a Turkish fez. Hence the name “Turks.”

Grand Turk has prospered in the last decade since a cruise dock was installed and mostly paid for by the mega-monster Carnival Corporation; that company also deigns to rent docking space to some other lines from time to time.

At the end of the quay is an air-conditioned shopping mall with all the usual suspects: liquor, jewelry, perfume, and t-shirts.

There is a large lagoon-like swimming pool; you can rent a private poolside cabana with waiter service. And the largest Margaritaville restaurant and bar in the Caribbean, part of the amazing global empire built around the American singer Jimmy Buffett.

There is, though, one very nice attraction right at the dock.

Go through the air-conditioned mall, enter into the shopping center, and head left or right to reach Governor’s Beach. It is one of the most convenient beaches at any cruise dock in the Caribbean…and it offers a fine view…of our ship.

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Text and images copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Hudson Book Cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

29 January 2016
Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Turnaround to the Eastern Caribbean

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard. We’re heading out on a cruise that samples almost every one of the many imported and native cultures of the eastern Caribbean: British, Spanish, Swedish, French, Dutch, and American.

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Some of the residents of the Key West Aquarium in Florida 

From Fort Lauderdale, we sail to Grand Turk island in the British territory of Turks and Caicos.

Next, we’re on to the tourist enclave of Samana in the Dominican Republic, on the Spanish side of the island of Hispaniola, a place that also holds the much-less-developed nation of Haiti. I’ll talk a bit about theories why two nations on the same island are so different in my lecture aboard ship.

From Samana, Silver Wind heads to Road Town on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. This is another playground of the Caribbean, with an interesting hodgepodge of history and arrivistes.

Next is Philipsburg, Sint-Maarten, the Dutch capital of the island that is shared with the French (who call their half St-Martin.)

Then on to Gustavia on the oh-so-tony island of Saint-Barthélemy, known to most as Saint Bart’s, and to many as one of the essential stopovers on the social global circuit: Saint Bart’s, San Tropez, Monte Carlo, Nantucket. The name of the capital and port, Gustavia, is a reminder of the one-time presence of the Swedish on the island; today it is tres, tres French.

And then we conclude at San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a very Spanish culture within the political and cultural bounds of an American territory.

Here’s our plan:

v2603 Map

Copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler

 

 

27-28 January 2016
Key West, Florida: The Sun Also Sets

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Key West island, at the tip of the Florida Keys archipelago in the Straits of Florida, is a small place with an oversized place in American culture.

It is closer to Cuba (94 miles) than it is to Miami, about 129 miles away.

The Spanish established their colony in Florida. They named the little island at the bottom of the archipelago, Cayo Hueso­, Spanish for “bone cay.” The cay, the low island, was littered with the bones of natives, who used it as a communal graveyard.

During the American Civil War, Florida seceded and joined the Confederate States. However, Key West remained in Union hands because of the U.S. Naval base there.

Major industries in the early 19th century included fishing, salt production, and salvage of the many shipwrecks offshore. About 1860, the salvage industry made Key West the largest and richest city in Florida, and the wealthiest town per capita in the U.S.

The town was noted for the unusually high concentration of fine furniture and chandeliers that locals used in their homes after salvaging them from wrecks.

The Caribbean is still littered with the wrecks of galleons and other vessels, and Key West is still a center for treasure hunters.

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Sculpture by Seward Johnson at the old Customs House in Key West 

At the beginning of World War II the Navy increased its presence greatly; at its peak employing 15,000 military personnel and 3,400 civilians. The base included Naval Air Station Key West, a training facility for pilots.

The area next to Fort Taylor became a submarine pen and was used for the Fleet Sonar School.

And it was here that President Harry S. Truman chose to make his Winter White House. He used the commandant’s home on 11 visits to Key West, a total of 175 days.

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The Truman Little White House in Key West

Later, Dwight D. Eisenhower stayed in Key West recuperating from a heart attack. And in November 1962, John F. Kennedy visited Key West a month after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Presidents Clinton and Carter also made visits in their post-presidency.

Ernest Hemingway is said to have written part of A Farewell to Arms while living above the showroom of a Ford dealership at 314 Simonton Street. And it was here Hemingway was introduced to deep-sea fishing.

During his stay he wrote or worked on Death in the Afternoon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. He used Depression-era Key West as one of the locations in To Have and Have Not—his only novel with scenes in the United States.

Tennessee Williams became a regular visitor in 1941 and is said to have written the first draft of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 at the La Concha Hotel. He bought a house in 1949 and listed Key West as his primary residence until his death in 1983.

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A selection of watering holes in Key West,  including the second incarnation of Sloppy Joe’s, a favorite of Ernest Hemingway

Today, they do not need much—or any—excuse for a party in Key West.

This is, after all, a place where every night hundreds of tourists and many locals gather at Mallory Square to watch the same thing that happened roughly 24 hours ago: the setting of the sun.

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Sunset at Mallory Square,  which comes complete with jugglers,  fire-eaters, swird-swallowers, and tourists.

But there are a few special celebrations each year, including Conch Republic Independence Day, several Gay Pride events, and one festival that seems to combine all others: the Key West Fantasy Fest.

It is held for ten days leading up and including Halloween at the end of October. The 2015 event had the theme, “All Hallows Intergalactic Freak Show,” which seems to me to be pretty much the theme every year.

To our guests leaving in Fort Lauderdale, I wish you arrivederci: until we meet again.

Text and images copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Hudson Book Cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

25 January 2016
George Town, Grand Cayman: You Can Bank on It

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

We put down our anchor offshore of George Town, capital and largest city of the modestly named Grand Cayman Island, the largest of the three Cayman Islands.

The island is about 22 miles or 35 kilometers long, with its widest point 8 miles or 13 kilometers.

Of the three populated islands in the chain Grand Cayman represents more than three-quarters of the territory’s land mass and nearly all of its 56,000 people.

About 75 miles or 121 kilometers to the northeast is Little Cayman, and a bit further in that direction is Cayman Brac; between the two “sister islands” are about 2,000 residents.

The Cayman Islands are the peaks of a massive underwater ridge, known as the Cayman Ridge, which flanks the Cayman Trough, 6,000 meters or 20,000 feet deep, which lies 6 kilometers or 4 miles to the south.

All three islands were formed by large coral heads covering submerged ice age peaks.

The first European spotting of the islands was by that most obvious of suspects: Christopher Columbus, in 1503.

By 1530, all three of the islands were called the Caimanas, derived from the Carib word for the marine crocodile that once was common.

The Cayman Islands today are a British Overseas Territory, somewhere between a colony and an independent nation. They are on a U.N. list of the last non-self-governing territories.

We arrived on National Heroes Day, a very British celebration of local dignitaries, presided over by Queen Elizabeth II’s representative,  the appointed governor of the island territory.

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National Heroes Day on Grand Cayman.

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A glimpse of old Cayman, in the shadow of one of the office towers holding lawyers, accountants, bankers, and the paperwork for 100,000 or so companies from around the world.

In terms of numbers of jobs, the economy is based around tourism.

But there is also a somewhat hidden economy which you can glimpse in the skyline and some of the nameplates on buildings: well-known banks and accounting firms.

The Cayman Islands is one of the world’s leading offshore financial havens for wealthy individuals, businesses, and investment firms.

In fact, the Caymans have more registered businesses than people. There are about 600 banks and trust companies, and by one count branches or affiliates of 43 of the 50 largest banks in the world.

And about 100,000 corporations and financial entities, twice the number of people in the territory.

Precise figures are hard to come by, but many experts believe the Cayman Islands are the fifth-largest banking center in the world, with something on the order of $1.5 trillion, that’s trillion with a “T” in banking liabilities.

Financial services represent something on the order of 55 percent of the total economy, 36 percent of all employment, and 40 percent of all government revenue.

The authorities have faced challenges from international regulatory groups, flirting with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) blacklist for a while.

There is no direct taxation on residents and Cayman Islands companies. There are no taxes on corporate profits, capital gains, or personal income. There are no estate or death inheritance taxes payable on Cayman Islands real estate or other assets held in the Cayman Islands.

The government charges flat licensing fees on financial institutions that operate in the islands and there are work permit fees on foreign labor.

And then there is a duty levied against most imported goods, in the range of 22 to 25 percent; even higher on high-priced automobiles, of which you will see more than a few.

Back to tourism, though: and so, while passenger counts in the Caribbean have been increasing every year recently, they have leveled off or declined in Grand Cayman.

One reason is the lack of a dock large enough for major ships.

The government of Grand Cayman Island has proposed to build a $250 million berthing facility that would provide docking and direct shore access to as many as four cruise ships at once. Four huge ships, that is.

But the island’s own Department of Environment has said that construction and dredging for the port would damage about 15 acres of reefs and animal habitat and damage another 15 acres.

And the turbulence stirred up by thrusters and propellers of the ships coming all the way into the harbor would bring additional damage.

On a purely financial basis, having the dock would allow many more guests to come ashore directly and spend money in the gift shops and restaurants…but some say the damage would take away some of the principal reasons tourists come to George Town: to snorkel, swim, or otherwise enjoy the pristine waters.

Local newspapers have carried comments from some of the mega-cruise line companies (not Silverseas), saying, “If you build it we will come; if you don’t we will not come.”

In October 2015, the Cayman government said it intended to push through on plans for a dock.

In the mean time, our small luxury ship will use our tender boats bring us to shore. That’s apparently not pleasing to the owners and passengers of the megaships, which sounds rather grand to me.

Text and images copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Hudson Book Cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

23 January 2016
Roatán Island, Honduras: In the Depths

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Roatán Island is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras; the group stands about 30 to 50 miles off the coast.

It is, in many ways, one of the shining hopes of an otherwise grim nation beset by violence and other troubles mostly related to the northward traffic in drugs from South America to the market in the United States.

Roatán stands far enough offshore to be out of the way and also isolated enough to allow for the cultivation of what the Hondurans hope will flourish as a small version of Costa Rica, a green and relatively safe paradise.

Roatán is close to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the largest such natural reef in the Caribbean Sea, and indeed the second largest in the world after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Off the island, parts of the ocean floor are carpeted with stars.

The mainland of Honduras is bordered to the west by a small neck of land that gives Guatemala its only port on the Caribbean at Puerto Barrios. To the southwest is El Salvador, and to the southeast Nicaragua.

A tough neighborhood, across history and even now.

Honduras spans an area of about 112,492 square kilometers or 43,400 square miles: a relatively small country about the size of Cuba or Iceland, or the American state of Ohio.

In that area is a population exceeding 8 million, with about a quarter of that number in and around the nation’s capital, the answer to a trivia question: Tegucigalpa.

Honduras is not wealthy, although it is rich in natural resources: Minerals like gold, silver, copper, lead, antimony, coffee, tropical fruit, sugar cane, a bit of coal, and fish and shrimp.

The place we now call Trujillo was the first place Columbus touched on the Central American mainland. Prior to that, on his four voyages, he had only landed on islands and at the top of South America.

He never landed on the mainland of North America.

Columbus named the place “Punta de Caxinas”. Caxinas is a port in northern Portugal, above Porto.

And Columbus named the deep waters of the area the Golfo de Honduras, the Gulf of the Depths.

In 1524, shortly after the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés. the first city of Honduras–Triunfo de la Cruz–was founded near where modern Trujillo stands.

It was used briefly as a port to send silver and gold back to Spain

About 50 to 60 percent of the population is considered below the poverty line. On the plus side, the economy has grown 3 or 4 percent in each of recent years, which is good, although the increases were building from a very low level.

In the late nineteenth century, Honduras became one of the Banana Republics” dominated by United States-based fruit companies granted substantial land and privileges.

Thousands of workers came to the north coast to work in the banana plantations and the other industries that grew up around the export industry.

The industry was dominated at first by the Cuyamel Fruit Company, then the United Fruit Company, and others. Labor difficulties in Honduras led to American military or police actions seven times between 1903 and 1925.

The fruit companies also encouraged immigration of workers from the English-speaking Caribbean, notably Jamaica and Belize, who introduced an African-descended, English speaking and largely Protestant population into the country.

And about that term, “Banana Republic?”

The American author William Sydney Porter—better known today  under his pen name of O. Henry—spent about a year living in Honduras, primarily in Trujillo.

About 1904, he wrote a series of short stories set in “Coralio” in the fictional Central American country of “Anchuria”, based on Trujillo. And in those stories, collected in his book “Of Cabbages and Kings,” he coined the term “Banana Republic.”

Text and photos Copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler.

22 January 2016
Belize City, Belize: Searching for Success (and Shade)

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Belize is a 35-year-old nation that strives for economic and political stability; it still has a way to go.

It’s a hot place, but you’ve got to love a people who chose as their national motto: “Sub Umbra Floreo”.

“Under the shade I flourish.”

Belize is not quite as advanced in tourist infrastructure as Costa Rica—few places in this part of the world are—but that seems to be its goal.

And Belize has the added attraction of several significant Mayan sites and some spectacular offshore reefs.

One is the Classic Mayan political center of Lamanai, a word in Yucatec Mayan meaning “submerged crocodile.”

Lamanai has only been explored in the last 40 or so years, and it is still mostly covered and rather difficult to get to. It was occupied as early as the 16th century BC, and continued to be used up to the 17th century of the modern era.

How difficult? Our ship had to put down its anchor about a mile offshore to avoid damaging the spectacular offshore barrier reef (second only to the reef in Australia in size).

So,  my trip to Lamanai (ancient Mayan for submerged crocodile) began with a long tender ride to shore. Then a 90-minute drive in a superannuated bus on a minimal road to the headwaters of the New River.

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From there by open speedboat another 90 minutes into the deep jungle.

The good news: Lamanai was worth all the effort, and we had the place almost to our own,  along with the bold and loud howler monkeys.

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During the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, Spanish friars established two Roman Catholic churches here, but a Mayan revolt drove them out. When the British settled in Lamanai, they installed a sugar mill at the site.

Archaeological work has concentrated on the larger structures, most notably the Temple of the Masks, the Jaguar Temple, and High Temple.

A significant portion of the site remains under grassy earth or is covered in dense jungle growth.

Text and images copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Hudson Book Cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

21 January 2016
Costa Maya, Mexico

‍By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Costa Maya is a genuine fake.

And I mean that in a nice way. There is no historic town at the end of the modern pier that extends out from the almost featureless landscape.  Instead,  what we have here is a manufactured village of shops,  bars,  and other lures for tourist dollars,  pesos, euros, and pounds.

The genuine part is architecture and music and art that evoke some of the rich history of the Mayans and other peoples who once populated the region of Quintana Roo.

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This is the deep south of Mexico, close to the border with Belize to its south.

Costa Maya is a relatively new way to gain access to the Caribbean coast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

This is an area that is well-populated by the ghosts of great Mayan cities, at least two dozen of them and probably many, many more.

The port of Costa Maya is a tourism version of “If You Build it, They Will Come.”

Until 15 years ago, the only way to get to the shore in this region was over a long and rough road from places far away and not all that attractive.

But then in 2001, private investors and the Mexican government created a pier near the town of Mahahual.

The pier, which is now visited by dozens of cruise ships each year, gives access to some interesting, lesser-known Mayan ruins in the area, as well as fostering all manner of modern tourist-oriented attractions, shops, bars, and restaurants.

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Costa Maya is essentially fenced off from the real world of Mexico, with its own infrastructure and housing for employees. You can, though, take a shore excursion to nearby destinations or hire a car.

There may be many, many more ancient cities in the wilderness of Mexico and in Central America: Mayan, Aztec, Olmec, among them.

All through this part of the world, population has come to center around big cities, some of them huge, like Mexico City and Guatemala City. Out in the country, nature has retaken much of the land.

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Explorers in modern times have found many great cities, mostly by accident.

In recent times, though, satellites have mapped much of the surface of the planet. And some of these satellites include scientific instruments that measure the temperature of the earth below.

Soil and vegetation retains heat. Buried stones and cities are much cooler. The satellites hint at the prospect of many, many sites yet to be explored.

Costa Maya is the closest port of access to Mayan ruins in the Yucatan including Chacchoben.

They are each interesting, but they are smaller and substantially less excavated than the better known pyramids of Tulum and Coba to the north, or Chichen Itza and Uxmal in Yucatan, which are three to four hours away on somewhat sketchy roads.

Text and images copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

20 January 2016
Cozumel, Mexico

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

The island of Cozumel is located in the Caribbean Sea along the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

Mexico’s largest Caribbean island sits about 12 miles or 19 kilometers off the mainland; ferry service zips back and forth to Playa del Carmen.

Cozumel has a back story as a former Mayan outpost and a place of religious pilgrimage for women, and it includes several sites and structures from the ancients.

Between Mayan times and 30 or 40 years ago, it was a backwater dependent upon fishing.

Today it exists almost entirely as a destination aimed at fishing dollars, euros, pounds, and pesos out of the pockets of tourists: about two million per year.

The cruise port at San Miguel is quite busy as well. During high season, which runs from November to April, there are usually 20 to 30 ships in port per week, more than a few of them party boats on 4- or 5-day party cruises from Miami and New Orleans. You can spot their guests easily: they are wobbling even before they make it to the margarita bars along the malecon.

Tourism, diving and charter fishing comprise the majority of the island’s economy. There are more than 300 restaurants on the island and many hotels.

And there are beaches all around, some of them quite crowded and some nearly empty if you go out of your way to find them.

We spent the morning walking along the malecon,  the seaside promenade. You have to look very carefully to spot vestiges of old Cozumel, sandwiched in between Senor Frog’s and Hooters and Diamonds International.

And we had to politely resist the near constant pitches of taxi drivers and vendors every few yards.  We escaped with our wallets intact,  and some colorful pictures of an island in the sun.

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The lovely Silver Wind,  nestled alongside another cruise ship at Cozumel, like a guppy in the shade of a whale. And our neighbor here is merely a large ship, not a megaship. 

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Vestiges of old Cozumel,  more or less in plain sight amongst modern tourist attractions. 

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Text and images copyright 2016 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Hudson Book Cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

18 January 2016
From the Gold Coast to the Mayan Coast

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Welcome aboard. We’re headed south by southwest from Florida’s Gold Coast to Mexico’s Mayan Coast, and then back by way of the Offshore Bank and the Conch Republic.

Allow me to explain.

We depart Fort Lauderdale aboard Silversea’s handsome Silver Wind headed first for the Mexican resort of Cozumel along the dead end of the Gulf of Mexico. And then we make a visit at Costa Maya, another tourist playground, a small place with a large history in the ancient cultures of Mexico.

From there we continue south along the Gulf Coast to the somewhat-less-visited port of Belize City in the somewhat-obscure nation of Belize (a former Imperial colony known as British Honduras until 1973). Belize is the only nation in Central America where the official language is English, albeit with a strong influence of Spanish and Creole.

After then to the island of Roatan in the nation now known as Honduras, before then as Spanish Honduras. It also was known as the original “Banana Republic”, a not-complimentary nickname bestowed on the nation and the region by an American writer in 1904.

We turn away from the coast to head to George Town, Grand Cayman–a most unlikely address for a large number of banks, accounting firms, lawyers, and multinational companies that come to worship the sun and very liberal taxation and regulatory schemes. There are some lovely beaches, too.

And finally, we have ahead of us an overnight at the very quirky port of Key West in Florida, the southernmost point in the continental United States. Just about anything goes here, and in fact the place even tried to go away from the mother country, an effort memorialized by Conch Republic flags.

I’ll be writing more about each of these ports in upcoming blogs. Here’s our plan:

v2602 Map

Copyright 2016, Corey Sandler.