Caribbean Islands - Travel Guide and Travel Info

Do you wish to go on tour or vacation to the Caribbean? Do you know some facts about this group of islands? Just so you know, the Caribbean is composed of more than seven thousand islands and extends up to two thousand miles dividing the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. A lot of tourists and vacationers travel to the islands via cruise ships and sometimes by air. 

The Caribbean group of islands forms a crescent island arc and is part of the larger West Indies grouping. This grouping consists of the Lesser Antilles of the southern and eastern part which also includes the Leeward Antilles, Greater Antilles of the northern, and the Bahamas as well including the Turks and Caicos Islands. Some of the major languages found in different countries of the region include English, Dutch, Spanish, Haitian Creole, French and Papiamento with some bit of Creole languages or dialects from country to country. 

Majority of dwellers in Caribbean are mainly Africans. There are some minorities of mixed races, Europeans of English, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian and French ancestry and Asians especially Indian and Chinese descents. No wonder the mixture of races, supreme and indigenous vegetation and heavenly animals of the Caribbean Islands create a satisfactory paradise scene that millions of tourists and potential tourists would never deny a chance to dwell in it while still alive. 

Dominica, Grenada, Vincent and Lucia are the four islands comprising the Windward Antilles. They face the trade Winds in a series of volcanic peaks and are best known for their spectacular beaches. French heritage stayed in the Windwards since it is formerly owned by France. Significant African influence is also evident in the Windwards with some islanders descended from African heritage who used to be slaves freed in 1834. St. Lucia tops as the most developed and highly visited among the four islands. Grenada is also a tourist spot especially for divers and sailors. Dominica, on the other hand, specializes on scuba diving and nature tourism.

The Leeward Islands, which is a chain of volcanoes having peaks of rain forests, is composed of Nevis, Montserrat and St. Kitts on the west and volcanic ranges of Anguilla, Barbuda and Antigua on the east. It is best known for its coral limestone and beaches. It is a former British colony but Anguilla and Montserrat are the only states in the group of islands, which are fully dependent. 

Tourism is the main economic booster of the Caribbean. All of its islands have their own specialties to offer such as sailing, scuba diving, swimming with dolphins and surfing. The eastern islands near the Atlantic Ocean specializes on surfing while the islands close to the Caribbean Sea offers calm beach waters that are best spots for snorkelers. The Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean sea endow the Caribbean with attractive and non-monotonous choice of the body of water to enjoy in. This is to mean that Caribbean Islands are the most blessed regions for fun and momentous leisure for tourists.

Caribbean Islands map