The Winter Olympics Come to the British Virgin Islands?

When you think of the bright blue skies, brilliant sunshine and sparkling turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the sports that leap to mind are most likely sailing, snorkeling and scuba diving.

However, the pretty British Virgin Islands are now setting their sights on a distinctly chillier sport.   When the world’s athletes march in the Parade of Nations in Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the British Virgin Islands are planning to have representation in that parade, waving their flag high and proud.

Eighteen-year-old BVI citizen Adam Crook placed in the top three in a number of half pipe ski competitions over the past season.   Now that half pipe skiing has been added to the 2014 roster of Olympic sports, Crook feels he has a good chance at becoming a Caribbean Olympian.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Virgin Islands produced a winter Olympian.  In the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, Errol Fraser competed in several speed skating events, finishing 40th and 42nd in his races.  He made history as the first black speed skater to compete in the Winter Olympic Games.

Crook was born and raised in the British Virgin Islands, but he has called Wisconsin home since 2001, and has trained extensively in Colorado.

He has maintained his BVI citizenship, and with Sochi in mind, he has been working with the BVI Olympic Committee to form the BVI Ski Association.

Crook has the full support of BVI’s sporting community, and with a few more years of hard-core training far away from the sun, sand and surf, he could very well be making these islands very proud on the snow in 2014.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the joys of a Caribbean winter.  Come to the British Virgin Islands for the swimming, sailing, surf and sun, and you can support BVI’s own Adam Crook, at least in spirit.

Montserrat: Caribbean Island Hopping Just Got Easier!

Great news!  If you’ve ever dreamed of being able to island hop around the Caribbean, a new announcement has just made that a little easier.

The L’Express Des Iles ferry service has announced that starting in October 2011; the Jeans Ferry Service will operate all year around, making regular connections between Montserrat, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, and Antigua that run all the time.

Right now, there is a less frequent service available, but ferry passengers have been increasing in recent years, so more ferry runs have been added.   As of October 20th of this year, the ferry will run frequently between St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Dominica.   There will also be regular weekend ferry service connecting Montserrat, Antigua, St. Martin, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Each ferry ride can carry up to 140 people at a time, and tourist boards across the Caribbean are welcoming this news, saying it will help bring more visitors to each island.

So why not book a great Montserrat villa for your next Caribbean family vacation?  You can spend time exploring all there is to offer on the beautiful island of Montserrat, and then scoot over to Guadeloupe or Antigua to do a little exploring on a different island.    Book a few weeks at Montserrat vacation rental and you can take a ferry for an few nights on an island as far as St. Kitts or Dominica.   Or why not start your vacation with a week at a tropical retreat in Montserrat, and then island hop on the new ferry service down to St. Lucia, to explore an entirely different volcanic island?

There is so much to explore here in this beautiful corner of the world, and now, thanks to L’Express Des Iles, exploring far and wide just got a little easier, and a lot more fun and affordable.

Spotlight on Tennis in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Golfers travel all over the world to play the sport they love on different courses in different countries, so why not tennis players?

At the recent U.S. Open in New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands lead the way in a new international push to develop tennis tourism.   Tennis is one of the world’s fastest growing sports, and with year-round sunshine and warm weather, the Caribbean is the ideal place to play.

The U.S. Virgin Islands had a suite at the U.S. Tennis Association in New York during the Open, and the First Lady of the U.S. Virgin Islands Cecile de Jongh was in attendance, encouraging tennis lovers to visit the islands, and make use of their world class tennis facilities.

The First Lady is herself an avid tennis player, and she spoke to the world’s tennis press about the islands’ cool breezes, turquoise waters, beautiful beaches and world class tennis facilities.  Among many other international sporting events, USVI hosts the enormously successful Chrysler Cup Tennis Tournament every February.

There are plenty of tennis courts across the U.S. Virgin Islands, including on the island of St. John.  Most resorts and yacht clubs feature excellent tennis courts, and St. John house rentals also provide visitors with access to great places to play.

The best idea is to plan for a St. John vacation rental which gives you access to all kinds of activities, from hiking, swimming, and biking, to excellent places to play tennis in the U.S. Virgin Islands, under the Caribbean sun.  After all, when you think about it, a tennis racquet is a much easier thing to pack than a bunch of golf clubs!

New Reasons to Consider a Caribbean Villa

The global tourism market has been through some rough times over the past few years, but there is still lots of growth and plenty of new reasons to consider renting a Caribbean villa.

There are new airports, new ferry runs, new museums, and more importantly, great prices.  According to the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, this is adding up to a great winter for business in the Caribbean.

Twenty-three million people came to the Caribbean in 2010, and that number just keeps going up.

Some of the new attractions and amenities include new Jet Blue flights to the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as new resorts on St. Thomas and St. Croix.  There are new hotels and resorts also opening in Jamaica, and older resorts have been pouring money into renovating and refurbishing.  As well, Jamaica has just opened a new airport in Ocho Rios, a new cruise port in Falmouth, and a brand new convention center in Montego Bay.   Virgin Gorda has a new marina welcoming yachts in North Bay Sound.

There are lots of new tourist attractions to see, and many of them have recently seen improvements.  On St. Thomas, the Mountain Top has reopened after reconstruction, so you can once again enjoy the view from the highest point on the island.

Montserrat has a brand new museum.

While tourism is still booming in the Caribbean, research does show that the shaky economy is changing how people spend their money while they’re here.  The Caribbean Tourism Organization says that people are more interested in taking part in local island culture these days; taking the bus, going to a fish fry, enjoying a Carnival parade.

Of course, the most affordable way to experience the joys of the Caribbean is by renting your own Caribbean villa.  Tropical island rentals give you the chance to be part of life on the island, with a home of your own where you can relax in the sun.  Why not consider a Caribbean rental villa for your next affordable vacation?

Get Your Garden on in Tortola: A Beautiful BVI Flower Show

If you love the sights and smells of a lush tropical garden, it is time to start planning that Caribbean rental in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

The National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands is holding its annual BVI Flower Show on November 20th of this year at the Joseph Reynold O’Neal Botanic Gardens.  The theme is “A Floral Celebration of 50 Years of Conservation: Come and See our Islands in Colour.”

The deputy director of the NPT has asked local gardeners on Tortola to start getting their gardens ready, as there will be an island-wide competition in four categories:  Large Flower Gardens, Small Flower Gardens, Specialty Gardens (such as hibiscus or cacti), and Porch or Indoor Gardens.  Each entry will be judged on color, arrangement, health and access.

The BVI flower show began in the 80s as a way to raise money for the National Parks Trust, and is a highlight for gardeners on Tortola.

The J.R. O’Neal Botanic Garden is a highlight of any visit to Tortola. Covering four acres of land right in the heart of Road Town, the entrance is a stunning walkway of Royal Palm trees. There is a wide variety of tropical orchids and lilies here, as well as an incredible collection of cacti and Banyon trees.

If you love gardening, and want to see the very best of what Caribbean gardening has to offer, then there can be no better time to book a luxury villa on Tortola.  Come down and smell the birds of paradise and pink alamandas.  Book a stay in BVI Tortola now, at the Emerald Reef luxury villa, one of the most beautiful oceanfront vacation rentals on the island.

Hollywood Spotlight on Vacation in Jamaica

Plenty of great movies have been set and filmed in Jamaica (Hello, James Bond!).  Now, the land of wood and water is getting set to step back into the Hollywood spotlight.   Comedian Seth Rogan, who has starred in the hit movies, The Green Hornet, Superbad and Knocked Up, has just signed up for the filming of a new movie comedy, called Jamaica.

The movie will be based on director Jonathan Levine’s personal life, specifically on a vacation in Jamaica which he took with his grandmother when he was 14-years-old.   No word yet on what made the trip so memorable, but Levine does say it’s a story he’s been wanting to tell for a long time, even describing it as a “passion project”.

We can certainly understand why any trip to Jamaica is a memorable vacation, and we can’t wait to see what the hilarious Seth Rogan, Jonathan Levine, and their longtime collaborators Evan Goldberg and Will Reiser will do in this new film.

It’s not the first time Jonathan Levine’s personal experiences have made it into a movie.  This same group of guys also worked on the movie 50/50, which was loosely based on Levine and Reiser’s friendship, during the time Reiser was battling cancer.

No word on when the movie Jamaica is set to be released, or whether it will actually be shot here in Jamaica, but we can only hope that the iconic Jamaican hills and highlights will once again grace big screens around the world.

We also know of a few great places to stay in Jamaica, should any of the cast or crew be looking for a luxury villa rental.

Jamaica Holidays: Music, Mountains and Magic

Millions of people from around the world make trips to Jamaica every year, drawn by the warm Caribbean sunshine, soft sand beaches, and Jamaica’s international reputation for food, music and culture. Jamaica is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean, and its long and diverse history has created a unique flavor to this wonderful country.

After being settled and controlled by pirates, the Spanish and the English, Jamaica finally gained its independence in 1962, establishing the city of Kingston as its bustling capital.   Today, a Jamaica vacation can still explore the history of the island in some of its rich and varied attractions.  The best way to explore the island’s history is with a holiday villa rental on this fascinating island.  From its world class beaches and natural wonders to its pirate past and modern culture, there are plenty of incredible places to explore when traveling to Jamaica.

Jamaica is most famous for its melodic musical traditions.   Of course, the world is well aware of the legacy of Bob Marley, and Jamaica vacations can put visitors in touch with his roots and his life on a tour with the Zion Bus Line, winding through St. Ann and into the mountain town of Nine Mile, where Marley was born.  It’s not only reggae that grew up in the hills and halls of Jamaica.  Ska, rocksteady, dub and dancehall music all got their start here, influencing rock n’ roll, punk, hip-hop and rap music the world over.

Jamaica holidays can also explore the island’s darker history in the beautiful Green Grotto Caves near Discovery Bay.   Once known as the Rum Caves and the Runaway Caves, this stunning underground maze of caverns and lakes was used as a hideaway for Spanish settlers fleeing the British, and later on by escaped slaves fleeing into the mountains.  At other points in history, they were used to hide smuggled guns and to store rum.  They were also the setting for Dr. Katanga’s underground base in the 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die.

For decades, Jamaica has been a lush setting for movies, and home to the stars.  From James Bond’s Dr. No to the movies Cocktail and Cool Runnings, Jamaica’s beauty and culture has drawn Hollywood’s best and brightest.  The author of the James Bond movies, Sir Ian Fleming, made his home here, near James Bond Beach.  Movie legend Errol Flynn also lived here, developing tourism in the Port Antonio area.  Today, the country is most proud of its incredible runners who topped the podium in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Runners and Olympic champions, Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melanie Walker, Veronica Campbell-Brown and the entire men’s relay team all brought home gold medals in the country’s best ever performance in a summer Olympics.

Of course, Jamaica also made a name for itself in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics by being the first ever warm-weather country to field an Olympic bobsled team.   They did not finish, but they captured the hearts of the world.  Today, on a trip to Jamaica, visitors can follow in their tracks on a visit to Mystic Mountain, near Ocho Rios, where families enjoy spending the day on the bobsled run, gondola and waterslides.

A Jamaica villa is an excellent choice for any vacation, giving visitors all the comforts of home as they set out to explore everything there is to see and do in this historic and jumping tropical paradise.

More fun facts and information on trips to Jamaica by Tropical Island Retreats.

The Secret to Jamaica’s Success

We all watched as the Jamaica’s Usain Bolt blew away his own world records in track and field at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and we are holding our breath to see if he can do it again in London in 2012.  Bolt isn’t Jamaica’s only star sprinter heading into next year’s summer Olympics.  Thirteen Jamaicans came home from China with Olympic medals.  The island is hoping for more from London.

Now, one of Jamaica’s leading nutritional scientists is saying that the key to the Jamaica’s success may be something available to you and me!

Professor Errol Morrison of the University of Technology of Jamaica has done extensive research on why Jamaicans can manage so much speed.   His latest findings are pointing to two important staples in the island diet; yams and bananas.
Morrison says it’s just a hypothesis right now, but his findings have a basis in biochemistry. Yams are rich in hyposteroids, which can stimulate the body, and green bananas are high in phytate, which helps increase energy.   He also says yams and bananas may not actually make Jamaicans run faster, but these nutrients could be key in helping them maintain that high speed for longer periods of time.

It’s not a bad reason to consider a Caribbean vacation rental in Jamaica, so you can come down to spend a week eating some of the world’s freshest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables.  However, there is something else you should know.  It takes a few years for the effect to take place.

Morrison says the Jamaican diet is rich in fresh yams and bananas, and children here are exposed to these rich nutrients regularly, starting at an early age.   There are also a lot of organized track and field groups here for kids, so that also helps their muscles grow and absorb the excellent nutrition in the food.

So why not come on down and take a few cooking lessons at the Tryall Club Jamaica, so you can work more healthy fresh fruits, vegetables and a taste of Jamaica into your diet here, or even back at home!

Jamaica Vacation Villas through the eyes of Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming may have been a famous British spy novelist, but his heart belonged to Jamaica.  The author of the world famous James Bond series spent every winter in a Jamaica villa for nearly 20 years, writing many of his best-selling novels here.  His beloved Jamaica also starred in a number of his books, and in the even-more-famous movies.

Dr. No, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, Octopussy; all of these books were set at least in part here in Jamaica.   The movies Dr. No and Live and Let Die were shot here, setting off a tourism boom for the country.

Ian Fleming first came to here in 1942, sent by British intelligence to investigate reports of German U-boats in the area.  He fell in love with the island, the Jamaica vacation villas and swore he would come back one day, buy a piece of land and build one of his own.  He did just that.

Fleming’s home in Jamaica was called Goldeneye, located near the town of Oracabessa in St. Mary Parish on the north coast of the island.  After Ian Fleming died, the property was sold to reggae star Bob Marley.  In 1977, Marley sold it to the founder of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, who developed it into a world class resort.  In a surprising link back to Fleming, Blackwell’s mother Blanche was a close friend of the author’s, and Blackwell himself had a small part in the filming of Dr. No.

Today, the resort’s beachfront is one of the most beautiful on the island, and it has an appropriately named James Bond Beach.  Anyone can come spend time here and rent a wave runner or a sea kayak, so anyone can paddle out into the waves, and check out the famous home looking down from the hill.

Jamaica offers many places where visitors can feel connected to both Fleming and his famously handsome spy.  When travelers arrive in Jamaica, the first James Bond moment happens almost immediately, at the Norman Manley International Airport.  The airport near Kingston, Jamaica, is where Sean Connery was picked up by a suspicious driver right at the beginning of the film Dr. No. In the city of Kingston, Connery stops at Government House, meets Felix Leiter at Morgan’s Harbour, and watches a house on Kinsale Street.

The iconic Dr. No scene where Ursula Andress walks out of the surf in her cream-colored belted bikini was shot at the Laughing Waters Beach, in Ocho Rios.    It’s said that Fleming himself was on hand for the shooting of this scene, as was his best friend, poet Noel Coward.  The movie created a fictional place called Crab Key, and filming for this locale took place all around the north shore, including on the White River and at the beautiful (and undeveloped at the time) Dunn’s River Falls. The beach in Falmouth was where Sean Connery and Ursula Andress took cover when they were being shot at by Dr. No’s henchmen.

More than a decade later, Falmouth was once again the scene of filming for a James Bond movie. Live and Let Die used Jamaica to film scenes set on the fictional island of San Monique.  Filmmakers also used the stunning Green Grotto Caves for Kananga’s underground lair.

Ian Fleming may have passed away at his home in England in 1964, but he is still so much a part of the Jamaican culture that he has just had an airport named after him.  Ian Fleming International Airport, east of Ocho Rios, was officially opened in January 2011 by Jamaica’s Prime Minister, and Fleming’s niece, Lucy.

See Ian Flemming’s world while golfing the best Tryall villas Jamaica has to offer with Tropical Island Retreats!  Make your Caribbean vacation rental reservation today.

Famous Neighbors! The Ultimate BVI Villa Rental on Necker Island

Oprah Winfrey has vacationed here.  So have Steven Speilberg, Mel Gibson, and Princess Diana.  Where is this playground of the rich and very, very famous? It is on the incredible BVI island retreat of Necker Island, owned by Sir Richard Branson.

BVI has long been famous for its luxury villa rentals, pristine white sand beaches, stunning natural beauty, and a respect for privacy.  All this makes it the perfect vacation spot for any celebrity looking for an ideal Caribbean family vacation.

Necker Island sits just north of Virgin Gorda.  It’s small, and the entire island is run as part of the Virgin Limited chain of luxury resorts.

Branson came to BVI in 1978, and felt its natural beauty and privacy would be the perfect place to set up Caribbean private villas for the rock stars signed to his Virgin Records label.   He fell in love with the view and the wildlife on the uninhabited Necker Island, and bought it for £180,000 in 1979.  He spent three years and about £10 million to turn it into a perfect island retreat, complete with a stunning Balinese villa topping the hill overlooking the beach.   Every one of the 10 bedrooms has a 360-degree view of the island and the Caribbean.  Branson’s little BVI villa rental can accommodate up to 28 people, and has a staff of about 60, with private pools, private beaches, tennis courts and every kind of water sport imaginable.

If you can’t afford the high price tag of up to $54,000 US per night, you may still spot the island’s famous guests anywhere in BVI.  They often sail over to Jost Van Dyke for the famous New Year’s Eve party at Foxy’s.  They visit Virgin Gorda to play in the boulders at The Baths.  They take a boat to Tortola to play on Cane Garden Bay Beach, said to be one of the best beaches in the entire Caribbean.  They pop by  Norman Isle, the inspiration for the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Treasure Island.

When Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, rented Necker Island for his 2007 wedding, he also rented out about half the Caribbean private villas on neighboring Virgin Gorda for his more than 600 wedding guests.

The question now being asked all across BVI, is when will the newlywed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge show up?  Branson gave William and Catherine two weeks on Necker Island as a wedding present.   Since it said to be William’s mother’s favorite place in the Caribbean, it can only be a matter of time before the world’s most famous couple shows up for their own Necker Island retreat.