Antigua and Barbuda

The skiff skims waters rippling from azure to aquamarine, colors so intense they seem almost artificial. An archipelago of islets unfolds before me. We moor off the aptly named Great Bird Island, where brown pelicans dive-bomb for tiny, sun-silvered flying fish inches from my feet as I stroll a stretch of powdered ivory sand. Later, I clamber up the rocks and look down on a flotilla of fishing boats as brightly colored as a child's finger painting. A halo of frigate birds circles overhead, unfurling their wings to a full 8-foot span.

The wonder of Antigua, and especially its astonishingly undeveloped sister island, Barbuda, is that you can still play Robinson Crusoe here. Travel brochures trumpet the 365 sensuous beaches, "one for every day of the year," as locals love saying, though when the island was first developed for tourism, the unofficial count was 52 ("one for every weekend"). Either way, even longtime residents haven't combed every stretch of sand.

Less »