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Western Caribbean Cruises
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All you Need to Know
by Travel Journalist Tony Peisley
When my wife said she'd bought me a turtle neck, I thought it was a strange purchase to make walking around a Jamaican crafts market in 90 degree heat. Then I realised it wasn't just the neck, it was the whole turtle.
Fortunately it was wooden (and beautifully-carved) but it was still a dead weight to carry all the way home. But memories of our first Western Caribbean cruise were just as beautiful and have lasted a lot longer than that fragile turtle, sadly now short a limb or two.
Jamaica is always a highlight, with its sweeping beaches, Blue Mountains, white rum and multi-coloured stalls sending out enticing aromas of jerk pork to pique the appetites of passers-by.
Best of all is the river-rafting, supposedly invented by Errol Flynn although - as it simply involves sitting back on a bamboo raft as a languid Jamaican slowly punts it downriver - it seems far too relaxing and laid-back for Hollywood's ultimate action man.
But, then, the Caribbean does that to every visitor - just slows us down and teaches us that there is more to life than rushing around all over the place.
Time certainly stands still when you come face to face with one of the ocean's most fascinating residents at Stingray City off Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach.
As it does when you watch another glorious sunset from Malory Square in Florida's Key West - America's toe in the Caribbean.
But the best news about cruising to the Western Caribbean today is that there are a whole bunch of new places to visit now that ships are calling at Central America, too.
Mexico's Cozumel was the first to be discovered, with its superb snorkelling and diving close to the port as well as some extraordinary Mayan sites within excursion range on the Yucatan peninsula.
Mexico is now the world's most popular cruise destination, with new ports like Costa Maya being added all the time. Costa Maya is close to the border with Belize and its rich mixture of jungle, wetland, coastal dunes and Mayan sites. Off this stretch of coast is the world's second largest coral reef so there is a lot to see below the surface, too.
You will also find ports in Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica on the Western Caribbean cruising menu. Although most are fairly new to any tourism so facilities can be basic and occasionally chaotic, the upside is that they are genuinely unspoilt.
And one - Puerto Limon, Costa Rica - is gateway to one of my favourite tours: the aerial tramway through the rainforest canopy. This 1km-per-hour journey is magically tranquil and, while some may prefer the zip-wire tours, that's just not very Caribbean is it?
DOS and DON'TS of Western Caribbean
DO... be careful what you eat and drink ashore in Central America and, never mind the turtles, make sure you resist buying that sombrero which never looks quite right when you get it back home - Mexican silverware is a much better gift.
DON'T worry about changing into local money everywhere - so long as you have US dollars, that is. They work everywhere in this part of the world.
