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Tags: Carribean Resorts / Eco-Resorts / → All Tags

Dive, Windsurf, and Meet a Pirate-Esque Environmentalist in Bonaire

Where: 103 Kaya Gobernador Debrot, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

Bonaire has quickly become a top contender for "Favorite Caribbean Destination." We had a feeling we’d like it—the hospitality of the Bonairians coupled with the efficiency of the Dutch throughout the Netherlands Antilles creates a unique dynamic we haven’t found anywhere else in the Caribbean.

Today, we totally rocked windsurfing, mastering turns within the first hour of our first lesson with Bonaire Windsurfing Place. We also got to meet some pretty high-profile pro windsurfers, including Taty Frans, ranked the #7 windsurfer in the world. (Check him out on YouTube.)

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Tags: Carribean Resorts / Hotel Activities / → All Tags

Get Your Scuba On In Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

Where: Netherlands Antilles

This week, we’re venturing to the diving mecca of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Located in the Southern Caribbean, it’s part of the ABC islands, the others being Aruba and Curaçao. We’re here for "Celebrate Our Planet" week, and so far, it’s been rife with underwater-related action. We were here to witness Karol Meyer break her free diving record attempt (she did at over 90 meters), took a spin through the Caribbean’s only super-high tech decompression chamber (very Star Trek-y), went on a fantastic snorkeling trip to Klein Bonaire via the Woodwind (saw Hawksbill turtles, green sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, squid and lots of parrot fish), and tomorrow, Dr. Sylvia Earle, world famous oceanographer, joins the mix.

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Tags: Carribean Resorts / Jamaica Hotels / Movie Set Hotels / → All Tags

Where Stella Got Her Groove Back

Where: Route A1 Round Hill Bluff, Montego Bay, Jamaica

Almost 10 years ago, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" made us all want to leave our stress-filled lives for sand and sun. That or ditch our husbands for some tadpoles.

Angela Bassett played a 40-year-old stockbroker/cougar headed to Jamaica for a much-needed break...only to fall for a 20-something local, played by Taye Diggs. While the movie is a bit cheesy (the book was even worse), the film's beautiful, nature-made set makes for a great warm-weather getaway with its open window breezes, private beaches and hot, humid nights.

Shot on location at Montego Bay's Round Hill Hotel and Villas, we can only imagine every grip and production assistant in Hollywood was trying to get a job on "Stella."

Crew members stand riveted as she unties her skirt. A production assistant about to offer mango juice sinks, mesmerized, into a beach chair; the prop man, three straw bags hanging off each arm, freezes. Guests at Jamaica's Round Hill resort lean out of their windows, waving glasses of free champagne offered by the hotel...

Sounds like a good gig. Hey, we wonder if villa owners Ralph Lauren or Bob Pittman snagged any of the free bubbly.

[Photo: hale mason]

Related Stories:
· Back In The Groove [Entertainment Weekly]
· Two Storied Jamaica Inns [Palm Beach Post]