Amazing ‘The Caribbean’

A rainbow arcs over trees blooming on a hillside in the West Indies island of Dominica. The country's interior can receive some 300 inches (760 centimeters) of rain each year, yielding hundreds of square miles of mountainous, densely forested wilderness, much of it protected as state land.

The rusted hulk of the Gallant Lady leans against a rocky shore on North Bimini in the Bahamas. This local landmark's days are numbered. Her resting place is on the planned site of a controversial casino-and-condominiums development.

A rooster skips past a fishing boat beached on the rocky shore of Dominica's Scott's Head. All along the Caribbean side of the island, the warm, placid waters provide pristine coral gardens for snorkelers and an abundance of fish for the local fishermen.

Crabbers hunt for their quarry by torchlight on the Bahamas' Samana Cay. Many historians think that the island's Lucayan Indians, using the same hunting technique, may have been the lights "like a small wax candle" that Christopher Columbus wrote about in his diary before his fleet landed here in October 1492.

Volcanic activity on the tiny island of Dominica yields natural gems like boiling pools, geysers, and black-sand beaches. Here, Caribbean water turns to steam as lava meets ocean.

Baseball may be America's game, but passion for the sport could be strongest in Cuba. Here, children play in the colonial heart of Trinidad. "Cubans are just fanatical about baseball, and every evening men gather to talk about it," said photographer David Alan Harvey. "The first time I saw them talking baseball, I thought a fight was going on—and there they were debating something that Mickey Mantle did in 1953."

Sunlight filters over the forested seaside cliffs of Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean islands, which lie just beyond the tail end of the Windward Antilles, are a study in contrasts. Densely populated Trinidad is an industrial giant with a thriving nightlife; a two-hour ferry ride away, Tobago is a relatively undeveloped, easygoing island that specializes in relaxation.

Weathered formations like Mushroom Rock dot the white-sand beaches of Bathsheba on the rugged east coast of Barbados. Normally thought of as a highbrow vacation spot, Barbados is nurturing a reputation as a surfer's paradise, with some of the best waves in the Caribbean.

A visitor savors a twilight run along a beach on the island of Tobago. Tobago's pristine beaches and reefs are beginning to pay off. They have been discovered by international travelers who've had enough of the Caribbean's more developed islands.
Courtesy: National Geographic Traveler