Tag Archives: snorkeling

Night Markets and Underwater Adventures on Thailand’s Koh Samui

Sunset at Bohput

Hop on a Koh Samui-bound flight from Bangkok, Thailand and you will soon find yourself on a palm-lined island a world away from busy city life. While Koh Samui may move at a relatively slow pace, there are still plenty of adventures and activities for those who seek them. Here are three of my personal favorites: 1.       Stop by the Friday Night Market:  each week, the normally sleepy town of Bohput becomes one of the island’s hottest hubs, as bartenders, local vendors and food stalls take over the main Fisherman’s Village.  Walk the sandy street and rub shoulders with locals and tourists from around the world.  ... [Read More]

Top 4 Snorkeling Beaches in Hawaii and the Caribbean

Grace Bay Beach, Turks and Caicos

When opting for a beach vacation, the first thing that many travelers think of is beautiful stretches of sand. Both the Caribbean and Hawaii are famous for their beautiful beaches, but some of their greatest sites are actually hidden just a short swim from shore. If you’d like your next beach getaway to come with a side order of adventure, consider these four amazing snorkeling beaches! Turks and Caicos: Grace Bay Beach, Providenciales The Turks and Caicos island of Providenciales (“Provo” for short) is home to one of the world’s most beautiful stretches of sand: Grace Bay Beach. Over ten miles of powdery sand are met by ... [Read More]

Swimming with sharks and rays!

  Bora Bora is one of those places impossible not to love. The days tend to run together in your memory into a sort of collage of stunning beauty, where individual moments tend to be less remembered than the overall awe-struck image of the place. The one adventure seared indelibly into my memory, however, was that which took us out to swim with black-tipped reef sharks, lemon sharks and stingrays. The listing on the Le Meridian activities menu called this particular excursion a “Ray and Shark Feeding.” The detailed explanation said we’d enjoy an “Island tour in a Polynesian pirogue, 3 stops, beverages & fresh fruits.” It failed ... [Read More]

Spectacular Stingray City

Today was one of those days I just know I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It was a typically beautiful Cayman day: temps in the high-80s, slight breeze blowing off the ocean, the smell of salt in the air. A perfect day to set out on a boat to mingle with stingrays on Grand Cayman’s famous sandbar. Stingray City is a series of sandbars in the North Sound area of Grand Cayman, not far from Rum Point. It’s crawling with stingrays, many as big as five feet across. They’re very accustomed to people, and you can interact with them in the water. This is my ... [Read More]

Wahoo, Cayman style

  A mere two hours after being locked in a metal tube with a screaming infant intent on shattering my ear drums, I arrived in the glorious Cayman Islands. (I did suggest to the boy’s mother that we stow the shrieking child in an overhead bin, but there were none empty, and the stewardesses seemed unwilling to put him down below with the luggage. We settled on giving the demon spawn Benadryl and vodka. Note to travelers –a drunk child is a happy child.) If there’s a heaven I think the Caymans stole the blueprints. This tiny island nation is unreasonably beautiful. I’ve been to the Caymans many times. ... [Read More]