Ode to Saint Croix

Should you find yourself on a vacation to St. Croix, be sure and visit Estate Whim. 

After our tour, enjoy the museum store and pick up one of these:

Cheers,

A few fun facts about BARBADOS!

Last night I went to dinner with the Barbados Tourist Board. As with any Caribbean sponsored event, the night was lively & colorful but it was the following facts that I found most interesting...

Did you know 7 of South Carolina's first 21 governors were from Barbados?

Or that Barbados' own Mount Gay Rum is the oldest in the world? Maybe that's why it is called "the rum that invented rum".

What about this... Barbados was the only country George Washington visited outside the US and the house he lived in has been restored and is waiting for you to explore.

Not only is Barbados the first Caribbean island to be Zagat rated, but there are more restaurants per square mile than any other Caribbean island. 

Who knew that Barbados is home to Bathsheba, one of the top surfing destinations in the world.

And rounding out the coolness factor report, she's from Barbados too...

Stay tuned for more tidbits on this little gem of an island...

Enjoy,

Vintage Bermuda

{Postcard from here}

The Elbow Beach Resort is still a popular choice in Bermuda. Now owned & operated by the Mandarin Oriental Group, the hotel is offering some fabulous fall deals. Just ask us! info@caribbeanjourney.com

Vintage Style Caribbean Travel Posters

I have a lack of wall space in my office thanks to recently installing wall to wall shelving from IKEA. If I had the space, I would order each of these in the largest size possible, rotate them monthly, and stare at them longingly every single day.

Check out all the wistful prints right here.

Puerto Rico's {New} Ad Campaign Goes Vintage

From the NY Times {12.3.2009}

"The campaign is for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which made waves in the 1950s with print ads by Ogilvy & Mather that presented beautiful scenes shot by a 26-year-old photographer named Elliott Erwitt."

"To be sure, the new campaign does acknowledge the change in attention spans in the last five decades. There are 107 words of text in one ad from the new campaign, compared with 217 in an ad from the original campaign that appeared in 1958.

And the new campaign reflects other changes since the days that the real-life versions of Don Draper and the other “Mad Men” strode Madison Avenue."

For the FULL story - go here.

See the full collection of Elliott Erwitt's Puerto Rico Photos.

a little bit of this...

If I owned a hotel... in the US... in some random state like, I don't know, maybe New Jersey, in a city most of the country and surely the world has never heard of, like Wildwood, I would name my hotel The Caribbean Hotel and have a sign just like this:

You too? I know. It rocks. First spotted here. Then here.

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

I hope the New Year has in store for you ample time to lay on the beach, in the arms of the one you love, and just take in the view.

ps. sweet pic first spotted on blog goggles - vintage themed engagement photos from tim melideo. more on that over here next week.

Cheers,

True Rum

All you ever wanted to know about Caribbean Rum, right here.

Soggy Dollar Bar - Jost Van Dyke

If I could I would BE HERE NOW! I'd pack a bag consisting only of flip flops, bikini, a tunic or two, cut-off jean shorts circa 1989, sunscreen, big sunglasses & hat, and trashy celeb magazines. I'd plant myself on Jost van Dyke for the weekend. I'd sleep here & spend my days soaking up rays and sipping painkillers at the Soggy Dollar Bar.

.

Sometimes, I just want to get away to place where I don't have to "dress" for dinner or schedule appointments of any kind. Where tank tops and shorts are just fine. Jost van Dyke, and especially the Soggy Dollar, is that kind of place... where rank and title are left on the boat and only the unpretentious true lovers of the Caribbean make it ashore. Next time you visit the BVIs, join the Painkiller Club.

Vintage Fashion Photos @ Half Moon circa 1967

I first learned that these lovely photos and talented photographer thanks to a Twitter post from the Half Moon Resort. If you know me personally, you know I love antiques & vintage... especially anything Vintage Caribbean. So I was thrilled to learn of Mark Mender and his lovely photos from 1967... a time when Caribbean Tourism was fresh and new...

And there's even a You Tube Video showing how the set was staged: