TRAVEL Treasure Isles

If your idea of the holidays means relaxation, great food, and exciting things to do and see, why stay at home to eat your turkey and spend the afternoon with the Cowboys? This year, position yourself in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean and imagine yourself island hopping. The ocean blue on the Queen Elizabeth 2 beats the heck out of pulling the larger end of the turkey wishbone and watching Danny White run for his life.

We spent eight days aboard Her Majesty this past summer-the off-season for traveling to the Caribbean. It’s no surprise that there are more visitors to the balmy isles in the winter months, particularly November, December, and January. When the rest of the world knows only cold northerly winds, ice, and snow, the islands are paradise for warmblooded beings in search of unseasonably warm weather, a tropical getaway where it’s never too cold to walk the beach barefooted.

We set sail on the QE2 from New York City and were at sea two days before reaching our first port-of-call, Antigua. Bordered by both the Atlantic and the Caribbean oceans, Antigua (pronounced An-tee-ga) was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493. during his busy years, and he named the small island after a church in Seville. The island was first settled by the British and remained a British territory until 1981 when Antigua gained its independence. With a population of just 80.000, the island is now self-governed by people known for being soft-spoken, reserved, and very camera-shy. We were warned that an attempt to photograph the island folk would send them running for cover, a tactic that works well if you want to be first in line at a crowded restaurant.

Antigua is a dry island with flaming red-blossoming trees, banana groves, and brilliant yellow flowers scattered across the coastline. There are shops, tiny native art galleries, and eating places everywhere, but the real highlights of the island are the spectacular yachts in the English Harbour of St. John’s, the island’s capitol.

We spent the afternoon on board one of the cruisers owned and operated by Nicholson Yacht Charters, the oldest yacht company in the Caribbean. The mostly British crew serves lunch on board. We had ail-American barbecued chicken (no boiled pig’s head, a Caribbean staple, thank you very much), Cold beer and soft drinks are on the house. The cruise up and down Antigua’s jagged coastline usually takes four hours, but due to a sudden tropical storm, we bailed out at the St. James Club Resort on the other side of town. Despite the choppy waters, we’d gladly do it all over again.

Lucky for us, the St. James is also a must-see. The clay-colored buildings nestled amid a thick carpet of tropical foliage were welcome relief after the battering of the storm. Tiny hermit crabs darted in and out of the sea shells along the club’s private beach, and on this particular afternoon they were the only souls in sight. Antigua has 365 other beaches-one for each day of the year should you decide to stay awhile.

Next stop was St. Lucia, just below the equator, where we stayed the afternoon at Hotel La Toc, a secluded resort located high above the hibiscus-laden hills of Castries, the capitol city. The place is so well camouflaged that former Secretary of State Alexander Haig hides out here when he comes to town. You can rent a Sunfish sailboat, go snorkeling, windsurfing, and water-ski or just lie around the pool or beach, sipping a cold Heineken. (The Heineken brewery is one of the big businesses in town.) If you get tired of the water, the hotel also has tennis and golf. And should you feel really adventurous, check out of the resort and head south of town to the Soufriére Volcano, advertised as the world’s only drive-in volcano. Although it still furiously bubbles away, the volcano can be viewed from the inside without danger.

Of all the Caribbean islands, St. Lucia is the least commercial. The way of life is agricultural; the islanders work their fields and groves, harvesting bananas and coconuts-used in almost every Caribbean dish-and fish for cod, conch, scampi, and langouste, the Caribbean version of lobster.



In our case, the best was saved for last. Our third and final stop was St. Thomas. We took the first tender available from the ship to the island at 8:30 a.m. and made a bee-line for the shops of Charlotte Amalie. Since St. Thomas, a U.S. territory, is a duty-free port, look for savings on island purchases of up to 50 percent as compared to the same product sold in Dallas. (There is also no sales tax, so add that to your pocket change.) Jewelry, perfume, liquor, tobacco, cameras and other electronic equipment, china. glass, and fine linens are the big-ticket items to take advantage of at the low prices. From Estce Lauder to Nikon cameras, St. Thomas is like an old-world Target-bargain prices in one location. We tried on wedding bands and splashed ourselves with expensive perfumes but walked away from it all to catch a taxi ride to Coral World.

Coral World, on the northeastern coast of St. Thomas and only a fifteen-minute ride from Charlotte Amalie, is a marine observation tower sunk into a living coral reef some one hundred feet offshore. Around us. in a forty-two-foot diameter globe, twenty feet below the sea, we saw a breathtaking panoramic view of sea life, just as if we had dived down into the underworld for the peek. Sharks, moray eels, stingrays, huge silver-sided tuna, and sleek tube fish dart in and out of the reefs, colorful sponges, and blooming deep-sea flowers. Every hour brings a different show of marine life as the patterns of sea life fluctuate with the tides. It’s all fascinating, but you won’t want to miss the show at 11:00 a.m. daily when divers hand-feed the sea creatures.

Having spent two rolls of film in the marine observatory, we headed next door to Coki Beach for some of our own underwater exploration. Wearing rented snorkeling equipment ($20 for the afternoon), we jumped into the warm water with visibility of some seventy-five feet. Schools of purple and orange striped fish swam within arm’s reach as we floated in and out of the black coral reef. At one point, we thought we had found a valuable relic of the sea, but when we brought our treasure to the surface, we discovered it was just a chicken bone. Tossing our find back into the waters, we caught a cab and moved on to Magens Bay.

Proclaimed one of the loveliest beaches in the world, Magens Bay is a mile of white sand backed by thick groves of palm trees. The water was so calm that day that it looked like one huge stretch of blue-green fabric. The only problem is that everyone knows the secret of Magens Bay. Its thatched-hut bar was packed with visitors seeking cool drinks and refuge from the sun. By midafternoon, we had a hard time finding our spot on the beach. But despite its popularity, this beach, set in its own secluded bay, is very romantic. We easily forgot we weren’t all alone.

By this time, we had only a few hours left before we would have to leave St. Thomas behind. We headed back to the city and grabbed a sandwich-even the reindeer. caviar. Norwegian salmon, and wild game dumplings of the QE2 get old after a while. Looking out over the water, watching the tiny aircraft skim its surface, gazing up to the crests of the deep green island hills and back to the bustling marketplace below, we had this fleeting, glorious thought that this was home. From the city sounds of vendors selling their goods on the cobblestoned streets and the lively Caribbean bars and eating spots to the cool, clean beaches and hidden island coves. St. Thomas is fast and exciting, yet somehow slow and easy.



For us, these beautiful islands were the point of the voyage, but our journey to and from them aboard the QE2 was a vacation in itself. The world’s only remaining transatlantic liner and the fastest passenger ship, the QE2 was relaunched earlier this year after having undergone a $130 million renovation. New additions include a shopping center, a mini-mall with fourteen boutiques that sell everything from designer clothing (Christian Dior. Gucci. Harrods. and Louis Vuitton) and Royal Doulton china to Liberty of London toiletries and gifts. The European prices make just about everything on board a bargain. There’s a new sports center with its own putting green and tether-ball and paddle tennis court plus two indoor and outdoor pools with saunas and Jacuzzis. For the fitness fanatic, the Golden Door Spa at Sea has a climate-controlled gym, weight-training equipment, solarium, and massage center. The spa offers plenty of classes in aerobics, waterworks, and stretch and flex routines. Other activities scheduled daily include arts and crafts, backgammon tournaments, and bingo games.

If you’d rather indulge yourself than work up a sweat, the QE2 has four restaurants offering endless round-the-clock buffets, a bar around every corner, a 530-seat movie theater showing first-run movies, a casino, and the mandatory disco (to be avoided at all costs unless you carry a wallet-size photo of John Travolta in your purse). There’s a VCR in the higher-priced rooms (since the purser’s office is loaded with more than a thousand tapes, you might want to pal around with one of the more well-to-do travelers), a well-stocked library, even a computer center and boardroom for traveling workaholics.

Between dinner dances, piano concerts, and afternoon teas, we were able to slip away, walk the deck, and relax to the sounds of the ocean. Now, that’s a holiday.