Caribbean Week 2 completes line up of fantasy beaches

Growing up in the United States, I always figured there were beach families or mountain families. With only 10 or 15 vacation days a year, busy parents could really only take one major family holiday. If you grew up in a family fortunate enough to travel, the choice of the year's big holiday typically seemed to come down to skiing, or sand. My family was solidly in the latter camp. I spent most summer holidays in the picturesque resort of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, and learned to swim in the Atlantic at such a young age that I have no memory of ever NOT being at home in the waves.

To me, therefore, a good beach is synonymous with all things restful and calming. The better the beach, the more soothed the soul. My second week in the Caribbean took me to three beaches, in rapid succession, that transported me direct to the heaven foreshadowed on the best beach in Week 1.

These four pieces of perfection were: the Baths at Virgin Gorda; Windsock Beach, Bonaire; Playa del Agua, Isla Margarita; and, Maracas Bay, Trinidad.

The Baths remain my favourite. Like other spectacular beaches in the Virgin Islands, they benefit from the fact that they're set within an island chain, with other islands clearly visible from the beach. Vivid green hills loom above waters striped with a crazy variety of blues and greens, the colours all so vivid they almost hurt your eyes. The defining element of the Baths is volcanic rubble. Giant boulders, some the size of small houses, litter the beach and the sometimes-steep path to it. The boulders create a series of intimate pools for bathing. It might be a bit challenging in high surf, but was sheer perfection on a calm day like the one on which we visited.

On to Windsock Beach on Bonaire, so named because it's right next to the airport. As the little island only has a handful of flights a day, this is not a problem. All of Bonaire is known for beaches; it's not much more of a sand spit itself. The physical beach itself isn't that magnificent here -- too rocky for perfection -- but it wins top honours as a snorkelling beach. It's surrounded by coral reefs that start immediately off shore. Perhaps 20 yards from the beach, the shallows fall over a cliff that plunges 6000 feet into the depths. It's lovely to hang there observing the difference between the bright shallows and the darkness below, while large schools of colourful fish drift across the top of the cliff. Windsock is a lovely little stretch of white sand with sheltering trees to provide some shade. It's easy to get to, and provides a great view back towards the rest of the island and the cruise port. But best of all is the "walk in" snorkelling. It's unusual to be able to stroll off a beach and immediately be able to indulge in an underwater show. Particularly good for people who aren't powerful swimmers; you can see lots while having the confidence that you can put your feet on solid ground without too much trouble.

Playa del Agua perhaps seemed more exciting than it really was simply because I was, technically, on a new continent. Isla Margarita is in the Caribbean, but it's also part of Venezuela, so I could rejoice that I was on a South American beach. It is certainly one of the longest strips of sand I've ever seen. Two full miles of wide, smooth, clean, white, powdery sand. As you'd expect from the gentle slope of the sand, the walk into the waves is equally gentle. A wonderful swimming and lounging beach. The swimming reminded me a bit of Lauderdale, to be honest, except that the sand is fringed with huge palm trees and behind them loom mountains. A bit more picturesque! Playa del Agua is like a European beach in that the beach front is lined with restaurants and bars. They don't own the beach, but they do own the deck chair concession on their strip of it. So the best option here seems to be to form a relationship with a good bar.

Our tour took us to Bar Marlin, a lovely place almost exactly in the centre of the beach. It's a large restaurant, thatched with palm and open to the air across its front. I would have liked to stay there; I bet dining here while looking out at the beach would be fantastic. The biggest drawback of this beach is the beach vendors. It's rare to have more than 5 minutes' peace before someone is offering you beach towels, jewellry, sunglasses, fresh oysters, etc. While it's initially interesting to watch this mobile mall, it gets irritating quickly. At least they do take no for an answer, so it's the irritation of waving flies away rather than dealing with their bites.

Our final beach of the cruise, and my favourite after Virgin Gorda, was Maracas Beach on Trinidad. This is your classic tropical beach, the mental postcard in everyone's mind. A mile of white sand, perhaps 50 yards wide, encircled by forested mountains that reach out into the sea, providing a sheltered bay. Palm trees provide shade along the full length of the beach. There are only a handful of bars and restaurants; this is primarily nature in its simplest beauty, with the car parks positioned far enough back to recede from consciousness. For the first time in my experience in the Caribbean, we also encountered life guards.

This is a well patrolled and beautifully maintained beach. The surf was a bit rough when we were here, so no surprise. Weaker swimmers would be better off at Virgin Gorda. But for people who wanted to throw themselves into the waves, this beach was great fun. I imagine it gets quite crowded on holiday weekends, but it is ... at least at this writing ... remarkably unspoiled and pristine. There's just one hotel, at one end of the beach where a small fishing village nestled. Very, very tempting to check out for a future visit.