Does It Get Better Than This?

Where have you been? Where are you going next? Those are the most common questions you get after being introduced to a fellow cruiser. The query about what you do (or did) for a living might take some getting around to, if indeed it ever comes up at all.

When we told folks in George Town, Bahamas, that we planned to "keep going south" and do the Eastern Caribbean down to Grenada, we got a lot of raised eyebrows. On more than one occasion, we were told flatly that the Bahamas are the best cruising grounds in the world and it would be sheer folly to go any farther. That was usually followed by a dire warning about the dangers of bucking the trades.

Don't get me wrong. We loved (almost) everything about the Bahamas. The crystal-clear water. The beaches. Also, the crystal-clear water. And the beaches. 

Did I mention the beaches?

I know I am courting controversy here, but the problem is this: once you get beyond the unbeatable water and the exquisite beaches, there just isn't a lot more.

Yes, the Bahamian people are friendly. But really, outside of central Paris and a few war zones, people are basically friendly the world over. We met a dozen friendly people here in Dominica just this morning.

Beyond the Bahamas' convivial nature, it is very homogeneous, both geographically and culturally. By contrast, the Eastern Caribbean is varied on both counts. 

Instead of low-lying brush, you have verdant mountains and volcanoes. Is the water in the Caribbean as clear as the Bahamas? Probably not. Some places definitely not. But, in others it's not far off.

Each island in the Caribbean has its own unique culture. In the past few weeks, we've gone from Antigua (British) to Guadeloupe (French) to Dominica (British again). We've also seen proudly independent Dominican Republic. And Puerto Rico. Sure, it's the U.S. but a completely different version of it. Then there's the Virgins. With the exception of the DR, the region is not exactly cheap, but nothing comes close to the sticker-shock we experienced in the Bahamas.

So, to that fellow cruiser I met on Volleyball Beach in George Town who sarcastically advised me to "go down there, come back and tell me if it gets any better than this." I can now respectfully submit: "Yes. Yes, it does get better."