Most uncommon travel is slow, the better to fully savor the unique people, places, foods, drinks, and experiences we tend to encounter along our wayward ways. Certainly you wouldn’t want to rush anything if you happened upon a secluded stretch of pristine virgin sand such as the one pictured above, which I encountered last summer along the north shore of Green Turtle Cay. Believe me, nothing about this place even whispers rushing, aside perhaps for the odd scurrying crab, or two…

When making plans to visit special places like this, however, speed often comes into play. You known the drill with flash sales, limited time offers, and other such promotional enticements offered by our travel industry friends – snooze and you will most definitely loose.

So, if you’re keen on checking out some of the more uncommon corners of The Bahamas later this year, you’ll want to move quickly to take advantage of the latest fare sale from Silver Airways.

Full disclosure: Silver Airways is a client of mine at my day job, but that’s not why I’m telling you about this deal today. The reality is that the discounted offers are really good – try one-way fares starting at $99.20 from Florida to The Bahamas – and the deals will only be available for a really short time – sale ends at 11:59pm this Thursday, June 20, 2013!

Silver also covers more of the uncommon Bahamas (aka: the Family Islands) than any other U.S. airline. Grand Bahama Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Abaco, Bimini; all easily accessible via nonstop service on Silver Airways from Fort Lauderdale. (Flights to Marsh Harbour, Abaco also available from Jacksonville, Orlando and West Palm Beach.)

Oh, and all on-sale for the next couple days!

Sale fares apply to travel taking place between August 20 and November 13, 2013. There are blackout dates over the Labor Day Weekend and you have to travel on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday to reap the savings, but I’m sure you’ll agree that these are small sacrifices when compared to the big savings.

Move fast and jump on these deals today by visiting the new Silver Airways website, or call them at 1-800-881-4999.

* The information in this story was accurate at the time of publishing. All rates and specials are subject to change at the travel provider’s discretion.

Here in the U.S., a fictional Colombian coffee farmer named Juan Valdez has long personified the world’s second most popular drink (water is #1), though history suggests a more representative character might answer to Pierre, wear a bakoua, and look something like the guy gracing the label of Café Arouba.

This story starts with a crime perpetuated nearly 300 years ago, includes a pirate attack and a near mutiny, and ends with most of us being utterly incapable of starting the day without a Cup of Joe.

The Crime
In 1720, a French naval officer named Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu stationed in the French Caribbean was on leave in Paris. While there, he had occasion to enjoy an audience with King Louis XIV, during which he came to admire several coffee trees the King had acquired. The young officer petitioned the King to allow him to take a seedling back to Martinique. The King refused, so old Garbriel simply swung by later when no one was around and made off with the plant.

It’s important to note here that at the time of the theft, coffee barely existed in the Western World. Tea was #1, with Europe slowly waking up to the wonders of coffee after a centuries-long ban on the exportation of coffee beans imposed by the Arabs who controlled the plant’s native points of origin in Africa and the Middle East.

The European powers were all keen on developing new cultivation areas to mass-produce coffee as a major cash crop. De Clieu had similar designs…

The Treacherous Journey
Sailing away from Paris with his ill-gotten prize safely enclosed in a glass case to minimize any damage from the salty sea air, I imagine de Clieu was feeling pretty good. The feeling would not last.

Tunisian pirates attacked, but de Clieu and crew fought them off.

A tropical storm threatened to wash the plant overboard, but de Clieu tied it down.

A rival officer tried to destroy the plant, but de Clieu saved his prize from major damage.

Diminishing fresh water supplies eventually led to rationing. That didn’t deter de Clieu either. From his journal:

Water was lacking to such an extent that for more than a month, I was obliged to share my scanty ration with the plant upon which my happiest hopes were founded and which was the source of my delight.

Oh yeah, this guy was on a mission!

Eventually, de Clieu and crew landed in Martinique where the fabled coffee tree was re-planted and flourished like few plants ever have. In 1726, the first harvest was ready. By 1777, there were close to 20 million coffee trees on Martinique alone!

Now, as with any such long-ago legendary tale, the particulars vary by source. Did de Clieu really steal the plant? Was there really a pirate attack? No one knows for sure.

Of one detail, though, most scientists who study this kind of thing agree: 90% of the world’s coffee enjoyed today can be traced back to this one very special tree, planted in Martinique.

Cafe Arouba, 100% Martinican Coffee | Credit: SBPR

Seeds that started with this one plant were spread across the Caribbean, such that any coffee grown anywhere in the region, aside from Suriname and Guyana, are said to originate from Martinique.

Yes, even that marvelous Blue Mountain Coffee grown and produced in Jamaica has a wee bit of French Creole in it!

So truly, to get to the origins of the coffee that most of us truly enjoy one must travel to Martinique. These days, the millions of coffee trees have been greatly reduced, sugarcane and bananas now the top cash crops here. You can still find a handful of 100% Martinican coffees, though, including Café Arouba. A visit to the Musee Du Cafe et Du Cacao in Trois-Ilets is also a must. There, you’ll get a bit more detail on the de Clieu legend and learn about Martinique’s once flourishing coffee industry.

Ever since I first heard this story, though, I’ve dreamed of trekking around Martinique to find the exact spot where the world’s most legendary coffee tree was planted. Official records indicate the tree was planted in an area known then as Preebear, but where’s that? What’s growing there now? Are there any lingering vestiges of the ancient tree?

All questions I hope to answer on a future uncommon journey to Martinique…

Happy Father’s Day to all the uncommonly awesome Dad’s out there, especially my brother Patrick, shown here enjoying a sweet moment at Pigeon Point with my super cool nephew, Trinidad.

It’s been a couple weeks since our @GoDomRep Week celebration, but we’ve still got the spicy Latin Caribbean home of Merengue and the world’s best beisbol players high on our minds. And not just because we love just about all things DomRep either…

You see, we’re still waiting for someone to claim the grand prize in our @GoDomRep Week Sweepstakes.

Oh, we’ve picked a winner. We’ve even notified the winner via email.

To date, no response.

Perhaps said winner needs a bit more inspiration. For that, we offer today’s featured video showcasing select sights and sounds from this magical country…

The footage was captured and produced by Mr_Dume, a smart videographer who visited the DomRep in 2011 while working on a documentary about a criminal named Danny 45. Not sure how that piece turned out, but the lively imagery here certainly belies the primary subject matter…

Either way, here’s hoping this inspires our winner to come forward asap. If not, we’ll have to pick someone else!

Check your email people…

Lead photo credit: Alex Proimos via Flickr.

When it comes to rum cocktails, nothing is lazier or more uninspired than Rum and Coke, though that’s not altogether a bad thing necessarily… At least not all the time… Rum and Coke is the unofficial national drink of our home island of St. Croix, after all, so you can be sure we enjoy more than our fair share each time we’re back there, or whenever we happen to be where two or more Crucians are gathered to fete.

In those instances, Rum and Coke just seems to fit perfectly, like those really well-worn sneakers you just refuse to throw away. They’re not what they used to be, but there’s comfort in familiarity, and familiarity can go a long way toward happiness.

For me, as it relates to Rum and Coke, that long way toward happiness ends and takes an abrupt turn in an entirely different direction right at the can pictured above.

Yes, dear reader, that’s a Rum and Coke… in a can.

Okay, it’s not as bad as the titanic feat of misapplied German engineering that is the Cheeseburger in a Can, easily the most hilariously gross consumable product I’ve ever come across. (Read/laugh about it here).

Still, I say Rum and Coke in a Can is wholly unnecessary at best. I mean really, how lazy do you have to be to buy this? There couldn’t be a more simple cocktail to craft than a Rum and Coke. Reducing its creation to simply popping open a can seems an affront to the finer joys of savoring rum, even when most Rum and Cokes tend to bury said rum flavor with cola.

So, who’s responsible for this?

Well, I found the can pictured above in the Turks & Caicos, but this stuff is available in many different parts of the Caribbean and Central America – Bahamas, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, etc. The guys behind it are from Panama, where the product was originally launched in 1991. Since then, production has been moved to Mexico and Bolivia.

And, how’s it taste?

Well, if you like your Rum and Coke light on the rum and heavy on the cola, you might like this. There’s definitely a light rum somewhere in there. She’s not a fine or fancy rum either, but she’s there, ready to do the job of getting you just a bit buzzed, while the extra-added cola kick ensures you won’t be able to sleep it off any time soon after you’ve tried a can.

Yeah, it’s an acquired taste, I guess, though one tailor-made for those times when you’re at your laziest…

Cheers?

There are lots of aquariums and touristy marine attractions around the Caribbean where you can feed and commune with stingrays.

They’re not for you.

Your preference for the uncommon won’t allow such banality.

You want your up-close-and-personal with these haunting sea creatures wild and unfettered – no guides, animal trainers, or anyone even remotely official-looking anywhere in sight.

For you, I offer Honeymoon Harbour…

Honeymoon Harbour on Gun Cay, Bimini | Credit: Kelly Bennett

As you can see, Honeymoon Harbour is not a harbour (or harbor) at all. Instead, it’s a beach – and a pretty sweet one at that! – located at the far north end of Gun Cay in the Bimini archipelago of The Bahamas. Outside of being a fine and wonderfully secluded spot for a nice beach lime, Honeymoon Harbour is also as prime a spot as I’ve encountered in the Caribbean to hang with stingrays.

Leann feeding her stingray friends | Credit: Kelly Bennett

For as long as I’ve been coming here, there have always been stingrays.

My friend Leann said that. She had brought me here last September, her husband and two young kids together with my wife and two young kids enjoying a weekend boat trip together. Leann and her are frequent visitors to Bimini, but for us Bennett’s it was the first time.

The entire trip was filled with nice surprises – Ivan Specials at Bu’s Bar, Moon Jellies, REALLY cheap lobster, a spooky wreck… Feeding the stingrays here was no different, even if the kids were a little squeamish about getting too close…

Leann shows Austin how it’s done… | Credit: Kelly Bennett

So, why is it that scores of stingrays always hang out here?

Well, as the story goes, fisherman used to stop here to clean their catch, taking advantage of the calm anchorage. Discarded fish bits thrown overboard attracted the stingrays initially, though these days they profit more from the charity of visiting pleasure boaters like us.

Leann’s feeding them pilchards bait, which you can pick up at any fish and tackle store. Notice how she’s sitting on her knees? That’s to make sure she doesn’t step on them, a mistake that will earn you a hefty sting.

When entering the water, it’s best to shuffle your feet through the sand, as opposed to taking big steps. Stingrays detect the shifting sand and will move out of your way.

Once you find a spot where you’re comfortable sitting, just wait there with the food and the stingrays will come to you. Leave as carefully as you came, and you’ll easily enjoy this very cool experience.

Wildly colorfully forms of artistic expression aren’t confined to the canvass in the Caribbean. As we’ve shown, street art abounds in our cities, some hotels are more museum than motel, and even a dead tree on Grand Cayman sports a lively vibrancy in the name of art and environmental conservation.

Then there are our buses. Almost everywhere you go, taxi buses burst with personality and flair, though nowhere more so than Haiti.

The special vehicle pictured above is called a Tap-tap. The term literally translates to “quick-quick,” though these things aren’t necessarily noted for their speed as much as they’re celebrated for their elaborate decorations.

Privately owned and maintained, Tap-taps follow specific routes, but don’t get moving until they’re fully-loaded, thus the disconnect with the name. You can get off anywhere along the route, though according to the U.S. State Department, you probably shouldn’t get on one in the first place. From the U.S. State Department website:

Avoid using public transportation, including “tap-taps” (private transportation used for commercial purposes).All public transportation is prohibited for Embassy personnel due to the safety and security risks associated with its use.

Hmmm… Looks like I’ll be hoofing it for much of my trip to Port-au-Prince next week.

Ever taken a ride in a Tap-tap? Should they be avoided as the State Department asserts? Let us know by leaving a comment below…

Lead photo credit: ambafranceht via Flickr.

Legends never die. For the people who embody them, of course, it’s another story. When beloved personalities like Anguilla’s Uncle Ernie pass on, leaving the institutions they’ve built to carry on under the care and guidance of others, it always raises the question: Is it still any good?

I never met Ernie Benjamin Harrigan, but I’d heard of his breezy little beach bar on Shoal Bay East for years. Uncle Ernie’s Shoal Bay Beach Bar, as it’s officially known, opened in 1984, a time when tourism was just getting started in Anguilla.

There was no electricity out at Shoal Bay East in those days, so the scant few beach bars (shacks, really) ran on generators. Food was prepared on BBQ grills. Beers were kept cool over ice. The only access road was a mess of car-eating pot holes. Uncle Ernie’s itself was a simple wooden hut with a couple plastic tables and a few chairs in the sand.

And so the legend began, Uncle Ernie’s humble shack gaining in popularity and growing in size as more and more of the world caught on to Anguilla’s wonders. Luxury resorts and villas on a scale not seen before in the Caribbean came online, the island growing into the most exclusive tropical playground for the Jetset this side of St. Barts.

Shoal Bay East, Anguilla | SBPR

For his part, Uncle Ernie continued to keep things simple, maintaining the low prices/strong rum punch combo that had drawn crowds of locals and visitors alike since the early generator days. No matter who you were, where you came from, or where you stayed on-island, Uncle Ernie’s would eventually become your preferred Anguilla hangout, the relaxed family atmosphere and warm service – plus those cheap eats and strong drinks – always drawing you back.

Or at least so I’ve heard. Like I said above, I missed out on the heyday here. Uncle Ernie passed away in 2007 at the age of 89. So when I arrived here last June, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Would the vibe be the same? How could I know for sure, having never been there before?

Near closing time at Uncle Ernie’s | SBPR

It was late on a Sunday afternoon. A few lazy stragglers lingered on the beach. On the patio at Uncle Ernie’s sat one lonely couple. For him, a Carib; for her, Coors Light. The loudest sounds, the waves lapping at the shore a few yards away. Yeah, it was that quiet.

Considering the date and time of day, I was sure I wasn’t getting the full Uncle Ernie’s treatment. The bar’s long-held tradition of live music on Sundays remains, so certainly the party must’ve been pretty good here just a few hours earlier, right?

I had missed it and my chance to give Ernie’s a fair shot. Or, at least so I thought…

I ordered a rum punch, sat down and stared out at the fading light dancing on the sand, the sea.

Uncle Ernie’s World Famous Rum Punch | SBPR

It was 5:47pm. The bar closes daily at 6pm. No one rushed me out.

My drink, super-strong as advertised.

I looked at the menu. BBQ Chicken, $6. Hot dog a la Ernie, $5. Hamburger, $6. My rum punch, $4.

I looked out at the beach again. Had I ever seen sand so white, so soft and pristine?

Low prices, strong drinks, amazing beach location… the legend continues…

Uncle Ernie’s is open every day from 10am to 6pm. If you’re going to Shoal Bay East, you can’t miss it, literally, as it sits right on the sand at the public entrance to the beach. For more info, visit Uncle Ernie’s online.

A liquor store might seem an odd place to grab a bite of lunch in most places, but then again, you learn quickly to expect the unexpected in Green Turtle Cay, the remote New England-styled corner of The Bahamas that’s uncommon in just about every way.

I was here with the wife celebrating her 40th almost exactly a year ago.  We’d planned a whirlwind two-and-a-half days of fun and exploration without the kids, so naturally by lunchtime on day one, we’d already visited Vert’s Model Ship Shoppe, toured the island’s only town, New Plymouth, and traipsed around much of our hotel, The Green Turtle Club.

All that adventuring had us pretty haggard by midday. More hot than hungry, we ducked into Plymouth Rock Liquors & Café more for the a/c and a couple cold Kalik’s than any eats. What we found was a bit of a surprise…

Cracked Conch at Plymouth Rock Liquors | SBPR

Cracked conch at a liquor store, what a concept! Why don’t all liquor stores carry such savory delights?

We kept things light by sharing this small plate, but don’t let our choice fool you – a body can definitely get filled up here on a nice selection of island and American favorites. Beef or chicken souse, conch salad, Johnny Cakes, soup and sandwiches were all on the menu during our visit.

Don’t be fooled by the food either. Plymouth Rock Liquors is very much a liquor store… In fact, it’s probably got one of the more extensive wine and rum selections in The Family Islands. You’ll find more than 70 different wines here, and nearly as many varieties of rums – very surprising considering Green Turtle’s remote location.

Speaking of location, Plymouth Rock Liquors benefits from a choice setting just off the waterfront on Parliament Street in New Plymouth. If you arrive by boat, or are just passing into town by bike or golf cart, it’s virtually impossible to miss. It’s no wonder, then, that it’s become somewhat of a hub for island news and gossip.

Within 20 minutes of being there, we got the low-down on the weekend’s only big party at Bluff House, the history of the island’s loyalist founding fathers, and the McIntosh and Lowe families, the two biggest names on the island – basically everything we needed to know to meld seamlessly into the tiny island’s cozy local scene.

Plymouth Rock Liquors & Café is open every day except Sundays. The cafe stays open from 9am to 3:30pm serving breakfast and lunch. The liquor store stays open til 6 or 7pm. The a/c and the warm, friendly company are on offer at all times.

AquaNautas Helmet Diving makes it easy to get up close and personal with the undersea residents of San Andrés, the small and remote coral island with strong ties to the UK that almost became part of the United States in the early 1900′s, but is today politically part of Colombia.

Photo credit: Manuel Vieda via Flickr.