Caribbean Hotel

Caribbean Hotel

Hotels in the Caribbean are often required for tourists who require short term accommodation in the region. Some may want to see the coast, the scenery, the beaches, the tourist attractions, the cities, the towns the islands and sea of the Caribbean region. Some may want to state on their own private island or to go to a major resort. Some may want to see the beaches or use the sea sea for water sports such as diving and sailing.

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which enclose the sea), and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America.

Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands, called the West Indies, generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. These islands are called the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus landed here in 1492 he believed that he had reached the Indies (in Asia).

The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), and the Bahamas which are in fact in the Atlantic Ocean, not in the Caribbean Sea.

Geopolitically, the West Indies are usually reckoned as a subregion of North America and are organised into 27 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. At one time, there was a short lived country called the Federation of the West Indies composed of ten English speaking Caribbean territories, all of which were then UK dependencies.

The region takes its name from that of the Carib, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of European contact. In the English speaking Caribbean, someone from the Caribbean is usually referred to as a West Indian, although the phrase Caribbean person is sometimes used.

The term "Caribbean" has multiple uses. Its principal ones are geographical and political.

Physiographically, the Caribbean region is mainly a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea. To the north is the Caribbean Sea bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida, and the Northern Atlantic Ocean which lies to the East and Northeast; the coastline of the continent of South America lies to the south.
Politically, "Caribbean" may be centered around socio-economic groupings found in the region. For example the bloc known as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) contains both the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Republic of Suriname found in South America, along with Belize in Central America as full members. Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands which are found in the Atlantic Ocean are Associate members of the Caribbean Community, and the same goes for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas which is a full member of the Caribbean Community.'

The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies from one place to another. Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin. Such islands include Aruba (possessing only minor volcanic features), Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands or Antigua. Others possess rugged towering mountain-ranges like the islands of Cuba, Dominica, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe, and Trinidad & Tobago.

The climate of the region is tropical but rainfall varies with elevation, size and water currents (cool upwellings keep the ABC islands arid). Warm, moist tradewinds blow consistently from the east creating rainforest/semidesert divisions on mountainous islands. Occasional northwesterlies affect the northern islands in the winter. Winters are warm, but drier.

The waters of the Caribbean Sea host large, migratory schools of fish, turtles, and coral reef formations. The Puerto Rico trench, located on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea just to the north of the island of Puerto Rico, is the deepest point in all of the Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricanes, which at times batter the region, usually strike northwards of Grenada, and to the west of Barbados. The principal hurricane belt arcs to northwest of the island of Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean.

Île à Vache (also expressed Île-à-Vaches) (Cow Island) is a small island lying off the south-west peninsula of Haiti near the town of Les Cayes. Administratively it is part of the Sud Department. It is about 8 miles long, 2 miles wide, with an area of 20 square miles. The western end of the island is up to 150 metres high and rolling with several small swamps in the valleys; while the eastern section is swampy, and has a lagoon with one of the largest mangrove forests in Haiti.

Caribbean South America and Caribbean basin

Anguilla (British overseas territory)
Anguillita Island
Dog Island, Anguilla
East Cay
Little Scrub Island
Prickly Pear Cays
Sandy Island
Scrub Island
Seal Island (pronounced locally as "Sail Island")
Sombrero
West Cay
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua
Barbuda
Guiana Island
Great Bird Island
Lesser Bird Island
Prickly Pear Island
Redonda
Aruba (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Bahamas
Abaco
Acklins Island
Andros
Anguilla Cay
Berry Islands
Bimini Islands
Cat Island
Cay Sal
Crooked Island
Eleuthera
Grand Bahama
Great Abaco
Great Exuma
Great Inagua
Gun Cay
Little San Salvador Island/Half Moon Cay
Long Island
Mayaguana
New Providence
Ragged Island
San Salvador Island
Barbados
Barbados
Culpepper Island
Pelican Island (Barbados) (now absorbed into Barbados)
British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory; shares the Virgin Islands with the U.S. Virgin Islands)
Anegada
Beef Island
Bellamy Cay
Carvel Rock
Cay
Cockroach Island
Cooper Island
Dead Chest Cay
Diamond Cay
Dog Islands
Drowned Island
East Seal Dog Island
Eustatia Island
Fallen Jerusalem Island
Frenchmans Cay
Grouge Dog Island
Ginger Island
Great Camanoe
Great Dog Island
Great Thatch
Great Tobago Island
Green Cay
Guana Island
Jost Van Dyke
Little Anegada
Little Camanoe
Little Cay
Little Jost Van Dyke
Little Seal Dog Island
Little Thatch
Little Tobago
Little Wickmans Cay
Marina Cay
Mosquito Island
Nanny Cay
Necker Island
Norman Island
Old Jerusalem Island
Oyster Rock
Pelican Island (British Virgin Islands)
Peter Island
Prickly Pear Island
Saba Rock
Salt Cay
Sandy Cay
Scrub Island
Spanish Island
Tortola
Virgin Gorda
West Dog Island
Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)
Cayman Brac
Grand Cayman (with the capital George Town)
Little Cayman
Cuba
Cayo Blancos del Sur
Cayo Buenavista
Cayo Coco
Cayo Cruz del Padre
Cayo Esquivel
Cayo Fragoso
Cayo Guajaba
Cayo Guillermo
Cayo Ines de Soto
Cayo Largo del Sur
Cayo Levisa
Cayo Punta Arenas
Cayo Romano
Cayo Saetia
Cayo Santa Maria
Cuba
Isla de la Juventud
and thousands of minor cays and islets.

Dominica
Dominica
Bird Island (disputed territory with Venezuela located about 110 km (70 mi) west of the island of Dominica)
Grenada (shares the Grenadines group with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
Carriacou
Grenada
Petite Martinique
Ronde Island
Guadeloupe (overseas department of France)
Basse-Terre
La Désirade
Grande-Terre
Iles de la Petite Terre
Iles des Saintes
Terre-de-Haut
Terre-de-Bas
Marie-Galante

Hispaniola
Dominican Republic
AltoVelo Cay
Beata Island
Catalina Island
Cayos Siete Hermanos (Seven Brothers Cays)
Levantado Cay (Cayo Levantado)
Saona Island
Haiti
Gonave Island
Grande et Petite Cayemites
Île à Vache
Île de Anacaona
Ile de Sud
Les Arcadins
Lighthouse Island
Ti Teal
Tortuga
Jamaica
Jamaica
Bogue Islands (some now absorbed into Montego Bay, Jamaica)
Great Goat Island
Little Goat Island
Kokomo Island
Lime Cay (part of the Port Royal Cays)
Morant Cays
Navy Island
Pedro Cays
Pigeon Island

Martinique (overseas department of France)
Montserrat (British overseas territory)
Navassa Island (minor outlying island of the United States; also claimed by Haiti)
Netherlands Antilles (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
Bonaire
Klein Bonaire
Curaçao
Klein Curaçao
Saba
Sint Eustatius
Sint Maarten (part of the island Saint Martin, shared with the overseas collectivity Saint-Martin of France)
Petrel Islands (minor outlying island of the United States; also claimed by Colombia)
Puerto Rico (commonwealth of the United States)
Puerto Rico
Vieques
Culebra
Caja de Muertos
Desecheo Island
Mona
Monito
Saint Barthélemy (overseas collectivity of France; also Saint Barts)
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Nevis
Saint Kitts
Saint Lucia
Serranilla Bank (minor outlying island of the United States; also claimed by Colombia)
Saint Martin (overseas collectivity of France; part of the island Saint Martin, shared with the Netherlands Antilles)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (shares the Grenadines group with Grenada)
Baliceaux
Battowia
Bequia
Canouan Island
Mayreau
Mustique
Palm Island
Petit Mustique
Petit Saint Vincent
Saint Vincent
Tobago Cays
Union Island
Young Island
Trinidad and Tobago
Tobago
Goat Island
Little Tobago
Saint Giles Island
Sisters' Rock
Trinidad
Caledonia Island
Carrera
Chacachacare
Craig Island
Cronstadt (Kronstadt)
Faralon Rock
Gaspar Grande
Gasparillo (Little Gasparee or Centipede Island)
Huevos
Lenagan Island
Monos
Nelson Island
Pelican Island
Rock Island
Saut d'Eau
Soldado Rock
Turks and Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)
Grand Turk
Middle Caicos
North Caicos
Parrot Cay
Pine Cay
Providenciales
Salt Cay
South Caicos
West Caicos
East Caicos
Ambergris Cays
United States Virgin Islands (unincorporated, organized territory of the United States; shares the Virgin Islands with the British Virgin Islands)
Birsk Island
Buck Island
Capella
Cas Cay
Congo Cay
Cow And Calf Island
Dog Island
Dry Rock
Fish Cay
Flat Cay
Grass Cay
Great Saint James
Green Cay
Hans Lollik Island
Hassel Island
Inner Brass
Johnsons Reef
Leduck
Little Saint James
Lovango Cay
Mingo Cay
Ningo
Outer Brass
Packet Rock
Patricia Cay
Saba Island
Saint Croix
Saint John
Saint Thomas
Savana Island
South-West Rock
Stranglers Island
Thatch Cay
Turtledove Cay
Water Island
Waterlemon Cay
Welk Rock

Continental countries with Caribbean coastlines and islands

Belize
Ambergris Caye
Belize City
Big Creek
Caye Caulker
Glover's Reef
Hicks Cays
Lighthouse Reef
South Water Caye
Turneffe Islands
Colombia
Archipelago of San Andres and Providencia
Barranquilla
Cartagena
Riohacha
Santa Marta
Costa Rica
French Guiana
Guatemala
Guyana
Hog Island, Guyana
Leguan Island
Wakenaam
Honduras
Guanaja
Roatán
Útila
Cayos Cochinos
Swan Islands

Mexico
Quintana Roo
Cancún
Chetumal
Isla Contoy
Isla Cozumel
Isla Mujeres
Cozumel
Nicaragua
Corn Islands
Cayos Miskitos
Pearl Cays
Panama
San Blas Islands (comprising more than 1300 islands)
Bocas del Toro (archipelago with approximately 300 islands)
Suriname
Venezuela
Isla Margarita
Coche Island
Cubagua Island
Los Monjes Archipelago
Las Aves Archipelago
Isla Aves
Los Hermanos Archipelago
Islas Los Frailes
Los Roques Archipelago
La Sola Island
La Tortuga Island
La Orchila
Blanquilla Island
Los Testigos Islands
Isla de Patos

The nations of Belize and Guyana, although on the mainland of Central America and South America respectively, are former British colonies and maintain many cultural ties to the Caribbean. They are members of CARICOM. Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast, often referred to as the Mosquito Coast, was also a former British colony. It maintains many cultural ties to the Caribbean as distinct from the Pacific coast. Guyana participates in West Indies cricket tournaments and many players from Guyana have been on the West Indies Test cricket team. The Turneffe Islands (and many other islands and reefs) are part of Belize and lie in the Caribbean Sea. The nation of Suriname, on the mainland of South America, is a former Dutch colony and also a member of CARICOM.

Indigenous tribes of the region include or have included

Arawak, Kalinago, Ciboney, Galibi, Garifuna, Igneri, Lucayan, Taino, Ciguayo, Macorix

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