Our cruise ship stopped bright and early this morning so we could enjoy a beach-day on the island of Haiti, one of the planet's most impoverished nations. And some of us still say, "What's the world coming to?" The idea of such a beach stop feels tremendously rude and inconsiderate.

 The lionfish is native to the Pacific Ocean. A couple of decades or so ago it is believed that someone in our neck of the woods threw a couple, or maybe an aquarium full of lionfish into the Caribbean. These truly beautiful little creatures have caused problems ever since. In the Pacific, lionfish have predators. In the Caribbean however, predators are few. Couple that with the fact that lionfish are voracious eaters, and that's where the problem begins. Re...

 Bottlenose dolphins grow to a length of 2.8 metres. They weigh up to 230 kilograms and can travel at a speed of 32 kilometres per hour. We'd been told of a place not far from West End where they supposedly live in harmony behind a wire fence, or cage. Elenka, Judka and I decided to conduct our own animal welfare investigation.  When we arrived at the site we hid, camouflaged near a mangrove, and watched as a dozen or so humans fed the dolphins from atop a...

  Elenka and I first came to the village of West End, Roatan in the spring of 2010. Back then a pot-holed dusty, dirt road ran along the waterfront, about a kilometre in length. Joggers, those with a limp, and cars all avoided this nasty main drag. Even so, restaurants, hotels, bars and dive shops seemed to thrive then, as they do now. And Half Moon Bay - a section of West End - where Elenka, her sister Judy, and I are staying saw few boats. That's all cha...

Ponce de Leon, the explorer who was sent by the Spanish to the New World in search of the Fountain of Youth is buried in the Cathedral of San Juan in the city's Old Town. A three or four minute walk from the cathedral takes you to the second oldest church that has been in continuous use in the New World - Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic takes the number one spot. San Juan's colourful, hilly Old Town, surrounded by the waves of a crashing sea, make...