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Adventurous Kate contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nDecember was one of my biggest travel months in quite some time, taking me to seven different countries \u2014 nine if you include France and the Netherlands.<\/strong> <\/p>\nFrom the beaches of St. Vincent to the snowbanks of Vermont, let\u2019s take a look at December 2025!<\/p>\nCatamaranin\u2019 in Tobago Cays, St. Vincent and the Grenadines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDestinations Visited<\/h2>\n\nWillemstad and Sint Michiel, Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong><\/li>\nOistins, Bridgetown, Worthing, Speightstown, St. Lucy, Cherry Tree Hill Reserve, Bathsheba, Church Hill, and Welchman Hall, Barbados<\/strong><\/li>\nUnion Island, Petit Rameau, Mayreau, Kingstown (St. Vincent), and Port Elizabeth (Bequia), St. Vincent and the Grenadines<\/strong><\/li>\nMorne Docteur, Victoria, and St. George\u2019s, Grenada<\/strong><\/li>\nFort-de-France, Martinique<\/strong><\/li>\nMarigot Bay and Soufri\u00e8re, St. Lucia<\/strong><\/li>\nPortsmouth, Cabrits National Park, Toucari, Savanne Paille, Morne Trois Pitons National Park (including the Emerald Pool and the Middleham Falls trail), Wotten Waven, and Marigot, Dominica<\/strong><\/li>\nGrand Case, St. Martin<\/strong><\/li>\nPhilipsburg, Sint Maarten<\/strong><\/li>\nRevere, Beverly, Swampscott, and Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA<\/strong><\/li>\nPortland, Maine, USA<\/strong><\/li>\nNewington, New Hampshire, USA<\/strong><\/li>\nWaitsfield, Vermont, USA<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nPHEW. That was a lot.<\/p>\nBlue Bay, Cura\u00e7ao \u2014 a nice stop before heading to the airport.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHighlights<\/h2>\nThe month began with two more days in Cura\u00e7ao.<\/strong> While we had one rainy day, we used that to visit the Cura\u00e7ao Liquor Distillery and the next day, we visited beautiful Blue Bay, which was located in a gated community and kind of reminded me of The Villages in Florida\u2026but with a spectacular beach.<\/p>\nI made a pilgrimage to Rihanna\u2019s childhood home in Barbados!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNext, we spent a few days in Barbados. <\/strong>My impression of Barbados? It\u2019s a great Caribbean island if you want to DO ALL THE THINGS. There are all kinds of tours \u2014 historic, food, water-based \u2014 and tons of great restaurants and bars. Lots of different towns, each with a different vibe.<\/p>\nI loved the white sand beaches in Barbados (Dover Beach was where we camped out one afternoon) and we did a lot of cool tours, including the Barbados food tour, a drive into Harrison\u2019s Cave, and I did a round-the-island tour that gave me a good overview of the island.<\/p>\n
And we were happily on the island on a Friday, so we got to experience the Oistins Friday Night Fish Fry, which is a fun night out with music, camaraderie, and great food.<\/p>\nWe fell in love with the Royal Clipper!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUp next was our Star Clippers cruise through several Caribbean islands.<\/strong> Star Clippers hosted me and Charlie for a week on the Royal Clipper, which was a fantastic experience I haven\u2019t stopped thinking about.<\/p>\nThe Royal Clipper is the star of the show. As I talked to the other guests, I learned that everyone here comes for the ship specifically. It\u2019s so elegant, and retro in the best way. Every night, you set sail and people go up to the sun deck to just watch the sails in motion.<\/p>\n
This was Charlie\u2019s first cruise ever (!) and my third small ship cruise, after Antarctica and Eastern Canada. But being on a clipper ship is a completely different experience. You feel like you\u2019re sailing in Pirates of the Caribbean. Plus, you can do cool stuff like climbing the mast and sitting in the net on the bow.<\/p>\n
Our cruise departed from Barbados and visited Grenada, several islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (this is what drew me to this particular itinerary), Martinique, and St. Lucia. Every island had something I liked about it, but I especially loved the castaway feel of the Grenadines and the lush beauty of St. Lucia.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for a full post on the Royal Clipper experience. There is SO much to share.<\/p>\nWe had a great time on our boat trip of the Indian River!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNext up was Dominica. <\/strong>I\u2019ll admit that we had a much tougher experience here than on other islands, which I went into in my worst travel moments of 2025 post, but there were some activities we enjoyed, like the hot springs of Ti Kwan Glo Cho in the town of Wotten Waven, and the boat ride we took down the Indian River.<\/p>\nDominica is not the place for me, but I think some of you would enjoy it, especially if you love places that have very little tourism.<\/p>\nPetite Plage in Grand Case, St. Martin, with a lobster roll that was strangely prepared with the accoutrements of an Icelandic hot dog!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOur final Caribbean destination was Grand Case, St. Martin \u2014 a town on the French side famous for its culinary scene.<\/strong> There are a LOT of good restaurants and cocktail bars in this town, along with small guesthouses, high end boutiques, and a few small but nice beaches.<\/p>\nAnd to be honest, Grand Case was the perfect end to our trip. We lounged. We ate. We briefly ventured to the resort-filled Dutch side for a catamaran ride, which was super fun, but confirmed that we massively preferred the French side. Did I mention the grocery stores have French products for French prices?<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll probably go back to St. Martin at some point, as the island is well-connected to both Boston and Europe and makes a good stopover. And you can visit so many islands by ferry from St. Martin\/St. Maarten, including Anguilla, St. Barth\u2019s, Saba, and St. Eustacius.<\/p>\nThere was so much snow in Vermont!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNext we headed to the States to spend time with my family for Christmas.<\/strong> Three Christmas dinners with various family members, and trips to Maine and Vermont! It was so good to spend time with family, though we were up and down and all over the place!<\/p>\nThis was my first time in Vermont in about 20 years \u2014 but right away I fell back in love with the mountains, the small towns, and the quiet atmosphere. Charlie\u2019s impression? \u201cNew Hampshire is Temu Vermont.\u201d I mean\u2026<\/p>\n
And we got back to Prague just in time to throw our annual low-key New Year\u2019s dinner party with friends. <\/p>\nBathsheba Beach, Barbados \u2014 so different from the developed west coast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nChallenges<\/h2>\nI went into this in depth in my worst travel moments of 2025 post, but Dominica was a tough destination for us.<\/strong> Dominica is very different from other Caribbean islands \u2014 it is not a beach destination, the island is very undeveloped across the board (made worse after severe hurricane damage in 2017), and the tourism industry is thus at its nascent stage.<\/p>\nThe toughest thing about Dominica was the roads \u2014 they were in horrible condition, especially in the north of the island, and driving them was so terrifying that my heart was in my throat the whole time. And when we overnighted near the airport in Marigot, we had to drive all over to just find a place where we could buy food. The last place closed at 5:50 PM.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t say this to be critical of Dominica, nor would it be fair to compare it to more-developed islands. But I think it\u2019s important to share what it was like so you can determine whether you want to spend your trip dealing with stuff like this.<\/p>\n
I do think it would have been a lot better if we had hired a driver, come in by ferry rather than by plane, did tours out of Roseau, and brought a stash of protein bars for when there was nowhere to eat.<\/p>\n
Damn, Barbados was expensive!!<\/strong> Well, much of the Caribbean is expensive, but Barbados left me aghast at some of its prices. Particularly when Charlie and I went to a cafe for one order of waffles, one breakfast sandwich, and two cappuccinos and the bill was $50 USD.<\/p>\nHaving an allergic reaction to Elf on a Shelf cereal.<\/strong> Yeah, this was so ridiculous it was funny. The cereal is made with food dyes that come with warning labels in the EU, and my cheeks turned so red, I looked like an actual elf.<\/p>\n\n
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