The 10 Most Natural Places on Earth ®

I S ISLANDS

®
L A N D S

december 2 0 0 6

50 island travel guides  

at ­islands.com
a pril / m ay 2010 > M o lo k a i > G r e n a d i n e s > M e n t aw a i > L ay o v e r s > B e s t P u r e I s l a n d s

Pure 
Escape how t o f i n d i t

Enter Hawaii’s Last Outpost p. 32

Sail the Secret Caribbean p. 42
Dream with the Shamans p. 54
(and even see what you’re missing on a layover, p. 66)
islands.com
$4.99/Canada
M AY 2 0 1 0 $6.99
U . S . $ 4 .9 9
Contents
ISLANDS » a p r il / m a y 2 0 1 0 » Volume 30 / Number 3

»  Cover St. Vincent

and the Grenadines
captured by Justin
Lewis. See p. 42.
»  This page: Molokai
by Shelly Strazis.
Ride along, p. 32.

32 features
Enter Molokai
Is this place truly the “most
­Hawaiian” of Hawaii’s isles?
islands’ ­Adrienne Egolf explores
the natural canvas with the pure
characters of Molokai on this trip.
54‘It’s a Mentawai Paddle’
But why does this artifact
from remote Indonesia hold so
much importance for islands’
Eddy Patricelli? Look into his soul
with the shamans of Mentawai.
Departments

6 Editorial
10 Experts
12 Mailboat
14 Discover
ca n n o n iii ; M aremag n u m / ge t t y images
f rom le f t: j u s t i n lewis ; brow n w.

24 Live the Life

travel guide » p. 88 travel guide » p. 90
26 Travel Tales
28 Taste
42 Cays of Easy
Setting sail through the
Grenadines is one of the great
66 Layovers Redeemed
Don’t just kill time at
the airport; run away to see the
74 The Best
88 Travel Guides
undersung pleasures of the authentic island just beyond the 96 What’s Next
­Caribbean. Revel with author runway. We show you how on
John Bradley in this escape. Oahu, Puerto Rico and Aruba.
travel guide » p. 89 maps » islands.com/layovers
 points of interest

take in molokai p. 3 2 live on isle au haut p. 24

“I thought it would be just for the summer,

“On arrival, but I stayed. I was living in a lighthouse
I found only and cooking for at most 12 people. On my
hours off, I’d hike in Acadia National Park.”
the smell
of plumeria reach mentawai p. 5 4
54
trees drift- 32 “I look the
ing from ­shaman
dead in the
a farm on kayak canada p. 1 6
eye: ‘does
a sleepy “Paddle through pristine
landscapes and see
surfing here
protect my
afternoon.” harbor seals, herons and
plenty of bald eagles.” soul?’”

cloc k wise f rom t op : shelly s t ra z is ; brow n w. ca n n o n iii ; philippe michel / age f o t os t oc k ; jo n whi t t le ; co u r t es y jea n - y v es tamarii
Texel island p. 20

Channel Islands p. 79 Dubai p. 17

Madeira p. 78
Tenerife p. 14

Hawaiian Islands Puerto Rico p. 20, 70

p. 17, 32, 68, 79, 88 Dominica p. 76 Sipadan p. 18
Grenadines p. 42, 89
Grenada p. 21
Papua New Guinea p. 76
San Blas Islands p. 76

Galápagos p. 78

Bali p. 28
Vanuatu p. 74
Heron Island p. 26
Tasmania p. 78

enjoy your layover p. 6 6 find pure

74 islands p. 74
“on Aruba, we’re “You may never
make it to Socotra.
dining in a world Only modestly
equipped for tour-
removed from the ists, these islands
are inaccessible at

19 cruise buffet.” best. That’s a large

part of the purity.
But it’s more than a
remember tahiti p. 1 9 66 land of legend.”

sail somewhere new p. 42 

“I don’t like when
people ask me to do “The history stays hidden
a bunny tattoo.” unless you go seeking it.”

4
 from the editor

Pure Connection
do pure escapes really exist? when we
started this issue, we set out to find islands with
preserved cultures and unspoiled natural beauty.
The farther away, the better.
So I traveled 40 hours on five flights to Men-
tawai (p. 54), an archipelago full of shamans,
thousand-year-old traditions, body tattoos and,
well, bare butts. This is a pure escape, I thought.
One night, I started to write about it all and there,
flashing on my laptop, on this tiny island in the
Indian Ocean, a jarring screen prompt: Do I wish
to join the local Wi-Fi connection?
That flashing message sparked questions: Is
a truly pure escape possible in today’s modern
world? Are there islands that exist outside its
reach, invisible to a Google search, a satellite map
or soon, interactive tags like the one at the bot-
tom of this page? Days later, when I was wedged
into a dugout canoe with the Mentawai fisherman
pictured here, those questions vanished.
This issue is packed throughout with that
natural beauty and those preserved cultures. But
the most “pure” moments of their stories aren’t

b r o w n w. c a n n o n i i i ; j e s s i c a pat r i c e l l i
Mentawai fisher- about that. Instead, they are the one-on-one connections that these journeys give way
man Jesayas to. An impromptu dinner invitation from a local bar owner in the Grenadines (p.42), a
exemplifies a pure
experience. ­Hawaiian woman’s offering of a lei to a visitor, not as she steps off a
plane in Honolulu, but while she sits in a bookstore on Molokai (p.32) —
these unscripted moments resonate as truly pure. And they can happen
anywhere, on any island, even during a quick stopover on Aruba (p. 66).
I find this inspiring. We’re hardwired to be curious, to explore, to in-
new
teract. That creates these connections. They spark reverence and respect
for
mobile!
for the places and people we encounter along our travels. For me, ­nothing
is more pure than that. — Eddy Patricelli, editor, editor@islands.com

S
introducing the new islands tag, your magazine-to-mobile connection N A
1 For info while you’re on the go, get the free smartphone app at http://gettag.mobi.P
2 Launch the app and hold your phone over these tags you see in the magazine. I
3 Have the interactive map, itinerary, editors’ tips and more at your fingertips. T
4 Enter to win an islands prize when you scan the introductory tag at right.

Get the free app for your phone at

http://gettag.mobi