By the Caribbean Journal staff

Southwest Airlines is resuming its seasonal daily Caribbean flights for the upcoming tourist season, the carrier announced this week.

The seasonal network will relaunch Nov. 4, 2018.

That will include flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Belize, Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos; St Louis to Cancun and Houston to Liberia, Costa Rica.

Southwest has been rapidly expanding its Caribbean flight network in recent years, most significantly out of its Fort Lauderdale hub.

The post Southwest Resuming Seasonal Daily Caribbean Flights This Winter appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By Alexander Britell

American Airlines officially launches its first-ever flights to Bonaire this weekend, with plans for more.

The carrier will also be adding flights on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Dec. 15 through March 30, 2019.

That’s along with the Saturday flight that launches June 9.

The Bellafonte Bonaire boutique.

The American flight will leave Miami on Saturdays at 12:05 PM, arriving in Bonaire at 4:13 PM local time. The return flight will depart Bonaire at 5:05 PM, arriving in Miami at 7:15 PM.

The move comes after the performance of the Saturday flights is “booking extremely well,” according to a statement from the Tourism Corporation Bonaire.

The raw landscape of Bonaire.

“We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with American Airlines to provide additional non-stop service to Bonaire,” commented Maurice Adriaens, Director of Tourism Corporation Bonaire. “They are confident that the extra flights will do well. These flights will to allow us to generate more traffic to the island concurrent with the expansion of our hotel and villa inventory.”

At Sea, Bonaire, the island’s destination eatery.

TCB said the bookings for the Saturday flight thus far had been concentrated from Miami, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Charlotte.

It all adds up to a significant boost for the Dutch Caribbean island, which is best known for its remarkable marine offerings but has increasingly put itself on the map of late in areas like food and adventure sports.

The Delfins Beach Resort.

The island also added a very sleek new boutique beach resort, the Delfins Beach Resort.

“Tourism Corporation Bonaire is very excited about this opportunity and we look forward to continue to build a long term partnership with American Airlines,” TCB said in a statement.

The post American Airlines Launches Bonaire Flights, Plans Expansion appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Atlantis Paradise Island megaresort on Paradise Island is expanding its marine programs to coincide with World Oceans Day.

The new aquatic adventures include a five-day marine adventure summer camp; a twilight snorkel program that will allow guests to swim with more than 20,000 sea creatures in the Ruins Lagoon at the property; and the Playtime With Sea Lions program, which will let guests “discover the many behaviors in and out of the water” of the sea lions who came to the resort’s Dolphin Cay after they were rescued during Hurricane Katrina.

The most fascinating is almost certainly the twilight snorkel, which will take place at 7:45 PM daily, giving guests the opportunity to spend their evenings with Atlantis “Aquarists” and take an underwater guided tour of the lagoon.

The Ruins Lagoon houses more than 2.7 million gallons of ocean water and marine animals, ranging from sharks and rays to deep-reef fish.

The snorkel takes 45 minutes.

“It is such a rewarding feeling knowing that we are able to continue to make a difference within our country and local community by offering programming that supports both our marine education mission and the protection of our natural resources,” said Michelle Liu, Senior Vice President of Marine & Waterpark Operations at Atlantis, Paradise Island. “Whether we participate in coral reef out planting trips to help re-build damaged reefs, take guests out to the ocean for sea turtle releases or rehabilitate marine mammals on-property, conservation and sustainability is always top of mind.”

— CJ

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Caribbean Journal took home one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious travel media awards at a gala dinner in New York this week.

Caribbean Journal editor-in-chief Alexander Britell won the CTO’s Virtual Visitor Award for his article, “Following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Bimini,” a chronicle of bonefishing with legendary guide Ansil Saunders, who hosted Dr. King during his visit to the island in 1968.

Britell accepts the award at the Caribbean Tourism Industry Awards.

“It is a tremendous honor to win this award,” Britell said in a statement following the Caribbean Tourism Industry Awards at the New Yorker Hotel. “I am humbled to have been chosen by the Caribbean Tourism Organization and so grateful to be able to celebrate this story.”

The mangroves of Bimini, featured in the award-winning story.

It is the third time Caribbean Journal and Britell have won the award.

See the article here.

— CJ

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

American Airlines is adding a new route to the Cayman Islands, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The company is launching new nonstop flights between Chicago-O’Hare and Grand Cayman’s Owen Roberts International Airport on Dec. 22.

Little Cayman in the Cayman Islands.

The new winter service will operate every Saturday through May 14, 2019, according to the carrier.

It’s another boost for a destination that has been seeing vastly expanded flight service from the United States.

— CJ

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