AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico — US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and import specialists seized 1,000 counterfeit automobile parts during an inspection of merchandise being sent from Hong Kong to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, last week. The manufacturer’s suggested retail…

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One of the most beautiful places in the Dominican Republic has a new hotel.

The Samaná peninsula is now home to a new all-inclusive resort, the Viva Wyndham V Samaná.

The resort, which faces the Bahía de Cosón in the beach town of Las Terrenas, is a significant new offering for a region that is among the least explored of the Caribbean’s most popular tourism destination.

The property has 144 rooms with either garden or ocean views, along with “Vibe Rooms” on the ground level that feature private plunge pools.

It’s the eighth all-inclusive in the Caribbean for the Viva Wyndham brand, and just the second of the brand’s higher-level V Collection.

The hotel has four restaurants, including its signature eatery, Le Marche, along with MediTerrenas, Mar & Fuego and Fusion.

Unusually for most all-inclusives, guests don’t need to make reservations for any of the a la carte restaurants. The hotel also offers 24-hour room service.

The property also has a spa.

But most importantly, it’s a new way to explore a corner of the Caribbean that should be on your list.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Barbados travel demand is surging, according to the latest numbers from global travel giant Expedia.

Travel demand to Barbados on all Expedia sites grew by 35 percent last year compared to 2014, according to the report.

Package bookings that included flights and hotels grew by more than 40 percent.

Within Barbados, the destination of Christ Church saw the biggest increase, with a 55 percent jump, along with St James, that saw a 20 percent jump.

Barbados has been making a major push to draw travelers from the United States, an effort that seems to be paying off: according to Expedia, the US market grew by 60 percent last year, with Canada seeing a 25 percent rise.

The company made the data release on the heels of the Barbados Connect trade event.

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By David P. Rowe
CJ Contributor

The news this week that Tony Cozier had died was shattering and tragic for many cricket fans internationally and fans of West Indian cricket especially. For those of us who were children and cricket fans during the 1970s and 1980s, he was an authority on both cricket and life.

Many West Indians consider cricket to be the one area of life in which the West Indies could compete internationally with other regions of the world.

Cozier was, during my lifetime, the properly informed, genuinely West Indian interpreter of international cricket events. I remember personally as a Jamaican school boy in the 1970ss at Wolmer’s Boys’ School, frequently the first argument of the morning at school was whether you agreed with something Tony Cozier said on the radio the night before about the test match and that argument among young West Indian scholars was likely to last all day.

In many respects Cozier’s tone, use of language and analysis added to the game and was a source of inspiration to youngsters. He was a verbal artist. One remembers him speaking of Geofrey Boycott’s “dour approach” or Lawrence Rowe’s “sweet sweet shot”. These phrases explained to absent followers of cricket exactly what was going on in the test match. Cozier’s grammar and word selection always seemed perfect and his recollection so clear.

Who was this man Tony Cozier? He was a Caribbean writer, historian, commentator and journalist and the greatest West Indian cricket writer of all time. His exposition as an analyst and historian was so internationally obvious and academically accepted that he was rarely challenged on factual issues. He was a personal computer of cricket. He was a white Bajan but a true West Indian in his perspective.

Cozier followed cricket generally and Caribbean cricket specifically for the last five decades. West Indians followed him because he was the authority on the sport; international cricketers followed him because of his encyclopedic knowledge of the sport. He was born in Barbados and died there yesterday, his death brings international mourning to cricket fans globally.

He was a master of both radio and television commentary as well as being a comprehensive and brilliant journalist on cricket issues. His reputation as a cricket scholar was bigger than local or international politics and he could therefore criticize the mistakes made in West Indies cricket by the West Indies Cricket Board or CARICOM.

I met Tony Cozier at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in the 1980s during an England tour of the West Indies.

I immediately got his autograph on a Wisden I had with me, as I considered Tony to be the most significant cricketer present. He was not a player but as a presenter of cricket he increased the value of the game. I suspect that particular signed Wisden with Cozier’s signature on it will be of great value at some time in the future.
Cozier’s work was dedicated to Cricket and the Caribbean. Not only was Tony a brilliant journalist, he seemed to be an ambassador of Caribbean culture to international media.

As a ball by ball commentator, he ranks with the greatest of all time. He had a spectacular individual style of soft accurate explanation of the game. “A real color commentator” with a cricket data base for a mind.
Perhaps Cozier had seen more test cricket matches than any other cricket commentator. He seemed to know more about test cricket than anybody else alive.

For those who love West Indian cricket and for those who believe in the finer points of the game there will never be another Tony Cozier. He knew more about test cricket than anybody else alive.

A great interpreter of West Indian cricket history has passed.

David P Rowe is an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Continuing its Caribbean-wide renovation drive, Sandals has unveiled its newest additions: new suites at its Sandals Regency La Toc resort in St Lucia.

The suites include the Sunset Bluff Oceanview One-Bedroom Butler Suite, which includes a balcony soaking tub; and the Sunset Bluff Honeymoon One-Bedroom Butler Suite, which also includes a soaking tub.

The Sunset Bluff suites, which are newly-renovated Love Nest Suites, include amenities from an HD Smart television to a fully-stocked bar and a spa-style bathroom.

The Honeymoon suite are all about privacy, hidden in a lush garden atop the resort’s Sunset Oceanview Bluff.

The newly-built suites can now be booked for travel beginning Aug. 1.

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