Island Trails: Aruba To The Virgin Islands

Known for having some of the best beaches in the Caribbean, this Dutch port makes it easy to just ... take it easy. Walk through town to choose your favorite carved wooden door, or spend the day like the Arubans do playing dominos at a beachside table.

Savor the pastel colors of the historic UNESCO site Old Town and the way the elaborate Dutch gables cut baroque curlicues from the sky. It's the perfect appetizer for a day of watersports or an adventure below ground at the magical Hato Caves-filled with eerie limestone formations and ancient petroglyphs.

The ice cream colors of the stucco houses will draw your lens, as will the pink flamingos on the salt pans. But you'll need a waterproof camera to complete the portrait since more than 400 fish species and 50 types of coral wait beneath the surface

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Affectionately known as St. Barts, the Caribbean's most chic island adds a French flair to Riviera-like beaches and duty-free boutiques. Walk past gingerbread cottages in search of celebrities, shop for designer fashions, or sip the island's signature ti punch as kite surfers fly by.

For an island comprised of a mere eight square miles, it's amazing how much there is to do on Jost Van Dyke. Visit the national park on nearby Diamond Cay, snorkel among swaying sponges and angelfish at Sandy Spit, or pilot your own boat around Sir Francis  Drake Waterway. After all that, you'll be ready for an evening drink on the beach - where you can admire your Windstar ship aglow in the harbor.

The  beautiful Bank Barrier coral reef wavers just beneath you as your ship makes the break to the bird sanctuary of Prickly Pear Island, so named because it is dotted with prickly pear cacti. Althought uninhabited, it does have a beach bar and water sports facilities. Not far away lies the curious assembly of house-sized boulders called "The Baths," which form huge underground pools and caverns

The imposing façade of El Morro fortress is just one of the many UNESCO World Heritage Sites in San Juan. Admire the colorful colonial buildings from your casually elegant ship, docked right in the heart of Old San Juan.