Donald D. Groff

A good description of Isla Mujeres, complete with maps of the island’s few
roads and main town, can be found in the recent guidebook “Yucatan & Southern
Mexico,” by Nick Rider, a Cadogan guide distributed by Globe Pequot Press (1999).

For really local advice, Mundaca Travel, a travel and real estate agency based
on Isla Mujeres, has a Web site and a toll-free number (from within the United States) for inquiries at (888) 420-3613.

I am a recent graduate with a B.A. in graphic design. I work full-time as
a Web designer, but I find that there is not a very strong artists’ community in
my town (Raleigh, N.C.) — it’s especially hard to find young, intelligent artists who are
motivated and doing a lot of new and different stuff. Anyway, where
in the world are the best artists’ communities? Places to be accepted as an
artist and also surrounded by inspiring people?

Whether you’re looking to relocate or simply vacation, the question of
artistic community is neatly addressed in “The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America: Discover Creative Communities, Fresh Air, and Affordable Living,” by John Villani (John Muir Publications, 3rd edition, 1998). Besides
places you’d expect, such as Santa Fe, N.M.; Key West, Fla.; and Carmel, Calif., the book
spotlights a wide range of towns that loom small on the map but large in the
realm of artistic possibility.

Most of them offer more than just art — they have pleasing settings, fresh air
and outdoor diversions. Durango and Telluride, Colo., are among them, as are
Sun Valley, Idaho; Jackson, Wyo.; Eureka Springs, Ark.; Oxford, Miss.; Athens,
Ga.; Beaufort and Hilton Head, S.C.; and Charlottesville, Va. Many of these towns
have universities nearby, or tourism industries that help support a hearty
arts community.

North Carolina fares well, actually, with four small arts cities: Chapel Hill, Beaufort,
Morehead City and Wilmington.

Most of the chapters are two pages long, with descriptions of local
lifestyles, the arts scene and basics such as art spaces, art events,
hangouts, bookstores and public radio stations. There’s also an “art talk”
interview in which one or more artists speak to the local scene. The book can
be found in stores, on Web booksellers or through Muir at (800) 888-7504.

I have a question about Belize. Where would you spend more time in this
country: Dangriga (near Jaguar Preserve and Cockscomb Park) or Ambergris
Caye (near the town of San Pedro, a beach and snorkeling site)? We are interested in seeing
wildlife and experiencing the local culture. Also, do you have any tips or ideas for what
is exceptional to see or do, or what we need to know about this destination?

Belize is a fascinating place, but don’t get your hopes up for spotting
jaguars. Despite its titillating name, the park’s rangers will be the first to
tell you that the reclusive cats are virtually never seen in the wild. Still,
the country has plenty of wildlife and soothing scenery to make you feel
you’re discovering something new. You might want to make the eco-savvy Belize
Zoo west of Belize City one of your early stops, so you’ll have an idea what
kind of animals you’re looking for on the rest of your trip.

I suggest you try to spend time both on Ambergris Caye — the traditional
Belize holiday, with sand, surf and sunshine — and in the interior, where you
have many options for seeing the real Belize, meeting people and taking in
the preserves and other natural features. Many wilderness lodges have sprung
up, and using them as your base, you can take various trips to explore ruins.
From San Ignacio in the far west, you can take a canoe trip operated by locals
or jeep excursions to waterfalls and verdant valleys. ( You can also take a
day trip to the ruins at Tikal in Guatemala.)

If at all possible, rent your own vehicle for getting around, at least for
part of the trip. Using public transit is tedious and the routes are limited;
in the interior having your own wheels is the way to go.

Two good guidebooks that include itinerary possibilities are “The New Key to
Belize,” by Stacy Ritz (Ulysses Press, 3rd edition, 1998) and “Explore Belize,” by
Harry S. Pariser (Hunter Publishing, 4th edition, 1998).

Also for planning, look at Belize Online. The Belize Tourist Board can be reached by calling (800) 624-0686.

Another way to scout out the local scene before arriving is to look at
newspaper Web sites. On Ambergris Caye, check out the San Pedro Sun.

Other sites for gleaning information prior to your trip are Belize by Natural Light and the Belize Times.

I’d like to see Java by train. Are there any rail tours available?

It is indeed possible to cross Java, Indonesia’s biggest island, by train,
and there are many rich destinations on or near the rails, including the
cultural capital, Jogkakarta. But I expect you would have a hard time
finding a tour company with Java rail packages, at least from the United
States.

The Javanese train standards generally don’t live up to what international
tour operators expect for their package tours, and the recent economic
uncertainties in Indonesia have created a climate that makes international
operators shy away. (The exception might be Dutch operators, who have a
history of putting together tours in this former Dutch colony.)

Still, you could plan your own tour, keeping in mind that you probably won’t
be able to make reservations until arriving in Indonesia. If you scout around
the Web, you may find someone who has already been there and done that.

A good site for tracking down rail trips around the world is TrainWeb.com.

Lonely Planet’s travel survival kit “Java” (first edition, 1995) has good
information on train travel in its “getting around” section, including a map
of rail routes. For online information about Java, including links, go to
Lonely Planet’s Indonesia site.

Another site with good links is the official Tourism Indonesia site.

You’ll definitely be able to kayak, though frolicking with the whales is less certain. First, Orcas Island is not the best place for whale watching. “The vast majority of whales are seen off the west side of San Juan Island,” according to Tom Carter of Shearwater Adventures on Orcas. Secondly, the best time to see the whales is late May to mid-July, and you’ll be there outside that peak period.

Still, if you’re set on giving it a try, it’s fairly easy to take an inter-island ferry from Orcas to San Juan Island and hook up with a kayaking company there. Shearwater (phone 360/376-4699) can help direct you. If you stay on Orcas, the company offers three-hour trips, day trips and multi-day trips, as well as classes for all skill levels.

An excellent source for planning your trip is the recently revised “Best Places San Juan and Gulf Islands,” edited by Jan Halliday (Sasquatch Books, second edition, 2000).

From Seattle, most visitors drive 90 minutes north of the city to the ferry at Anacortes. For ferry schedules and prices, check the site for Washington State Ferries or call (206) 464-6400.

You also can fly to Orcas, either from Sea-Tac International Airport or by seaplane from Seattle’s Lake Union. Harbor Airlines, phone (800) 359-3220, makes the trip from Sea-Tac, and Kenmore Air, phone (800) 543-9595, flies from Lake Union.

Check out the Orcas Island Organizations site for links to the chamber of commerce and accommodations. The island has a good selection of B&Bs and resorts.

While on vacation in California, we plan to drive from Los Angeles up the coast to San Francisco. Where can we find out about inns along the way?

California is an inn-rich state, and you can plan your lodging using “A California Directory to Bed & Breakfast Inns,” published by the nonprofit California Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns. The directory covers more than 360 B&Bs and is organized by five geographic regions; the areas you’ll be driving in are Southern California and the Central Coast, and dozens of inns are described for those parts of the state. There’s also contact information for the local tourist bureaus.

To get a copy of the directory, send $7 to CABBI Directory Request, 2715 Porter St., Soquel, CA 95073. At the CABBI site you can find the same information, including a map on which you can click any area and get a list of local B&Bs. Many of the inns have their own Web sites, and you can locate and link to them through the CABBI site.

Is I-95 North the best choice for driving from the Southeast to New York in summer?

Interstate 95 is the most common route into the Northeast Corridor from the southeast part of the country. It’s “good” in the sense that it’s a direct route; it’s not so good if you happen to hit its busiest parts, around big cities and between Washington and Boston, during rush hours or peak periods.

You can avoid those backups by staying away from the trouble zones during morning and afternoon rush hours. Beware the days around Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day, too.

The distance on I-95 from Miami to New York is about 1,300 miles, about 1,536 miles to Boston.

Construction is the other main type of delay on I-95, and you can get information on big projects through a publication called the “Northeast Travelers Alert,” published by the I-95 Corridor Coalition. The map shows bottlenecks and areas of I-95 where work projects are underway, along with the estimated length and dates of the projects. The Travelers Alert covers the I-95 states from Maine to Virginia and is available at interstate rest stops once you reach Virginia; an Acrobat Reader version is also available at the Web site.

A guide that can help you plan — and describes all the rest stops — is the “I-95 Interstate Exit Guide,” available for $9.95 from Starsystems, 447 Old Henniker Road, Hopkinton, NH 03229, or order by calling (603) 746-3010. A related Web site, the I-95 Exit Information Guide Online, has an order form, as well as tips and construction alerts for I-95 travel.

When it’s time to hit the road, you can get traffic information for the areas around Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston through SmarTraveler, a service giving real-time road and mass transit conditions in those and about a dozen other cities around the country.

You also may be interested in “A Field Guide to Interstate 95: The Travelers Companion to the History, Geography and Trivia That Lie Beneath the Nation’s Busiest Highway,” by John Cribb (Rowman & Littlefield, 1989).

Revisiting a previous Travel Advisor Q&A:

A recent column on visiting coastal South Carolina brought this enthusiastic comment from a reader:

You must tell that reader about Hunting Island State Park, in South Carolina, about 20 miles from Beaufort. It is the only completely protected, pristine South Carolina coast island. It has five miles of uninhabited beaches and a state park campground located in a grove of tall pines right at the water’s edge. For anyone interested in camping, paddling, walking moonlit beaches, it is an undiscovered treasure. Go at sea-turtle nesting season.

“Forrest Gump’s” Vietnam scenes were filmed there — it is that wild and tropical — and the Bubba Gump shrimp dock scenes were filmed at a real shrimp dock about a mile away, on Frogmore island (home of Gullah culture). [There] you can buy shrimp caught that day to take back and cook at your campsite. It is also the scene of many of Pat Conroy’s novels, and the bays are filled with dolphins. I want to go back.

Among the possibilities:

The McMillan book has a section on camping, and you also can look at the Wildernet South Carolina Camping Guide.

There’s also a Coastal Guide site with links to nine South Carolina coastal communities.

You can locate dive shops in South Carolina — and elsewhere in the U.S. — through Charternet.com. Such shops will have information on local diving destinations and conditions. Another resource is “Shipwrecks, Pirates & Privateers: Sunken Treasures of the Upper South Carolina Coast, 1521-1865″ by Edward L. Spence (Sandlapper Publishing, 1996).

While you’re on the coast, check out the Gullah people, who have long been a low-key part of tourism near Hilton Head Island, S.C. The Gullah are descendants of freed slaves who speak Gullah, a Creole language combining African dialect, Caribbean cadence and English words. They live on the Sea Islands between Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. In recent years they have gained more widespread attention, and in 1997 Hilton Head hosted its first Native Islander Gullah Celebration. For Gullah history, visit Beaufort.com.

Where can one find information about driving from the United States into South America on the Pan American Highway? Are there any books or other sources on traveling that fabled route?

The authority on that route is South American Explorers, a club that monitors conditions along the Pan American Highway as well as all over Latin America. Among other things, the club knows where the gaps and ferries are — and tells all in a 200-page packet available to members and nonmembers alike.

The “Driving Packet” contains updated trip reports from club members who have driven the route. It’s a valuable source of information on how to get around Central and South America, including road conditions and the latest in meeting and overcoming the unexpected. The club also offers a quarterly journal and a catalog that contains one of the most complete order lists of books on that part of the world.

The Driving Packet is available for $25 to members, $30 to nonmembers. Order from the address below, or at the Web site. (Click on the online catalog, then, under special interest, “driving through Latin America.”) Also available through the club site is Chris Yelland’s book “Driving Through Latin America: USA to Argentina.”

Annual membership costs $40 per person, $70 per couple. Join by contacting South American Explorers Club, 126 Indian Creek Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850; phone (607) 277-0488. A subscription to the quarterly journal is $22 for nonmembers.

Another resource is the book “Driving the Pan-American Highway to Mexico and Central America” by Raymond and Audrey Pritchard (Costa Rica Books, 6th edition, 1997, order from (800) 365-2342). Anyone bound for such a road trip might enjoy the book “Obsessions Die Hard: Motorcycling the Pan-American Highway’s Jungle Gap” by Ed Culberson (Whitehorse Press, 2nd edition, 1996).

We’re planning our first trip to Italy for the Biennale in Venice in the summer of 2001. Most of our friends are experienced Italy travelers and it’s like pulling teeth to get useful first-timer information out of them. What are some good sources for preparing for our trip?

Fortunately for you and every other first-timer — and all of us have been in that spot — many guidebooks are written with the inexperienced visitor in mind. You’ve got many sources to choose from, including the digestible “Eyewitness Travel Guide: Italy” by Deni Bown (Dorling Kindersley, 1998); “Knopf Guides Italy (1988)”; “Rick Steves’ Italy” (John Muir, 2000); “Insight Guides Italy (1998)” and the Cadogan series Italy guide, by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls (Globe Pequot, 1999).

Each of those publishers also offers a guide that focuses solely on Venice.

Venice is the perfect walking destination, so you may want to arm yourself with “Venicewalks” by Chas Carner and Allessandro Giannatasio (Henry Holt, 1991). An audiocassette version also is available.

Your dining experience may be easier if you’re armed with a pocket guide such as “Eating & Drinking in Italy” (Capra Press, 1999). It offers insights into Italian cuisine and a two-way dictionary of food and food-related terms.

The Web has become a hotbed of Italian help, with some sites far more helpful than others. Several seem convinced that readers want to hear Italian music while browsing; someone should tell them the truth. An excellent site to start with is In Italy Online. An official site is Piy Italia. A site with many links is the Venice Italy Index.

While the bridge is good news for the road-weary, the jury is still out on whether easier access is affecting the island’s atmosphere. Part of the island’s charm, of course, was its isolation, and critics of the bridge fear that in time some of that charm will be lost as the bridge increases tourism and commerce.

The ferry from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island was discontinued after the bridge opened, but another ferry route still operates between Caribou, Nova Scotia, and Wood Island on Prince Edward Island.

For a PEI tourism booklet, check out the Prince Edward Island site or call (888) 734-7529.

Prince Edward Island is included in the guidebook “The Maritime Provinces,” by Trudy Fong, part of the “Off the Beaten Path” series published by the Globe Pequot Press (1999). PEI also is included in the “Adventure Guide to Canada’s Atlantic Provinces,” by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers and Stillman Rogers (Hunter Publishing, 1999).

For a drive in the West this summer, where can I get information on the old Santa Fe Trail and what towns it passed through, as well as any events that are scheduled?

The Santa Fe Trail began in Franklin, Mo., 110 miles east of what is now Kansas City, Mo., and ran for 900 miles to Santa Fe, N.M. More than half of the trail is in Kansas, and many signs of the trail remain, including wagon ruts, battle locations, burial sites and remnants of trading posts, campgrounds and forts.
You can find the latest on trail matters at the Santa Fe Trail Homepage, including a link to the Santa Fe Trail Association.

A good printed source for planning is a book called “The Santa Fe Trail Revisited,” by Gregory M. Franzwa (Patrice Press, 1989), though it’s reportedly out of print and you may have to excavate it from a library or used book store. It describes how to locate the trail and what to see along it, as well as offering practical advice on when to go, what to wear and other reference sources. Franzwa was a member of the National Park Service team that surveyed the trail early in 1988.

The National Frontier Trails Center in Independence, Mo., is an interpretive center with archives for the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails. Phone (816) 325-7575.

I’ll be taking a cruise of the Baltic region this fall and would like to get some perspective on the region and its citizens. Do you have any reading suggestions?

For an insightful look at recent Baltic history, check out “The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence” by Anatol Lieven (Yale University Press, 1994).

Among others:

Each port plans dozens of related events. Expect to see beaucoup music, dancing and fireworks — all framed by soaring masts and sails. OpSail’s biggest bang will be in New York, where it arrives in time for the 224th Independence Day observance. Organizers expect the ship’s week there to attract more than 40,000 spectator vessels to New York Harbor and help draw about four million people into the city.

The same organizers are touting the tall-ship parade there as the longest such parade ever. Navy and Coast Guard ships will line 10 miles of New York Harbor, and President Clinton and other dignitaries will review the ships from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Get details on itineraries and related events through the OpSail 2000 site, and through sites of the individual ports, including San Juan, Miami, Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New London.

Quite a few of the tall ships have Web sites, too, listed on the OpSail resources page. You can also expect various ships to make appearances in other coastal cities this summer, some involved in an international contest called the Tall Ships 2000 Race Series. Those ships will cross from Europe to Bermuda to Boston, where at least 25 “class A” ships will visit July 11-14 during Sail Boston 2000. The ships will continue to Halifax, Nova Scotia, before starting the final leg to Cadiz, Spain.

We like the idea of staying in a lighthouse. Where can we find lighthouses that have been converted into B&Bs or other lodging?

“American Lighthouses: A Comprehensive Guide,” by Bruce Roberts and Ray Jones (Globe Pequot Press, 1998), describes and depicts more than 300 lighthouses, including directions for reaching the lights. The book also notes which ones take guests, although only a relative handful of lighthouses and keepers’ houses nationwide are equipped to do so. Among them: