e hear rumors. From St. Barts, the word is that Andrew Balas (of the trend setting Standard hotels in LA) is negotiating to buy the Serano Beach. Bou Bou's bar and restaurant in front of the hotel - only a few months ago still the scene to beat - is no longer owned by Bou Bou, but operating under a new name. From Grand Cayman comes news that the island about to get a new underwater attraction called Shipwreck City, to help boost its maturing dive industry. The site will be home to five purposefully sunken vessels, starting with a British war ship that will soon find a new home in the deep. And is it true that Jermaine Jackson, formerly of the Jackson 5, is looking for funding to build a $560 million casino resort on the east end of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands? (No, we're not content to let the TV networks have the last word on the Jackson clan.)

uba is on a roll. In December, a new airport at Jardines del Rey was inaugurated, providing a link to that region's white sand beaches. Also in December, the 38-room O'Farrill Palace hotel debuted in Old Havana, providing elegance and comfort in a neoclassical building - the top-floor terrace provides sublime vistas of the harbor and fortress Los Tres Reyes del Morro. And in January, President Fidel Castro was present for the opening of the new Hotel Playa Pesquero, a 944-room complex located 500 miles east of Havana in Holguin, an eastern province of the island, known as the spot where Columbus first landed. This new resort is the anchor for a designated tourist area - 41 separate beaches line the coastline, and additional developments are expected to bring the number of rooms in this area to 25,000. Alas, along with all the progress comes an increase in your contribution to the regime: Departure tax for visitors to Cuba has been raised to $25.

he post-9/11 airline woes we read about in the states are taking their toll on BWIA, the Trinidad-based carrier that has been losing market share to Air Jamaica and various American carriers. In January, BWIA laid off 617 employees - a quarter of its work force - in an effort to stem the tide of red ink. There are talks about merging BWIA with Air Jamaica and Antigua-based LIAT into a single regional airline. (FYI: Antigua-based Caribbean Star is relocating its hub to St. Kitts in May.) But we hear of the financial woes surrounding American carriers and are reminded how important it is to purchase tickets with a credit card - if the carrier goes under you can obtain a refund from Visa, Master Card, American Express, etc. On the other hand, maybe now is a good time to burn through some of the miles you've earned (which are unlikely to have any value if an airline goes belly-up).

sland festivals kick into high gear as high season settles into low, providing all the more reason to schedule a Caribbean vacation today. Highlights include the Carriacou Maroon Music Festival, now in its third year, scheduled for the weekend of April 25-27 - this is a great opportunity to experience the island's famed Big Drum ceremony, along with Quadrille dancing, string band, jazz and blues music, and a food fair. Also coming up is the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, set for May 2-11 which includes headliners like Herbie Mann, Darius Rucker and Ashford & Simpson. Not to be outdone, the St. Kitts International Music Festival will take place June 26-29, with a line-up to be determined. Or, head to the Seventh Annual Bonaire Dive Festival, set for June 14-21 and featuring underwater photo workshops and contests, Scuba equipment demos, seminars and parties highlighting food and local culture; more info at www.scubadiving.com/bonairefest.

peaking of Carriacou, our last trip to the Caribbean took us to Grenada and the southern Grenadines as we researched the soon-to-be-published Rum & Reggae's Grenadines, Including St. Vincent and Grenada (available soon on this Web site or at your favorite bookstore). Carriacou was largely as it was on our last visit a couple years ago, though roads are in better shape and a fence around the airstrip now prevents cows from wandering on to the runway! We visited with painter Canute Caliste and can report that although he no longer paints, he still plays violin at island events. Alas, many of his poorly stored paintings at the Carriacou Museum were the victim of flooding when the island was deluged with rains last fall.

Carriacou's best lodging option remains the Caribbee Inn, run by the Coopers, an English couple who still remind us of pioneers from the days when the sun never set on the Empire. They inject their own brand of English charm, and raise a flock of clamorous macaws at their adjoining home. They blithely, apologetically promote Caribbee as Carriacou's only repository of civilization. That's not much of an overstatement, but on this eccentric island, the Coopers also seem to fit in quite nicely.

We also made a quick visit to the last undiscovered corner of the Caribbean - well, that is, the last inhabited island we had not yet set foot upon: Petite Martinique, also known as P.M. This odd little outpost is part of Grenada's Grenadines, although its residents hardly think so. While we didn't exactly spot an independence movement during our visit to the island, there's definitely an autonomous streak running under the surface. Located three miles northeast of Carriacou, this 486-acre blip on the radar screen is inhabited by about 900 residents of predominantly French descendency. They live at the base of a 738-foot extinct volcanic cone, and there are a couple dozen cars on the island to tool about the half-mile or so of road.

Before leaving the southern Grenadines, we skipped across the international border to St. Vincent's Grenadines. Things on Petit St. Vincent looked as inviting as ever and we shared a fine and simple lunch of grilled lobster with owner Haze Richardson. No major changes to report on P.S.V., and that's just fine by us. At first glance we thought there weren't any developments to report on nearby Mayreau, but we sense this island is on the cusp of discovery. There are still just the two places to overnight, but the St. Vincent government had just installed a mini-power plant down at the harbor for the island's 150 residents (no more generators chugging through the night in the village?), and the road from the harbor over to Saltwhistle Bay has been paved, which is no doubt applauded by the island's three car owners (no, we do not exaggerate).

Over on Union Island, the most topographically impressive Grenadine, the lifestyle is much as it was, and still largely overlooked by tourists, who mostly use the island as a jumping-off point for Petit St. Vincent, Palm, Mayreau, and as a pit-stop for yachts. We stopped by the tourist office in Clifton and asked what activities there were to do on Union. The pretty young woman behind the counter said: "Well, you can take a day sail to the Tobago Cays..." When we explained that we had just come from there, she seemed stumped to offer something of interest on Union.

The biggest thing on the agenda for our Grenadine trip was a visit to Canouan, which only a few years ago was one of the more remote and undeveloped corners of the region. Not anymore. Over the last few years, the 800-acre Carenage Bay Beach Resort has been built, with a lavish casino, a golf course and swank villas (a la Mustique). The resort opened three years ago and Rosewood Hotels (of Caneel Bay) came in to manage, but in early 2002, the Carenage owners abruptly terminated Rosewood's management contract (the two outfits are currently in litigation). The hotel was closed for major refurbishing, during which a few design problems are being ironed out, in particular the ill-conceived golf course. A late 2003 reopening is anticipated, and we predict that in a few short years this island will be on a par with Mustique as a premiere landing for the famous and moneyed. You'll find a more detailed report on Carenage Bay and sister property Tamarind Beach Hotel in the newly released Rum & Reggae's Grenadines, Including St. Vincent and Grenada, where we also report on a visit to the revitalized Palm Island Resort.

But we will give you a heads-up on two new worthwhile lodging possibilities on Grenada. Bernardo Bertucci received backing from Benetton and Zegna, hence why his swanky new Laluna Resort looks like it just stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine - it seems he is aiming for the Grenadian equivalent of world beat styled accommodations.

Then there's Bel Air Plantation, an intimate new resort created by American developer Susan Fisher. It's located on a remote, 18-acre, Atlantic-facing peninsula - just south of La Sagesse - and provides a refuge from busy beachfront resorts.

few more quick notes. Travelers heading to Barbados should investigate the Best of Barbados program. While we don't get the name, the plan offers a $200 credit on airfare to be used against seven-nights hotel stays and other incentives; to take advantage you must book your trip by July 31 for travel April 26-December 14. Call the Barbados Tourism Authority at 800-221-9831 or visit www.barbados.org. New air options to the Caribbean include just initiated weekly flights from Atlanta to Curacao on Delta. US Airways has expanded its Caribbean route network to 21 destinations (including the Bahamas) with weekly flights from Boston to San Juan and from Philadelphia to Grenada. Continental Airlines will reinstate its service between Houston and Aruba, three times weekly, and offer daily flights between Newark and Trinidad - both routes were scheduled to start up June 12.

e'll be back for summer, with a report on our visits to Bonaire and Curacao.