Writers! Space Is Still Available for Writing and Yoga in Jamaica

Resolved to banish writer's block once and for all but not sure how? You're in luck: Space is still available for Celia Jeffries and Jacqueline Sheehan's annual Caribbean writers retreat, Writing and Yoga: A Jamaican Adventure. Working writers themselves, Jeffries and Sheehan are faculty members at the literary workshop Writers in Progress in Northampton, Massachusetts.

The retreat brings a select group of 10 participants, from novice writers to working professionals, to Bromley, a grand hilltop estate close to Ocho Rios on Jamaica's north coast that's built atop the stone foundations of a 16th-century Spanish fort. A typical day starts with a yoga session intended to energize creativity — to get participants "in the flow," says Jeffries. There are lively communal meals as well, and morning and evening writing sessions with exercises carefully chosen to quiet the inner critic and release new writing or expand ongoing projects.

Afternoons are free, but Jeffries and Sheehan, along with retreat coordinator Patricia Perkins, plan to celebrate the setting by offering Jamaican excursions, including time on the sand at secluded Reggae Beach, a tour of lush Coyoba Gardens and Mahoe Falls, or a storytelling session with students at a nearby preschool.

The eight-day retreat is set to commence on March 20, with shared accommodations starting at $1,395 per person. Airfare isn't included, but room and board, excursions and airport transfers are. For more information and registration instructions, visit the retreat's page at Tropical Escapes, or call 212-731-2478.

Writers! Space Is Still Available for Writing and Yoga in Jamaica

From Grenada, An Artist Paints the Caribbean

I had the good fortune during this trip to Grenada to spend some quality time exploring and developing my artistic side under the tutelage of Rebecca Thompson, a professional artist and British expat who, with her German-expat husband Uli Kühn, has called Grenada home for the last 20 years or so. Rebecca and Uli (with their two kids) own the Maca Bana Villas, where I've been kicking back for three sun-soaked days, and, right on magnificent Magazine Beach, The Aquarium Restaurant. Both properties are brimming with Rebecca's paintings — many of which were created using a papier mâché relief technique, giving the canvas a startling three-dimensional quality. Her subjects, almost without exception, are the Caribbean and its people.

Right now, she's working on a pair of paintings inspired by a recent trip to Carnival in Trinidad. "I went with a group of lady friends from Grenada," she tells me, "some Grenadian, some Trinidadian, but all living in Grenada. And I came back completely inspired. I wanted to make sure I enjoyed the experience to the full, but then had enough photographic material to go with my imagination. I pulled all the photos from all my friends, too."

When the paintings are complete, they'll adorn the restaurant's walls. "I'm going to invite all the ladies over," she says with a smile, "and we're going to have nice little reminisce."

Rebecca Thompson offers her art-instruction program to guests at Maca Bana. For more information, check out the Web site. I'll be writing about my Grenadian art experience for an upcoming issue of CT+L.

From Grenada, An Artist Paints the Caribbean

Living with the Dolphins

It's all mosaics these days, especially of you're Ashley Saunders, historian, builder, artist, Biminite and entrepreneur. Hey, sometimes you gotta multitask in the islands. He built this funky little spread in North Bimini's Alice Town from recycled materials - excess tile from construction projects, coral rock, and flotsam and jetsam. He's painstakingly assembled it shard by shard into The Dolphin House, an artistic home, free Bimini museum and quirky inn. Ashley lives downstairs and rents the two room second story (pictured here). When he's not practicing his craft, he's hunting for Bimini history, which sometimes doubles as his next mosaic.

(242) 347-3201; ashleysaunders2@yahoo.com

Living with the Dolphins