These dramatically different islands, each with unique geography and culture, all exist in the Americas and are within five hours of some part of the U.S. mainland.

“You’ll see little packages, offerings to the Hawaiian gods, all along the trail,” said a Kauai local. “The historians here, the ones keeping the Hawaiian culture alive, say that our ancestors never wrapped stones or food in leaves in this way, but somehow it caught on, and now they’re there, like it or not, and most tourists do like it.” I was on the famed, almost impossibly steep Napali Trail on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where for even the fittest, each mile takes an hour to walk. The sky and the sea shone the same hue of turquoise.
 
“It’s called the K Club, and it’s the resort where Princess Diana came to hide,” a Barbuda local told me about the smaller of the two islands making up the Caribbean nation of Antigua & Barbuda. “It’s now closed. The owners are Italians, but no one knows when they’re coming back to fix it up. Maybe, never.” He pointed at a tatty fence made of reeds and some forlorn buildings behind it. “Technically, there’s no such thing as ownership of land in Barbuda, that is, if you’re from the island. You can build anywhere and claim it as your own. Maybe someone will do that there?”

“In terms of costume, only the women today keep the Kuna traditions alive,” said Luis Burgos, owner of the rough-and-ready Hotel San Blas on the island of Nalunega, off the northeast coast of Panama. In Spanish, he continued, “the design on their blouses is called a mola [a style of appliqué].” The women also wear gold nose rings as a sign that they are married. The people of the 400 or so islands that make up the San Blas Islands, also known as La Comarca de San Blas, fought bitter wars with the Panamanian nation in the 1920s and 30s and were granted full autonomy in 1953.

Kauai’s Wild Appeal

In the case of Kauai, the island is part of Hawaii and therefore part of the United States. It also is the only one of the main Hawaiian Islands that is not overrun with mongoose, which were introduced to the islands in an attempt to banish the also non-indigenous rat. Due to the lack of this predator, the animal that sits on top of the Kauai food chain is the barnyard rooster, which in its feral state here displays bright colors, notably on its deep-green comb. You’ll see them everywhere.

Nearly everything feels wild on Kauai. Kayaking up the Hule’ia River, in the southeast of the island, not far from the main airport in Lihue, paddlers soon pass a landscape that was suitably rugged enough for the filmmakers of Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The wind blows so hard up this river that this is the only direction it is possible to kayak (a motor boat is needed to take people back downstream). Based in the town of Popoi Beach (where several resorts reside, including the 600-room Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa—808/742 1234; www.kauai.hyatt.com), Outfitters Kauai (888/742-9887; www.outfitterskauai.com) offer trips along it. Its half-day Hidden Valley Falls excursion conducts guests along the river, before having them hike through a primeval forest, board a tractor-pulled, open-sided trailer, slide down a zipline and swing out over and drop into a waterfall-fed pool, all in the company, according to legend, of the island’s mythical Menehune ancestors, who are said to inhabit the region’s nooks and crannies.

Hawaii Movie Tours (800/628-8432; www.hawaiimovietour.com) supervises another popular tour, one that does not demand athleticism. With a landscape that at times resembles Fiji, at other times the moon, the island is a major scene-stealer in Hollywood movies, and the tour takes film buffs to many instantly recognizable locales.

Two very wild spots are well worth the time it takes to get to them. The first is the Waimea Canyon. It is 15 miles long, more than a mile wide, 3,500 feet deep and the largest gash in the Pacific, a truly wonderful sight that in my estimation rivals Arizona’s Grand Canyon. I was there just after a drizzle (a common occurrence at the end of the road, but not at its start or along most of its length), and the colors—mauves, purples, reds, yellows and greens—stretched horizontally across the canyon’s sides. As you drive up the narrow Waimea road, and if you do so on a clear day, make sure to look left to see if the private island of Niihau appears out to sea. Its owners, the Robinson family, and the 150 or so other inhabitants jealously guard what is considered the last outpost of true Hawaiian language and customs. The end of the road overlooks the steep, verdant, intertwining mountains of the Napali Trail, which can only be reached (do not try to walk it) by driving right the way around the island, some 150 miles. When green mountain and turquoise sea peep through gray cloud the view is staggering. Farther along, a hiking trail leads through the seldom-visited Alakai Swamp, home to Hawaii’s rarest bird species, and to Mount Wai’ale’ale, which often wins the accolade as the World’s Wettest Spot.

Stop off at Secret Beach, on the north side of the island, on the way to the Napali Trail. It is a little difficult to find, hence the name, and is finally arrived at by walking along a narrow, stony path and up and over some boulders. The reward is worth the trial, and you probably will have it to yourself (see photo). It’s hard not to feel some envy when looking at the scene’s sole house. Who has this good fortune?
 
The road continues west through the relaxed town of Hanalei, where thin canals separate taro fields and make for a photographer’s dream. The end of the road is the 11-mile Napali Trail. My advice is to walk the first 2.5 miles, and bring strong-soled shoes. Go in a small group and give yourself sufficient time to get there and back. It is no exaggeration to state that these five miles will take five hours to walk, plus you will want to stay on gorgeous Hanakapiai Beach for an hour, too. Do not swim here. As I sat on a ridge of sand formed by the river that hurtles down from the Waimea Canyon’s edge, I could feel the tug of the sea, which was all the indication I needed not to chance the sea itself.

Barbuda: Flat in Topography, Not in Appeal

Barbuda is a flat island, unlike Kauai, and made from coral. It is an attractive, slow-moving place, with little that could be accused of showing off. The people are soft-spoken, Codrington, the main town (actually, the only town), does not have a center to boast of and while Barbuda can see its sister island Antigua on a clear day, Antigua cannot see it. The only thing the island can shout about are beautiful beaches and the world’s largest nesting area of Magnificent frigatebirds, the adult males of which have large red pouches beneath their chins. One popular trip is to go out to their habitat close to Goat Island by speedboat, an experienced captain needed to negotiate the shallow lagoon that separates it from Codrington’s small harbor.
 
Roads here soon peter out to sand, the principal one leading to a series of caves that were the homes of the island’s original inhabitants, the Arawak indians. Climbing into the caves needs some care due to the jagged edges of the coral hills (although the week before I was there, a wheelchair-bound visitor had made it up and into the caves, according to Calvin, my guide). Amid the caves is a hidden garden of cacti. The beach there is called Two Feet Beach, as that is how deep it is for many hundreds of feet out into the Atlantic Ocean (many ships have floundered on these shallows), while around the corner is Rubbish Bay, where area winds blow to shore the ocean’s driftwood and other refuse. Evidence of an Arawak settlement is close by.

Resorts in Barbuda tend to be type from which guests rarely feel like departing from. Kipping in hammocks and swimming in pools are interrupted only by meals. Try the local specialty, Spiny lobster, which on my plate was spiced and cut into small squares. By that stage, anyway, after the serious relaxation of the morning, I would have had little strength of my own to have prepared it with anything like the same degree of care. I was at the 21-room Beach House (646/495-1668; www.caribbeanclubs.net/thebeachhouse), to the south of the island. This resort has a clean, modern look, with a large lobby of white sofas and large windows that are usually open and lead to a pool of the same size. Surrounding it are billowing white curtains that keep the sun off guests sipping drinks and resting in cabanas (see photo above).

The sandy road leading to the Beach House soon meets another sandy road that in one direction leads to Codrington, in the other to the K Club. You would not be forgiven to thinking you had the island all to yourself at this point, which makes the island extremely attractive to honeymooners, or paparazzi-harassed princesses. I took the trip down to the abandoned K Club, not to dwell in the shadow of celebrity but to try and find the island’s only endemic species of bird, the Barbuda warbler. After 30 minutes tip-toeing my way around scrub and along the side of seasonal pools, I spotted this small yellow bird, one of the rarest in the world if only because of its extremely limited range.

And how can you not love a place where checking into the airport takes one minute and the waiting room consists of two benches beneath an acacia tree? I knew when to say goodbye to the locals when I heard my small plane buzzing into view and preparing to land. The obligatory safety protocol takes longer than all parts of the checking-in and boarding process.

Panama’s Autonomous Island Chain

The San Blas Islands, like Barbuda and Kauai, take some effort to reach. There are almost 400 to chose from, although only 20 or so are inhabited. The locals, the Kuna indians, appear to be good stewards of the ecology of the reef and uninhabited islands, but a walk around the populated places soon show collections of garbage, some of it floating in the Caribbean Sea. Mostly, however, those seeking the type of island experience normally hinted to only in tourism brochures will not be disappointed.

Access is from Panama’s second airport, Albrook. The flight over Panama’s rainforest and famous canal takes 40 to 90 minutes, depending on which island you are heading to. The chain hugs the mainland coast of Panama all the way to the beginning of the country of Colombia. I flew to the small settlement of El Porvenir, which translated into English means The Future. There, a small boat transferred me across all of 30 feet of water to the island of Nalunega, which is dominated by the ramshackle Hotel San Blas.

Things are very relaxed here. After two days, I decided I wanted to stay a third. When I purchased my air ticket in Panama City I was told categorically that there were no seats available coming home on that third day. On the San Blas Islands, seemingly, such obstacles are treated with disdain and summarily dismissed. Someone at the hotel took my ticket, waved a hand in my direction as if to sweep away all concerns and problems and returned an hour later with a new one, leaving one day later.
 
Barbuda might have some serious competition from the San Blas Islands in regard to which place has the least to do and is proud of that fact. Hammocks feature significantly, and as I gently rocked one morning I saw my hosts land lunch, a large and delicious fish. Twice a day I boarded a small motorized boat and skipped over the calm turquoise water, flying fish skimming out from beneath the boat and dolphins frolicking out in front. Of the four islands I visited, Pelican Island (see above) was the one that in my mind best satisfied my idea of Paradise. Also, it has present no biting insects, as were experienced on at least one island. The game plan is much the same for any of the uninhabited islands. A $1 fee is paid to that island’s janitor, who also has a display of molas on sale. After perusing these, visitors then walk around (that takes all of five minutes) before sunbathing or snorkeling in the pristine reef. The teeming fish are of many colors, as is the coral.

Back at the hotel, there is more hammock time, followed by dinner and conversation. The island’s electricity turned off right on the stroke of nine, at which time kerosene lamps are lit and the conversation gets even quieter.

For a more upscale hotel, choose between Sapibenega (011-507-215-1406; www.sapibenega.com) or Yandup (www.yandupisland.com; no phone*), near the village of Playa Chicón. Both are on islands of that also bear the hotel’s name.

* Note: There are few phones on the San Blas Islands, and cell phones might not get coverage here, so make sure tour air tickets and hotel accommodations are set in stone before coming here.