Caribbean Vacation: Discover the Sunshine Vitamin
At first, European merchants were not interested in having a vacation in the Caribbean. They came to the Caribbean searching for crops to take back to their homeland. They hauled rice, sugar cane, dasheen, cassava, mangoes, avocados, bananas, arrowroot and many other goods the local people harvested. They also used local medicines to treat beriberi, scurvy, and other common diseases.
The voyagers noticed that they felt happier when they visited the many picturesque Caribbean islands. For some that happy feeling went away when they came back home. Eventually, a few wise merchants guessed the exotic feeling came when they bared themselves to the sun. The people laughed at them for having such a foolish notion. But a curious merchant — his fleet larger than any other — invited them to tea. Later, the merchant came up with a brilliant plan.
He thought: “What if I can bring the Caribbean sunlight back to Europe?”
He set his plan in motion — wanting to fill large barrels with sunlight and shipping them back to Europe. Of course, nature did not join in. The defeated merchant ditched his plan but remained committed to his idea.
A few months had passed. Suddenly, the merchant’s ambition for profit gushed like a tidal wave moving toward the shore. He put in cedarwood sleeping bunks on his ships and charged the excited passengers a small fee, thus beginning the first voyage. Hundreds of Europeans crossed the Atlantic sailing into the Caribbean’s sunlight.
Sunlight and mystique: a safe and memorable vacation experience.
Of course, it is not a true story. But it does allow me, a native son of the Caribbean, to make my point: You too can enjoy the many benefits that come with vacationing in the Caribbean.
Here’s your opportunity to discover the sunshine vitamin scientists have recently discovered.