The Explora Journal

Slip beneath the surface almost anywhere in the Caribbean and the same rule holds: the water rewards those who look closely. Off five islands in particular, it rewards them more than most.

Ask most people what lives at the bottom of the ocean, and the picture stops at darkness and cold. Descend roughly 200 metres below the hull of your Explora Journeys Home at Sea, roughly 200 metres and there's more to it than that.

From Arctic fjords veiled in mist to warm Caribbean bays where mothers nurse their calves, the ocean's greatest travellers reveal themselves differently depending on where and when, you look.

The best beaches in the Caribbean stretch across a dozen islands and several kinds of shoreline: the calm turquoise shallows of Grace Bay, the blush-pink sand of Pink Sands Beach, the volcanic shores of Anse Chastanet.

This Iceland travel guide starts with the five that count most: pack for four seasons in one day, time the visit to the right season, get the small practicalities right, embrace the island's geothermal bathing culture, and plan a day ashore around its most recognisable landscapes.

Bear watching in Alaska draws wildlife travellers from across the world, and for good reason: few places on Earth offer a comparable concentration of brown bears living, fishing and raising cubs within reach of open water.

Norway’s famous fjords are best experienced from the water rather than the road, where the true height of a cliff or the drop of a waterfall becomes clear.

Alaska’s Inside Passage is a majestic, sheltered network of channels, fjords and forested islands running along the southeastern edge of Alaska, from the northern reaches of Washington state to Skagway.