Delta announces nonstop service to Trinidad & Tobago

Last year when I visited the West Indies for my monthly

adventure travel column

, I

wrote

that Tobago is one of those rare unspoiled Caribbean islands where nature, not mass tourism, still comes first. Its rainforest is the oldest legally protected preserve in the Western Hemisphere. Its beaches are quiet and ripe for swimming, snorkeling, and sipping a cold cocktail. In short, it's an eco-adventurer's paradise.

Now it's about to get a lot easier for Americans to get there. Delta recently

announced

new weekly nonstop service from Atlanta to Tobago's Crown Point International Airport. The airline will also add twice-weekly nonstop service from New York's JFK airport to Piarco International Airport in Trinidad. Both new routes will commence in December, just in time for the winter travel season.

There are some destinations where I might be concerned about an influx of tourists to a currently pristine area, but Tobago isn't one of them. Its tropical rainforest has been legally protected from human interference for more than 200 years. This is an island that takes its ecosystem seriously.

For more about the dual islands of Trinidad & Tobago, read up on the

devil birds of Trinidad

and

hidden waterfalls of Tobago

.