MOTORING

PADI certification during your vacation here, for an additional cost.

Among the other included activities are knee-boarding and water-skiing, glass-bottom boat trips and snorkelling excursions. Other activities include basketball, croquet and shuffleboard, and there’s also a fitness centre and volleyball courts.

The resort puts on a range of nightly entertainment – reggae parties, Burlesque nights and the like – so you can “go out” every night, if you like, without ever leaving the property.

Post show time is generally spent at the piano bar or chilling around a fire pit overlooking the beach.

There are numerous options for accommodation. Even the basic rooms are lovely with rainfall showers, fourposter beds and marble bathrooms. Spend a bit more and you get lots more space, oceanfront views, outdoor soaking tubs and extra luxuries like butler service.

With seven restaurants and five bars spread across the property, and room service from 7am-10pm, there’s plenty variety. The Bayside Restaurant is the main buffet restaurant, with a wide selection of fresh salads, grilled meats and seafood for breakfast and lunch (it turns into a French brasserie-affair for dinner, with white linen service).

Cucina Romana is a romantic Italian restaurant fronting the beach. And when you just want a good old burger, excellent jerk chicken or some wings, there’s the casual Beach Bistro, with a dine-in bar and several tables perched right over the beach.

The pool bars are popular during the day, and there’s a beachfront bar for evenings. For a change you can take the resort’s shuttle to Beaches – another resort owned by Sandals. Among its dining options is the impressive excellent sushi spot, Soy.

Island Routes Caribbean Adventures is the in-house sightseeing company. We splashed out on their catamaran excursion and it was an excellent choice. It’s a fun way to spend the afternoon and see a lot of the island without enduring the winding roads, traffic jams (and the often inane chatter of fellow tourists on the bus). Swim, snorkel, eat lunch and quaff a rum punch as you watch or join in with the crazy cliff jumpers at Rick’s Café.

You may be worrying about booking with all the upheavals going on, but Sandals have come up with the deal which gives you protection under the Package Travel Regulations (PTR) when you book a flight inclusive package with the UK tour operator Unique Caribbean Holidays via the Sandals call centre. Double check you’re booking a package protected by ATOL and ABTA. Under this deal the price is guaranteed and you pay just £175 pp deposit with the final balance due 71-days before the departure.

FIVE OF THE BEST NEW CARS

FOR TOWING A CARAVAN

AS lockdown measures continue to ease in Scotland and people are beginning to be able to travel further afield again, it’s likely that more drivers will be looking to tow.

Whether it’s a caravan, boat or trailer – or anything else in-between – having the right car for the job is essential when it comes to towing.

Here, we’ve taken into account the maximum braked trailer towing capacity. However, always check both the kerbweight of the car you’re using to tow with, as well as the weight of the caravan. For safe towing, it’s usually recommended to only pull a caravan which weighs 85% of the tow car’s total kerbweight. Be extremely careful if towing a caravan which exceeds this 85% rule.

We’ve been through the latest models, to see which cars are the very best for towing. Let’s take a look...

1. VOLVO XC40 D4

Volvo’s stylish XC40 won the

Towcar of the Year award for 2020, so it’s only fitting that it kicks this list off. Capable of towing up to 2,100kg of braked trailer, the XC40 is just as practical as it is good-looking.

An optional retractable towbar means you don’t need to disturb the car’s clean lines when you’re not hauling, while the interior’s solid fit and finish should mean it’s up to the task for any adventure. It isn’t overly large either, which means that when not towing, it’s relatively easy to park and position.

2. VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG

The Volkswagen Touareg is a big, luxurious, high-riding SUV, which is capable of wolfing up hundreds of miles without a moment’s hesitation. It also – handily enough for this list – is excellent at towing.

It’s able to tow up to 3,500kg of braked trailer, and a silky-smooth turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine makes it a refined way of getting about.

3. JAGUAR I-PACE

If you’re looking to tow, then an electric vehicle might not immediately spring to mind. However, Jaguar’s I-Pace was designed to be capable of towing from the off, putting it in line with the firm’s go-anywhere mentality.

As a result, it’ll tow up to 750kg. We’ll admit that it’s certainly on the lighter end of the scale, but it’s still admirable from an EV.

4. SKODA KODIAQ

The Kodiaq is an excellent, wellvalued choice in the seven-seater segment. Not only is it immensely practical but it’s also well priced, packing plenty of on-board technology and a vast suite of standard equipment.

Plus, a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine helps the Kodiaq to deliver a braked towing capacity of 2,000kg. Despite this load-lugging ability, the Kodiaq CO2 emissions are impressively low – just 151g/km.

5. LAND ROVER DISCOVERY

The Land Rover Discovery is a mammoth of the road, providing a luxurious, high-end driving experience for all on board. It’s also packed with off-road technology and a variety of features which help it to keep going even when things get tough.

It’s impressive when it comes to towing too, thanks to a braked trailer rating of up to 3,500kg – which means it’s got more than enough pulling power for most occasions.

JACK EVANS