Traveling in Style

After reading Betty Fussell’s “The Survival Isles” (Traveling in Style magazine, Oct. 16), I have this observation to make: Anyone who can even think about chocolate cake while in paradise shouldn’t even be allowed to travel, let alone write about it!

My husband and I consider our 1992 trip to the Galapagos Islands one of the highlights of our very adventurous lives! The elegance of black iguanas (Ugly? We found them magnificent!) against a white coral beach, the awesome wing line of diving boobies, the innocence of the sea lion pups, a splash of color from a Sally Lightfoot against a lava rock, the deliberate stance and pink glow of flamingos, the solitary but curious penguins . . . we could go on and on. And the mangrove swamps . . . it just don’t get any better. I grieve for Ms. Fussell if she missed the roughly textured beauty of it all.

As for the boat she was on, let me say that here, as just about everywhere, you get what you pay for. After much research, we chose the Abercrombie & Kent trimaran, Lammerlaw, where we had only 12 passengers, large though Spartan cabins, an absolutely first-rate naturalist guide and a great cook!

GAY DURWARD

Rancho Palos Verdes

Oh, come on now! Kathleen Doheny tells us to “elevate your feet, if possible, to minimize swelling,” while flying (“Beat Feet”). She obviously a) never flies, b) always flies first class, or c) is very, very, very short! There is absolutely no space in economy class to elevate anything--sometimes, I think, not even a lung to breathe! Get real!

RICHARD J. WARREN

Van Nuys

In the year and a half since Chris Blackwell took over the government lease on Firefly and renovated Goldeneye and Good Hope Villa, there have been numerous articles on the historic period in Jamaica when Noel Coward, Ian Fleming, Errol Flynn and other dashing celebrities were spending a lot of time there (“Firefly and Goldeneye”). These articles have all failed to include Blue Harbour.

Blue Harbour, a seven-acre beach estate with three villas, was Coward’s first Jamaica home and where he and many of his famous guests spent much of their time. Blue Harbour was the center for socializing, parties and beach life and the place to paint and sculpt. My family purchased Blue Harbour in 1976 and have kept it open ever since. Many of Coward’s books, paintings, furniture and personal belongings are all here. We operate as a guest accommodation approved by the Jamaica Tourist Board and rent the three villas individually or the entire estate, which sleeps up to 14 people.

MICHELE SCOTT

Questa, N.M.

Traveling in Style was a delight from cover to cover! I particularly relished Gail Levin’s article on Edward Hopper (“Nighthawks and Brownstones”), one of my favorite artists. It is both fascinating and instructive to compare Hopper’s 1932 rooftop painting with the 1994 photograph. Aside from the obvious loss of the view to towering skyscrapers, new structures have replaced old ones; the large apartment building has a few window coolers--unheard of in 1932--plus an entire wall of new windows; and, most significantly, glass skylights are now protected with steel mesh and bars. Even without air-conditioning the world was a far better place 62 years ago!

DR. MARVIN H. LEAF

Santa Monica