LEAMINGTON, Ont.– The town features restaurants advertising the "best tacos in town," "two for one Coronas" and "real Mexican food."

Leamington may be less than four hours' drive from Toronto, but any similarity to the rest of rural Ontario is coincidental at best. Heading south next morning aboard the M.V. Jiimaan, we pass a string of islands cloaked in mist and mystery. A lush green island hovers dead ahead like a mirage over Lake Erie.

Landfall in the Caribbean. Canada's Caribbean.

Dockside, a trellis trailing tangerine-coloured blooms guards the Pelee Island Heritage Centre. A stable of bicycles stands outside a bike livery. And a sky-blue school bus beckons, piloted by tour guide Mo Hape.

"We're farther south than half the United States," bellows Hape from the front of the bus. The bus hits a pothole just before we pull into a green canyon of foliage.

"Pelee is a unique microclimate. That's a Kentucky coffee tree. That's Carolinian forest. That's eastern red cedar, chinquapin oak. And prickly pear cactus.

"Cactus in Canada," he adds with a chuckle.

Hape is a Windsor ex-pat who has embraced the island lifestyle. "I don't like life up there," he says with a dismissive wave toward mainland Canada. "Too fast for me." His clock is set to island time. The island's 200 year-round residents share his sentiments. "I get to the mainland and I have to remember not to wave to people," says Janice Hooper, manager of Dick's Marina.

Two hundred-plus hectares of grapevines criss-cross the island, the reason for both its chief claim to fame and the next stop on our island tour: Pelee Island Winery. Sunday afternoon is the best time to visit. The winery hosts a barbecue with live music, popular vintages and a party atmosphere worthy of a Bahamian jump-up. The winery produces 30 wines from 17 kinds of grapes.

"The lake reaches 30 degrees in the summer – creating a hot-water-bottle effect," says the winery's Niki Ouellette. After the tour and the requisite tasting, we sit at a picnic table in the shade of a great umbrella.

"You know what?" Ouellette says between bites of barbecued chicken. "I get off the ferry when I come back to the island and I actually feel the tension leave my shoulders. That's what this place is about."

It's also about the beaches. One morning at dawn we trudge through dense vegetation worthy of a Costa Rican rainforest to a beach sheltered by towering trees, guarded on the north by a lighthouse. The water is bathtub warm. One of the island's chief appeals is the variety and number of beaches.

"East beach is great," says Jim Ashman from the Peel Island Heritage Centre. "No bugs."

We spend a whole day basking on the sand, ending up on the patio of the Peel Island Hotel sipping a Riesling at day's end. On another day, we discover the Anchor and Wheel Inn, stopping for drinks before birding at Lake Henry. Inside, fishnets dangle from bare wooden ceiling supports, with stuffed puffer fish and shark models, life buoys and conch shells in the nets. In one corner is a "Conch Republic" flag. In another is a Jamaican flag.

On a patio festooned with tables and thatched umbrellas, the sun beats down on the old wood. The bar advertises Parrot Juice, Daiquiris and Pina Coladas. Reggae streams from a pair of speakers. We may be less than 500 kilometres from downtown Toronto but in our heads we are cavorting in the Caribbean.

For information on winery tours and special events see www.peleeisland.com or call 1-519-724-2469

For details on other island attractions and accommodation, see www.visitwindsor.com