Get Active
From zip-wire thrills and spills in the tropical rainforest to wreck diving, swimming with turtles and abseiling down a waterfall, you will find adventures galore all over the Caribbean
Jump in, the water’s lovely! The Caribbean’s warm seas are an open invitation to take the plunge, whether that be a gentle snorkel over a beautiful reef teeming with fish, or swimming alongside graceful turtles.
Glide serenely on a stand-up paddleboard in Saint-martin and Tobago, paddle a kayak in Belize and St Maarten, or ramp it up and go kitesurfing in St. Vincent & The Grenadines. You will find instructors close by on all islands to set you on the right course.
…on the water
Learn to sail like a professional at the Bodyholiday, Saint Lucia, sailing high-speed performance yachts. Then put your new skills to the test during an exhilarating weekly regatta. Held in partnership with neighbouring
Martinique, you’ll be racing in yachts from an impressive fleet, featuring vessels made by world leaders G-force.
Sailors flock from all over the world to take part in the regattas and activities during the Sailing Weeks of Barbados (January), the British Virgin Islands and Antigua (both spring time). Or why not charter a yacht – with or without skipper – and cruise around these islands’ calm seas yourself?
The less active may prefer a glassbottom boat ride, which is available on most islands, including Anguilla.
…under the water
With some of the world’s top reefs, corals and dive sites surrounding the islands, the Caribbean is a magnet for divers and snorkellers. Choose from The Bahamas, Belize, St. Eustatius, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent & The Grenadines and the Cayman Islands, which has a staggering 365 dive sites alone.
The water surrounding the entire island of St. Eustatius is a protected marine park, established in 1998 to ensure the pristine nature of the fragile reefs and ecosystem. The reefs and sealife are abundant and the reefs are well preserved, making diving a memorable experience for all levels of divers. Natural reefs, walls, mini-walls, wrecks, ledges, drop-offs, volcanic fissures, pinnacles all await offshore. Come face-to-face with sharks, rays and manatees on Belize’s Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the longest reef in the western hemisphere. The Great Blue Hole is one of the most spectacular (you can take a helicopter ride over it too). Montserrat’s most spectacular sites include Little Redonda, the Pinnacles and a 19thcentury schooner wreck at Yellow Hole.
Grenada’s 50 dive sites, 20 reefs and 15 wrecks are brimming with sea fans, sea horses, angelfish, barracuda and sharks. New wreck Persiaii joins the Caribbean’s largest wreck, Biancac. A second Dive Festival takes place in October, with beginners’ lessons and free beach dives.
Curaçao’s Dive Festival in the spring attracts serious divers to its workshops, including underwater digital photography. Over in Saint Lucia, divers will spot moray eels and scorpion fish on Petit Trou and pillar coral and turtles on Turtle Reef.
Admire Dominica’s geothermal hot springs and bubbling mud pools in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Morne Trois Pitons National Park, which includes Boiling Lake, the second largest lake of its kind in the world.
…on dry land
Enjoy horse-riding in Nevis and Jamaica. A Surf & Turf experience at Half Moon, Montego Bay, Jamaica, includes a guided trek and a swim alongside your horse (over-10s only).
The Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica offer some of the region’s top golf courses, but you’ll also find challenging fairways and greens on Tobago, Martinique (Golf de la Martinique), Puerto Rico (Dorado Beach), Anguilla, Haiti (nine-hole Petionville Club), and Mullet Bay Golf Club on St. Maarten.
Adventures of a tourist
Get a bird’s-eye view of the rainforest on lofty zip-lines in Belize, Haiti, Jamaica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Antigua and St. Kitts, enjoy breathtaking views of Grand Cayman’s coral reefs from a helicopter flown by a former stunt pilot or ramp up the action further by taking an exhilarating tubing adventure in Belize’s Cayo District.
Guests staying at Bodyholiday and Rendezvous, Saint Lucia, will be tested to their limits with the resort’s new adventure activities, which include rock climbing up Signal Peak, abseiling 66ft down the Errand Waterfall, extreme mountain biking, high-performance sailing, and hiking up the Pitons.
Walk on the wild side
With its glorious abundance of exotic flora and fauna, the Caribbean is the perfect place to go wild. Swim with pigs in the Exuma islands and feed iguanas at Allan’s Cay, both in The Bahamas, or swim with dolphins in the British Virgin Islands, Cuba, St. Kitts, Jamaica and Haiti. Go turtle-watching in Tobago with guides from SOS (Save our Sea Turtles) – and then adopt one through the charity afterwards. A turtle-monitoring activity is also offered by the Four Seasons hotel in Nevis.
Bird-watching is a popular activity in Belize and Guyana, with 900 species of our feathered friends waiting to be spotted in Guyana alone. They include the toco toucan, scarlet macaw, harpy eagle and blood-coloured woodpecker. Belize is also home to the world’s first jaguar reserve, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, and a sanctuary for howler monkeys.
Look out for scarlet ibis on Trinidad and Tobago. Known locally as ‘flamingo,’ they can be found in the Caroni Bird Sanctuary in the Caroni Swamp, an area set aside by the government for the protection of these colourful birds.
And don’t miss a visit to the Asa Right Nature Reserve, located among mountains deep in Trinidad’s rainforest.
It is known for its wonderful diversity of animal and plant species. For butterfly lovers, many rare and exotic types can be found, flitting and flutttering all around, at the Butterfly Farm on Saint-martin. •
Grenada’s 50 dive sites, 20 reefs and 15 wrecks are brimming with sea fans, sea horses, angelfish, barracuda and sharks