Go beyond the beach on these CARIBBEAN islands
Think of the Caribbean, and a certain image comes to mind: an unblemished white-sand beach lapped by clear turquoise waters. But there are so many more reasons to vacation in the Caribbean. And some travelers, as my family likes to say, get itchy: to explore, to learn, to eat or to exercise.
Here are five island destinations with off-the-beach adventures.
1 Forest bathing in Puerto Rico
One of the Greater Antilles islands and a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico offers excellent coffee tours, rum tours and some of the Caribbean’s best salsa dancing. For our recent break from the beach, my 8-year-old son, Sam, and I chose to play in El Yunque National Rainforest, in a section of the Río Fajardo called Las Tinajas.
We joined the “Off the Beaten Path” trip, organized by Bespoke Lifestyle Management, an authorized tour operator recommended by a colleague. Bespoke picked us up in San Juan, and after an hourlong drive east and a muddy 20-minute hike, our group trudged to a riverbed with lush tropical greenery, rushing cold water and enormous boulders.
Río Fajardo offered the perfect outdoor adventure for two urban dwellers. We clambered up rock walls and over enormous tree roots to slide, jump and swing into the deep natural pools. Our three guides shared the best leaping-off points and strategies to safely ride the
currents.
IF YOU GO: Bespoke’s El Yunque Rainforest Off the Beaten Path Day Trip costs $85 for children ages 7 to 12 and $95 for those 13 years and older (children under 7 are prohibited). You don’t have to take a private tour; the National Forest System maintains hiking trails and welcome centers and offers a range of educational activities and nature talks. Access to these trails and recreational areas is free, although parking lots tend to fill up early.
2 Slave history on Martinique
With the European introduction of sugar cane, more than 5 million Africans are estimated to have been forcibly brought to the Caribbean to work the plantations. In recent years, new museums, memorials and other sites have cropped up in the region to help tourists and residents alike better understand that painful history.
Slave traders brought around 217,000 Africans to Martinique. On cliffs along the island’s southwestern coast, one can visit a haunting monument that overlooks Diamond Rock, a small and uninhabited island less than 2 miles offshore.
Titled Cap 110, the outdoor memorial at Anse Caffard consists of 15 white concrete sculptures, each more than 8 feet tall and weighing 4.5 tons, placed in a tight triangle. The memorial commemorates an 1830 disaster in which a slave ship crashed into rocks just offshore, drowning many Africans chained in the hold.
For more history of the island, you can visit La Savane des Esclaves, or Savannah of the Slaves, a 30-minute drive away. The powerful open-air museum covers 400 years of island history, starting around 1570.
IF YOU GO: Access to the Cap 110 slave memorial is free; tickets for La Savane des Esclaves range from 5 euros, or around $5, for children to 12 euros for adults, with special prices for students and citizens of the island.
3 Colonial history on Nevis
Nevis, in the Lesser Antilles, is a dualisland nation with neighboring St. Kitts. A British colony for more than 300 years, the island played a significant
role in U.S. history as the birthplace of founding father Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton was born in a two-story Georgian-style building overlooking Charlestown Harbor. Now called the Hamilton House, the building also houses the Museum of Nevis History and serves as the meeting place of the island’s legislative body.
Back in Charlestown, the Horatio Nelson Museum displays artifacts and memorabilia belonging to Admiral Nelson, the British naval hero, who met and married his wife, Fanny Nisbet, on Nevis.
After absorbing that history, you can hike to the forests in search of the island’s African green vervet monkeys. Farmers and gardeners may revile the monkeys for their voracious appetites, but many tourists are drawn to their heart-shaped faces and
soulful eyes.
IF YOU GO: Both the Horatio Nelson museum and the Hamilton House charge $5 for adults; children under 12 are admitted free. The Hamilton House price is expected to increase to $10.
4 The sweet and spicy draws of Grenada
Grenada, nicknamed “the Spice Isle,” has five chocolate factories, along with many cocoa farms, that will educate visitors on the various processes required to make chocolate and other cocoa products.
At Belmont Estate, a 300-year-old farm in the north of the island, travelers can tour the fields and cocoa processing facilities and visit the on-site restaurant, which serves organic vegetables grown on the farm as well as the local cocoa tea.
Kim Russell, co-owner of Crayfish Bay Organic Cocoa Estate, calls cocoa tea “an acid trip on chocolate.” (His version includes coconut milk and a drop of rum, to enhance the chocolate flavor.) He also offers tours of his farm and factory, but it’s much more informal. Visitors should plan, he said, to “eat a lot of chocolate and listen to me talk for two hours.”
St. George’s, Grenada’s picturesque capital known for its brightly painted buildings and scenic harbor, offers the chance to learn about the island’s chocolate history at the new Tri-Island Chocolate Factory Cafe, where visitors can make their own bars, and The House of Chocolate, a small museum, boutique and cafe.
IF YOU GO: The informal tours at Crayfish Bay are free; simply show up. The House of Chocolate museum is also free. The make-your-own bar at Tri-Island costs $20. Tours at Belmont cost $5. 5 Hiking on St. Lucia
St. Lucia is a mountainous, broad-valleyed island that the French and British fought over many times. Today, the tear-shaped country known for its iconic Pitons, the cone-shaped mountains on the southwest coast, is a member of the British commonwealth.
Gros Piton is the taller of the two Pitons, and hiking to its crest is popular on St. Lucia. The mountainous volcanic plugs lie in the Pitons Management Area, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the trailhead begins in Fond Gens Libre, or “Valley of the Free People,” as the remote geography provided a safe haven to those escaping slavery in the 18th century. Hiking with a certified guide is strongly recommended: Gros Piton is not an easy walk in the park.
For more leisurely hiking, Pigeon Island National Landmark, on St. Lucia’s northwest coast, offers dramatic views and military ruins from the 18th century. There’s also the Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens, 6 verdant acres with mineral baths and a waterfall that changes color depending on the mix of rainwater and volcanic minerals, and Sulphur Springs Park, billed as a “drive-in volcano,” since one can drive right up to a live volcano that belches steam redolent of rotten eggs. You can also hit the mud baths.
IF YOU GO: Fees to hike Gros Piton start at $50, but expect to pay more for various packages, especially if your hotel organizes your trip. For St. Lucia visitors, Pigeon Island costs $10 for adults and $3 for children ages 5 to 12. Entrance to the botanical gardens is $7 for adults and $3.50 for children; admission to the baths is extra. Tours of Sulphur Springs begin at $100.