Between the swimming, snorkeling, boating, ziplining and climbing, are your feet ever on solid ground in the Caribbean? From the isles of the West Indies to the eastern shores of the Yucatan, it’s nonstop action and mind-boggling variety for apres-meeting fun.
And though the Caribbean is loved for its spectacular shorelines, there is plenty of excitement away from the sand.
“Lots of groups in the Bahamas kayak, snorkel and take jeep tours together,” says Jean Gibson, manager of communications for the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. “They dive with sharks and swim with dolphins. One of the most popular activities is swimming with pigs.” More on that later…
Boating World
Groups get the feel and experience of a real race at sea when they go against the waves—and each other—during a 12 Metre Regatta (www.12meter.com) aboard the America’s Cup winner Stars & Stripes and other famed sailing yachts in St. Maarten. Following 20 minutes of training, up to 54 can participate (18 per boat) as guests become part of the crew with allocated positions for the 41-minute race, which takes place two miles off Great Bay.
“It is one of the most exhilarating experiences…on beautiful turquoise waters with constant brisk trade winds,” says Sue Buyskes, tour coordinator for St. Maarten 12 Metre Enterprises. “Crewing the boat leads to great teamwork, and the best team wins.”
Groups meeting in Aruba can build that team camaraderie as well by rowing a two- to three-hour canoe course created by Aruba Canoe (www.bodyplanetaruba.com), which also offers kayaking, paddle classes and paddle tours.
Not to be outdone, an on-site Adventure Center at Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort on St. Thomas, USVI, offers night kayaking, with group photos taken by drone.
UNDERWATER WONDERS
When night falls, the water lights up in Puerto Rico, one of the few places in the world boasting bioluminescent bays, where microscopic plankton create a brilliant neon light show for swimmers and paddlers. Check it out with Kayaking Puerto Rico (www.kayakingpuertorico.com/pages/biobay.html).
But you’ll need daylight, and perhaps a quick dive or snorkel lesson, to fully appreciate the underwater museum at AquaWorld Cancun (www.aquaworld.com.mx/en), whose 470 life-size concrete statues were constructed to create an artificial reef. AquaWorld also offers snorkel and fishing tours as well as day trips around Cancun and to Cozumel and the Riviera Maya.
“Convention groups can have private experiences,” notes Jenny Elliott, AquaWorld’s e-commerce manager. “We can cater to as many as 120 people.”
Zipping Along
Ziplines and other treetop courses have become a staple of adventure parks, and those in the Caribbean are no exception. At St. Maarten’s Loterie Farm (www.loteriefarm.net), once a 19th century dairy farm and now a nature reserve, visitors soar 35 feet off the ground between 200-year-old mango and mahogany trees via ropes, cables and suspended bridges. But for those attached to terra firma, Loterie also offers guided hikes, on-site dining and even lounging by the pool.
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“We can handle groups of up to several hundred,” says Loterie COO Pierre Lenoci. “For groups of around 30, I would recommend a couple of cabanas by the pool as a base.”
With miles of zipline stretching across Puerto Rico’s central mountain range, you won’t know whether to concentrate on the speed or the view at Toro Verde Ecological Adventure Park (www.toroverdepr.com), where visitors approach speeds of 60 mph on La Bestia, touted as one of the world’s longest single-run ziplines. Other hair-raising options include Toro Salvaje, which includes crossing suspension bridges and rappelling 230 feet to the rain forest below.
Ziplining and animal sightings combine at Monkey Jungle (www.monkeyjungledr.com), set against the El Choco hillside near Puerto Plata on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, where zip adventures are followed by interactions with rescued capuchin monkeys.
Then try to choose between ziplining, snorkeling, bicycle tours, kayaking or swimming with dolphins; they’re all available at Garrafon Natural Reef Park (www.garrafon.com) on Isla Mujeres, a 30-minute boat ride from the hotel zone in Cancun.
Creatures of the Deep
The Caribbean has its own version of the petting zoo, but instead of a barnyard, you’re in the ocean. Surrounded by sharks. That’s just one option off the coast of Cancun, where EcoColors Tours (www.ecotravelmexico.com) heads to the open sea for swimming and interacting with whale sharks. But not to worry, these are plankton eaters who feed in the waters surrounding Isla Mujeres, Contoy and Holbox from mid-May to mid-September.
“The experience is amazing; there’s nothing better than being in touch with nature that way,” says the company’s director of e-commerce and social media, Brenda Dugay.
Meanwhile, stingrays have their own city on Grand Cayman (www.caymanislands.ky); that is, the water surrounding the Stingray City sandbar, where dozens of these graceful swimmers congregate in three feet of water, gliding past divers and waders, hoping for a treat from fishing boats.
Treats may have had something to do with a proliferation of pigs on the beaches of Big Major Cay in the Exumas, part of the Bahamas archipelago. Possibly left behind by a shipwreck, this porcine colony is now permanent, with pigs and piglets swimming out to visiting boats for food (a freshwater pond on the island supplies drinking water). The paddling porkers are a big hit with visitors, and tour boats have queued up to include them on their itineraries, among them Exuma Water Sports (www.exumawatersports.com), whose “pig” tour also includes snorkeling and iguana interaction.
Step by Step
One “must” adventure in the Mexican Caribbean is an excursion to the past via the many Mayan archaeological sites of the Yucatan. Among them is Coba, home to Nohoch Mul, the tallest pyramid on the peninsula at 140 feet and 120 steps.
“The best way to climb it is as the ancient Maya did—on a diagonal and sideways, not facing the pyramid,” says Diana Rocha, group executive for AllTourNative (www.alltournative.com), which leads two different expeditions to Coba as well as programs that include the Tulum and Ek Balam archaeological sites and the mysterious Cenote Maya, a natural pool surrounded by dramatic rock formations.
LISA SIMUNDSON is a frequent contributor to Meetings Focus.
