Explore Nature’s Hidden Secrets, Caribbean Style

Tourists are moving beyond the charm of sun, sand and sea, and the lure of lazy days spent with a pina colada and a good book. Certainly, the enchantment of coconut trees swaying gently in the sweet island breeze has not lost its appeal.

However, a more zealous tourist is emerging. One who seeks out the more subtle treasures of the Caribbean and is rewarded by a mélange of sights, sounds and vivid experience – wholly fascinating and thoroughly educational.

The islands have long promoted a deeper exploration into is culture and the less obvious beauty to be found further inland by the diligent few through agencies such as the Insider’s Jamaica and Trinidad Carnival.

Such promotion has paid off as more and more foreigners succumb to the esoteric delights each island offers through a cornucopia of tours, excursions, landmarks and adventures. These seasoned travelers boast of becoming “Caribbean-ized” as they forge friendships with each other, the locals, and even the animals, as in the case of Dean and JoJo the dolphin in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Dean, a California native and certified diver, met JoJo, a wild dolphin, during an ocean swim in the pristine waters of Turks. The dolphin guided him through countless underwater vistas, leading him to discover things he had never seen in all his life years of professional diving. They formed an enduring friendship, which was the basis for Dean’s decision to reside permanently on the island.