For meeting-goers in the Caribbean, the beach has traditionally been a mandatory amenity rivaling guest speakers and poolside get-togethers. But new activities in the area have gotten so plentiful some groups are skipping the famous green-blue waters.
“You can be sunbathing in the morning on the beach at your resort and within a half-hour, be in a tropical rain forest, taking a dip in a cool river,” Pablo Cruz, forest supervisor at El Yunque National Forest told MeetingsFocus South.
Hotels are also adding to the allure of the area such as the Aloft set to open next spring in Puerto Rico. Also opening then is the 300-room Marriott Courtyard Convention District Hotel.
Examples of activities outside the beach:
- In Jamaica, there are a number of off-road adventures via dune buggies or riding ATV vehicles across farmlands.
- In Costa Rica, horseback tours riders can take in a huge variety of wildlife that ranges from monkeys swinging through jungle trees to migrating whales off the waters of the island of St. John.
- In the Dominican Republic, Pico Duarte at more than 10,000 feet is the tallest mountain in the Caribbean but a variety of hiking trails and often gently sloped other trails have evolved as alternatives for the less ambitious.
- In Aruba, the pre-Columbian Arawak Indians left their footprints where visitors can see their traces while visiting some of the most extensive cave systems in the Caribbean.
By David Wilkening
