In the 17th and 18th century, St. John grew rich through its sugar plantations, which depended on slave labor. The arduous work including clear-cutting the steep hillsides, terracing the soil, then planting and harvesting the sugarcane. Annaberg was the last working plantation, and today the stone ruins make a very evocative visit—a must. To tour them, you take a short walk up a hill and wander around (about twenty to thirty minutes). You can see the well-preserved mill where the cane stalks were crushed with the aid of horses, and the giant vat where the juice was boiled. The hilltop location, near Trunk Bay, offers fabulous views of Tortola and neighboring islands. Sometimes you can even see sea turtles from the lookout.

A first-time must for visitors to Puerto Rico is taking a day trip to the tiny uninhabited island of Desecheo, which is a National Wildlife Refuge, exploring the coast by boat (while viewing Rincón’s lighthouse from a different angle) and going scuba diving. Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team to arrange a tour.

This submarine tour transports passengers to coral reefs and shipwrecks 150 feet below the surface.

This Pilates studio in Gustavia offers group Pilates, yoga and fitness classes, and will also send a personal trainer to your villa or yacht.

This Friday-night event that takes place in Anse-La-Raye and Gros Islet (the one in southern fishing village Anse-La-Raye is more congenial than the bigger one on Gros Islet). At these popular street parties, locals and tourists crowd around stalls selling fresh home-cooked seafood (most of it grilled, not fried). There’s music and dancing and a celebration that lasts well into the night.

Horse races—another equestrian remnant from colonial times—are held Saturdays at the Garrison Savannah, a track located about two miles outside Bridgetown. The most prestigious of them all, the Sandy Lane Gold Cup, attracts jockeys and socialites from all over North America and is held on the first Saturday of March. Visit the club's website for this year’s racing schedule.

Docked in Marigot Bay, Bateau Mygo is a 44-foot sailboat that can be chartered for cruises around St. Lucia as well as island-hopping trips to Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. If you end up exploring along the coast, I recommend heading south (Marigot Bay is almost in the middle of the west shore), as it’s the more scenic route, and there are coves where you can stop for a swim or snorkeling. Besides the sailboat, the company also has a 42-foot catamaran for hire. Half-day and full-day charters are available, as are sunset cruises and deep sea fishing excursions.

The best beaches on Vieques are located on the southern Caribbean side, and are accessible by car. Pack a picnic and set out to explore the pristine white sand beaches. Navio is ideal for active beach goers who want to bodysurf, Green Beach is located on the Western tip of the island and offers views of Puerto Rico, while Blue Beach is famed for snorkeling. Sun Bay offers picnic facilities, and Playa Negrita is the island’s only black sand beach (though is it a bit of a hike to get to). Red Beach is one of the most popular and flanked by mountains and calm waters for swimmers.

Those expecting sprawling white sand beaches will be disappointed on St. Lucia, which is more about small coves and short stretches of sand than endless expanses (and its vast marine life makes it a better place to snorkel and scuba dive than to lounge on land). All beaches on the island are open to the public, but some are easier to get to than others.

If you want to get to secluded Anse Lavoutte, for example, you’ll need a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The mile-long Reduit Beach, in northwest Rodney Bay, is the island’s largest but it gets quite crowded, because it’s easily accessible and flanked by massive resorts. Most of the high-end properties have their own beaches; the best are at Sugar Beach.

Barbados’s east and west coasts offer two entirely different beach experiences. On the west coast, where most of the high-end hotels are located, you’ll find the calm turquoise waters of the Caribbean. The less crowded Atlantic coast, on the east, is much more dramatic and romantic; the northeast, with its misty shores and jagged cliffs, has even been dubbed “Little Scotland.” Some of the more scenic beaches in the east include the pink-tinged Crane Beach, Foul Bay (just south of Crane Beach), Bath and Bathsheba, home of the annual Soup Bowl surfing championships. Atlantic waters can sometimes get rough, but Bath is generally considered the calmest, and there are always plenty of people swimming at Crane because of the nearby hotel. If you’re based on the Caribbean side and have time (the drive between the coasts takes about 45 minutes to an hour), definitely try to make it over to the other side of the island at least once. Good options for lunch include Round House (Bathsheba; 246 433 9678) and Atlantis Hotel (Foster Hall; 246 433 9445).

Note: All Bajan beaches are open to the public (of course, some hotel beaches are a little hard for the public to access), but you won’t find any overrun with craft vendors, who must be licensed by the government to sell their wares.

St. Barth’s has lots of great hiking trails, which lead to glorious views and a better sense of local living. Among our favorites: Flamands to Colombier; the natural swimming pools between Grand Cul de Sac and Le Toiny; Grand Fond to more natural swimming pools.

The best mountain biking is found on an old sugarcane estate that spills onto Anse Mamet Beach, reachable by a complimentary boat service (located next to Anse Chastanet). Ranging from relatively easy to extremely difficult, the twelve miles of private trails crisscross dense jungle flora and zip past waterfalls. The most challenging route is Tinker’s Trail, named after American pro biker Tinker Juarez, who was a consultant on the project. Day packages that include transfer from hotels along the west coast, bike rentals, lunch and snorkel equipment are available.

Expert ecologist guides will lead you in kayaks through the thick mangrove channels that lead to Laguna Grande. Here, microscopic plankton (or Phyrodinium Bahamense) produce natural light when they come in contact with anything. Each paddle stroke creates a glowing trail, illuminating nearby plants and creatures like an underwater comet. Learn about the constellations sparkling above and the delicate ecosystem supporting the lagoon. Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team to arrange a tour.

Indagare members can contact our Bookings Team for assistance chartering boats to explore the waters around the Turks & Caicos. The region is perfect for sailing, cruising on motorboats and taking day trips for snorkeling, picnics, exploring cays and sunset cruises.

Plan a day trip to Buck Island, off of St. Croix. We sailed over in the morning on a catamaran, stopped at a deserted white sand beach for a swim, then spent an hour snorkeling along an underwater trail, through extraordinary coral canyons. Favorite spottings included schools of blue angelfish glinting in the sunlight, a stingray below me looking a lot like Darth Vader and three barracudas gliding by.

Just off of Calle Obispo, Café de Paris is a charming bar where there are often excellent musicians playing jazz. It’s a great spot for drinks after dinner and sits within easy walking distance to many of the top hotels.

One of the oldest cafés in Havana, Café Taberna was founded in 1772 and it is still a great spot for music. Members of the Buena Vista Social Club play here most days and you may spot dancers salsa-ing inside or even on the sidewalks outside—sometimes passersby cannot help but move to the music. The décor is charming with an old wooden bar, tiled floors and potted palms.

Opened in 1983 to promote and study contemporary visual arts in third world countries, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam borrows its name from one of the most influential Cuban painters. The small gallery boasts some 1,000 works from all over the world, as well as many by Lam himself. There are a number of rotating exhibits in addition to the permanent collection.

Located in a restored townhouse in an 18^th-century plaza, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales is a gallery space devoted to showcasing young and emerging Cuban artists. Established in 1989, its four galleries and information center promote the visual arts of the country with an emphasis on experimental art. The exhibits, which often reflect the unique Cuban identity at home and overseas, change frequently. Admission is free.

One of my most memorable experiences was swimming with two sea lions at the aquarium Coral World, on St. Thomas. I found marvelous exhibits and a fantastic staff dedicated to conservation.

What began as a small celebration to mark the end of the sugarcane season (hence the name) is today a long-running (May–August) carnival of calypso competitions, arts and crafts fairs and just all-around revelry.Throngs of Barbadians with light sticks and tattered clothes can be found parading in the streets following trucks blasting soca music (a genre that originated in the Caribbean). The festivities culminate with Grand Kadoomet in the end of August. A colorful costume parade that lasts until the wee hours, the even brings together locals and visitors, and even a few elderly and otherwise staid British gents marching about in feathered and sequined attire.

Indagare Tip: For a bite after the festivities, stop by the St. Lawrence Gap for the best street burgers in town.

Visitors craving a more comprehensive understanding of Puerto Rico, or who have more time to explore the island, should fly into Aguadilla and stay in the less luxurious Rincón area for a few days before heading towards San Juan. The drive from Rincón to the northern coast region is over two hours, but stopping at Cueva Ventana is a great way to break it up.

Adjacent to an abandoned gas station on the side of the road, it is easy to miss the trailhead leading to Cueva Ventana’s entrance. Pay the $10 entry fee and sign a waiver before heading a few hundred yards uphill, where guides, helmets and other visitors await. After finding the right size gear, join the group of mostly native Puerto Rican visitors and head towards the caves (be sure to tell your bi-lingual guide if you do not speak Spanish!)

Cueva Ventana is one large underground chamber broken up into smaller caves by stalactites, stalagmites and collapsed earth. Descending can be tricky, so this excursion is not recommended for small children or people with mobility issues. It is also not for the faint of heart. (Guides warn against stepping on the cockroaches and snakes on the cave floor and ask that nobody use flash photography, as the bats swarming on the ceiling are extremely sensitive to light.)

Persevere and you will see centuries-old graffiti from the native Taino culture scrawled on the walls and the magnificent vista that the cave opens to. ‘Ventana,’ is the Spanish word for window and the cave's opening overlooks green pastures, jungle-covered mountains and the “Rio Grande” of Arecibo.

It’s best to have a guide lead you through these gorgeous, privately owned botanical gardens, located a little over a mile east of Soufrière. Not because of the size (they’re compact), but because you’ll want someone who can identify the wealth of tropical plants, from soaring banana, plantain and palm trees to fuchsia crab-claw plants, wax roses and multi-hued hibiscus and allamanda. Part of an estate given to three French brothers by Louis XIV in 1713, Diamond Falls has been in the same family for nearly three hundred years. There’s also a waterfall and a natural mineral springs on-site, but what I loved most was wandering through the canopies of countless shades of green that were interrupted occasionally by a brilliant splash of color or the hurried movements of a hummingbird.

This company can take you to dive in spectacular reefs off of the southern coast. The boat ride provides a great alternative way to see the topography of the island as well as the magnificent Pitons.

Besides tennis, yoga and horseback riding, activities in Turks & Caicos are naturally based around the sea. You can go sailing, kayaking, waterskiing, parasailing, windsurfing, snorkeling, bone and deep-sea fishing and, above all, diving. TCI is famous for an active and amazing under-the-sea world thanks to an abundance of coral reefs and a water visibility of 60 to 100 feet. (It helps that water temperatures range from 75 to 85 degrees year-round.) Great dives include the walls at Northwest Point, near the Amanyara, and West Caicos. Dives are usually from boats, but for those who have problems with seasickness, there are also places to learn right off the beach - and still see plenty of sea life.

Antigua is almost completely surrounded by coral reefs, which harbor exotic sea animals, plants and even shipwrecks—boasting conditions such as eighty-degree water, visibility to depths of 140 feet, and limited currents that allow for spectacular snorkeling and diving. Cades Reef, stretching for more than two-and-a-half miles, is one of the best-known diving spots and is partly contained within an underwater park. It offers a variety of incredible dive sites and marine life, notably the Ariadne Shoals and the Pinnacles of Hercules. Another popular spot for diving is the wreck of the three-mast steel merchant ship The Andes, which was sunk in 1905 in Deep Bay while traveling to Panama delivering pitch for paving roads before the Panama Canal was constructed. For beginner and intermediate divers, the Southern and Eastern shore is a safer option for shelf diving, but for the more advanced crowd, a popular site is the ledge of the Sunken Rock. Dives usually range from twenty-five to eighty feet, while some may reach 180 feet in depth. Boat trips out to dive sites range from five to fifty minutes. Talk to your hotel concierge or your Indagare travel expert to arrange.

It is surprising that many of Cuba's most revolutionary and outspoken individuals are the island's artists. Instead of being hushed by the famously domineering government, these creatives—painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, poets and philosophers—are revered as celebrities, in accordance with Socialism's emphasis on intellectual endeavors. In an Orwellian-appropriate twist, those who make public comments on the state and its flaws through art are some of the country's wealthiest individuals and enjoy certain freedoms—such as exit visas to leave Cuba—that are not available to the mass population.

Fabrica de Arte is a collective housed in a former factory, adjacent to El Cocinero in the Vedado neighborhood. Exhibitions are rotating but encourage visitors to walk around, look, listen, admire and enjoy a mojito in the two lounges. The space stands as a reminder that we are at an important juncture in Cuban history. The artists of the country are in some ways leading a cultural revolution, aided by changes in the government and international relations.