The north and south shores have scuba diving and snorkeling spots for all skill levels

Follow our experts on this perfect vacation itinerary in the British Virgin Islands

If the Caribbean had a national sport, it might be drinking. Find out which watering holes are serving your favourite contenders and what makes them so delicious...if the barkeeps will tell you.

We asked Eric Michael, editor of Sport Diver Magazine, for tips and recommendations for the best snorkeling gear around.

A dozen Caribbean denizens and some top places to see them.

It’s hardly an exaggeration to suggest that the Caribbean region has the world’s greatest collection of superlative snorkeling sites (and sights). So grab your mask, because we’ve picked 25 of our favorites. Check out the April/May issue of Caribbean Travel + Life for even more hot spots!

The North Sound of Virgin Gorda is a world unto itself—relaxed and removed, yet accessible, civilized and central to some of the BVI’s must-see locales, including the idyllic isle of Anegada, a quick 14 miles to the north.

I came to the Bitter End with the loose intention of learning how to sail. OK, that’s not entirely true: I arrived on Virgin Gorda with fantastical visions of standing at the helm and hurtling out of the North Sound and into the open sea, squinting heroically into the salt spray and barking orders to first mate Stovall with timber-shivering authority. Trim this! Hoist that! Batten down the other thing! But after damned near sinking a Boston Whaler (a dinghy with the slogan “The Unsinkable Legend”) in two feet of water on my first day, I have grave misgivings.

Paddling a kayak over transparent Caribbean water is a rare pleasure, and though the region has no shortage of excellent tour operators and rental outfits, there’s something to be said for the joys of impromptu exploration. For that, you need to bring your own boat, and to do that, you need an inflatable. 

You’re in love. Big-time. And you want to show it in a suitably big way. A bottle of Asti Spumante and a heart-shaped bathtub in the Poconos won’t cut it this time—better head to Steele Point, doubtless one of the most astonishing rentable homes on earth.

Five places to channel your inner Robinson Crusoe—without ending up a true castaway.