The Most Unique Things You Can Only Do In The Caribbean Islands

A popular tourist destination, the Caribbean attracts nearly 29 million people annually, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization. The region has earned a reputation for its pristine beaches, water fun like snorkeling and swimming with dolphins, year-round sunny and warm weather, and party atmosphere. However, if you don't do anything other than drink rum punch and catch a tan during your Caribbean vacation, you'll miss out. The region boasts tons of one-of-a-kind attractions, ranging from the biggest boiling lake on this side of the planet to an underwater sculpture museum. Plus, these unique activities offer something for everyone, including foodies who want to try jerk chicken where it originated and music fans eager to see where Bob Marley lived.

Explore rounded up the most distinctive things to do of the bunch across the Caribbean islands (not including the Caribbean mainland). These locales are a tourism force to be reckoned with — whether or not you choose to put your swimsuit on. If you want to add some bucket-list and Instagram-worthy fun to your next getaway to this tropical paradise, you can't go wrong with one of these activities.

While the colorful marine and plant life that thrive underwater may seem like an art show in itself, the Underwater Museum of Art (MUSA) has truly transported the gallery experience below the sea. The site awaits off the coast of Isla Mujeres, a Mexican island that takes about 30 minutes to reach from the mainland. It features over 500 cement, full-sized sculptures spread along the ocean's sandy bottom, only reachable by scuba diving (though you can also observe them while snorkeling or from a glass-bottom boat). However, due to its low depth, MUSA is accessible even to beginner divers (just keep in mind the sneaky snorkeling and scuba diving dangers many people ignore). The cost of touring MUSA depends on how you to choose experience it and whether you have received your diving certification.

Environmentalist Dr. Jaime Gonzalez Cano and sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor established MUSA in 2010, partly in hopes of taking tourism pressure off the nearby National Marine Park. They also created the museum in an effort to make artificial marine habitats, as coral grows on the cement sculptures. The most famous MUSA  habitat is The Silent Evolution, which includes more than 400 lifelike human sculptures. Another favorite is the Volkswagen Beetle, a life-sized sculpture of the vehicle beloved by pop culture.

Americans likely only see multiple classic vehicles on a busy street during a car show. However, you'll spot these vintage gems everywhere in Cuba — all due to one political event. Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the ability to import American cars into the country came to an end. Without its own auto manufacturing industry, Cuban streets became stuck in time, filled primarily with the U.S. vehicles that had made it there during the half-century prior. The country remains like that today, as an estimated 60,000 Chevrolets, Fords, Pontiacs, Buicks, Dodges, Plymouths, and Studebakers from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s continue to permeate the roads. Tourists visiting Cuba can reserve guided, hourly tours in these old-school beauties.

Bear in mind that the classic car scene doesn't quite live up to the glamour of Cuban postcards. Some of these vehicles now utilize replaced makeshift parts, and may lack reliability due to their age. Many Cubans (the majority of whom earn less than $200 per month via Statista) don't have other options, as new cars cost $70,000-$250,000. As a result, parents pass down their American cars to their kids, keeping these vehicles running and on the road, often through creative means.

While pigs have a reputation for swimming in mud, about 25 wild pigs on the Bahamian island of Big Major Cay — also known as Pig Island — have elected to do laps in a more glamorous spot. Those pigs include Big Momma, reportedly the oldest hog on the island, as well as piglets. For decades, these pigs have rolled through the area's turquoise waters and white sand beaches, and tourists love to join them. Thousands of people head to Big Major Cay every year to cross this famous activity off of their bucket lists. Travelers can book boat tours – usually for $160-$210 per person — to visit the island, swim with, and feed the pigs items like lettuce, carrots, watermelon, and apples. The pigs make the latter fairly easy, often paddling up to the sides of tourist boats.

The exact origin of these swimming pigs remains a mystery. According to one rumor, farmers pressured to move their pigs from Staniel Cay Village due to their smell relocated them to Big Major Cay. Since the farmers had to boat there to bring the pigs their meals, the porcine started swimming right up to them, eager for dinner (or so the story goes). These days, Big Major Cay isn't the only Bahamian island with wild pigs. However, it remains the first as well as the most iconic.

In just four spots on the planet, millions of microscopic beings called dinoflagellates produce a blue light when disturbed — and one lagoon in Jamaica serves as the best and biggest place to see the glowing water in the world. Located alongside Trelawny, Rock, and Falmouth, the Luminous Lagoon allows visitors to observe otherworldly bio-luminescence in action at night. The one-of-a-kind lagoon offers a mix of warm and shallow salt and fresh water, which dinoflagellates need to live. Already putting together your itinerary? November through early December is the most budget-friendly time of year to visit Jamaica. 

Several 45-minute to one-hour tours offered nightly at Luminous Lagoon feature boat excursions to see the phenomenon and even swim with it and the fish that live there. Plus, since the water only reaches a depth 3 to 8 feet, those who lack confidence in the water can also enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime activity.

The discovery of the Luminous Lagoon occurred due to its proximity to Falmouth, an important port in the country where sugar, rum, and other Jamaican items often got unloaded. After the sugar trade waned, scientists realized that, besides industry, the area housed tons of dinoflagellates.

Most people head to Caribbean islands to relax on the beach. However, a visit to Dominica offers a wild adventure with the difficult-but-worth-it hike to the biggest boiling lake in the Americas. Situated in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the bluish-gray colored body of water reaches 195 feet deep and boils at around 190 degrees Fahrenheit. It boils due to its status as a flooded fumarole, an opening on the planet's surface that secretes steam and volcanic gases. Rainfall and nearby streams feed water into the magma under the boiling lake, and then the fumarole's steam and gases push the water above-ground and boils it. Sometimes, the water dries up.

If you want to see this natural wonder in person, you'll have to work for it. It can take up to eight hours to complete the challenging 9-mile round-trip trek. Prepare to get muddy and climb steep inclines to reach the approximately 200-foot-wide marvel. Due to the hike's difficulty, strongly consider hiring a local guide to help you. You'll begin your journey near Titou Gorge, a short drive from Laudat and a 20-minute drive from Roseau. Get an early start and bring your head lamp, since the dense foliage makes the hike a dark one starting at about 6 p.m. Pack your swimsuit, too, so you can cool off upon returning to Titou Gorge.

Foodies all over the world have long enjoyed the in-your-face spicy flavor of jerk chicken, seasoned with ingredients like allspice, Scotch bonnet peppers, cloves, and cinnamon. In Jamaica, tourists can try the most authentic version right in the country where it got its start. Jerk chicken is thought to have originated after 1655, when enslaved Africans joined indigenous communities. They fused their cooking practices to create the start of what we now know as jerk seasoning and the jerk cooking method. As the decades wore on, the both continued to develop, later expanding to include jerk sauce.

You shouldn't have any trouble finding jerk chicken in Jamaica, as it's often offered at roadside stands and casual eateries. And it's cheap too, costing under $8 for a quarter-pound. Simply order your jerk chicken by the pound and specify if you would like chicken breast, wing, leg, or thigh. You might also need to specify how much jerk sauce you want on your chicken. Don't forget to cap your meal off with a side to balance out that spicy main; common options include white bread, a sweet fried dough known as festival, fried plantains, and coleslaw. Although Jamaica boasts a seemingly endless supply of jerk chicken spots, Scotchies, which has locations throughout the country, has long been heralded as one of the best. You can also buy its bottled jerk sauce to take home.

Not many music fans have the opportunity to visit the homes of their idols just as they left them, but Bob Marley enthusiasts do. Marley's former Kingston home, which he lived in for six years, now functions a museum filled with the star's personal items. Visitors can take a 90-minute guided tour for $25 per adult and $12 per child. They can expect to see Marley's Grammy Lifetime Achievement award, bedroom, private recording studio, gold and platinum records, and his backup dancers' costumes. Plus, almost as if Marley still lived there, the Jamaican Heritage Site includes a full-sized, 3-D hologram of the artist from his 1978 One Peace Love concert. Each tour also takes visitors to an 80-seat theater where they can watch a recorded Marley performance.

Visitors more focused on Marley's musical influence can learn about his work on the museum's The Making of the Music Tour. This experience lasts 45 minutes and costs $20 per adult and $12 per child. It includes a rehearsal room with Marley's grand piano, Marley's former tour truck, and the biggest recording studio in the region. Visitors will also leave understanding how records get made, and can take Marley records home with them from the onsite record shop. A gift shop also sells Marley-themed clothing, mugs, posters, and more. Finish off your visit at the One Love Café, which serves casual fare and juices.

Doubles may not be a long-running dish — they've only been a Trinidadian staple for a few decades — but they are the Caribbean island's most iconic food offering. That's speaking for everyone. Residents ranging from kids to Trinidad's members of Parliament clamor for the vegetarian street food that's both sweet and spicy. Doubles are made of curried chickpeas topped with coriander and tamarind sauces, mango chutney, spicy mango chutney, and cucumber sandwiched between fried flatbread. Often, they're served for breakfast or a snack. They're reminiscent of other Indian dishes. It's thought that doubles originated from a family of Muslim Indian workers who sold the snack to earn a few extra bucks. When hungry customers asked the cooks to double the dough to create a sandwich-like contraption, the name "doubles" was born. Today, people still debate which family member invented doubles.

Want to try doubles for yourself? You won't have to look far, as doubles are served on every Trinidad street corner, from simple stalls to casual restaurants. One favorite is Doubles Den, which gives its doubles a contemporary spin by topping them with meats such as curried duck or shrimp. Another popular spot is S&S Doubles, which fries its flatbread to the ideal level of crispiness. Or check out Captain's Doubles, a food truck that fries its flatbread at a high temperature for a dry yet crunchy sandwich.

In the Morne-à-l'eau commune on Guadeloupe, some former residents are buried with pizzazz. Located on a hillside, the cemetery is filled with black-and-white checkered crypts, culminating in a chic miniature city of the dead. It's even been dubbed the "Chessboard Cemetery." A few of the tombs are pink or blue, adding bright pops of color. For the best view of the unexpected sight, hike to the top of the hill and peer down.

No one is sure how this cemetery ended up so unlike its drab counterparts. However, it's thought that perhaps it's because the color of mourning is represented by black in Europe and white in Africa. Many Guadeloupe residents have European and African heritage. Others believe the juxtaposing colors symbolize yin and yang, or sorrow and hope.

Some of the building-shaped tombs are adorned with flowers, photos, and candles, paying tribute to everyone from rich property owners to working-class people. Graves date back as far as 300 years, and as recent as modern times. On the unoccupied areas of the cemetery, visitors will notice that candle wax covers the ground. This is likely because All Saints Day celebrations usually include the lighting of countless candles set up by loved ones.

That party vibe you feel when vacationing at a Dominican Republic resort isn't an act put on for tourists. Dominicans often find a reason to dance, especially if they're swaying their hips to their favorite dance — merengue. It's so beloved that National Merengue Day is celebrated on November 26. Plus, merengue is universal, as everyone from the prosperous to the working class gets in on the fun. In this dance, an accordion, drum, and güira are played. Then, a pair quickly swings their hips back and forth while keeping their upper bodies in place. Each generation has its own take on the dance.

It's thought that merengue began in colonial times in the late 1800s in the Cibao area, stemming from African dances. Lessons are offered all over the Dominican Republic, so visitors can give it a go no matter where they're staying. Plus, learning the merengue is relatively easy.

Visitors can see where Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara was buried after he was killed in 1967 in Bolivia at the Che Guevara Mausoleum in Santa Clara, Cuba. Today, Santa Clara is known as the "City of Che." The Che Guevara Mausoleum has been an important site for both Cubans and revolutionaries around the world since it was erected in 1988 after six years of work completed by half of a million people. However, Guevara's body wasn't added to the site, which then was centered around a bronze statue, for nine more years. Before that, his body was in a Bolivian mass grave. Today, the site also includes a scene of Guevara in the Cuban Revolution engraved into a stone slab, as well as a museum. The museum includes Guevara's gun, binoculars, and water bottle. Twenty-nine other Cuban fighters are also buried onsite.

It's a fitting locale for the mausoleum as Santa Clara was where Guevara's 300 troops defeated dictator Fulgencio Batista's army in the 12-hour final battle of the Cuban Revolution. And like a step back in time, the site still has the Batista's overturned boxcars resting as they did decades ago. The Che Guevara Mausoleum was the 2011 recipient of the Provincial Conservation Award by the Provincial Center of Cultural Heritage.

Puerto Rico is a tropical paradise, and even tourists sticking to San Juan can experience that thanks to the El Yunque Rainforest, which is just a 45-minute drive from the city. A beautiful and unique contradiction, the destination is the sole tropical rainforest in the U.S. national park system but also one of the smallest forests in the system. Despite its 29,000-acre size, it's packed with biodiversity. 

Hundreds of types of plants and animals call El Yunque Rainforest home, including woodpeckers, green mangos, and parrots. One of the best ways to see it all is to drive to the 1,575-foot Yokahú Observation Tower, which offers panoramic views of the surrounding ocean and mountains. It makes it easy to see why the El Yunque Rainforest was likely named for the Taino word "yuke," which means "white earth," since clouds often surround the mountaintops. You can also take in beautiful views from the top of the tower on the Mt. Britton Trail, although this one requires a steep and slippery 45-minute hike to reach. 

However, no trip to the El Yunque Rainforest is complete without a dip in one of the forest's waterfalls and natural pools. One of the most popular is the 20-foot Juan Diego Falls, which are easily accessible through a five-minute hike. To get a true breath of fresh air without the crowds, continue your hike past Juan Diego Falls to a 40-foot waterfall nearby.