3 Best Sights in Cayman Islands

This 65-acre wilderness preserve showcases a wide range of indigenous and nonindigenous tropical vegetation, approximately 2,000 species in total. Splendid sections include numerous water features from limpid lily ponds to cascades; a Heritage Garden with a traditional cottage and "caboose" (outside kitchen) that includes crops that might have been planted on Cayman a century ago; and a Floral Colour Garden arranged by color, the walkway wandering through sections of pink, red, orange, yellow, white, blue, mauve, lavender, and purple. A 2-acre lake and adjacent wetlands include three islets that provide a habitat and breeding ground for native birds just as showy as the floral displays: green herons, black-necked stilts, American coots, blue-winged teals, cattle egrets, and rare West Indian whistling ducks. The nearly mile-long Woodland Trail encompasses every Cayman ecosystem from wetland to cactus thicket and buttonwood swamp to lofty woodland with imposing mahogany trees. You'll encounter birds, lizards, turtles, and agoutis, but the park's star residents are the protected endemic blue iguanas, found only in Grand Cayman. The world's most endangered iguana, they're the focus of the National Trust's Blue Iguana Recovery Program, a captive breeding and reintroduction facility. This section of the park is usually closed to the public, though released "blue dragons" hang out in the vicinity. The trust conducts 90-minute behind-the-scenes safaris Monday through Saturday at 11 am for C$30. Make sure to look for the fascinating little Davidoff's sculpture garden, depicting local critters that create a great photo moment.

At the end of a seemingly endless, bumpy road, your guide takes you on a short hike to the "treehouse" refreshment-souvenir stand of this Grand Cayman locale. A viewing platform provides breathtaking vistas of a ginormous banyan tree framing the first cave entrance. Currently, three large caverns in the extensive network have been opened and outfitted with wood pathways and strategic lighting. Millions of years ago, the network was submerged underwater (a subterranean lake serves as a hauntingly lovely reminder); the land gradually rose over millennia. Nature has fashioned extraordinary crystal gardens and "fish-scale" columns from delicate, fragile flowstone; part of the fun is identifying the fanciful shapes whimsically carved by the stalactites and stalagmites. The 90-minute tours are offered on the hour from 9 am through 4 pm. Ambitious plans include adding ziplines and four-wheel-drive trails.

When the easterly trade winds blow hard, crashing waves force water into caverns and send impressive geysers shooting up as much as 20 feet through the ironshore. The blowholes were partially filled during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, so the water must be rough to recapture their former elemental drama.