BELIZE
KAYAK LODGE TO LODGE
Some 450 sun-bleached cays dot Belize's 180-mile-long barrier reef. The best way to explore them? Take this new, lodge-to-lodge sea-kayak trip with Belize City–based Island Expeditions. The six-day journey is divided between traveling with the currents over coral structures teeming with marine life and unwinding at three rustic lodges (think seaside cabanas and conch-fritter dinners). Expect to cover up to six miles of turquoise per day in IE's unique, mast-and-sail-equipped sea kayaks. "There's nothing like sailing your kayak at six knots, two feet above the reef flats," says owner Tim Boys. Trips depart weekly from November to April; 6 DAYS, $1,590 islandexpeditions.com. CASH TIP: Book late—IE offers $100 discounts on unfilled trips within a month of departure.
Adventure Cruise
Spend eight days aboard a sweet four-cabin luxury yacht, exploring intimate coves that full-size cruise ships can't get anywhere near. An onboard naturalist will point out the sea turtle nesting sites and the manatees as you cruise along the Caribbean coastline from Belize City. You'll take a nighttime walking safari up the Sittee River, past Garifuna villages, visit Maya caves and an excavation site, and paddle kayaks with see-through acrylic bottoms over the world's second-largest barrier reef. Price: $2,095—$2,395 Outfitter: AdventureSmith Explorations, 800-728-2875, www.adventuresmithexplorations.com When to Go: Year-round
COSTA RICA
CROSS-COUNTRY TRAVERSE
Here's how to get off the tourist track in Costa Rica: Try crossing the country from the Pacific to the Caribbean by bike, foot, and raft. You'll start this 18-day sea-to-sea journey by pedaling two days from the coastal pueblo of Dominical to the Tinamaste Mountains, where you'll hike through the cloudforest to your first night's campsite—a cave surrounded by waterfalls. The next day takes you over a ridge, where you'll stay at a quaint hotel on the Chirripo River before starting a porter-supported weeklong trek through the highland forest of the Cordillera de Talamanca. You'll spend the last several days on a rugged stretch of the Pacuare River, running Class III-IV rapids and floating through lush canyons where water cascades from hundreds of feet overhead. The river will deposit you in the Caribbean lowlands, and you'll spend your last wilderness night camping at the rainforest's edge.Price: $2,790 Outfitter: World Expeditions, 888-464-8735, www.worldexpeditions.com
When to Go: March, September, December
EL SALVADOR
SURFING, MOUNTAIN BIKING, AND WAKEBOARDING
With civil war a thing of the past and a tourism board investing heavily in getting the word out about its world-class surf and unexplored rainforests, tiny El Salvador is poised to become a cooler, far less trampled alternative to Costa Rica. Access Trips, a six-year-old instruction-oriented outfitter co-founded by former investment banker/pro snowboarder Alain Chuard, has been introducing surfers to El Salvador since 2006. On this new seven-day multisport trip, you'll spend three days at a beachfront resort riding the glassy, consistent swells and wakeboarding the mangrove-sheltered lagoons of Costa del Sol, south of San Salvador; then head northwest to the village of Tacuba, on the edge of mountainous El Imposible National Park, where you'll stay in a family-owned inn on a coffee plantation and pedal steep singletrack through the butterfly- and bird-filled jungle. OUTFITTER: Access Trips; accesstrips.com PRICE: $1,450 DIFFICULTY: Moderate WHEN TO GO: February, June, October–December
MEXICO
SCOUTING FOR JAGUARS
Jaguars roam the tropical forest, wetlands, and dunes of Mexico's Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, a Delaware-size protected zone along the Yucatán coast. With the help of biologist guides, you'll likely spot their tracks during your weeklong stay at the no-frills Santa Teresa research station, a ten-minute walk to a white-sand beach, and take daytime and nighttime hikes in a jungle that few outsiders get to explore after dark. You'll also camp one night amid the spider monkeys and white-tailed deer, and visit nearby Maya ruins.Price: $1,500 Outfitter: EcoColors, 011-52-998-884-3667, www.ecotravelmexico.com When to Go: January-March
MOUNTAIN-BIKING THE CONQUERORS' ROUTE
This two-week mountain-bike adventure traverses the same terrain as the route of the 16th-century Spanish army through the former Aztec empire, wheeling along 200 miles of desert, mountain, and coastal singletrack and jeep roads. You'll ride about six hours each day, from the outskirts of Puebla to the Sierra Madre hills and valleys near the base of 18,700-foot Pico de Orizaba, overnighting in tents, 18th-century haciendas, and lodges as you make your way to a Gulf Coast beach. Price: $1,395
Outfitter: Adventures SelvAzul, 011-52-222-237-48-87, www.selvazul.com
When to Go: November to July
NICARAGUA
KAYAKING/HIKING/CAVING THE ISLANDS
If the crater lakes and verdant slopes of Nicaragua's volcanoes have hosted few adventurers, it's not for lack of suitable terrain. The playground potential in the rumpled topography of this fun mecca rivals that of its neighbors. This nine-day trip takes you island-hopping by kayak in Lake Nicaragua, hiking through a rainforest, and wandering among the pre-Columbian artifacts, caves, and rock art of Zapatera National Park. You'll spend most nights in wilderness lodges, where howler monkeys provide the morning wake-up call. OUTFITTER: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235, mtsobek.com; PRICE: $2,690–$2,990 (plus $150 internal airfare); DIFFICULTY: Easy; WHEN TO GO: January–February, October–December
PANAMA
TREK DARIEN GAP
As your piragua putters along the Tuira River en route to an abandoned mining town, you'll see far more tapirs and peccaries than travelers. Total seclusion is the payoff for five to seven hours of daily trekking (and canoeing) across rugged, often muddy terrain on this two-week exploration of the Darién Gap, the mysterious 6.4-million-acre rainforest that separates Central and South America. When you do come across humans, it will be at the remote villages where you'll stop to mingle with Embera elders. You'll overnight at ranger stations and rustic camps, and wake to a cacophony of macaws and caracaras.Price: $4,995 Outfitter: Myths and Mountains, 800-670-6984, www.mythsandmountains.com When to Go: December-April
SURF THE GULF OF CHIRIQUI
Don't want to take out a second mortgage to reach Indonesia's Mentawais? There's a better way to plan your dream surf trip. In 2006, Panama-based Lost Coast Excursions started plying the Gulf of Chiriquí, on that country's Pacific coast, in its 100-foot motor yacht, the Explorer. What the outfitter found was a Pacific paradise with dozens of empty reef and beach breaks. The Explorer accommodates up to 16 guests in shared rooms—bring ten or so buddies and you've got a blue-water epic, complete with surf guides, for less than the cost of a week in Aspen. Start recruiting now for next spring, when southern swells wrap up the coastline. Guests take a shuttle from Panama City to Puerto Mutis, board the Explorer, and hit the water before lunch. Charters available between December and August; 6-DAY CHARTER, $2,500 PER PERSON lostcoastexcursions.com.
SURF AND FISH THE AZUERO PENINSULA
It seems everything is expanding in Panama. A $5.25 billion upgrade will more than double the Panama Canal's capacity by 2014, tourism nationwide has nearly doubled in the past six years, and in 2005 alone more than one million visitors spent upwards of $1 billion in this tropical destination. The Azuero Peninsula, four hours southwest of Panama City, on the Pacific coast, is a direct beneficiary of the cash infusion. The still-uncrowded peninsula has been getting increasing attention, thanks to its surf-filled beaches and world-class tuna and marlin fishing. Popular digs for foreigners include Villa Camilla, a classy seven-room hotel built mostly from local materials (doubles from $300; meals, $50 per day; 011-507-232-6721, azueros.com).
KAYAKING THE SAN BLAS ISLANDS
In 2001, Olaf Malver, the founder of outfitter Explorers' Corner, kayaked with his family to a remote part of the San Blas Islands, off Panama's north coast, where he met with a chief of the indigenous Kuna Yala Indians and requested permission to explore. Not only did the sahila agree, but he invited Malver to return with like-minded friends. On this ten-day trip to the Cayos Holandes, accompanied by two Kuna Yala guides, you'll paddle 60 to 80 miles, tracing the shorelines of mostly uninhabited Caribbean islands, camping on pristine beaches, visiting a Kuna Yala community known for its vivid molas, or tapestries, and tramping through orchid-filled jungles. High Point: Reaching the uninhabited island of Esnatupile after a mellow, nine-mile paddle across two c hannels. Low Point: Being outpaced by local fishermen in low-tech pangas.Travel Advisory: Don't touch the coconuts! Your permission to visit—seriously— is contingent upon a hands-off agreement.Price: $3,190
Outfitter: Explorers' Corner, 510-559-8099, www.explorerscorner.com
When to Go: December, January
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
CARIBBEAN MULTISPORT
Trinidad's rugged coastline is as wild as its calypso culture, and sleepy Tobago boasts some of the Caribbean's less-trodden beaches. Explore the best of both islands on this hyperactive nine-day, inn-based tour that takes you mountain-biking through dense rainforests and farmland, hiking amid howler monkeys and macaws, river-kayaking beneath bamboo archways, snorkeling among hawksbill sea turtles and green moray eels, and caving in an intricate system swarming with bats.Price: $1,799—$2,000
Outfitter: REI Adventures, 800-622-2236, www.reiadventures.com When to Go: February, April, June, November
