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Hiking through the forest along Puerto Rico's Tanama River, all eyes are on the slippery, narrow trail. The hillsides are steep and rocky and choked with ankle-grabbing vegetation — so much so that it's easy to imagine the trail becoming overgrown in just a few weeks without the regular stomping of tourists like us.

We're still staring down when our guide, Raymond Sepulveda, instructs us to stop. "Here it is," he says.

We look up and are all startled to find ourselves at the mouth of a great cavern, a seven-metre-long stalactite hanging like a fang from the roof. Sepulveda quickly leads us inside and warns us not to touch the stalactites and stalagmites (the oils from our skin can stunt their growth) or the crunchy black substance covering the floor and rocks (for our own sake).

Funny, I think to myself, that I've come to the Caribbean not to snorkel or bask on a sunny beach, but to climb into a dark hole lined with bat guano.

But that's Puerto Rico, the odd island out in a region dominated by all-inclusive beach resorts.

Unlike in much of the Caribbean, tourism is not Puerto Rico's main industry; pharmaceutical companies are the biggest employers here, taking advantage of the pristine water found in the limestone aquifers on the north side of the island to produce most of the world's Tylenol and Viagra. (Puerto Rico also has a good sideline as an exporter of professional baseball players and some of the best coffee in the world.)

Then there's the fact that this is America. This volcanic island just east of the Dominican Republic has been a U.S. territory since 1898, when it was ceded to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War. And Americans make up the bulk of the island's visitors. Fewer than 20,000 Canadians travelled here last year, compared with about 600,000 to Cuba.

Having the United States as a partner has also brought a level of prosperity to Puerto Rico that has made it the envy of the Caribbean. A modern highway system rings the relatively small main island — it's only 160 kilometres long and 55 kilometres wide — and its 3.9 million inhabitants race around it in about 3.2 million cars. (Hiring a driver or renting a car is really the only way to get around; our guide through San Juan showed us the city bus depot in the same way one might point out an abandoned grain silo.)

That affluence — and the entrepreneurial confidence that goes along with it — has allowed Puerto Ricans to take control of their tourism industry in a way that seems unthinkable in, say, the D.R. or Cuba. Countless local operators such as Sepulveda's Acampa Nature Adventure Tours have created a tourist culture that, even with its share of poolside lounge chairs, is flush with cultural pride and a sense of adventure.

Hence the cave. In hushed tones, Sepulveda explains that these geologic formations are more than just playgrounds for spelunkers and hikers; for the island's original inhabitants, the Taino people, Puerto Rico's 2,000 or so caves were sacred places. Their creation myth has men and women emerging from a cave, and they saw them as portals between this life and the next.

Our walk through the cave has us emerging over the Tanama River, which cuts through this valley on the northwestern side of the island. We climb down to the river's edge and cross it — so cold — holding our packs on our heads. Tour guides here rely on reports from the weather service and locals upstream to warn them of flash floods, which are a regular occurrence on an island that sees about five metres of rain each year.

On the other side of the river, the pace slows a bit, as Sepulveda stops regularly to point out the valley's strange flora — both native and, like the island's human population, the result of centuries of conquest and settlement.

Plants like the cohoba, for example, which resembles a fern. Taino elders would grind its seeds along with snail shells to make a hallucinogenic snuff called yopo, the snail shell fragments causing tiny cuts in the nasal passages to improve absorption.

At one point, Sepulveda carefully holds up a branch of the tabaiba plant, which the Taino used to induce vomiting — to treat food poisoning — and even to perform abortions. He warns us to be careful, explaining that the plant's milky sap burns like hell, then breaks off a stem to show us what it looks like.

Unfortunately, he doesn't see the drop forming on the back of the leaf. Before we can say anything, it has landed on his baby finger. He winces in pain, and the swelling and discomfort last at least an hour.

As we continue upward through the valley, Sepulveda draws our attention to what seem like natural rock formations jutting out of the hillsides. Now covered by tree roots and plants such as wild ginger, the stones are actually the ruins of ancient terraces constructed by the Taino, who farmed this area centuries before the Spanish arrived.

Muddy, wet and hot — though free of insect bites, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of bats that inhabit the caves — we stop for a light lunch at the forest home of Jorge and Denise Perez and their children.

Jorge is building the house out of local timber, bamboo as thick as a telephone pole (it has to be at least six years old, he says) and wood recovered from a demolished house in San Juan, much of it dating to the time of the Conquistadors.

Then it's off again to spend the rest of the afternoon on zip lines, which offer us a fresh, terrifying perspective of the river valley.

The rest of the week is filled with similarly adrenalin-charged activities: ripping across a 240-hectare ranch on ATVs, surfing on the beach just down the road from our hotel in San Juan — I manage to break a toe right at the start, which gives me a great story to tell back home.

One of the highlights of the trip, though, has to be our visit to Fajardo's bioluminescent bay, the Laguna Grande.

We arrive at this former fishing village on the eastern tip of the island at dusk.

The shoreline is a mad scramble of cars and trailers stacked high with kayaks, as about 15 different tour operators jockey for position. But when we set off in our two-person kayaks, in the dark, it's only a matter of minutes before we enter the channel to the lagoon.

It gets increasingly dark as the moon and the stars disappear behind the tops of mangrove trees. About a hundred metres in, I can barely make out Cathryn, my fellow kayaker, in the front of the boat.

Up ahead, we can hear our soft-spoken guide, Luis Mendez, giving us directions — "left" and "right" — to help us negotiate the bends in the narrow channel.

Although it soon becomes obvious that we're being pulled along by a strong current, which several times forces us to crash into the tangle of mangrove roots along the bank.

When we finally make it to the open water of the lagoon, every stroke of our paddles unleashes the otherworldly spectacle of the place. The water beside our kayaks lights up like a cloud in a lightning storm, and everyone coos with delight at the phenomenon, which can be found in only a few places on Earth and is extremely difficult to photograph properly.

Mendez calls us together, and our little pod of kayaks bunches up in the middle of the lagoon. He explains how our paddling disrupts the oxygen levels in the water and causes the microscopic dinoflagellates, a type of plankton, to glow.

Just then, several quick zigzags appear off the bow of our kayak — probably a school of fish, Mendez tells us.

As he describes the efforts of small operators like himself to preserve the area, I dip my hand into the warm water. The tiny creatures sparkle in my palm and along my fingers like distant stars.

The next flash is from overhead — a system moving in from the east.

Not wanting to caught in a lightning storm in open water, we agree it's time to head back.

Our pod breaks apart, and we turn toward the channel. With fish surfacing and igniting the water all around us, we dig in and paddle across the flat lagoon, through the bright lights of America.

Pack your bags

Getting there

Air Canada and major U.S. carriers such as American Airlines, US Airways and Delta fly to San Juan, usually with connections in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., or Charlotte, N.C. However, many Caribbean destinations, including Puerto Rico, are facing a shortage of flights this fall and winter. American Airlines, for example, has announced that it will be cutting back sharply on daily service to the islands.

When to go

Puerto Rico has a temperate climate year-round, averaging 22 degrees in the winter and 29 degrees in the summer. February is the driest month.

Where to stay

El San Juan Hotel & Casino 6063 Isla Verde Ave.; 866-317-8935; elsanjuanhotel.com. Located on Isla Verde Beach in San Juan and just five minutes from the airport. Even locals flock to this hotel's lobby on weekends for the live salsa bands and dancing. Rooms start at $154 a night.

Hotel El Convento 100 Cristo St.; 800-468-2779; www.elconvento.com. This former convent, located in Old San Juan, dates to 1651. Rooms start at $154 a night.

El Conquistador Golf Resort & Casino 1000 El Conquistador Ave., Fajardo, 866-317-8932; elconresort.com. This sprawling coastal property offers fantastic views of the Caribbean and provides ferry service to Palomino Island, with its nice beach and hiking trails. Rooms from $185 a night.

Gran Melia Puerto Rico Golf Resort & Villas 1000 Coca Beach Blvd., Rio Grande; 787-809-1770; www.granmeliapuertorico.com. Located on the northeastern coast, this property is just a short drive from El Yunque National Forest. Rooms from $130 a night.

Where to eat

Paya City View Plaza, San Juan; 787-782-7292; www.wilobenet.com. Celebrity chef Wilo Benet's casual restaurant adds Asian influences to local staples such as fish, plantains and even corned beef — a legacy of the U.S. Navy's decades-long presence on the island.

Aguaviva 364 Fortaleza St.; 787-722-0885; oofrestaurants.com. Try the ceviche dishes or the new paella — made with couscous instead of rice — at this funky eatery in the heart of Old San Juan's SoFo (South of Fortaleza, the governor's residence).

What to do

Acampa Nature Adventures 787-706-0695; www.acampapr.com. Hiking, spelunking, camping and zip-lining trips along the Tanama River and through the Toro Negro Forest from $155 a day.

Yokahu Kayak Trips 787-604-7375. Guide Luis Mendez leads kayakers to the bioluminescent bay at Fajardo.

Hacienda Carabali 787-889-5820 787-690-3781; www.haciendacarabali.com. This 240-hectare ranch on the northeast coast features trails for horseback riding, mountain biking and ATV excursions.

WOW! Surfing School 787-955-6059; www.wowsurfingschool.com. Instructor William (Cho) Sue-A-Quan will have you up on a board in no time.

Rico Suntours 787-722-2080; www.ricosuntours.com. The company runs bus and walking tours of such destinations as Old San Juan and El Yunque National Forest.

More information

Puerto Rico Tourism

www.gotopuertorico.com