Most families flock to the Caribbean to sift their toes in the pearly white sands. But in Dominica, the attraction is not the relatively few beaches on this 29-mile-long isle, but a lush mountainous interior ripe with every tropical fruit and vegetable imaginable. Around every bend is another raging waterfall, a serene swimming hole nestled in the thick bush, or a hidden hot spring to rest your weary body after a day in the outdoors. Indeed, this former British colony closest to Martinique, has become an affordable haven for the active traveler who yearns to hike through a jungle-like forest, scuba dive and snorkel on living reefs, and sea kayak in sheltered coves with little if any boat traffic. Sure, you can still lounge with a good book, but it won't be on an overdeveloped strip of sand. You'll be high up in the hills at an eco-resort like Papillote Wilderness Retreat sipping fresh passionfruit juice or rum punch and listening to the calls of birds.

Papillote's owner Anne Jno Baptiste first came to Dominica from the States in 1961. Eight years later, she bought a seven-acre chunk of land enveloped in the rainforest that she would cultivate into a flower-rich botanical garden and one of the Caribbean's first eco-resorts. Once you arrive, you'll want to walk the trails, a luxuriant and tangled growth overflowing with indigenous orchids, begonias, and bromeliads. There's no secret why Dominica remains so velvety green while other Caribbean locales like Aruba and the Turks & Caicos look so arid and brown: the heavy downpours, with some parts of the island like Papillote receiving more than 300 inches of rainfall annually.

Like the flowers she's nurtured, almost everything inside Anne's property comes from Dominica. In the dining room the red cedar chairs, stone walls, and wrought iron wainscoting are all native. So is the food, fresh from the surrounding farmland and sea.

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