Cayman Islands

The Cayman consultation is the pleasant kind, and diving is where the physician earns the visit. Grand Cayman holds the islands' only recompression chamber — at the Anthony S. Eden Hospital, on-call around the clock — so a bent diver on Cayman Brac or Little Cayman faces a low-altitude flight before treatment, which is exactly why dive-accident coverage belongs on every diver's checklist. Build a full day between your last dive and your flight home, stay hydrated, and treat fatigue plus joint pain after diving as a call, not a wait. At Stingray City, shuffle — barb injuries happen to people who kneel.

Two things catch travelers off guard. Oxybenzone and octinoxate sunscreens are banned — bring mineral SPF 50 from home, because the UV index sits at extreme year-round. And healthcare is excellent but entirely private-pay: Health City is JCI Enterprise Accredited with genuine cardiac surgery capability, rare for the Caribbean, but nothing is free, so insurance is not optional. June through November, add hurricane cancellation coverage — Ivan in 2004 is the island's institutional memory.