Perched on the plateau of an underwater mountain, 575 miles off the coast of Miami, lies the small body of land that is West Caicos island. Listed as “Belle Island” on many old maritime maps, West Caicos is considered one of the most beautiful of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

A former British salt-producing and sisal-growing site in the 1800s, West Caicos is a small island with an impressively long and tumultuous history. Previously controlled by Spain and France, the Turks & Caicos islands are now considered a non-sovereign territory of the UK, and are rumored to be the final resting place of Christopher Columbus’s lost ship, the Pinta.

Today, West Caicos is a nearly uninhabited Caribbean wonderland. Protected by a natural barrier – Earth’s third-largest coral reef system, it offers visitors spectacular scuba diving, water sports, sport fishing and world-class relaxation.