Family Time // Five Great Water Parks in the Caribbean

Going to the Caribbean is pretty much a water park in itself. The gorgeous blue water, tons of activities and gorgeous waterfalls and hiking trails!

When I used to take family vacations as a child, my sister and I would always beg to go to the local water parks. Some place called "Splash Adventure" or "WaterWorld". Such great memories were made those summers!

So when traveling as a family to the Caribbean, many people forget that some resorts actually have a water park affiliated with the resort. How awesome is that!

Kool Runnings

Jamaica's Kool Runnings in Negril is freestanding, which means it is not affliliated with a resort. The water park is easy to access with convenient parking, which isn't always the case for resort-based water parks.

The five-acre park has 10 water slides (the largest is 40-feet high), with colorful names like Duppy Conqueror and Kick Puppalick. There's also a play area for the tiny tots and a lazy river with waterfalls. Kool Runnings also has a juice bar, sports bar and three restaurants. Visitors to Kool Runnings can get a special price when they combine their ticket with the adjacent and affiliated Adventure Zone, where they can indulge in paintball battles, laser tag and go-kart races.

Pirate's Island

Over the last decade or so Beaches Turks & Caicos has been setting the bar for family vacations. Little kids stop in their tracks when they encounter life-size Sesame Street characters, while teens peel off to disappear in the resort's xBox lounge.

One place they all come together is the resort's 45,000-square-foot Pirate's Island water park. There are lots of exciting features that will keep kids on their toes, including ten water slides, water cannons, and spray features. Those looking for a gentler diversion can float down the park's 650-foot Lazy River and there's a zero-entry pool for the littlest ones just learning to walk, let alone swim. The "wow" factor attraction at Pirate's Island is the Surf-Simulator, which allows surfers of all experience levels a chance to hang ten on a variety of recreated wave conditions.

Beaches Turks & Caicos is an all-inclusive resort, which means all of the water park activities are included.

Aquaventure

Atlantis Paradise Island is a destination unto itself. The sprawling resort complex contains the 141-acre Aquaventure, a huge water park playground of 12 pools and nine waterslides. There are even water escalators for kids who want to save all their energy for the twists and turns of the water slides.

Additional features at the Mayan-themed water park include a snorkeling lagoon, a mile-long lazy river, and a kids-themed water fort. Friendly competition can be had on the Challenger Slide, where two people can race each other down the twin slides and then see who was fastest by comparing speeds on the slide's time clock.

Admission to Aquaventure is complimentary for guests staying at Atlantis; day passes are on sale for those not staying at the resort but availability is sometimes limited.

Sirenis Aquagames

The all-inclusive Sirenis Punta Cana Resort Casino in the beachfront destination of Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, recently made a stay at their resort even more appealing. They now include free admission for resort guests to the adjacent Sirenis Aquagames. This is a nice perk, especially for families with more than one kid, since they'll also be able to eat for free at the water park.

Sirenis Aquagames has ten water slides, including the Aquaracer, a high speed, four lane slide; and the Stuka, where a sensation of free fall provides a real thrill. The littlest kids can cavort in the Babies' Animals Area, where they'll find a zero-entry shallow pool, animal slides and ultra-safe conditions

CocoLand

St. Lucia is one of the Caribbean's most scenic islands, lush and tropical. Coconut Bay Beach Resort & Spa is tucked away on the island's south coast. The resort is actually two resorts in one, with one side designated adults-only, while the other side, called "Splash" caters to families with kids. Splash is also the site of CocoLand, the island's largest water park. Here guests can cavort on a number of rides, including tubing along a lazy river featuring an occasional waterfall or racing through the Coconut Coaster slide, which hurtles riders along a twisting route before plunging them into a pool. The ride offering the biggest bang is the Coconut Cannon, the resort's high speed water slide.