Bonacca—officially Guanaja Town, and often just called the Cay—is not actually on the main island, but on one of the cays, and is home to some 6,000 people. It is an architectural oddity, built on rickety wooden causeways over a maze of canals, founded in the 1830s by immigrants from the Cayman Islands. They constructed their homes on what were then Hog and Sheen Cays.

These two tiny little islets, with a total of one kilometer of land space connected by a shoal, have since been built to cover 18 square kilometers by generations tossing their garbage out the window and eventually covering it over with sand, shells, and coral. With waterways instead of streets, the town is sometimes described as the Venice of the Caribbean (although the similarities begin and end with the canals).

With no beaches or other obvious attractions, Bonacca is worth a visit only to meet the islander townsfolk and take care of any business you might have. Anyone who spends a couple of days wandering the maze of causeways that make up the island will soon make a few acquaintances and start to hear the endlessly entertaining local gossip and tall tales.

Water taxis ply the canals of Bonacca, although within town it’s easy to get everywhere by foot.