USVI-On-Line

Hello Forum Friends, I'm thinking about another Caribbean Island trip in early summer 2015 (two adults) and considering other islands besides St John (love STJ but might try sthg else this time around)...

I know lots of you have been to multiple Islands/Caribbean destinations so I wanted to seek your opinions and advice on this...

If your goals were snorkeling, relaxing, and maybe a little yummy food, where would you suggest besides STJ??

Thanks in advance, always appreciate ya'll sharing your opinions & suggestions...

Cheers!

Curacao..desert island, lovely people and you can snorkel/dive from every beach. Dominica and St Lucia are lovely, as is Bequia.

Virgin Gorda has all of what you are looking for in an island. There are more close to the beach options for villa rentals. Spanishtown isn't as hopping as Cruz Bay. We loved all the restaurants we tried. Going back for another 10 days in February.

We loved Anguilla for the beaches, villa options (you get a lot for your money and many walk to the beach) and the restaurants. All the beaches we visited had plenty of public parking, no worries about will we/won't we get a spot. Many beaches have at least one open air bar/grill for drinks and food. These have loungers that are free or low cost if you buy from the establishment. The food all over the island was really fantastic. The island is producing their own, home-grown chefs.

Provo, T & C is more Bahamas than Caribbean. The beaches are gorgeous and you can snorkel from the beach if you know where to go. Tons of on the beach rentals and villas. Depend on where you stay, it can seem overdeveloped or deserted. The interior of the island is ugly, reminds me of metro FL areas. Great restaurants both casual and more upscale. Food and drink is shockingly expensive. We have been to Provo twice and will return. It isn't like STJ but has its own charms. The out islands are beautiful with no development but that also limits dining choices.

Dominican Republic - not so much

I'm glad you posted this..We are thinking about heading over to Virgin Gorda next yr after Carnival on STJ...we haven't booked anything as of yet so our options are open..I'll be watching..

JJShaw wrote:I'm glad you posted this..We are thinking about heading over to Virgin Gorda next yr after Carnival on STJ...we haven't booked anything as of yet so our options are open..I'll be watching..

Virgin Gorda is really great. We spent 10 days there in 2009 and the only reason we haven't return is the little extra effort it takes to get there. I admit to being a point in my life where I want easy travel. The ferry from STT didn't fit into our travel schedules. When Cape Air started service to VG, we started looking at villas. Our next trip is February and I'll report back.

I think our next four Caribbean trips will be:

1. St John (already booked)
2. Virgin Gorda/Jost van Dyke combo
3. St John
4. Bequia

Like others, we love St John but want to branch out a little (well I do, anyway. I think my wife would be happy never going anywhere but St John).

I sat next to someone on a STT flight a few years back who said St. Barts is a good STJ substitute but I haven't investigated that as an option yet.

Another recommendation I had tucked away is this - http://www.ot-mariegalante.com/index-en.php

St Barths is a great option - very Caribbean, Very European

Marie Galante -- more like STJ or SBH of 30-40 years ago. Absolutely perfect if that is your expectation.

Bequia is on our short list too. However, its a challenge and time consuming to get to - - via St. Vincent, it’s a 30 min ferry ride, but St. Vincent doesn't yet have an international airport - you'll have to fly to nearby Barbados, St. Lucia or Grenada (or maybe San Juan?) and then catch a flight from those stops on Liat Airlines or SVG Air (and they have pretty bad service reputations). Those airlines fly to the main island and to most islands in the chain, such as Mustique, Bequia and Canouan.

The success of "Pirates of the Caribbean," has spurred interest in St. Vincent, and they have been building Argyle International Airport (for 6 yrs now) – if/when that is completed and opens, it will be able to accommodate direct flights on big planes.

http://www.iwnsvg.com/2014/08/08/argyle ... officials/

Over the last 10 years, we've visited several places in the BVIs and enjoyed them all. We've stayed on Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, Peter Island, and Scrub Island. Each one is different from the others and has its pros and cons. It also depends on whether you like a "resort experience" or a "villa experience" or a "small place experience". We like them all

Before we started going to St John, we used to go to St Kitts and Nevis fairly often. Nevis is especially scenic with the mountain in the middle of the island. Snorkeling is just so-so, but the island is very beautiful and has some nice smallish "boutique hotel" places to stay. However, the gun violence on both St Kitts and Nevis, including many murders (mostly of local people, not tourists) has significantly increased since we were last there in 2004. They are on various lists of high crime places now. So I don't recommend it any more, at least not until they get the crime under control.

We're headed to Virgin Gorda this weekend. No hurricanes or tropical storms, please!

Bequia is on our list as well for when we have more time to travel. I would also like to see Barbuda.

I think our next venture away from the VIs will be the Out Islands of the Bahamas.

We looked at St. Kitts two or so years ago and I couldn't get comfortable with it, it seemed a little grittier than I wanted to experience.

We are heading back to Virgin Gorda and Jost next month after going there for our first visit last December. We've been going to STJ since 1996 for maybe a dozen visits. I can't speak for the snorkeling because we don't but for the relaxing we would give both islands two thumbs up! VG has a number of more restaurant options than Jost; Jost is very very casual. We enjoyed both equally.

Our transportation route was to STT for a night or two, then the direct am ferry to VG, then ferry to Jost via Tortola, and on the way back it was ferry to tortola, Cruz bay, then STT. We loved the ferry rides, so we think of them as bonus time on the water.

Thanks for all the feedback thusfar, I appreciate it!

Really looking for the best off beach snorkeling recommendations...besides STJ!

Should have mentioned, Mahoe bay on VG has great from the shore snorkeling.

We are considering Great Exuma, Montserrat and VG. So many islands, so little time and money!