# Need Advice on Caribbean location



## tim (Mar 19, 2007)

I have never been to the Caribbean and would like to take the family there around X-mas 2008 -- I know this will be a hard exchange, but want to try anyway.  First, which islands should I focus on for great beaches and lots of scuba diving and snorkeling for the family.  Second, any recommendations as to resorts to try and exchange into.  I will have a Marriott deposited in II to use and a southern Ca coastal resort in SFX to use.  I also could use RCI.  Thanks.  Tim


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## SCUBA (Mar 19, 2007)

*Carribean location*

TIM

  We have spent the last three Thanksgivings in Aruba and love it. We just got into timeshares this year and haven't had to trade into anythiing before. But from what I can see it doesn't look all that hard to get into Aruba. Its got decent diving Southcoast drift dives are great. Most of the shallow stuff gets kind of old after a week though. Plenty of other things to do though. We decided to go to St Marteen this year since we bought RCI points and see what its like. If you want to know specifics just let me know.

        Bill


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## gmarine (Mar 19, 2007)

There are many great choices. Aruba, Antigua, St Maarten, St Thomas, St John etc. I think your best bet is to take whichever one you can get. An exchange to the caribbean during Xmas week is extremely difficult. And keep in mind airfare is going to be extremely expensive.


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## Anne S (Mar 20, 2007)

If you want great diving and snorkeling you should consider the Cayman Islands. Christmas will be difficult, but Moritts Tortuga Club always seems to have availablity in RCI.


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## Judy (Mar 20, 2007)

I second Grand Cayman.  The only timeshare on 7 mile beach is Plantation Village Beach Resort.  But the best diving is on the other side of the island, closer to Morritts.  The day we dove there, it was rough and windy, but the coral and reef life were beautiful.  Take your wetsuit.  The water in the Cayman Islands is not as warm as you might expect in winter.

The Turks and Caicos are said to have great diving and beautiful beaches, but I'm still waiting for my first exchange there.  So I can't tell you first-hand.

Also great diving:  Cozumel and Bonaire, but you won't find much in the way of beaches there.

Aruba has a beautiful beach, but I wasn't very impressed with the diving there.

Great diving and great beaches are seldom found in the same place


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## Kal (Mar 21, 2007)

Take a good look at St. Maarten.  Go ...*here*... to see some of my reasoning.


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## johnmfaeth (Mar 21, 2007)

Hi Tim,

Every one of us has "island bias" based upon individual experiences or expectations met/un met on past trips. 

I personally own units on Aruba, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten and am an avid snorkler and trained diver so I'll try to be as un-biased as possible.

Aruba - best sand in the Caribbean. However, snorkeling opportunities fairly limited, some decent, but not wow, diving. Great food and plenty of nightlife.

Grand Cayman - Nice snorkeling, great diving, especially the wall diving at tth esubmarine dropoff just north of the island. But the east end of the island makes the best base camp an things are pretty quiet. Little restauarant or nightlife choices.

St. Thomas - the US and Britsih Virgin Islands literally have many dozens of dive sites and snorkeling sites in very protected waters. If money is less an issue, St. John is without question the nicest destination in the Caribbean for this and having about 30 restaurants. The BVI has nice places but no single BVI island has the number of snorkel/dive spots as St. John nor the number of dining options. Neither island has nightlife per se. 

St. Maarten - Snorkeling really hurt by storms of the last 12 years (2 big ones). Just lacks the protective bays of the virgin islands which are a mere 100 miles to the west of SXM. But next door Anguilla has some nice snorkeling. However, the food, shopping, and nightlife choices are incredible. 

So of these I would say, St. Thomas is your best bet,

If restaurants and nightlife are non-issues, then Grand Cayman is a close second. It also brings Bonaire into play as a great 1st choice. But the island is virtually devoid of things to do except the water.

But for a balanced, wonderful experience. St. Thomas with day trips to St. John and the BVI will be a very rich experience. Be forwarned, you will be disappointed if you ever visit Cancun, Jamaica, the Bahamas, or the Dominican Republic after going the the USVI/BVI.

Have a great trip! Planning is half the fun....

John

PS. You will have no options for St. John with your current exchange ideas. Each of these islands, except Grand Cayman has little hurricane risk other than Sept-Oct (being in the eastern Caribbean which only gets Sahara originated storms). July is actually the dry season for all of these, typically 85-88 degree temps and nice breezes. A lot less crowded too. That is a better time to go IMHO. Around Christmas, the entire eastern Antilles gets what they call the "Christmas Winds" this means 20 knots gusting 30 and rough seas. Even the snorkeling degrades with the amount of silt and sand kicked up. I think Christmas is the worst time to go with your profile.


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## quiltergal (Mar 21, 2007)

We just came back from Grand Cayman in February.  The beaches are lovely, though on the east end where Morritt's is located there is quite a lot of trash on the beach.  It looks like Ivan residue.  In one spot there must have been a line of 25 or more shoes, and not one had a mate!  Seven Mile beach is really beautiful, and closer to Georgetown where all the action is.  Morritt's is a very nice resort and we would stay there again.

The snorkeling was fair that time of year.  It was pretty windy and there was a strong current out in front of the resort.  Visibility on the windy days was pretty marginal.  If you can get out to the inside of the Wall there are lots of great fish.  I saw a juvenile French Angel who had set up a cleaning station.  He would swim up to the mouths of the blue striped bass that were in the area, and they would open their mouths really wide and the angel would pick parasites out of the insides of their mouths.  It was really interesing to watch.  I also saw two of the largest moray eels I have ever seen anywhere on the reef off of Rum Point.  One swam right up to the boat and some other people in the water.  The boat captain had told us there was a friendly eel there but I was surpised at how friendly he was.  Long story short, I'd go back for the snorkeling but I think I'd pick a different time of year to go.


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## tim (Mar 21, 2007)

Thanks everybody.  Okay, I am holding a 2 bedroom at the Morritt's Tortuga Club for Thanksgiving week 2008 -- on Grand Cayman.  What do you think?  We will do lots of water activities with the kids, including diving, but also want to see things.  It sounds like the Grand Cayman may not have much else to offer.  I must admit I haven't done much research yet as this just became a possibility.  Also, since I have a family of 5, I need a 2 bedroom, which makes it even harder to exchange.


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## quiltergal (Mar 21, 2007)

It's a pretty small island, but there's plenty to keep you busy for a week.  Go shopping in Georgetown, visit the Turtle Farm, send postcards from Hell, take a snorkel tour from Rum Point to swim with the stingrays, go to the botanical gardens, relax on the beach, snorkel, snorkel, snorkel.  I have recent pictures posted in my Yahoo photo album.


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## Judy (Mar 21, 2007)

Morritt's is a great location for SCUBA, snorkeling in good weather, and windsurfing.  Most of the other activities (already mentioned by quiltergal) and the best beach are on the other side of the island.  You'll probably want a rental car for the week.


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## kcgriffin (Mar 21, 2007)

Tim,

If you are trading a Marriott try for either the new Marriott in St Kitts or St Thomas, both are brand new and should have lots of availability for Marriott owners.


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## tim (Mar 21, 2007)

kcgriffin said:


> Tim,
> 
> If you are trading a Marriott try for either the new Marriott in St Kitts or St Thomas, both are brand new and should have lots of availability for Marriott owners.



Based on all the input, I think I will indeed try for the Marriott in St Thomas.  Kcgriffin, when I do my request should I also list the Westin in St John?  While I would prefer around X-mas 2008, I expect my best chances would be Thanksgiving week 2008, right.  Thanks.


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## Larry (Mar 23, 2007)

SCUBA said:


> TIM
> 
> But from what I can see it doesn't look all that hard to get into Aruba. Its got decent diving Southcoast drift dives are great.
> Bill




Sorry Bill but I don't agree. Aruba for xmas would be a miracle to trade into any resort except for maybe Carribean Palm village. La cabana or La quinta and unless there is a last minute cancellation I doubt you could get any of those. I do see plenty of availability for November including thanksgiving and any week in December except for weeks 51 and 52. I also think it's very rare to find anything in Aruba for weeks 51-12.

St. Marteen would have better availability for weeks 51-12.


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