St. Kitts, St. Thomas, Bahamas, or Aruba?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Another couple and I, all in our 40’s, travel together often. We’re starting to plan our January/February '11 trip. Background: They love to snorkel. I can’t do much snorkeling with my motion sickness, but I’m fine beachcombing, etc. We also like to play tennis, visit historical sites, boat, and hike. Lounging around a half day here or there is okay, but we like to stay active most days.

This past January, we traveled to St. John and loved it. The snorkeling was outstanding, the resort was beautiful, and the weather was great. The downside is that the downtown area was kind of gritty and I wouldn’t have minded a bit more nightlife. But all in all it was fantastic.

Someone on another site saw that I was open to exchanging our week in Maui for someplace in the Caribbean and offered up a week at the Marriott in St. Kitts, St. Thomas, or Aruba. We also still have the option of trading into Harborside in Atlantis or back to St. John. So we’re trying to decide which of these would be the best option for us.

I’m somewhat familiar with St. Thomas, as we flew into St. Thomas for our week on St. John. Frankly, I wasn’t impressed with what I saw of the island. The ocean was glorious, of course, but the island itself (or what little I saw of it) seemed dirty and unappealing. However, I’ll admit I only saw the airport and the road to the dock, so maybe my first impression was negatively skewed.

The other islands are mysteries to me. Our first criteria is historically good weather during our travel dates - somewhere between January and March. The second is good snorkeling. The rest all fall in line after that.

Does anyone have any insight into any of these other places that will help us narrow down our options?

2

You might want to think about the Brittish Virgin Islands instead of the U.S. if that is posible. Due to legal issues (IIUC), there is a lot less building in the BVI’s. I’ve been to St. Thomas twice and also did a sailboat trip around the islands. The BVI’s were way nicer in that they were not nearly as crowded. Less building and less people.

Tortola was way cool as was Nanny Cay. Virgin Gorda also was oustanding.

I think the neatest place down there was Saba Rock.

Slee

3

Not much to do on Aruba - the nightlife isn’t all that spectacular and there’s little of historical interest. The snorkling was “ok.”

4

The best description of Aruba I’ve ever heard was that it was like Arizona. Dry, boring and f-all to do.

5

Okay, crossing Aruba off the list. :slight_smile:

6

check out Sint Maarten/St Martin.

7

I loved Aruba. You can always count on sunny weather, albeit always windy as well. It’s a desert climate, so the outlying areas will indeed be dry like Arizona; don’t go there looking for jungle or rain forest. The island is very clean and prosperous; it has the usual tourist industry but a significant non-tourist local economy as well. Our activities tended to be touristy (dinner cruise, off-road island wilderness tour, ostrich farm, colonial church), but we had a lot of fun. We don’t go clubbing, so I can’t help you there, but we do like to get off the beaten path when dining, and there are some really excellent restaurants with local and other Caribbean food.