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Family vacation with Teens/Tweens: Caymans, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica

Family vacation with Teens/Tweens: Caymans, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica

Old Apr 17th, 2014, 08:58 AM
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Family vacation with Teens/Tweens: Caymans, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica

As you can tell from the title, I have no idea where to choose! We are a family of 5, with 3 boys ages 12-16, and may have my Dad with us too. We will be traveling for 1-2 weeks beginning mid June. We live in the Pacific Northwest, so we're looking at a big flight time. We have been to Maui, the Big Island, and Kauai and are considering something different this time. We've never been to the Caribbean before, but each of these destinations looks very tempting! I would like a beautiful beach vacation with some nice snorkeling opportunities, relaxation, good food (doesn't have to be expensive)etc. My husband had mentioned Costa Rica due to some of the wildlife , as well as some of the more adventure oriented things and just general exploring. My boys like to snorkel, fish, play in the water, paddle board, and do some exploring. I think they'd like seeing the mayan ruins in Belize too. On the outer islands it looks like we could rent a boat and do some exploring.

We're really not big resort people (just too expensive for what we'd take advantage of), and we really like renting houses/condos with kitchens for breakfast/lunch. Looking for some suggestions and first hand experiences of what might make for a great first time trip.
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Old Apr 17th, 2014, 11:45 AM
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What is your budget? Give a specific dollar range not terms like "affordable", "won't break the bank", etc. as they are meaningless without a point of reference. if possible give us separate budgets for airfare, accommodations, meals and activities.

How much travel time are you willing to endure - getting almost anywhere in the Caribbean from the PNW is going to take at least one, maybe even 2 or three connecting flights?

In the meantime consider this;

1) You'll find some excellent "walking" snorkeling on Grand Cayman, Belize has very good to excellent snorkeling but to access the best places you'll need a boat.

2) Great hiking and exploring in Costa Rica , good but not fantastic beaches, fantastic deep sea fishing.

3) Bahamas -limited hiking and adventure oriented activities - think mostly water related activities. Most Out-islands are difficult to reach. Snorkeling varies greatly from island to island - since there are over 800 islands and cays in the chain you'll need to do a lot of research to see which ones, if any, really appeal to you.
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Old Apr 17th, 2014, 08:03 PM
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RoamsAround- thanks for the input. Ideally we'd be able to find a condo/house for $300-$450/night. Would like a comfortable, nice place but the location is most important. I think your comments sum up our dilemma- we want the snorkeling of the caymans and belize, with the exploring of Costa Rica. Wondering if there's a good place that "has it all". Wondering about Barbados too.
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Old Apr 18th, 2014, 04:34 AM
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Check out St. John (USVI's) or Virgin Gorda (BVI's) - both are hilly island and while they are somewhat on the arid side they have lots of forest areas for good hiking and exploring (FYI 2/3's of St. John is a National Park). The both have some wonderful light golden sand beaches lapped by calm crystal clear water and plenty of very good to excellent walk-in snorkeling. Plus you'll find plenty of water sports (sailing, windsurfing, paddle boarding, kayaking, deep sea fishing) on both islands. These two islands come close to filling everything on your wish list.
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Old Apr 18th, 2014, 06:44 PM
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I was also thinking St. John. The negative will be the time to get there. You may have to spend a night in st Thomas . We have been there twice from Denver, first time spent a couple of days in St Thomas first. Second time the Westin picked us up at the airport & it was a very late night in a boat to St. John. You should look into Costa Rica too but the snorkeling may not be as good. The jungle experience may be better. We love St. John but we may be more beach/snorkeling people.
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Old Apr 19th, 2014, 05:19 PM
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I keep looking at places in the Bahamas out islands (Exuma or Staniel Cay) and they look so amazing. I realize we would be "limited" to more beach activities so I'm not sure yet. I'll look more at St. John. I just don't want anything too commercial.
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Old Apr 20th, 2014, 05:55 PM
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St. John is not commercial, mostly national park. We did go to Abaco one of Bahamas out islands with young kids perhaps 15 years ago. It was an adventure, mostly though the getting there. Look at grand Cayman too, easier to get to, many condos, great snorkeling.
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Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 09:30 AM
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Have you really done the math comparing a "cheaper" AI in Mexico or Costa Rica vs getting a house/condo/villa in any of the places mentioned?

We travel each Thanksgiving with our family of 6 to an AI in the Mexican Riviera. We can do this cheaper than we can fly, stay, eat, drink, etc in any other location. In fact, renting a house in Florida is pretty much a break even in terms of cost.

Staying in an AI allows you to enjoy all the adventures (fishing, snorkeling, kayaking, swimming, exploring, etc) without the overhead of renting cars, cooking, shopping, cleaning, etc.

A couple years ago we stayed in an AI in Costa Rica and had a blast white water rafting, horseback riding, ziplining, body surfing, seeing monkies and onther wildlife, hiking, volcanic mud baths, etc ... not great snorkeling though. We found Costa Rica to be about the same cost as the Riviera flying out of DFW. Happy Travels!
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