accomodations
 

first, I'm very new to posting and second, have only been out of US once to jamaica. want to go to t&c, a lot of people say its good for off beach snorkeling. my husband/I(mid 40's) like very very casual(no long pants for him anywhere)the beach scene maybe some water sports a little sightseeing. also, no kids if possible. is there a place like this on t&c? planning a week next march early april and what is the weather, crowds like this time of year? we have a budget of 3k including airfare.

Hint - You might get more responses if you repost your question with the words "T&C" and "Snorkeling" in your title. Like "T&C beachfront Accomodations near walk-in snorkeling". All posts appear on the Caribbean Forum so potential respondants have no way of knowing what island you are planning to visit unless you put it in the subject line.

Now, 98% of akll the resorts in the T&C's are located on Providenciales' Grace Bay. The beach there is about 12 miles long. There are only two "walk-in snorkeling" spots on that beach. Coral Gardens and Smith's Reef. Both offer very good snorkeling but the reefs themselves are not very large. The Coral Gardens Hotel is located right at Coral Gardens Reef. It's either a long walk or short car ride from from any of the other Grace Bay resorts to the snorkel sites.

There's another very good walk-in snorkel site at Malcolm's Beach but you'll need a 4WD vehicle to get there. There are numerous other snorkel sites on nearby islands and cays but you have to go on a private boat or an organized tour to reach them.

There are a number of places you can dine wearing shorts and casual clothees.

Late March and early April is still High Season in the T&C's (lots of families on Spring Break or Easter Vacation). The beach is l12 miles long some the crowds are fairly well disbursed.

how much hotel you can afford will be determined by your airfare. so where will you fly from? spirit flies to provo. kayak.com is an excellent search engine for flights. jet blue goes to san juan, then you'd catch a flight to provo from there.
club med is the only adults only resort. generally the only place grace bay beach gets somewhat crowded is at the beaches resort.
if you can wait til the 2nd two weeks in april low season pricing will start.
the weather will be very nice. 80's in day, but i'd take a sweatshirt or sweater for nights. the water temp is cooler by a couple degrees.
you should be able to afford the alexandra resort, royal west indies, maybe the sands or ocean club resorts. definitely http://www.sibonne.com/ which is a small hotel in a good location. (their sites activities pages are full of info for water sports, etc.)
jamaica is not known for snorkeling at all.
grand cayman might be an alternative if you're seeking an island with great off beach snorkeliing opportunities.
a less expensive island is isla mujeres, just off cancun (easy to fly to from everwhere). excellent snorkeling. tiny island - ppl rent golf carts to get around instead of cars. no giant hotels and lots of little places to eat/drink that are seriously casual.
happy planning.

thanks for the tip RoamsAround and info

thanks virginia, i looked into sibonne and like the beach apt. will have to research restaurants. can you rent scooters there or is it taxis, shuttle service

right now it's taxis or rent a car/jeep for a day or 2. there was a shuttle but it's closed. you can walk to the sands, as well as alexandra, palms & somerset. not to mention bay bistro (sibonne's restaurant) is very good.