Best beach/water in the Carribean?
 

We are planning a trip to the carribean but would like to know where is the best white sand beaches and turquoise water? The beach, I suspect, will be the most important aspect of our trip! We do like to snorkel as well!<BR>Thanks for all and any input!!!<BR>Craig

Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.

Craig,<BR>I agree with Gail, Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman!!! Beautiful beach, calm gorgeous water, and great snorkeling right from the beach.

Grace Bay in Turks and Caicos. Miles of white, empty beaches and the water is very calm and clear - truely beautiful.

Eagle Beach and Palm Beach on Aruba (same stretch of beach, just different names). Incredible water, beautiful sand. Often voted the best beach in the world by one of those travel magazines.

All of the islands have beautiful water, but for my money, and we're talking long stretch of beach and WATER, is Cancun. The colors are constantly changing. I could and have sat for hours just watching the water.

Hi Craig! These are my favorite picture-perfect beaches - white sand, calm, clear, turqoise water:<BR><BR><BR>Smuggler's Cove, Tortola<BR>St. John<BR>The Baths, Virgin Gorda<BR>Loblolly Bay, Anegada<BR>Flamenco Beach, Culebra, Puerto Rico<BR>Red Beach, Blue Beach, Green Beach, Gringo Beach in Vieques, Puerto Rico<BR>My secret beach - off the lighthouse in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico<BR>Playa del Carmen, Akumal and Xpu-Ha, Mexico

Great question, but everytime it's the same results. The same great beaches will always be mentioned. I love spectacular white sand beaches with calm, clear & beautiful water. Here are my best beaches, that I have seen - with no bais.<BR><BR>Negril (incredibly clear/calm, for 7 miles)<BR>Trunk Bay - St.Johns (the entire north coast) <BR>Megans Bay - St. Thomas (popular but pretty)<BR>Playa Norte - Isla Mujeres (near Cancun)<BR>Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman (awesome)Shoal Bay - Anguilla (several others on this island)<BR>Palm Beach - Aruba (Eagle Beach is great but deeper slope)<BR><BR>NOTE: There are 3 or 4 great beaches on the Islands of: St.Martin, St.Barts, Antigua, Barbuda, Gold Coast Barbados, BVI, Dominican Rep, Bermuda & Bahamas.

I agree with the wonderful choices mentioned by Mariarosa. Have a great trip!

Cow's Wreck Bay Beach on Anegada was incredible. The water was gorgeous and I walked for over an hour and didn't see one other person. Trunk Bay on St. John - pretty busy here though. Good luck.

Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman in front on the Westin or Cancun in front of the Ritz Carlton

Harbour Island, Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Pink sand, though, not white. Fabulous and not built up like Condo City Cayman.

Flamenco Beach, Culebra, is great for the beach but the snorkeling was somewhat dismal compared to others I've seen. On the other hand, melones beach on Culebra is rather dismal -- lots of coral on the beach, plus rocks and sea urchins at entry, but snorkeling was absolutely phenomenal! sometimes you can't always get the best of both worlds, but, as I've said, the snorkeling off Melones Beach was so cool -- say sea fan, about 30 swpecies of fish, including a 6 ft. (peaceful) barracuda) and gorgeous, non-trampeled coral.

Lori,<BR><BR>Where exactly is Cow's Wreck Bay Beach on Anegadane? Was it expensive? Where did you stay? How long of a trip from OH? Is it worth it for a week? What type of snorkeling did you do? <BR><BR>Thanks!<BR>Miriam

To the top for Melina.

I agree with Gail and Sandy. If you are seeking the white sand beaches and turquoise water, you will discover it on 7MB in GC. It is a frequent port of call for the cruise ships, however, so be careful who you snorkel with. Some of the boats get really full.

Shoal Bay Anguilla is the best I've seen so far.

dtour.......Shoal Bay East...or West.

???

sorry Dtour....that's supposed to be a question.

Virgin Gorda--snorkle at the Baths--incredible!

Miriam,<BR> Cow's Wreck and aforementioned Loblolly bay are 2 of the non-stop beaches that circle Anegada. Anegada is a coral reef- totally flat, no vegetation except scrub with miles of beaches that you can walk, We had the beach to ourselves in June, as well. However, there are only a few small places to stay or eat (Though the lobster is fabulous)There are only 100 people on the island, no shopping or anything like that. Personally, a week would make me crazy. 2-3 days would be enough. I suggest making Anegada and Jost Van Dyke day trips from Tortola or Virgin Gorda.

In Anguilla - Mead's Bay, Rendevous Bay, Maunday's Bay or Shoal Bay. Anguilla has some of the most calm, beautiful beaches in the Caribbean and if you're looking for simply awesome (but quite expensive) hotels and restaurants and no crowds whatsoever, this is the place.

If you care, Virgin Gorda in the B.V.I. was voted #1 for best beaches by Travel and Leisure magazine for 2001. I haven't been but that article and everything else I've heard from friends convinced me to book a trip in June! I have been to St. Maarten/Martin, St. Bart's, St. Croix, Cozumel, St. Kitt's, Saba, St. Eustatius and Nevis. Out of these, I vote for St. Bart's.

Saline Beach on St. Barth's. A total aqua bathtub. Warm, crystal clear water of an amazingly dazzling turquoise color, no shells, no seaweed, just some gorgeous white angel fish who are friendly! We felt they must have been employees of the tourist board! It is a big beach yet every time we went (every day of a two week stay) they swam right up to us. And no development, park your car and walk up the bluff for 3 minutes to get there. Mules in the parking area and a terrific restaurant just up the road for lunch.

to the top for FELICIA, who wants to know which are the best beaches...

I vote for Punta Cana, although I've never been to Turks or Grand Cayman.<BR>Punta Cana in the Dominican has an unbelieable stretch of beach that is endless, plus no high rise type resorts, they all seem to be built back off the beach a bit. <BR>Another plus is that no vendors are allowed to approach you, they are set up in certain locations on the beach and you can go to them, if you wish.<BR>The water for swimming was the best, just enough waves to make it fun, but not bad if you aren't a great swimmer, plus the bottom was all sand.<BR>All I can compare to is Cancun, Antigua, Puerta Vallarta, Cuba, and Jamacia.<BR>It is very reasonable to stay there too, a week (7 days) at an all-inclusive, Riu chain, including everything from flights to drinks to beach and water toys for $1,200 Canadian currency. Our U.S. friends came with us and booked out of Canada and they basically went two for the price of one. (the exchange rate is 65% on the U.S. dollar).

Been to Grand Cayman Islands..and Turks and Caicos...We jsut got back from T and C in August! I thought Grand Caymans were BEAUTIFUL until We saw Turks and Caicos (Provo)..SIMPLY BREATHTAKING!!! THE sand is soo soft no shells or rocks like caymans..turquoise water and talcum powder beaches.. I truly think it was Heaven!! on Earth<BR>

Re: Turks/Caicos--Yes, but who wants to go to an island that's just as scruffy and shoddy looking as "everyone's" beloved Anguilla?!? No thanks! I'll take the long, beautiful sands of 7-Mile Beach on Grand Cayman ANY day over those two PATHETIC looking islands!!!

Please don't listen to Rob - Anguilla is not 'shoddy-looking'! We have travelled widely in the Caribbean, and the best, most beautiful and deserted beach we ever stayed at was Mead's Bay in Anguilla.

I think the most beautiful beaches in the world are in Puerto Plata, Domincan Republic!

Trunk Bay, Cinnammon Bay, Honeymoon, Solomon, etc etc etc. St. John, USVI by far.

Grand Anse, Grenada. If you don't believe me, see the picture on the back cover of Frommer's most recent guide to the Caribbean.

traveler: <BR>Where can I find Frommer's most recent guide to the Caribbean, and is there good info about Grenada? I'm planning a trip there next month.<BR>Thanks

Any bookstore should carry this (as well as the Fodor's guide) in their travel section. Info in these guides is pretty basic--generally a list of recommended restaurants and hotels/resorts along with some limited information on available activities. It's worth getting, but you should try to supplement this info with a more in-depth guide that's specific to Grenada. Try doing a search on Amazon.com

Please note, that both Frommers and Fodors Guides have listings of top ten Caribbean beaches. Most of the ones I listed earlier (Feb) are listed in both books.<BR><BR>Negril, Trunk Bay, Anguilla, Aruba, Grand Anse (Grenada) and 7MB Grand Cayman.