My husband and I would like to take a Caribbean vacation in late January before our first baby arrives in early May. We're looking for beautiful beaches, snorkeling, great food, a day trip option or two, and good hospital facilities, just in case. Any suggestions for where to go? We've heard St. Maarten, St. Croix, other suggestions?

In late January by my math you'll be solidly in the second trimester... so don't fret about medical stuff, pregnancy isn't a medical condition

Having said that, you can get excellent medical care in most Caribbean nations, specifically including (from personal experience) Cayman and Jamaica (particularly Kingston, as they have a University hospital).

My wife and I did "babymoons" to other Caribbean island before two of our kids, I think it is a great idea to relax !

My presonal recommendation would be somewhere where you are not too focussed on just "beaching" it, as a heavily pregant woman might just feel a bit overheated lying out on the beach for too long.

I'll repeat a prior recommendation for Strawberry Hill in Jamaica.

In our case my wife was in Paris for the first baby & Puerto Rico for the second. PR, may suit you.

WE did our babymoon in Anguilla and I can't recommend it enough.. Absolutely romantic. NOthing for kids to do, so it won't be good once you have the little ones. Just great beaches, great hotel, the Cuisinart, and awesome restaurants.... Highly recommend it.

We had our "babymoon" on St. John when I was about 3-4 months pregnant. It as much more fun for my husband than it was for me. There are endless snorkeling and beautiful beaches in the Virgin Islands. Thank goodness for me, too, since that's what I had to focus on instead of all the nice cocktails DH was imbibing right in front of me!

Hi, Jess: I was told that the best medical facilities in the Caribbean are in Martinique. Here is a great article on the subject from the NY Times.

http://tinyurl.com/yallb8


Lara