looking for calm water, please help
 

Hey all you travelers out there, I need your help once again. Want to do a quick 3-4 day trip. Looking for calm water, possibly snorkeling, trying to make this trip a cheap one. Would consider an all-inclusive. Have traveled to Aruba, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Barbados, would like to try somewhere different this time. Thanks for your help.

Grand Cayman, Turks and Caicos and Anguilla are noted for their calm waters and snorkeling (with the exception of Angilla on snorkeling). However, they may be a bit pricey - not sure how much you want to spend.

Although, I hear Curacao has calm waters and good snorkeling, and when I was looking into going, it seemed cheaper than those mentioned above. You may want to check it out

Water on Grand Bahama Island is calm, clear. Flight is cheap and you can find cheap accomodations there too.
St. John (USVI), although not one of the cheaper islands.
Depends which beach you are in Curacao re: calm water. Rocky beaches though if that matters to you. I don't think the flights are necessarily cheap for that location.
I have not been to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic but I think some areas there have calm waters.
All I can think of right now.

Puerto Rico can be done the cheap way too. We stayed at the Hilton in San Juan. Not a favorite hotel of mine because it's a convention hotel. But their beach has really calm water. There are rocks further out to block the surf. Not sure about other hotels in San Juan. My understanding is that the beaches in Culebra and Vieques are pretty fantastic but not sure of cost for those islands.

Turks and Caicos has absolutely the calmest and clearest water I have ever seen or been in (compared to Paradise Island, Freeport, Puerto Rico, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Maui, Waikiki). I drifted on an inflatable float for hours every day I was there (and up until our visit I was more of a pool than open water person). Grace Bay was like a huge, beautiful pool. But....it is pricier. We stayed at the Sands which at the time was the most economical. $450.00/night for an apartment sized unit with 2 bdrms, 2 bath, complete kitchen, dining area, living area with sleeper sofa and huge cushy chairs and finally a screened in porch with a four person table and two lounge chairs. I guess $450.00 wasn't so bad after all. That was in March 2005.

Depending on when you want to go and where you are coming from, you can do Turks & Caicos reasonably. As long as you're not expecting to stay at a posh place.

Kris

For an inexpensive trip with calm waters and great snorkling, I recommend Tortola, BVI. I did a last minute vacation there a few summers ago and had a blast. The beaches on the north side of the island were beautiful and the snorkling from the beach was very nice.

For a quick trip I would also suggest Turks and Caicos. Siboney is reasonably priced. Also look into Alexander resort and the Sands (mid range).

Hi Winnie, we have always looked for calm water too, we snorkel and scubadive. Last year we were in Punta Cana and it was so windy, so we moved to the Viva Wyndham Beach Resort in La Romana, clear blue water, calm, calm water, it was fantastic and you can use the Palace facilities as well. Let me know what you decide. Karen

How about Cancun, PDC or Cozumel? Good water and many AI's, esp. the 1st 2 and the $$ should be reasonable.

Cancun has good A/I's and beautiful beaches, but as for the calm water - I don't think so. Better chance with PDC or Cozumel.

Though we haven't been there is a while I rmemeber the H2O as being pretty nice. What happened?

Don't get me wrong.. Cancun still has beautiful water! It's just that it can be a little rough. Every time I've been there - there has been yellow and red warning flags (mostly red) on the beach signaling the ocean was rough. Maybe certain spots are calmer than others, but I think if Mexico is where someone is going for calmer water - probably Playa or Cozumel to better fit the bill. IMHO.

I haven't been there is a while so it sounds good to me. Anyway I like PDC better. For the OP the snorkeling in Cozumel would probably be better too.

Actually, Cancun features a stretch of hotels with calm, beautiful water -- the hotels on the north end of the "7" with a beach to the north (as opposed to the east). Kin-Ha is along this stretch of calm water.

In general, Caribbean islands with a beach on the west have calm waters (for example, Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach). The tradewinds move from east to west, whipping up waves on east facing beaches (for example, Cayman's east end, Aruba's east end, etc.).

Good luck!

Have you considered Belize? My daughter lives there - her husband is a dive instructor in San Pedro on the island of Amergris Caye just off the coast, and it's lovely there. If you go there, visit AquaDives and ask for Tom.