Hubby and I are spending a week in St. Marten with in-laws. We want to extend OUR portion of trip the following week at an AI. St. Marten portion will be busy, busy. Following week we want to celebrate anniversary just the two of us and chill out at an All-Inclusive. Went to Sandals Med. Village in Antigua last year. Resort nice, but water was not clear and infested with jelly fish. NO ONE got in. Any suggestions for AI with nice accomodations, CALM, CLEAR water. Considering Beaches in Turks and Caicos because of being on Grace Bay. Never been there. Looks nice. Is water Calm? Will it be over run with kids at end of Oct? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Sounds like you had a week of bad timing on Antigua last year--usually the water at Dickenson Bay is beautiful, calm, and clear and not infested with jellyfish! Unfortunately you were just the victim of one of Mother Nature's whims. Provo is certainly known for its calm, beautiful, clear water--but a fluke like what you had in Antigua really can happen anywhere and there's no way to predict it.

Beaches will be more overrun with kids than most places simply because it caters to families. Provo might also be more difficult to reach from St. Maarten, spending a good deal of time in transit getting back up to Miami before catching a connecting flight to PLS.

What is your price range you're willing to spend? Luckily October is the low, low season and most places will be offering specials. Unfortunately, it's just about the pinnacle of hurricane season, so even if there's no hurricane, tropical storms could cause the same water conditions as what you experienced on Antigua. Then again, you could be completely lucky and have perfect, clear weather--there really is no way to predict it, either way.

I guess we have just had really bad timing in Antigua. We have been to Antigua Dickerson Bay on 3 different occassions each time the water was not clear, with light chop to it. Everyone looks at us like we are crazy when we mention that water there was not calm or clear. Last year was only encounter with the jelly fish invasion. Luckily they had just finished building the massive pool for Med Village side of resort. We considered giving it one more shot there. Grace Bay was the attraction to Beaches T&C. Now that I have been checking looks like island hopping from St. Marten to T&C won't be so easy. Any other suggestions? Anyone? Price range is around $500/night. This will be celebrating not only Anniversary but MAJOR (not funny, ha ha) birthday this year. Want it to be nice with nice beach.

Why not make it easy on yourselves and pick Anguilla? You can ferry or fly there very easily from SXM, the beaches are legendary, and so are the restaurants. No, it won't be an AI, but since the beaches are so fabulous, pick out a low-key place on a beach and then spend the rest of your budget on the outstanding restaurants. Rent a car and see the entire island. There's another post asking about places on Anguilla that are under $275/night and a place called Serenity has been mentioned. Also check out KU.

ejcrowe, thanks for your response and suggestions. We originally considered Anguilla. Don't think the resorts will be open yet. Our dates Oct 25-Nov 1.

Marriott does a very reasonably priced all inclusive in the Carribbean and Mexico. Sandals/Beaches are overpriced for what little you get anymore.