The hubby and I are planning for our 1st year anniversary during the first 2 weeks of October. Tahiti would have been ideal but beyond our budget. We've already done Hawaii and would love to visit another beach destination. We've narrowed it down to St. John and Turks & Caicos.

Which would satisfy our criteria of:
- romance
- ideal weather
- awesome beaches
- great food
- other activities/excursions other than relaxing at the beach

And what is a good amount of time...5 or 7 days?

Your feedback is greatly appreciated...Thank you in advance!

odessi10,

If you search here you will see another thread with the exact same question and many replies. It is number 29 right at the moment. You will find other feedback and opinions. I personally think they are both wondeful, but I would choose St. John. It is a romantic island and I think there is more to do there. It ia also practical to go on day trip to St. Thomas. Turks and Caicos is not a beautiful or lush island at all. The terrian is dry and brown and shopping is at a minimum. At least it was when I was there which was 6 years ago so that aspect could have changed.

thanks diann24! now i'm torn between st. john and anguilla!

The answer is simple - go to one island on this trip and the other for your 2nd anniversary. One of the first things we seasoned travellers learn about the Caribbean is there are so many wonderful destinations to choose from that it takes a lot more than one trip to experience them all.

You have the advantage (and perhaps disadvantage) of the internet and forums like this one to help you select. In our early days of travel we had to select our destinations without very much advanced information. Nowadays travellers can litterally take virtual tours of the island and plan daily activities down to the last detail without ever leaving your computer.

After reading your initial post the one point I've keyed in on is your desire for "other activities and excursions". You'll find more of those on St. John than in the Turks & Caicos. The other things on your list can be found on both islands.

You didn't give much other information but I'd be willing to bet that you have an image in your mind of what your ideal island destination should look like and I'd also bet that St. John fits that image better than the T&C's.

St. John is the quintensential Caribbean island - hilly with a lush interior (2/3's of the island is a National Park) filled with all types of tropical flora and fauna, plenty of palm tree lined lightgolden sand beaches lapped by calm gin clear bright blue torquoise blue waters, very good to excellent "off-beach" snorkeling, a variety of restaurants serving everything from beach bar food to upscale dining, quaint villages for shopping, opportunities for sailing, diving and other watersports, ease of visiting nearby islands, etc., etc., etc.

While no one island "has it all" St. John comes very close to being the perfect Caribbean destination.

odessi10: Between St. John, T&C and Anguilla, I would pick St. John if I wanted to do other activities/excursions. All 3 have beautiful beaches, but T&C and Anguilla don't have much more besides those. In St. John, you can go hiking, you can see the Annenberg Ruins and you do a day trip to St. Thomas for a little more action.
Whichever you pick, have a great time.

A_Traveler sums it up perfectly, as always and I agree with caribtraveler as well. We have been to a few Caribbean Islands and for us, St John is near perfect. With that said, we prefer lusher islands to flat, scrubby islands like T&C and Anguilla. (Haven't been to either). The Virgin Islands also have such beautiful scenery, there are always other islands in your line of view. It is very easy to day trip to the BVI's as well. It took some effort to convince my husband to drive on STJ, now he loves it. The north shore road has one beautiful beach after another and there are trails galore. If you do decide on STJ, pick up a copy of Pam Gaffin's Feet Fins and 4WD. It is spot on with directions, especially for first timers. We found it to be extremely helpful driving around. I was the navigator . Oh, and whichever island you decide on, definitely 7 days instead of 5 if you can swing it. Since you are traveling the first two weeks of October which is still hurricane season, you may want to consider getting trip insurance. We got delayed 3 days once in Jamaica in July due to Hurricane Emily passing nearby and thus closing the airport. The cost is not that great and you never know what can happen. It's not likely, but the risk is there.

Thank you all for your responses. Looks like St. John will be our first trip to the Caribbean. Would it be a safer bet to wait until November to travel? Is the weather nice in November? Any suggestions where to stay on St. John? Accomodations doesn't necessarily have to be luxury but ideal for a 2nd honeymoon. Near a fantastic beach preferred!

You'll definitely have a better chance of missing hurricanes in November as compared to October. Could happen in November as well, but less likely. Weather is usually lovely in every way in November. And the water temps are always terrific-- nice and warm.

Honestly, no one can tell you if the weather on St. John will be any better in November than October. You are dealing with Mother Nature and there's no way to predict what will happen. What happened during a specific week last October or the October before has no bearing on what will happen this October.

The Caribbean in general and St. John in particular are blessed with reasonably good weather all year round. Average daytime temperartures on the island don't vary more the about 5 degrees F. between summer and winter. True that October and November are part of Hurrican Season but that doesn't mean there are major storms swirlling around the island every week. It just means there is a possibility a storm could develope. The odds of that happening are slightly great in October than November but there's no way to predict if and when a major storm will occur. typically you only get about 5 days advance warning.

If there are no storms or tropical depressions in the area there's not much difference in weather conditions between October or November. It will be tropical.

The biggest difference is during September and October some resorts, restaurants and shops are either closed or operate on shorter hours or with reduced staff since it's the height of "off season" and there are fewer tourist on the island (this is true for just about every island in the Caribbean except perhaps the ones very far south). The businesses, etc. begin ramping back up in November and are usually in full swing by Thanksgiving week.

Thank your for your responses! It looks like November will work out better for us as October will be a bit busy.

Any suggestions where to stay on St. John? Accomodations ideal for a 2nd honeymoon. Perhaps a villa? Looking to spend less than $300/night. Near a fantastic beach preferred! Thank you!

If you have decided on STJ, I would start a new post regarding accomodations. It just depends on what you are looking for. The main type of accomodation on STJ is a villa. There are only two resorts, Caneel Bay and The Westin and both (especially Caneel) are quite pricey. We stay at Gallow's Point which is a condo "complex" in Cruz Bay. Many think Cruz Bay is too busy, but it isn't for us. Gallow's Point is walking distance to town for dinner and a little shopping if you like. It doesn't quite meet your price requirement, but it is close for a lower harbor view.

Coral Bay is the quieter side of the island. No resorts there, just villas. I'm sure others will chime in with some villa suggestions or companies to start looking. Now comes the fun of doing St John specific research. Have fun planning. I'll post the link to Gallow's Point if you want to check it out. We are going back for our fourth stay this November.

http://www.gallowspointresort.com/

Hi odessi10....your thread here is very similar to one that I posted a while back when I was researching a honeymoon spot for Jan '08. My fiance and I also chose St. John and are very happy with all we have heard about it so far.

We have booked a room at the Estate Lindholm...the owner has been extremely helpful and pleasant over the phone and the rooms look nice and clean. We opted for something in between the resort and private villa for accommodations....we wanted it to be more private, but also to be able to consult others for day trip/dinner suggestions. I think we've found the perfect spot....there is a nice small pool for cooling off, and then a short walk to two nearby beaches.

I am also really looking forward to a couple of day sailing/boating trips to the BVI's....it sounds like a blast. You should look into that too...I think it's New Horizon II that is a powerboat that does the BVI tour to the Baths and JVD.

Thank you all for your suggestions! Now it's time for some major research.