HI! Anybody out there able to comment on vacationing for one week in December at either St John, St Lucia, or Belize? Looking to celebrate a surprise 50th Birthday. Must have good snorkeling, sNuba (we aren't cert to sCuba), PRIVACY, and that gorgeous aquamarine blue water in view all the time. We are hikers, outdoorsy, love nature, love the water. We like being convenient to good restaurants, but want to stay in a private cottage or villa. We do NOT like casinos, bars, night life, cruise ports, shopping, or crowds. A little R & R on beautiful beaches would be nice. Can anyone comment as to which island would be best for us? Snorkeling right off white sand beaches would be awesome, but we're willing to take boat excursions to reefs as well. Worried something like Belize might be a waste if we're not sCuba divers....???

www.maho.org or www.vrbo.com St John best

www.spirit.com good flights first class at coach price.

St Lucia pretty mountains snorkel not as good.

Belize quite a bit dodgier cruise port...

So St. John for me.

St. Lucia has poor snorkeling but some very good hiking opportunities and beautiful scenery. St. John has good to very good snorkeling and if you were to stay at Caneel Bay you have excellent off the beach snorkeling and that van be suplemented by taking a tour boat (make sure they do not take more than 12-14 snorkeler's) and go to Watermelon Bay. Caneel Bays food is good but not special and we did not find any great but did find a few good restaurants. If you rent a villa you forgo the best off the beach snorkeling oif Caneel but there are a few other spots thatare good but not as good as Caneel's , in my opinion. Hiking on Caneel is a possibility as is renting a 4x4.Belize has the best snorkeling by far but only 1 or 2 places where it is off the beach i.e. Turneffe Atoll which is 25 miles off the mainland and the Turneffe Island Lodge and 2 other resorts are there but no hiking nor dining opportunities other than home cooking at the resort. On the mainland of Belize there are resorts like Hamanasi where they will take you out daily snorkeling plus give you several interesting hiking opportunities and quite good home cooking (2008). So if you want a little of all your requirements than St. John is your best choice and even better than the British Virgin Islands where the snorkeling is spotty.

Thank You both!!!! Great feedback....that's exactly what I've found in my research about St Lucia. As far as Belize, I was told to stay on Ambergris Caye. Have not researched Caneel on St John, but have isolated the south to southeast side of island as the place to be for quiet, good snorkeling, and easy to get to Coral Bay. If you have any other thoughts, please share! Seems lodging on St John is not cheap! Ambergris is far more affordable, but flights make up the savings...sigh.....

I live on Ambergris in the winter, so am obviously biased.

All the good snorkeling from here is by boat. Unless you stay far north at Tranquility Bay, where it is possible to swim to the reef. At other spots, you can kayak to the reef, tie up to a buoy and snorkel.

If you don't mind eating at the same place, look at South Water Caye, or one of the atolls. Walk in snorkeling at those.

Thank You! You LIVE there? Oh so lucky!!!!!

Everything you describe points to St. John, and renting a villa is the way to go. We stayed in one there back in the late 90s called Sea Wind. If you do a net search, you'll find it. This was our first villa experience and it spoiled us for life! We'd highly suggest renting one with a private pool. After a day of exploring the many beaches of St. John (and there are plenty of great snorkeling spots you can drive to on your own all over the island), you'll enjoy relaxing with a cold drink in your private pool. We also thought there were plenty of very good restaurants and never had a bad meal. We're currently looking for a new island to visit this summer, but if we can't find what we want, we may very well return to St. John. I think you will love it!

I found Ambergris Caye to be too touristy vs. St. John. Additionally St. John has several lush areas to ride through vs a basically flat sand island with no natural character, sorry JeanH, above ground.

Oh I cannot thank you all enough! You are helping to solidify my gut instinct! I was entertaining Belize because of the natural underwater marvels, the blue hole, marine reserve, etc, and the tropical inland sites and things to do, like cave tubing, Jaguar jungle. We are quirky, in that we have done vacas where we rush from place to place to squeeze every possible thing in, like in Hawaii, ziplining, sunrise on Haleakala, heli tour, you name it. We came back enlightened but exhuasted. Then we tried the opposite, and went to a cabin at Moosehead Lake, Maine, and we were bored out of our minds! So, question for you all, will be be bored on St John, or will it be the perfect mix of relax enough to destress, and play enough to feel like kids?

I think St. John is a perfect combo of the two. We love St. John for the beautiful beaches, were you can sit and relax or hop in the water and snorkel. You can go to a different beach everyday. We are going to St. John in a couple of months and then doing a lake vacation in Maine in August. The majority of St. John is National Parkland. There are plenty of hiking opportunities. You can rent a dinghy, do a boat charter. Rent a villa in the hills overlooking Cruz Bay. You are close to town, but can also find seclusion. I agree with Waggie 1218. Rent a villa with a pool. There's nothing like sitting on the lanai or in the pool overlooking Cruz Bay at sunset with a glass of wine! We have had some very good meals in St. John. There are many options in Cruz Bay. The Coral Bay side is quieter, but not so convenient to restaurants. There are many sites online where you can check out villa options.

Glad you made the"right" decision. When I said hiking and renting a 4x4 on Caneel I meant on St. John. They do not allow any vehicles on Caneel Bay Resort except the ones they drive guests around in and hiking is minimal. But you might want to consider having dinner the night they have the grand buffet and/or in the Turtle Bay dining room. If it is not open then I would take a pass but it is worth visiting the resort for lunch where there are some 200 acreas for about 200 guests with lovely landscaping. You might take your snorkel gear and try to snorkel off Hawks Nest or Turtle Bay Beach. They usually do not hassle you if you were a luncheon guest.
ENJOY!!

St. John does sound lovely. But, I really try and stay places where I can walk everywhere. Or, find cheap public transportation. I don't like to drive. Neither does my husband.

I certainly agree that other than the beautiful water, Ambergris Caye isn't lush and 'jungly'. I guess the 'too touristy' is relative. It's certainly busy, and it's certainly tourist driven, but, you won't ever think you're at Disney. Definitely a 'third world' kind of place.

You just need to no there really are NO hiking opportunities and the island itself is basically flat with little natural flora or fauna. BUt based on where you stay you can walk around from hotel to hotel to condo, to restaurants, etc.

Hi again! I really appreciate all the feedback you are giving me. So helpful! Stankase, your comment above refers to Ambergris, right?

Ok...so if St John, anyone have an opinion as to staying north shore vs south shore? I was zooming in on South shore, as I thought that would be the more colorful water, and be sheltered from the Atlantic swells, which might make snorkeling rougher on the north shore. But now I'm not so sure. There are some exotic sounding places on the north shore, and the picts look incredible! I thought the north shore was atlantic, south shore caribbean, is that not the case?