Two week family vacation for caribbean newbies
 

We are used to traveling to Hawaii. We book are own flights and find our accomodations with vrbo. We would like to take a two week vacation in the Caribbean in March 2012. We are not sure exactly where the best places to go would be. No locations are out of the question at this point.
We enjoy snorkeling, boogie boarding, surfing, hiking and exploring etc. We would also like to visit the Mayan ruins if possible. We are not all inclusive type travellers. Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mayan-traveler.com

Belize your best bet for beach Mayan ruins nothing like that in the Carib

Victoria House or robertsgrove.com or cavesbranch.com my favs

Tulum in Mexico ruins right on the sea also

St. John my fav for Carib maho.org good vrbo condos there too

Probably best beach safest choice for newbies

Spirit.com usually best econo flights for me save a tonne

mayan ruins limits you to mexico (or cental america)

puerto rico (& barbados) has really good surfing & boogie boarding > rincon in particular. on the west coast.
tons of hiking in el junque national rainforest. lots of history to explore in the old city in san juan. both on the esst end of the island.
pr is a large island & you could spend a week in rincon area then move to the east end where el junque is. you could also plan to spend a couple nights on the tiny island of vieques which has excellent snorkeling & is just a short ferry ride off the east coast.
rincon is a busy area while you'll find deserted beaches on vieques.

if mexico interest you at all, and there is a lot to do there besides ruins but no surfing that i know of, check out locogringo.com

For snorkeling and ruins, you might try Cozumel. We stayed in this fab condo, http://elcantilcasatropical.com/photos.html, on our last two visits. Its right across the street from a grocery store, and a short cab right to the ferry dock where you can go across to the mainland for the ruins. Great snorkeling also.

Thanks for the ideas so far. Does anyone have any advice about going to Belize or Honduras from Playa del Carmen or Cozumel?

try Grenada or St Lucia. They have everything that you mentioned except the mayan ruins. However both islands are rich in history including amerindian ( caribs and arawaks) this website might help you some more. They are always happy to assist: www.sugarhutvillas.com

this page discusses travel from cancun/playa to belize
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...readID=1442816

Thanks for the replies. The lonely planet link was particularly helpful.