I want to rent a villa near or on the beach in Nevis, St. Kitt's, Turks,Tortola, Virgin Gorda or St.John. What are the best rental sites for this? Or any specific suggestions? I will be with my husband, and 3 children. We like off shore snorkeling and less "touristy".

These sites helped me when deciding on a villa rental on St.John.

http://www.cateredto.com/caribbean_villa_rentals.htm

http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/index.asp

http://www.stjohnusvi.org/new_page_2.htm

http://privatehomesvi.com/

Hope this helps.

-Bill

Try www.WIMCO.com for starters.

Also do a google search for "Villa Rentals + Name of Island" and you find links to virtually every rental villa on those islands.

FYI - rates for a particular villa will be essentially the same no matter who rent through - there's a "multiple listing service" for rental villas and you'll find the same places listed on numerous sites.

Also if you go to www.nevis1.com and click on villas you can find links to many villas on that island. Just so you know there are very few "true" beachfront rental villas on Nevis as most are located on the mountainside or on cliffs above the water. If snorkeling is your big interest you might want to skip Nevis . It's a beautiful island but there really isn't any good snorkeling to speak of. Also, snorkeling on St. Kitts pales in comparison to what you'll find on St. John and Virgin Gorda.

Speaking of Virgin Gorda check out villas on Mahoe Bay. They are really nice, many right on a beautiful beach with a terrific snorkeling reef just yards off shore. There are also many other very good off-beach and boat access snorkel sites on and around Virgin Gorda. Of the islands you are considering Virgin Gorda and St. Joh have the best snorkeling.

Finally, there are not a lot of beachfromt villas on St. John but many are within a few minutes walk or drive.

Yes, WIMCO is a great place to go for help if you are researching more than one island. The staff is extremely helpful and they have experts on villa rentals on each island. Caribbean Villa Owners Association is another fantastic place to do research on villas, as that organization offers extensive villa listings on all the islands, at www.cvoa.com . That site is especially helpful if you like to book directly with villa owners in order to find gems that are not listed with the bigger rental agencies.

for provo check under villas at www.provo.net or www.wherewhenhow.com
there are def alot of houses directly on the beach. specifically you might like www.bellasurmer.com there is even a tiny reef just off your section of grace bay beach at that house. very cool!
www.northshoreproperties.com is a private owner with 12+ houses on provo.
if you just type in rental villas and any island you should get plenty of results. after you choose an island we can help you more...

This is a new one I discovered this week:

www.saand.com

Thank you, thank you.

try www.vrbo.com