Which carribbean island to chose.. dilema's...
 

Hi All,

Having a bit of a dilemna on which island to visit. After quite a bit of research i have been able to circle a few of options (BVI, Grenada, St Lucia and Anguilla/St Barths). Anyhow this is somewhat the scope of the trip: It is a honeymoon, post wedding celebration with friends.. most likely a small group of 6, possibly 8. Our first destination will be Jamaica (this is the only certainty thus far). We will be there for a week. And from there we plan to visit one of the other options. We don't like mass tourism and are not into a overly manicured destination (hence cruise ships, casino's, big hotel chains). I.E. would rather choose a villa rather then a resort. We are all in our late 20's or early 30's. Most of us will be coming with our partners. We are into doing fun things and appriciate natures beauty. Renting a scooter or ATV, staying in one house or villa. If not a funky hotel of some sorts. Good vibes, good music, beach bars, bright colors, fun people and being able to discover isolated beaches. Would like to cruise around indenpently and discover. Beach life and adventure life.. oh yeah, and a few of us dive too. From what i have gathered so far.. I can go to either grenada, BVI and st lucia independently... and alternatively visit anguilla and st barths (being the ease of travelleing to and from). Or am i completely missing something here? your thoughts and opinions would be much appriciated. I have penciled in the respective destiation based on our available budget, we are well aware the st barths would cost us alot more then grenada, hence we would not stay as long and perhaps extend our jamaica trip.

Thanks alot in advance.

Forgot to mention that we have 8 days.

Do you mean you are planning to stay in Jamaica for 7 days than travel to one or more other islands for the remaining 8 days? Or do you have a total of just 8 days?

Either way you don't have near enough time (8 days) to visit all those islands. It is going to be difficult to get to any of the other islands you mentioned from Jamaica without taking multiple flights and routing yourself through Miami or perhaps Puerto Rico. Schedules may be such that you might have to overnight somewhere along the way.

What is your actual budget for travel between the islands - it is NOT inexpensive to fly from Jamaica to the islands you mentioned. You might have to route yourself via Miami or San Juan and make an overnight stop along the way.

If you want to visit a number of different islands consider a Caribbean Cruise instead - much less expensive and easier on you.

You should definitely consider ease of reaching the destinations in your planning.

I believe Air Jamaica has a number of interisland flights -- so check which of the destinations you're interested in is served by an Air Jamaica flight. If ease of travel is a consideration, that will narrow things down, and will let you avoid routing back through San Juan or Miami as RoamsAround notes. (My quick look shows St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad.)

If you look at St. Maarten for example, you'll find that it's a good jumping off point for both St. Barth and Anguilla. In fact, day trips to each of those places are do-able by ferry and/or small airplane. St. Maarten is a bit high-rise-y and commercial, and I'm not a big fan of that myself. But I've found on the French side a little village that suits my fancy, and we go back every other year or so. You might find something for yourself as well. In addition, you'll find a wide range of villas in different locales and at varying prices.

I don't know whether there is a ferry directly between Anguilla and St. Barth; you may have to stop in St. Maarten in any event.

No direct ferry service between Anguilla & St. Barth's. You have to either fly between Anguilla & St. Barth's or take a ferry to SXM and switch to a different ferry to St. Barth's.

Thanks guys, being that time is an issue, i was planning to stay on the respective island of choice (not inlcluding Jamaica) for 8 days not including travel time. I will be coming from Bali, which is on the other side of the planet so i want to see as much as i can in the carribbean

Well, your best bet after Jamaica would be to make your way to St. Thomas in the USVI's and use that as your base. From there you can visit St. John (USVI's) as well as Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and a few other smaller islands in the BVI chain depending on how much "travel" you really want to do during those 8 days. There are ferries that link many of the USVI's and BVI's making fairly easy to do day trips.

One word of caution though - don't get too caught up in getting to too many different islands because you'll end up spending most of your time "traveling" rather than actually seeing and enjoying the islands you are visiting. Base yourself in St. Thomas then take day trips to St. John, Tortola and perhaps one nearby other island. Spend the rest of your time enjoying "island life".