Favorite vacation islands

Turks and Caicos was gorgeous. They use the dollar and speak English, so that made traveling easy, even though it’s a foreign country.

I've seriously never been on an island I didn't love. 

My favorites are islands that can only be reached by boat like BC's smaller Gulf Islands and some of the Greek islands.

ETA Gulf Islands favorites include shrimping, crabbing and fishing for dinners. All the water sports, especially kayaking and SUP. Just being on the water. Exploring the tide pools.

For Hawaii, Caribbean and Greek Islands, the best part is swimming in the warm ocean.

My favourite island is probably Aruba. Beautiful beach, calm warm water, lots of restaurants/bars/entertainment, everyone speaks English. You can choose between busy and built-up Palm Beach or quieter Eagle Beach, or even Baby beach in the south. We're going back to Aruba for the fourth time next month and I can't wait.

St John gets an honourable mention, especially if you want a quiet vacation. Stunning beach. Seriously, stunning. It doesn't tend to make my list because Aruba is so easy to get to and I tend to like a bit of nightlife on vacation.

If we're talking vacation spots, versus favourite place to travel, beyond the Caribbean I really love the east coast of Canada (or Maine if you want to stay in the US). Charming, laid back, good beaches. DH and I just rented a cottage in Shediac, New Brunswick and it was so relaxing. Get up, walk to the beach, walk to a restaurant, bike along the paths, grab a lobster for dinner, barbecue on the deck. Sigh. I would go back tomorrow, I love it there so much.

The Maldives 

me too. i have only been to jamaica (2x), dominican republic and cuba. while i would go back to any of them, cuba would be my last pic. probably the most beautiful beach and water... just tough because not much to do there and have to work around things unavailable or broken... certainly for the price - a great spot.

if i go south again, i would pick any other island - just to experience more! i have a friend in cayman who i could stay with for free. i keep meaning to make that happen.

We went to Puerto Rico and loved it. This was after the hurricane.
It is such am adventure. It is beautiful at the beach, run down in different areas. You see horses on the side of the road, people drive crazy, and we even saw a cardboard license plate

If you want a resort, it isn't that (although I think they have some on the east side). If you want an experience, it delivers.

We also loved Jamaica, but it's been 19 years (in a couple of weeks)

Near Calodyne, in the north east. 

I didn’t stay in a hotel gar, but with my brother and his wife, who built a house there (my sister in law is Mauritian). So it made for a different kind of holiday - lots of family stuff, and Mauritians know how to party!

If you love nature my favorite island is St. John USVI. It's my favorite place in the world. I'd live there if I could. 

2/3 of it is National Park so it's protected-the beaches, the water, even the air above-you can't fly above it-you have to fly into St. Thomas and take the ferry over. Because of this there aren't any condos or hotels built on the beaches within the National Park which is why I love it so much. Just nature-beaches, that incredible turquoise colored water and the best snorkeling I've ever found. You can snorkel right off of any of it's numerous beaches which to me is wonderful-1. because I adore snorkeling and 2. I hate going somewhere that I have to rent a ride on a boat to go snorkeling-there's a time limit and a bunch of folks all around you snorkeling at the same time.  

I haven't been in 18 years and I know it's changed a lot since then. Hurricane Ida hit it very hard a few years ago and from what I've been reading it's much more crowded now, sadly. So shhhh, keep this a secret about how wonderful it is. The people who live there are very friendly. We've been twice before and stayed 2 weeks each time. I would have loved to go every year but between DH's work schedule and my health it's been tough to get there in the past few years. I can't wait to go this December! I'm so looking forward to it. 

What it doesn't have-lots of shopping or lots of night life. If that's your thing you won't like it.

You can dive here, but snorkeling is what everyone chooses St. John for. I can't dive (I've tried twice and I just can't trust a machine to breathe for me due to a choking incident that happened 27 years ago). I've accepted that. I'm very interested in learning how to free dive in the future-hopefully soon. Free diving is where you learn to hold your breath for 3 minutes or more so you can dive without an oxygen tank. I don't care about going deep-I just want to hold my breath longer so I can stay down longer with the marine life that I love to observe and sometimes photograph. 

Grand Cayman!

I love the US Virgin Islands, especially St.John; the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and I also love Maui.

I love Barbados, we went snorkelling with the sea turtles there. And the beaches on Antigua are amazing. The snorkelling and diving around Utila & Roatan are amazing too (although I'm not a diver)

Grand Cayman is nice but I would choose Little Cayman or Cayman Brac if you are looking for something quieter.

Coconut Bay - Harmony (adult) section.