What Caribbean Island Should I Go To?

Our favorite is Grand Cayman! Beautiful water and beaches, good snorkling and very safe.

 merry27      The San Andres Islands (part of Columbia, SA) have been the best place for snorkeling of all of the islands that I have been to.

I felt that I was in the middle of an exotic fish tank, so pretty and so many colourful fish.

There are some beautiful all-inclusive resorts there.  

Bonaire or Curacao. Bonaire if you are basing your choice on snorkeling, but I love Curacao too.

It's tough to get great beaches and great snorkelling on the same island as the sandy bottom doesn't create an ideal ecosystem to get lots of fish. I've done some lovely snorkelling in Bonaire and had luck in a couple spots in Aruba. But my best snorkelling combined with beaches has been in Grand Cayman. You can take a boat out but dh and I have snorkelled right off the beach and had a wonderful time. There's also lots of restaurants and bars and it's an easy island to get around by car.

We've had weather issues every time we've gone, otherwise it would be our favourite island.

St. John USVI is my suggestion. I've been 3 times and love it so much I want to move there!  It has incredible snorkeling and the best part is you can do it right off the beach at any of the 39 beaches. So-you save money by not having to take a boat to the snorkeling, and you can stay as long as you want in the water vs. snorkeling by boat which has time limits. The best part? 2/3 of the island is National Park. You won't find beaches with condos on them in St. John or a ton of development either. Just wild and wonderful beaches that look like they are right out of a travel brochure. Beautiful turquoise water, tons of fish to see while snorkeling including sea turtles, squid and if you are lucky an octopus. 

Lots of restaurants to choose from in either Cruz Bay (the main town) or Coral Bay the sleepy area on the opposite side of the island. 

Which ever island you decide to visit keep an eye on hurricane season which is more common in late summer and September. 

We always go the first two weeks of December (considered low season) but out of hurricane season. 

St. John!

Many of them are very nice. At John had something special. We’ve been twice.

We are going to St Lucia in October. No idea if it meets any of your requirements, but we are excited!

Hands down, St John. But in August, many things are closed.

It is gorgeous!

We're going to St. Lucia in August.  We can't wait!  This will be the first time we've visited there.

GC, USVI, Turks & Caicos are all beautiful...but expensive. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Belize; specifically, Ambergris. It is easy to get to, has great snorkeling, good food, and is a fraction of the cost of most other places in the Caribbean. It has the added benefit of being close to the mainland, so you can do Mayan ruins/cave tubing/ziplining and other 'mainland activities' in addition to snorkeling. 

We were scheduled to snorkel with whale sharks last year, but the wind was too high (small craft advisory) every day we were there for the boat to go out. So sad.

We also snorkeled years later in Akumal with at least a dozen large sea turtles and twice as many sting rays.  Water wasn't as clear, but it was the sea turtle feeding ground and there were plenty.

Cuba has the most beautiful beaches and places to snorkel.  Holguin area is my favourite.  The northern archipelagos get quite windy while Holguin beaches are a bit more sheltered from the wind.

I've been going to Cuba for the past 15 years (minus Covid years).  Simply beautiful!