Below and Above - Lesser Antilles?

[Roger Leslie]

My wife and I are retiring and it's time to get in some good diving and exploring. I am an advanced diver but she does not dive (does enjoy snorkeling). We both love to hike, enjoy the outdoors and don't like large resorts. From what I have read, the Lesser Antilles might be ideal.

We would go anytime between Nov '17 - May '18. Trying to narrow down which island, so any suggestions on islands that would allow me to do morning dives and hiking in the afternoon with my wife? Specific dive ops & hotels also?

Thanks!!

 

[NYCNaiad]

While I haven't yet been, I've heard some magical things about Dominica & have wanted to go because of the great combo of diving & hiking there. Here's the web site I had bookmarked re: the hiking.

There are also many other locations outside of the Lesser Antilles great for diving & hiking like Pohnpei, the Garden Island in Micronesia. This article mentions a specific shop/hotel & gives a discount too.

 

[Moray]

My wife and I are retiring and it's time to get in some good diving and exploring. I am an advanced diver but she does not dive (does enjoy snorkeling). We both love to hike, enjoy the outdoors and don't like large resorts. From what I have read, the Lesser Antilles might be ideal.

We would go anytime between Nov '17 - May '18. Trying to narrow down which island, so any suggestions on islands that would allow me to do morning dives and hiking in the afternoon with my wife? Specific dive ops & hotels also?

Thanks!!

Saba and Julianas Hotel with Sea Saba

 

[ScubaJill]

St maarten and Saba come to mind. More hiking available in Saba though. It can be more remote than you might prefer.

 

[diversteve]

Virgin Gorda could be an option.

The island mostly consists of two peaks to hike plus there's trails to deserted beaches, a national monument, the famous Baths is a hike down etc. Diving is generally with DiveBVI, there's no chain resorts/restaurants but mostly a few beachfront condo type places most of which sit on their own private snorkeling beach. One advertises there's no need to worry about boats (although there's a lot of sailboats there) since the coral would shred any that approach.

I enjoyed the diving, it's very diverse. Some deeper wrecks, the world famous Rhone, some good swim-thru's etc. Not really my definition of "advanced" though.

You get there by flying into St. Thomas and taking the fast ferries over. If you're willing to devote a day to it, you can also visit a couple of the other BVI's several of which must also have hiking - esp. Tortola which is a bigger island with lots of hills.

Virgin Gorda only has about 4000 permanent residents and under a dozen resorts. Lots of expensive villa rentals also - sometimes you can get a deal on vrbo/airbnb etc. so they have some really excellent restaurants considering the relative uncrowdedness. Our one non-diver spent a couple days exploring - he said at some places he was the only one there.

Compared to some of the other Antilles I've been to it's pretty quiet and calm. Yet you can find enough to do, we found dancing one night, went boat bar-hopping one non-dive day etc. You can even rent/book a trip with a couple operators who will drop you and lunch on a small island that you'll have to yourselves - or a beach not reachable via road.

I can't help with resorts as we rented a villa. Leverick Bay Resort was nice but a little removed being on the far north end. They have a great beach BBQ on Friday - locals, tourists all go. Mango Bay looked decent according to our friend who drove in there once - it's a waterfront small villa/condo property. The nicest resort - Little Dix Bay is closed for remodeling. Also some like Bitter End really are at the end of the island - upscale clients fly in there on a helo due to the remoteness. Too quiet for us. We stayed in the Windy Hill area which was nice and quiet except the morning roosters exceeded the area residents - yet close to everything - we walked home from town once.

Virgin Gorda | The British Virgin Islands
Dive BVI - Your stop for BVI Adventures -It's what we do!

 

[KathyV]

You can hike the Brac on Cayman Brac, a small Cayman sister island, and there are also caves to explore. And there are wildlife preserves for nesting booby birds and parrots and other wildlife.

We like to stay at the Cayman Brac Beach Resort, a small, family-owned, diver-dedicated, all-inclusive resort with an on-site dive op that includes valet diving. They have facilities for non-divers to including good food, a gorgeous infinity pool, a small spa and exercise room, tennis courts and free use of the bicycles. They are offering a special from mid-Nov 17 to mid Jan 18 during the period you mentioned and the price would be lower for the non-diver. There is snorkeling available on Brac but not from the CBBR (but I'm not sure about that). See the links below for more information about Cayman Brac.

Dominica is gorgeous but it's a mountainous jungle, so is St. Lucia, and there is a dense rainforest on top of Saba. Saba is vertical so it's more climbing than hiking IMO. And I am not too keen on hiking through the jungle but I'm a wimp and maybe that's what you are looking for?

Bonaire has deserts, mangroves, salt flats, and a jungle park, so you can take your pick! Mostly shore diving on Bonaire, but boat dives are available and so is good snorkeling.

Lot of hills and forests on St. Croix but I don't know about the hiking opportunities. Snorkeling and diving the Fredricksted Pier is a fantastic experience.

So many choices - you may have to do them all!

Free Diving, Nitrox, and Nitrox Certification*

https://vimeo.com/165357805

http://www.alertdiver.com/Caymans_Sister_Islands

http://www.alertdiver.com/Sister_Islands_gallery

http://caribjournal.com/2015/09/15/journey-to-cayman-brac/

http://www.islands.com/free-tour-you-cant-miss-cayman-brac

 

[Roger Leslie]

Thanks for all the comments. Looks like we might need to spend 3 weeks and do some island hopping!!

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for all the comments. Looks like we might need to spend 3 weeks and do some island hopping!!

Good idea! We like to take a 2 week vacation and start with a couple of days to relax before getting into diving and then maybe do some island hoping - or get on a liveaboard.

In the fall we will spend a week on Grand Cayman and then a week on Little Cayman. The roundtrip airfare from home to GC is the same price whether we spend one week or two (or more!) and the hop over to the sister islands is pretty cheap!

 

[Roger Leslie]

Good idea! We like to take a 2 week vacation and start with a couple of days to relax before getting into diving and then maybe do some island hoping - or get on a liveaboard.

In the fall we will spend a week on Grand Cayman and then a week on Little Cayman. The roundtrip airfare from home to GC is the same price whether we spend one week or two (or more!) and the hop over to the sister islands is pretty cheap!

We have been diving in Roatan twice and absolutely love the island but want to go somewhere new. Haven't looked into the Caymans thinking they are more developed.....we like a laid back atmosphere and outdoor activities in addition to diving. How do the Caymans compare to Dominica?

 

[Roger Leslie]

We have been diving in Roatan twice and absolutely love the island but want to go somewhere new. Haven't looked into the Caymans thinking they are more developed.....we like a laid back atmosphere and outdoor activities in addition to diving. How do the Caymans compare to Dominica & Saba?