Below and Above - Lesser Antilles?

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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?

Dominica is very beautiful and very poor and the people are friendly and welcoming. It used to be hard to get to and from Dominica and you usually had to overnight in Puerto Rico each way - but now I understand that has been fixed and you can fly to/from the US in one day.

Lots of jungle and steep hills and deep valleys and very scary roads and beautiful rivers. It's not very developed at all but very lovely and you will see a lot of small, rare creatures when diving - like seahorses, frog fish, and flying gunards. But not everything is small, our boat got buzzed by baby Humpback in Dominica!

One issue of concern IMO is that is that Chikungunya is endemic on Dominica and you will have to wear Deet and take precautions against biting insects, but since you've been to Roatan you must be used to that. It was a British colony before independence but there is also a lot of French and Spanish and African influence on the culture.

Saba is lovely and unusual. It is very, very steep and the one road that wraps around the island is very narrow. Diving is interesting because it is around sea mounts but it is typical Caribbean reef and sea life. There is a rain forest at the top of the island. It is a Dutch island and the people are friendly. It is a law that the houses are white with green roofs and red shutters and have flowers in the garden, and it is very charming. The ground it very rocky and there is little open space so everyone has above-ground tombs in their backyard for Mom, Dad and the Grandparents.

One thing I remember about Saba was that there were a lot of big vermin - okay I'm a little paranoid about bugs and I recognize that it is a tropical island, but I was afraid to go out at night because the flying roaches were bigger than the tree frogs - and there were a lot of both and they made an unholy racket at night while I was cowering in bed under the mosquito net!

There were really big centipedes and rats scurrying around, too. I didn't mind the bats flying around because I was hoping that they were eating the bugs! You drank water from the cistern and they put guppies in the cistern to eat the mosquito larvae so you were drinking guppy water! Saba was just a little too far off the beaten path for me, but I am glad that we went there once. We were there some time ago so maybe things have changed. If I were to go back I would probably stay on the liveaboard with one or two land excursions.

Grand Cayman is very developed, there are parts of the island that are more remote but the Seven Mile Beach area is very built up but the beach is beautiful. However the sister islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are very undeveloped and the diving is better IMO. You can only fly small propeller planes in and out of Little Cayman and the whole island pretty much shuts down during August and September. Lovely wildlife preserves on the sister islands and beautiful walls and reefs - especially Little Cayman.

Below is an article I posted awhile ago on TripAdvisor comparing the 3 Cayman Islands from a Diver's perspective. We like to spend time on GC enjoying some of the touristy fun things - but we don't stay on 7MB - and we do some snorkeling and shore dives and maybe a few boat dives while we are there; and then we head to Brac or Little to "get off the beaten path but keep one foot in the first world" and enjoy nature and diving. Cayman is a British territory.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147364-i260-k8593445-The_differences_for_a_diver_between_the_3_Cayman_islands-Cayman_Islands.html
 
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I haven't been to the Cayman sister islands yet, but love Grand Cayman (just not Georgetown or along 7MB). You can be as active or as laid back as you want because the island has everything. If you want quiet - go east end. If you want immediate access to restaurants and beaches - stay along 7MB. If you want quiet but a close driving or bus distance to all the restaurants and beaches - stay in the West Bay or Bodden Town. We like to stay in the West Bay area.

Saba is incredibly beautiful and we plan to go back some day because we like to have nothing to do besides dive, nap, and walk around. There is great hiking and an abundance of it. There is, however, no snorkeling if your wife did want to do some while you're on vacation. There is one site where you can sort of snorkel but it's pretty far from the reef and not very good, IMO. We didn't see a lot of huge bugs at night because we had a very stead, very strong wind all night with our house being on the side of the island overlooking the airport, but the bugs and frogs do make a lot of noise. We also had run ins with a few rats (including a dead rat on our patio one morning).
 
I looked into Curacao but we decided to mark it off the list because it looked very commercialized...cruise ship stuff. How does the diving compare?
You may have the wrong impression. We stayed and dived in the Sabana Westpunt area and it was rugged, remote and beautiful. Wonderful diving.
 
You may have the wrong impression. We stayed and dived in the Sabana Westpunt area and it was rugged, remote and beautiful. Wonderful diving.

Thanks....I will take a second look. What areas are away from the cruise ship crowds?
 
I haven't been to the Cayman sister islands yet, but love Grand Cayman (just not Georgetown or along 7MB). You can be as active or as laid back as you want because the island has everything. If you want quiet - go east end. If you want immediate access to restaurants and beaches - stay along 7MB. If you want quiet but a close driving or bus distance to all the restaurants and beaches - stay in the West Bay or Bodden Town. We like to stay in the West Bay area.

Saba is incredibly beautiful and we plan to go back some day because we like to have nothing to do besides dive, nap, and walk around. There is great hiking and an abundance of it. There is, however, no snorkeling if your wife did want to do some while you're on vacation. There is one site where you can sort of snorkel but it's pretty far from the reef and not very good, IMO. We didn't see a lot of huge bugs at night because we had a very stead, very strong wind all night with our house being on the side of the island overlooking the airport, but the bugs and frogs do make a lot of noise. We also had run ins with a few rats (including a dead rat on our patio one morning).

I agree, we like to stay in Bodden Town on Grand Cayman with easy access to the entire island, and there is a lot to see and do on GC, it really fits many tastes and options. The sister islands are small, sleepy, and undeveloped, and you can relax in a hammock, go diving, hiking, biking, kayaking, or just enjoy nature.

Saba is very beautiful and I know that I am overly sensitive about bugs (especially big ones - see the link below for a pic of a giant Saban centipede!) but we were there a long time ago. We stayed in a cottage at Juliana's and it was lovely but there was no air-conditioning back then. There weren't many places to stay on the island and none had AC. I think that Juliana's now offers AC in the bedrooms and that would have been a big help. There wasn't much wind and all we had was a ceiling fan and screens on the leaky windows and a mosquito net over the bed; and listening to the insects and tree frogs and other "wildlife" at night really fed my paranoia. I have been to Roatan and Belize with the mosquitos and sand fleas and I managed okay but Saba really freaked me out.

It would be lovely to see Saba again, the island is beautiful and unique and the people are friendly but if I were to stay on the island it would have to be in a place with AC and tightly-closing windows and doors!

Caribbean Med-school Blues
 
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What areas are away from the cruise ship crowds?
We have only been to CUR once and it was this past Jan. We stayed out on the western end of the island known as Sabana Westpunt. It is about a 30 min drive from the airport. There are no crowds of any type out on this end of the island. Other than a handful of places to stay and restaurants, there is not much else. No gas stations, no stores, no shopping. The diving is wonderful and compares with Bonaire. We stayed at Allwest Apartments. Right on the water with diving and snorkeling on site. I am certain there are other towns and areas that are remote with no cruise ship crowds but this is the area we spent our time in.
 
That's a thought - West Curacao is mostly smaller, more isolated properties. And Christoffel Park has 8 hiking trails ranging from a walk to climbing Mt. Christoffel. Hiking | Curacao is more hilly than people realize once you leave town. So there must be other hiking options. Also several old forts etc. Hiking & safaris

Arguably the better diving is west near Westpunt but it's also more isolated - about a 45min. drive to town. There's under a dozen restaurants there and one small market nearby but most suggest stopping for groceries in tow before the drive out if you're renting a condo/apt. Lodge Kura Hulanda is as nice as it looks and Go West Diving is on-site for boat/shore diving - good operation.

Most of the beaches are also dive sites and just about all have facilities. We snorkeled a couple during our SI also. Playa Jeremi is on the Frommer's 10 best Caribbean Snorkels list - probably for the orange cup corals along the north side cliffs. One of few sites with no facilities.

It's pretty quiet in Westpunt. The town of Lagun about 15mins. closer is even quieter - just a couple condo/apt. complexes waterfront (not beachfront due to the cliffs) We stayed there a couple days but found ourselves driving to/near town twice to eat. Later we moved to the Piscadera Bay area which was also pretty quiet at night given that's it's about 2 mi. north of downtown and on the same side of the harbor as the Megapier cruise pier but all the traffic goes south so you barely notice.
 
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