The Caribbean is beautiful, and some people who do mainly dedicated dive trips may not see all that much topside, or at least not indulge some of the interesting sights & activities that the islands offer. Whether a rainforest hike, catamaran coastal tour, zip line, jungle canopy aerial tram or sunning on the beach, or touring historic forts, there's a lot to do besides diving in the Caribbean (don't tell my wife I said that; I like to maximize diving).
A buddy of mine proposed cruising Alaska someday. I suspect there are a couple of kinds of people, get separated out when they see the snow capped mountain tops & alpine forest of the great north - those who are spiritually touched and inspired by the primal majesty of the mountain range & other natural splendor of Alaska, and those of us who'd probably look at it and take snap shots for a half hour or so, decide 'Okay, been there done that, so now what?' My buddy would be one of the former. I'd spend an Alaskan trip continuously aware that I could have been somewhere tropical diving instead. Or at least looking at lush tropical vegetation.
There are places I might like to see if I were retired, well-off and had scads of free time - the Holy Land, parts of Europe such as Rome, for that matter a number of places right here in the U.S. But while I'm working, have just a few weeks a year to divvy up amongst all my entertainment options, and really about 2 weeks to dedicate to vacations focused on me & what I want to do, it's pretty much Florida and the Caribbean.
Richard.
