Visiting a few islands. Need advice on what to do while I'm there.

[hansnfrans]

I am visiting a few islands in a month and need to know what is worth doing, while I'm at each one.

Visiting:

San Juan
St. Thomas
Dominica
Barbados
Aruba

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TellyFish]

Diving of course! Maybe a stingray petting session. Thats about all I did while I was down there... it was perfect. Oh yea, rum!

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

dominica, go to scotts head, one of the best dive sites in the world. also hike to the largest boiling lake in the world there.

aruba is amazing. rent a 4x4. best way to explore the island.

san juan. go to old san juan. best part of it. historic.

have a great trip. hope your not going on a cruise though. they are the worse. you dont get a true sense of the islands that way.

 

[hansnfrans]

Thanks for the info guys.

TellyFish: Unfortunately I won't be SCUBA diving, as I am not yet certified (Keyword: "yet" ) Gonna snorkel instead. Not nearly as cool as SCUBA, oh well I guess.

embryoguy: We are going to rent ATV's on one of the islands to go sight-seeing, but I am not sure if Aruba is the island that we're doing this on. Unfortunately it is a cruise. What is it that I'll be missing out on by "cruising" the islands?

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

limited time. and you ll do more tourists stuff instead of making your own time and getting to know the local sites.

many are into cruises, im just not.

im sure you ll have a great time no matter what.

at dominac, go to Trafagar Falls. thats close to the cruise docking area.

with the locals. make sure you bargain with them bec they are like headhunters when the cruise ships dock in.

 

[hansnfrans]

Thanks for the tips. Will definately keep those in mind. It is unfortunate that I am only spending less than 24hours at each port, but I gotta say I LOVE cruises. Only reason I love 'em is b/c the food is all inclusive/all you can eat. Last time I went to Alaska, a few of the waiters were placing money bets on how many steaks I was going to eat on that particular night . I'm getting hungry just thinkin' about all that food.

 

[hansnfrans]

What is Trafalgar Falls all about?

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

hans

than a cruise is perfect for you i like to just pic an island and try to become a local for a week

traffagar falls is in dominica and its relatively close to the cruise ship port. its just a beautiful tropical waterfall. if you want to spend more money though. get a helicopter ride to the boiling lake. its amazing. it looks like what another planet.

anyway, im sure your cruise people will tell you all the good places anyway. but i would do some research on your own for each island. you do not need to scuba to see amazing reefs. im not sure if you can bring a spear gun, but thats also alot of fun to do when your snorkeling

have fun.

 

[flapjack1439]

Garen,

Garen, Garen, Garen......

a young, single, good lookin' guy cruising to all of those islands and you're asking what would be worth doing?

I would suggest anything that involved liquor and women and you can't go wrong.

 

[MBasile]

sneak some coral back, maybe some firecoral

it might be illegal though, not sure. anyone know about that?

 

[whirley]

San juan, hit the rain forest. We enjoyed going there.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Have fun.

 

[hansnfrans]

flapjack- Good point

bigbadbasile- you have no idea how many times I've pondered this thought, but I'd feel bad doing this because the corals probably stand a better chance against global warming than they do in my tank

whirley- I had no idea that there was a rainforest there. That's awesome! Gonna have to look into that. Did you check it out on-foot or in a vehicle of some sort?

 

[whirley]

As I recall,

We went to the :

El Yunque Rainforest. It's state owned, as I recall. We drove there (1 hour) in a rental car.

They do have tours at the rainforest. I think we took the 'short tour' since my wife was pregnant.

Walked up the river and checked out the falls. It's pretty cool..

Make sure that you stop off at the hole-in-the-wall resturants and have a snack. Thier BBQ chicken is delicious. Don't bother with the coconut drink....it might be fresh, but they don't put any sugar in it. All natural ---> blah!

Puerto Rico does have snorkeling. It was nice, but Hawaii was much better.

We took a tour on a yacht to a couple snorkeling spots. As I recall, it was $100 per person. It was well worth it, and the highlight of my trip. Snorling gear, lunch, alcohol, The Eagles(Music), sun, warm weather, corals, sand beaches and fish to feed, it was like a piece of heaven.

whirley

On a side note, driving in Pueto Rico was fun for me. It's like driving in a "Go-cart" race track. Very small vehicles that go 60 in a 10 mph limit. Just pretend your Mario Andretti and you'll be fine.

:rollface:

 

[Volcano1]

St.Thomas has some good snorkling.
Watch out for the dice games between the port and El morro Prison in Old San Juan.
Sample the Banks beer in Barbadoas.

 

[pk1]

When I was in San Juan a few years ago, we took a Carnival Cruise sponsored excursion that to this day is still one of the coolest things I have witnessed. You kayak at night through a mangrove forest to a bay that hosts one of the most interesting organisms I have seen, a plankton that lights up when agitated. Very cool..you see fish streaking through the water, your hand glows, water splashing from the paddle glows in the dark. Here is the link:
http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcurs...inescence+Bay+Kayak+Tour&excursioncode=427002

Enjoy your trip!

 

[hansnfrans]

Thanks Patrick. Carnival is the cruise-line that we are cruisin' with. Sounds awesome, thanks for the link.