Summer Vacation time!
Summer Vacation time!
Yes, but where to go? The world is our oyster.
St Thomas is on the short list, but so was Roatan and Ixtapa
Of course Cozumel is a perenial favorite.
But we've been there. Several times.
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The Lee and Konlande family Blog
Lee and Konlande's Blog: Summer Vacation time!
Acapulco is not an option. They're having problems with "pirates". Really. Tourists are being warned to stay away. But.. you can probably get a good deal.
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The houses in St. Thomas sounded great to me. I don't mind cooking, hey cooking in paradise is cooking in PARADISE.
I'm feeling very anxious about booking something though. I'm concerned that with the price of gas going up that airfare won't be far behind. Also with the our intended time of departure around the July 4th things will start getting booked up. Lots of people like to use that extra day. Finally if we are going someplace that requires a passport we have to get the kids passports expedited. We've planned to take them to get their passports on the 19th but will need to know whether to pay the expedite fee.
Ok now that I've said all that. Roatan was removed from the picture by the non divers. Our travel agent thought it was too primative and I trust her on that since she's booked most of our vacations.
I would like to try and pursue St. Thomas and maybe Cancun or Playa if that's a no go. I didn't realize Ixtapa was on the list, I hadn't heard that one.
Any thoughts?
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I think we should try a house. Where really doesn't matter. On the beach would be great but not necessary. Pool would be fantastic.
Sherri - Is finding a house something the travel agent could help us with? I'm afraid there are so many different companies listing houses on the internet, we might miss something or overlook something. I found some houses last night just goofing around that looked great. But you really have to read the descriptions closely. I found a couple that looked great but when you read the fine print you realize they don't have air conditioning. ( A must! ) Again, it really doesn't matter where but a US territory would be nice because of the kids passport situation. We can always pay to expedite if we can find a good deal in the Caribbean some where.
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The Bahamas may also be a good idea. The diving is good, it's not primitive etc. I found on Funjet an All-Inclusive deal for $3563 for a hotel on Paradise Island. It would be great to stay at Atlantis but it's really expensive. But you could also go to Atlantis, it has a casino etc. The hotel I saw was the Riu Caribe.
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Forgot to say that the $3563 was per couple.
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Cliff - The Bahamas is where I did my first ocean dive. With the sharks. Way cool! Great diving. There is a wall dive there that starts at about 50 feet and drops off to 3000.
Should I have mentioned the sharks were Sherri could see......
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I had lunch with a dive master today who is leading a trip to Cozumel. I know we've been, and are considering other places, you know... Its cheap.
http://www.seasportstravel.com/grouptrips_p3.htm
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I would go back to Cozumel, I always have a great time there. I'd just like to make a decision pretty quick.
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If we want to go cheap I'd like to suggest Cancun or Playa. The diving may not be as convenient but it would be different and we could get in a cenote or two. Cancun also has alot more extracurricular activities ( the ruins, shopping for the girls, better restaurants and nightlife, etc.. ) and the bus makes it cheap and easy to get around.
The snorkel trip on the catamaran to Isle Mujeres is a blast. Pedro fed me more tequila than anyone should be allowed to drink. The boat stood still but the Dock kept swaying.
I'll look tonight and see what our options are there.
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After a quick look on Funjet at Playa and Cancun. We could go for anywhere from $1,900 to $2,500 depending on the quality of the hotel. I even found an Allegro in Playa that had almost the exact same layout as the one in Cozumel for $2,100. That was total for two people.
Take a look guys and let me know what you think.
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I think the days of a Cozumel trip that costs $1500 for two people are gone. We're still looking at $2000 - $2200 anywhere we go. If the cost is the same, I say go somewhere new.
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I would agree. Do we want to have Diane narrow down the search for us? What's on the table? We've thrown out so many ideas I think we need to narrow down.
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My Final suggests would be the Atlantis in the Bahamas. ( Cliff - You'd love all the aquarium displays, there's a casino, and the water slide through the shark pond. ) If it's too pricey there are other resorts in the area that are cheaper and we could just go and check out Atlantis.
My second choice would be the Virgin Islands. Maybe doing one of the houses we saw in St. Thomas or another resort.
I think we should all make a suggestion and then go from there.
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My final is St. Thomas and then the Bahamas. I know St. Thomas may be expensive but sure seems cool. I asked my friend Chris, who seems to have been everywhere, about St. Thomas. Here's what she said.
"There are many islands in the British Virgin Islands, and they are accessible by water taxi. I have not had any experience diving in the St. Thomas area, and I think that all the really good dives are in the British Virgin Islands. You can catch a ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola on the Bomba Charger or the Native Sun, and you can purchase the tickets right at the dock in Charlotte Amalie. It may be cheaper to fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then a puddle jumper to St. Thomas than it is flying right into beef Island from San Juan, but check the prices both ways and see which one is best.
It is really fun to explore the different islands but the water taxi is another price, and then the dive boat for the dives. The Wreck of the Rhone is a really famous and deep dive with a marvelous postal schooner sitting on the bottom in about 80 to 90+ feet, and depending upon the day, it could be low visibility.
John and I have sailed all over down there, and remember, you can charter a sail boat with a crew for a reasonable price if you have four people paying. I think there are good house rentals on St. John’s, and you can go to Tortola for the day if you want to. You do need to have passports to go over to the BVI (British Virgin Islands), and it is a different atmosphere.
There are marvelous beaches on St. Thomas and some diving, but like I said, I haven’t tried the diving there. My favorite beach on St. Thomas is Sapphire Beach-unbelievable water and sand. You can literally float there all day. It is a trek from Charlotte Amalie but you can rent cars on St. Thomas and St. John’s to tool around in. We have stayed in several resorts on St. Thomas after we sailed in the BVI.
Check out www.moorings.com. This is a sailing company that rents crewed sail boats on the Island of Tortola which is the biggest and main Island in the British Virgin Islands. They will also provide tanks for the divers in your group that can be refilled each day by a Dive Company.. You might compare the crewed yacht with a vacation rental on St. John’s or St. Thomas. Good luck with your adventure. You will love it all down there.
Obviously she's not done any diving there but has some good suggestions. She is into the sailing thing but thought you might like to hear another opinion.
If St. Thomas and Bahamas are out then perhaps we do Mexico but not Cozumel.
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Sherri and I di some quick numbers on the costs and find that they are all pretty close to the same. So there is no finacial advantage to going one place over another. This was somewhat of a surprise to me as I thought Cozumel would be significantly cheaper. It appears that its not.
It appears the differentiating criteria is whether the kids need a passport. Not having to have the cost to "rush" them, will save a lot of money. And that decision must be done today.
Therefore I feel that we should go to St. Thomas. This offers us several things:
1) We've never stayed on the island.
2) We can visit other islands (Mainly St John)
3) There is diving.
4) Being a US territory, no passport isues (but there may be if we go to another island as a day trip)
So I say we go to St Thomas.
Now regarind how to get there, or where we stay, we have time to sort that out. One of hte dive operators has a Best Western dive package. I've asked them to call me. The Best Western is on a beach, and served buy the diver operators.
I don't add this to confuse the matter, instead I show that there are options we've not explored.
I'll post the result after I hear from them.
But, my Vote is St Thomas.
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Now that we have a concensus, how do we go about making sure that a house is really what it seems on the internet? I think that's going to be the best way to go.
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Based on other posts on this blog, you decided to travel to all these locations. I wish that I had the chance to see all these locations on one vacation. Until I become more successful, I will have to see one at a time.
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