Beach Vacation
- Thread starter ISUConE
- Start date
We are going to St. Lucia in November. I can't wait!!!!!
I'm heavily partial to the Golden Isles in GA, but December is probably a little cold. St Simons is personal favorite.
Such a beautiful area, quiet/low key place, not crowded beaches... definitely a slower pace vacation spot. Pier/Downtown area with nice restaurants and a few shops. Generally just an easy going spot.
I'm 28 and already trying to figure out how soon a I can acquire a 2nd home/rental property down there to have for vacations and retire to in 30 years.
Such a beautiful area, quiet/low key place, not crowded beaches... definitely a slower pace vacation spot. Pier/Downtown area with nice restaurants and a few shops. Generally just an easy going spot.
I'm 28 and already trying to figure out how soon a I can acquire a 2nd home/rental property down there to have for vacations and retire to in 30 years.
Curacao! We're going this October. We are super-excited, it's not super touristy, Willemstad has a great downtown area that is unique with lots of food trucks and restaurants. The Baoase is the top resort, and we're going and IN LOVE with it. But there are all kinds of amazing AirBnBs and other resorts.
Curacao is one of the islands we port at on our next cruise in February. I have never been there and really looking forward to it.
Hit me up in November and I can give you some details! I am a super-intense trip planner, so I plan to see ALL the things.
The one thing I'm bummed about is that I don't think we're going to do the Klein Curacao trip. We may, as we just extended our trip a bit, but I've read a lot about how the waters are SUPER choppy and hard to sail without barfing. I'm excited about the Blue Curacao distillery tour!
As a long-time Ft. Myers visitor (my Dad lives there) the water quality has been real iffy with the blooms. Summers are worse but you may want to research that aspect. I've been there when you couldn't be a block from the beech without burning throat and eyes and the smell... WAY more of a gulf-side problem.
Prices are high during holidays but not so high in early December. Highest rates are actually during the High Season which is January through mid April. I stay in a small Mexican Beach Hotel with only 18 rooms in Playa Del Carmen. Directly on the Beach. As in steps away with ocean view. Beach only access. Has a small restaurant on site with a Chef who makes great food from scratch and has a small beach bar as well. Fifth Avenue is just one block away with lots of restaurants. Lots of shopping. Walk to everything. It is very safe. You are in the Tourist Zone. Bucket of 5 beers on ice is around $10. Breakfast is around $6. Had fresh Lobster on the Beach once when the Fisherman brought in fresh caught for $40 per person. Good variety of choices on their menu including Jumbo Shrimp for about $15 or so. The hotel is not fancy. But has free WiFi and Cable TV. AC and kitchenette with coffee maker and Fridge. And nice balcony. The Service is impeccable. No fighting for your beach chair. A few bucks and the Beach Guy sets it all up for you. The pool is just a plunge pool. But the ocean is beautiful. As well as the beach.
Been to Isla Mujeres on day trips. Several times. The Ferry Ride there and back is the only thing I am not a fan of. Which one do you take? Do you stay at a small hotel or the bigger ones? Playa Norte is a great beach.
I spent two weeks in Belize about 6 years ago and absolutely loved it. The only downside was the locals will bug the **** out of you to sell you junk.
I teach with a good friend and him and his wife own time shares in and around Playa Del Carmen, they go down for two to three weeks a year in June. They love that area and like to travel. She goes scuba diving while he just hangs out at the bar and drinks for days at a time.
He says the tourist area is fine, but it gets a little shaky if you go into town. But he also said they found a small hole in the wall restaurant that serves up great fish taco's for like $.50 cents a piece.
They own 7 or 8 time shares and travel a lot during the summer and over the holidays, he owns 2 in Maui and he says that allows him to trade those dates with other people that want to go to Hawaii.
I actually stay in the town of Playa Del Carmen on the Beach a few blocks north of the Ferry Pier. Nothing really shaky at all there. You have to go way west of the highway or way north to the Colosio neighborhood where the locals live to get to the really sketchy areas. But that is like a couple miles or so north of us. We aren’t late night partners. Being drunk and stupid at 2 am and later and by yourself then you might be a target of someone. But that is true here in the States as well. Searching for drugs or prostitutes will lead to encounters with bad people who will likely rip you off. Tourists who have gotten killed in Playa were in local neighborhoods at like 3 am doing who knows what in those neighborhoods. You don’t just wander into them by chance. You are likely looking for drugs or sex.
If cost is no issue - Tahiti is amaze-balls. You an do the Robinson Crusoe thing if you want. Postcards do NOT capture the colors.
"Good" news is it's a simple 8-9 hour flight from LA.
Near us is the little town of Stuart, Florida. It has a nice walk-able downtown and is literally minutes from the beach. You're still adjacent to the Gulf Stream so water is not too too cold. Probably easier to find a place on the island (S. Hutchinson Island) than downtown but there are some. It's about 40 minutes N of W Palm Beach. Traffic is fairly light for S. Florida. Far enough south the weather is usually good up through Christmas (no guarantees of course).
Mrs and I took our first trip to Oahu and Kauai in December. It BLOWS AWAY almost every other place I've been.
Cost was about $5000 for the two of us too spend 10 days there . Flights where $1400 of that cost. First 3 nights in Oahu were free from hotel points with business travel. We rented a VRBO in Kauai and got a rental car to visit the island.
The most beautiful place I've ever been is the Hanalei Bay, Napoli coastline of Kauai. It really does take your breath away
I had round trip tickets from DSM to Oahu then to Kauai for first week in November for $530 and passed on it. 8 day stay with all I had to pay for besides flights was 4 days of hotels (would have used points) and food. Company would have paid the rest. Kauai is my favorite island.
I'd leave right now for that deal. And a cyfan baby is due mid-July
