My wife wants a beach vacation. I'm not really the "sit on the beach and relax all day" type of guy, so I need a place with other activities. From my research so far, I'm liking Costa Rica, Belize, and St. Lucia the best, with Costa Rica in the lead at the moment. Any others have experience elsewhere?
The top 3 beach houses so far for Costa Rica: 1) On the beach, gorgeous, modern house, most expensive: http://www.vrbo.com/406383 2) Gorgeous, modern house, not on the beach, has private pool, good price: http://www.vrbo.com/287514 3) Cool house, on the beach, secluded, good price: http://www.vrbo.com/180146
We spent 3 weeks in this condo in Hope Town, Bahamas back in 2005. http://www.hopetownvillas.com/gazebo.html It may be a little more laid back than you like, but we loved it. We fished quite a bit, snorkeled, partied at the local bar, walked the beach quite a bit and seemed to have it nearly to ourselves, rented a boat to cruise around and took a charter boat fishing a couple times. I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Definitely not San Juan Puerto Rico, been there too many times. I'd just assume go to inner city Miami. The other side of the island is beautiful and the beaches are great. Panama also has some nice beaches and the Peacock Bass fishing is incredible on the Panama Canal. Hotel rates are doable but a cabin on the beach would be much better. Wish I had pics but the Peacocks are a blast to catch and the food is really good and cheap.
I've looked into Panama as well, but the flight prices are double compared to flying into Costa Rica. What's up with that? For the price of a flight to Panama City, we could fly to south France and stay at my wife's uncle's "chateau" on the beach.
My flight's were always on a C-130. They're like me... slow, reliable and cheap. I am thinking Costa Rica will be hard to beat. Besides, the journey is always way more fun than the destination.
I went to the Domincan last year with my wife. All inclusive resort called meila tropic. Free golf (had to pay for cart), hang out at the pool where they had one of those bars you can sit at in the water. We paid 1600 for 5 days and that included airfare. We went in the end of September so it was cheaper than going during prime time. I almost forgot to mention the casino was handing out money as well. I won over $500 the first night and my wife would not let me go back to win more. We plan on going back this year.
I'm trying to avoid All-Inclusives. I know a lot of people love them, but they aren't really my thing.
I'm back to normal, or as normal as I'll ever get. Right arm still hurts, but as long as I keep busy, it's easy to ignore.
Heading to the Catalonia Royal Bavaro on June 8th. Decided to try Dominican beaches and see if they live up to the hype. When to Nassau (Breezes) three years ago, and it was nice. I actually like the all inclusive, so take it for what it's worth. I know there are plenty of non-all-inclusive resorts on the Dominican, but I wouldn't venture far from the resorts (which it sounds like you want to do).
Dammit. I can't decide on any of this crap. I've now began researching ecolodges in Costa Rica and Belize, and well, they all look freaking awesome. This is too hard. :whitepeopleproblems:
