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Finding the right Caribbean island for you

BY CINDY LOOSE AND GARY LEE | The Washington Post

October 14, 2007

It's hard to go completely wrong in choosing a Caribbean island.

Every one of them, after all, offers warm water, beautiful views, sunny skies and soft breezes.

Even the most remote island is likely, at the very least, to have a steel-drum band playing at one place or another on a given night.

To get the most out of a Caribbean vacation, you need a matchmaker.

We've broken travelers' major areas of interest into 10 categories and named our choices for the best islands in each.

Although you might find happiness on any island, we're hoping this will help you find a perfect match.

Divers in the know love Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles, says Ben Davidson, editor of the diving magazine Undercurrents, in large measure because you can simply wade from the beach to find great diving spots.

"There aren't big fish, but that's pretty much true throughout the Caribbean these days," Davidson says. "But the reefs are quite nice, and you can save money and time by not having to take a boat. " Bonaire's sister island, Curacao, offers the same advantage.

The Cayman Islands, and particularly Little Cayman, have dramatic underwater walls and great coral reefs. "It's pretty pristine. You can't compare it to 30 years ago, but it's as good as it gets for underwater terrain," Davidson says.

For easy diving, Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos is a great choice, but don't confuse ease with mediocrity: The island has a dramatic vertical wall not far offshore and a lot of small tropical fish.

More experienced divers - especially those who don't care about beaches or night life - should consider Saba. "Offshore pinnacles are quite dramatic, sometimes you can see sharks, the coral is lovely and it's pretty unique," Davidson says.

The critter capital of the Caribbean is St. Vincent, where you'll find unusual small things such as sea horses and inch-long pipefish and frogfish. For big, scary things, go to the Bahamas, which has organized shark dives.

The elements that make for great diving - reefs, crystal-clear water and an abundance of underwater wildlife - also make for great snorkeling. Thus the islands listed above also are havens for snorkeling. To the "best" list for the activity, however, add Aruba, where visibility is up to 90 feet and coral reefs are covered with sea fans and giant sponge tubes. In St. Lucia, divers love the Anse La Raye wall, but it's also accessible for snorkeling. Nevis' Sea Life Educational Center has a marine biologist who offers a hands-on lesson, then guides participants on a snorkel search for fish, lobster, octopus, sea stars and turtles.

BEACHES

Beaches are what the Caribbean is all about, and you can find good to great ones on most of the islands. It's easier to note the ones without a wealth of good beaches: Saba, Dominica, St. Eustatius and St. Vincent.

But even among the great, there are standouts. Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman is as long as its name indicates; just know that it is lined with hotels. When it comes to mileage, Negril Beach in Jamaica can match the longest one in Grand Cayman.

St. Martin's Baie Orientale gets rave reviews for its long stretch of white sand. Some argue that Eagle Beach in Aruba, with its powdery strand, is the best beach in the Caribbean, although if you visited years ago and loved it because there was little development, you're in for a big surprise.

Half Moon Beach and Grace Bay on the island Providenciales in Turks and Caicos also have been discovered; still, many of the hotels are low-rise, and other islands in the chain have beautiful, nearly deserted beaches.

If you're looking for something unusual, the Baths on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands has grottoes. Or, look for pink sand beaches on two of the outer islands of the Bahamas, Harbor Island and Eleuthera. St. Barts is known for beaches covered with seashells, a rarity in the Caribbean. If you like to mix it up and enjoy gentle beaches while still catching some waves, Barbados has a calm Caribbean side and crashing surf on the Atlantic side. For pristine little coves, check out St. John.

Antigua's boast of having a different beach for every day of the year is true only because it includes some so-so beaches, but there is no question the island has a lot of beaches, many of them quite good.