25th anniversary trip January 2020

[Ohana]

Any suggestions for a resort that 'has it all' in the Caribbean for January 2020? We have been researching for a while now and are stumped. Our top priorities are a proper beach where we can relax and there is good snorkeling, something on the smaller side preferred, oh and (!) some diving

We are conflicted about a remote location vs. a larger resort for a couple of reasons. The sargassum disaster in the Caribbean has us paralyzed with fear of ruining our trip (can't really find a Sargassum 'season' but have seen indications that January is one of the least risky times of year for it. Our thought was that in a larger resort, if there is sargassum, they will have the staffing to remove it. If it is present at a smaller place, we think we'd be out of luck.

Our top contenders are:

Smaller >
Coco Plum Island (Belize)
Bucuti and Tara (Aruba)
Palm Island Resort (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Larger >
Sandals Grenada
Bahia Principe Levintado (island of Dominican Republic)

(Beyond our budget (but perfect) would be Spice Island Resort, Sugar Beach, Hermitage Bay, and Keyonna Beach Resort) oh, and we stayed at Little Dix Bay once and it was another perfect experience (but they are closed allegedly until December 2019)...

or do we just ditch the Caribbean? We are in Virginia and would prefer nothing further than Hawaii. Really tough time of year to try to plan :/

Thank you!

 

[RJMETZ]

My wife and I are huge Sandals Grenada fans. The resort really isn’t that large, IMHO. with two pools and the beach it has never felt crowded to us. The main beach is mostly protected by some man made jetty’s so I doubt there will be a sargassum issue. The resort provides snorkel trips that are included. Scuba (included) is our primary activity there. We are soon headed for our sixth two week visit. Two tank dive in the morning. Nice lunch with a cocktail or two for lunch, naps/ books on the beach in the afternoon. I take a mask and snorkel to the beach and snorkel around the jetty. I see small reef fish, crabs, and sometimes an octopus. A quick shower then off to dinner. The restaurants (six I think)there in my opinion are very good. We think the diving is good to great, depending on the day and the dive site. We have done some really nice dives at the marine park, a couple of nice wrecks, and if the currents are gentle a dive at Shark Alley. We have seen a lot of cool stuff there and the coral is in pretty good shape compared to some places we have dove.

 

[Ohana]

My wife and I are huge Sandals Grenada fans. The resort really isn’t that large, IMHO. with two pools and the beach it has never felt crowded to us. The main beach is mostly protected by some man made jetty’s so I doubt there will be a sargassum issue. The resort provides snorkel trips that are included. Scuba (included) is our primary activity there. We are soon headed for our sixth two week visit. Two tank dive in the morning. Nice lunch with a cocktail or two for lunch, naps/ books on the beach in the afternoon. I take a mask and snorkel to the beach and snorkel around the jetty. I see small reef fish, crabs, and sometimes an octopus. A quick shower then off to dinner. The restaurants (six I think)there in my opinion are very good. We think the diving is good to great, depending on the day and the dive site. We have done some really nice dives at the marine park, a couple of nice wrecks, and if the currents are gentle a dive at Shark Alley. We have seen a lot of cool stuff there and the coral is in pretty good shape compared to some places we have dove.

Thank you for your response. Sandals Grenada may be in our future. For now, we decided on Coco Plum Island.

 

[BalekFekete]

Thanks @RJMETZ for the write-up - my wife and I just booked a trip to Sandals Grenada for our 25th anniversary in January as it would so happen! Can't wait to do pretty much what you laid out for the week and change we'll be there.