Which Southern Caribbean Port is best for...

[kessdarln]

First time to all of these ports.  Want to do something different in each port.  Which of these ports has the best for these generic ideas? 

Snorkeling, Touring the town/island, Boat tour, Zipline or other ideas?  Thank you for your ideas. 

 

Oranjestad, Aruba
Willemstad, Curacao
Kralendijk, Bonaire
Castries, St. Lucia
Basseterre, St. Kitts

[Stinger-pr]

Out of this list, I've been to St. Lucia and St. Kitts. In St Lucia we did an island tour with Spence Ambrose. The tour involves a great speedboat ride along the coast, land transfer to the island volcano (dormant), a waterfall and another boat ride to Jalouise Beach. Some of the best snorkeling I have done was there. Crystal clear water and an amazing variety and quantity of fish. I recommend this tour with my eyes closed! On St Kitts we toured with Thenford Grey. A ride around some of the island hilights including botanical gardens with a Batik shop, a fortress perched high on a hill with breathtaking views and a beach break at Shipwreck bar and grill and South Friar beach *opposite to Carambola beach club). Food and drinks were priced right and did some decent snorkeling. We loved the place and atmosphere so much we're going back in a few days when our cruise stops in St. Kitts. This time we're just taking a taxi straight to the Shipwreck and hanging out for the day.

[CntPAcruiser]

My recommendations would be:

St. Kitts: touring the island (we use Royston); Brimstone Fortress is a must-see UNESCO world heritage sight

Bonaire: snorkeling (we use Woodwind, and they are amazing)

Curacao: best for just walking around the town of Willemstad—lovely walkable town with great shopping and a few sights

St. Lucia: do an island tour, Serenity Tours recommended (do the waterfall and sulfur springs)

Aruba: beautiful beach(es), such as Eagle, and possibly snorkeling over shipwrecks and coral reefs

[Hillbillygram]

St. Kitts--we did the island tour with Thenford Grey. (We wanted to do Royston but He was not on the island when we were there). The tour with Henry from Thenford was one of the highlights of our cruise in September. It was an excellent tour and we saw/learned so much about St. Kitts.