[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by Steeler

+1 on Costa Rica.
Southern Pacific for adventure and nature.
Northern Pacific for beaches.
Central Pacific for surfing and nightlife.
Tours of the Arenal Volcano is worthwhile in the Northern Pacific.
Never done the Caribbean side of the country so cannot comment.

Yes, definitely want to see Costa Rica. However, my wife insists on bringing the kids there so it's out of the question for our kids-free trip.

[Freddie345]

I love Jamaica but my favourite destination so far has been the Maldives

[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by JP10

Costa Rica was a ball.

Spiders, GIANT spiders....Spiders, NOPE NOPE NOPE

[essejM3]

Just got back from 9 days in Anguilla, that is our happy place. Very safe, many fantastic beaches, locals are super friendly, beaches are never crowded. Only downside is getting there, have to fly into St. Martin, and the either take a puddle jumper or a ferry over.

[kring]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

Spiders, GIANT spiders....Spiders, NOPE NOPE NOPE

lol, that's a lot of the island destinations Bahama's have those gigantic banana spiders with massive 15 foot webs all along the sides of roads.

[Alfisti]

I do believe this big fella was in Cairns. Bit of a unit.

[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by kring

lol, that's a lot of the island destinations Bahama's have those gigantic banana spiders with massive 15 foot webs all along the sides of roads.

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I do believe this big fella was in Cairns. Bit of a unit.

NOPE, Ill take my chances with Gators and snakes

[Watching The World Burn]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I do believe this big fella was in Cairns. Bit of a unit.

Frick no.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

NOPE, Ill take my chances with Gators and snakes

Oh Cairns has crocodiles and snakes too, no issue there. Whatever your freak on is, they have it.

And this is before we get to the human beings, they dead set eat their young up there.

[JMcLellan]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I do believe this big fella was in Cairns. Bit of a unit.

Holy cow. If my wife sees this we are never going to Australia. I'm thinking about getting a pet tarantula and forcing her to get over her spider fear; it's completely unreasonable freaking out over every little spider inside and outside the house

[AntF32]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

Holy cow. If my wife sees this we are never going to Australia. I'm thinking about getting a pet tarantula and forcing her to get over her spider fear; it's completely unreasonable freaking out over every little spider inside and outside the house

Huntsman are good and all but THIS is a spider





Golden Orb bird eating spider

[Fly320s]

Originally Posted by JMcLellan

Yes, definitely want to see Costa Rica. However, my wife insists on bringing the kids there so it's out of the question for our kids-free trip.

There are 2 Costa Ricas. The beach one and the tropical jungle one.

Depending on what you like to do, you can do one part with your wife and the other part with your kids.

I've been to both parts. The jungle part had more vigorous activities than the beach part.

Someone else told you that you shouldn't explore the Dominican Republic. I agree. You'll mostly be stuck at your resort.

Don't even think about Haiti.

Most other Carribean islands are good to go. Aruba is the standard tourist island. It was fine for us, but nothing special.

I like St Martin the most, mainly because of the differences between the Dutch side and the French side. And the French bakeries that make awesome croissants. Stay on the Dutch side for the cheap deals. Go to the French side for the nicer beaches and restaurants. Orient beach is very nice.

St Thomas, USVI is very nice. You can have both a family vacation there (we did last year) or a romantic couples vacation. That is my second pick, but it is very close to SXM.

I haven't stayed in St Lucia, but I hear it isn't that good unless you drop a bunch of money there.

Barbados and Jamaica aren't really known as family islands, but that might be changing. I hear Jamaica is getting better at that.

Out of all of the tropical places I've been to, Costa Rica tops my list. Mendoza, Argentina is above that, but not really tropical.

[JP10]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

Spiders, GIANT spiders....Spiders, NOPE NOPE NOPE

I don't recall one spider from my trip to be honest

[T0RM3NT]

Originally Posted by JP10

I don't recall one spider from my trip to be honest

I agree. I was there for a week and never saw one. Maybe just lucky?

[UncleWede]

I went to Costa Rica for my brother's wedding. I had a freaking BLAST. First week we stayed in a bungalow on the beach, on stilts. At dusk the local fisherman would come thru the area with his daily catch, and I'd have the BBQ already fired up.
Mornings I'd wake at dawn, run down the beach for a few miles, then jump in the ocean.

For the wedding we moved to the hotel with the other guests up in the mountains. It was significantly cooler up there!

But alas, my wife hates my SIL to this day, even though they've been divorced for years. We aren't ever going back to Costa Rica because of spiders though. Spider is the SIL's nickname.

If something untoward were to happen to my wife, I'd be back shortly after the mourning period was over