Views from the Carribean?

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Tom Rankin

Tom Rankin

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What's the best island for peakbaggers who still want to have fun at the beach?

I know I can Google it, (or Fodor it), but I'd like some first hand reports from people who 'speak my language'! :D
 
Dominica was my favorite - peakbaggers types can even get a 4k - Mt. Diablotin is 4747'. Someone on views did a report on Diablotin, I am sure you can find it with a search. Much of it is hiking and climbing on tree roots and limbs that are suspended over a steep muddy trail - very interesting terrain. I never did make it out to the Boiling Lake...
 
St John has wonderful hiking,w/an extensive trail system, bootleg trails, (see Trailbandit above), old roads dating back to (a long time ago) and long shoreline scrambles. Also fantastic beaches, some you can only get to by foot or boat.
 
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I've been to Dominica as well and got most of the way up Mt. Diablotin (2nd and final view point). The island has many mountains, but only two with trails. The trails are so much different than ours around here. The island doesn't have much for beaches though. Just small ones scattered here and there. We still had a great time with the more nature themed excursions that we did as well as some snorkeling. I'd love to go back to do more, but I also am not someone that finds beaches much fun after the first couple hours. There are many nature themed trails to places like waterfalls and the boiling lake as well.

Pictures from whole trip
Pictures from just the hike
 
sdways01 said:
I've been to Dominica as well and got most of the way up Mt. Diablotin (2nd and final view point). The island has many mountains, but only two with trails. The trails are so much different than ours around here. The island doesn't have much for beaches though. Just small ones scattered here and there. We still had a great time with the more nature themed excursions that we did as well as some snorkeling. I'd love to go back to do more, but I also am not someone that finds beaches much fun after the first couple hours. There are many nature themed trails to places like waterfalls and the boiling lake as well.

Pictures from whole trip
Pictures from just the hike
Click to expand...
That looks great!

Birds, Mountains, Beaches, and they speak English (apparently?).

Did you find you needed the guide? Just ballpark, what did he charge?

After reading about St. John's, I think I'll skip it...
 
I haven't been to Dominica, but have been to many other Caribbean islands and St. John wins hands down, for the combination of hiking and wonderful beaches. Well over a hundred miles of trails, I believe (cf. Trail Bandit's terrific map), and many hills, topped by Bordeaux Mtn., although that is well under 4K, as I recall. Here are some photos I took on our 2008 trip there.
 
I am sorry if I have given a report on St. John that has discouraged people. Tom Rankin says
"After reading about St. John's, I think I'll skip it.." I hope I was not the cause for his decision. St. John is still a great place to get away from the cold, and do some hiking, swimming, snorkeling, and just enjoying the place. I have been going there since 1965 and back then it was absolutely beautiful. Don't get me wrong, it is still beautiful but not what it was back then. It can't be all that bad if I have gone there about 50 times. The Virgin Islands National Park service has done what I would give an F score for taking care of the place.
Many of the trails and roads that were open back then have become totally overgrown. Maintenance on the historic buildings has been spotty at the very best. I have worked hard for 20 years to get things improved down there but the NPS has done their best to prevent change.
Those of you that never saw the place 45 years ago will think it is great. If you are willing to walk a bit you can find a beautiful beach or snorkel spot all to yourself. St. John is really not a place for peak baggers since the highest point is Bordeaux mountain which is 1288 ft above sea level and has no views. Camelberg Peak is almost as tall and also has no views but it is a much nicer hike.
 
Tom Rankin said:
That looks great!

Birds, Mountains, Beaches, and they speak English (apparently?).

Did you find you needed the guide? Just ballpark, what did he charge?

After reading about St. John's, I think I'll skip it...
Click to expand...

The guide that we had was one of the staff for the resort we stayed at. He had been there a couple times before. While he was driving us from the airport, we mentioned possibly doing that mountain and he said another guest had already asked to the next day. So we tagged along. Our package was all inclusive, so he was no extra cost (we could give him a tip though). The trail isn't hard to follow for any normal hiker here, but finding the trail might be tricky (depending on where on the island you stay). The trail just gets thick, but isn't confusing or anything. There is no view at the actual summit, but there are two view points before it that provide nice views. Contact me if you want any more info.
 
I looked into doing Pico Duarte on an upcoming family vacation in Dominican Republic. The allure of the highest peak in the Caribbean is compelling but after a little research it seems like too much work for me. Perhaps if my sole purpose for going to D.R. was to climb that mountain it would be possible but it is much more than a casual day hike. But it sounds cool if you are more ambitious than I am.
http://www.summitpost.org/pico-duarte/150346
 
Jamaica is quite mountainous, and they do have trail systems up in the Blue Mountains. And of course, there's always Haiti, been there three times and have been awestruck with the mountains there, but that may be more then you want to bite off...
 
Tom,

Before we settled on Kauai for our second honeymoon (and that trip is coming up soon), we were seriously looking at St. Lucia.

I was definitely looking to hike Gros Piton, although I think they require you to use a guide. Here is a tour article:

http://www.caribbeantravelmag.com/articles/hiking-st-lucias-gros-piton


We were going to stay at Sandals Grande there, which AMSTony recommended to me. Here is his TR from several years ago, which includes some hikes there:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?15719-Hiking-St-Lucia-in-the-Carribean-Part-1&highlight=lucia


Good luck with your decision!

Marty
 
marty said:
Tom,

Before we settled on Kauai for our second honeymoon (and that trip is coming up soon), we were seriously looking at St. Lucia.
Click to expand...

We have been to St. Lucia twice, staying each time for about a week, once at the south end and then at the north end of the Island. It is beautiful, especially the Pitons, and there are some excellent hiking possibilities, but unless things have changed over the past 10 years, it has much less than St. John of the sort of drive-to, DIY, no-worries hiking that we are used to in the Northeast. (Most of St. John is a US National Park.)
 
Check out St. Maarten.

It has some of the best beaches in the world.

For hiking, you are a ten minute plane hop over to Saba Island. You can climb to the top of the volcano and see forever.
There are also some very challenging rain forest hikes on Saba. It is an eco-tourist's dream.

... not to mention, the landing strip at Saba is the shortest in the world.
 
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