Which Caribbean Island in June?

[wanderer]

Decided on a break to the Caribbean in June.
Which island is the best bet? We like history and good beaches.

[Amy C]

History and good beaches brings Antigua to mind. Barbados too. That said, I’ve been to both in summer months and St Lucia and would never do so again. Too cloudy, too humid, too rainy.

[NorthernLass]

If you are seriously into history, I would suggest Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo area), or Cuba.

As per @Amy C, June is fly & flop weather for me, too hot to do much sight-seeing!

Mexico is another Caribbean option, not an island but with as much history as you can shake a stick at!

Just be aware that a lot of Caribbean suffer horrendously from Sargassum weed in the summer these days so you may want to do some research on this before making a decision.

[masaccio]

I’d dismiss St Lucia as a honeymooners island and Castries is a bit of a hole.

+1 for Antigua and Barbados based on your criteria.

My personal favourite so far has been Grenada.

The Lesser Antilles seem to suffer far less from sargassum than the mainland.

[NorthernLass]

I don’t think anywhere’s going to escape it this summer, it’s fast becoming an environmental and economic catastrophe for the region.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/2023-sargassum-bloom-1.6790109

[masaccio]

NorthernLass wrote:

I don’t think anywhere’s going to escape it this summer, it’s fast becoming an environmental and economic catastrophe for the region.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/2023-sargassum-bloom-1.6790109

I think the blooms seem to come in from the west so the Caribbean side beaches, and Grand Anse in particular, have been clear even in the worst seasons.

Belize last summer was very grim; we just spent our time in the pool. The eastern side of Roatan was completely clear.

[NorthernLass]

Yes, last July on the north and east of GCM it was piled up and stinking where it wasn’t being cleared away each day by tractor. I’d be gutted if I’d spent 6 figures on a beach house there. Goodness knows what it’ll be like this August!

[masaccio]

I just realised that I got my east and west completely wrong! Guess I will never make it as a sailor.

[NorthernLass]

Lol, ChatGPT strikes again?!

I might use this as an example to demonstrate to my students that AI can be wrong.

[weeble]

Just back from ANU this morning. The weather was brilliant (I know it’s not June yet). We stayed in English Harbour and just as Antigua Sailing Week finished a couple of weeks ago many of the restaurants have closed up and posted “see you in November” notices.

We drove around the island and had a look at St Johns. Probably as big a hole as the person above thought Castries to be.

Jolly Harbour and beach looked an awful place to stay. the chavvy tattoo aficionados were enjoying it though.

English harbour and Falmouth harbour didn’t ave any sargassum but you could see drifts of it out to the southwest, from the cliffs.