Eastern side, say St. Lucia, Trinidad, Martinique, Grenada etc.
#1 Safe open water swimming, variety of good swims
No biking planned.
Ideas? Locales? Condo stay most likely, either your recommendation or VRBO etc.
St. Martin. Dawn Beach and Orient Beach. I like the Westin @ Dawn Beach. Great morning swims and running on the beach. Great food @ Grand Case. Never ran on the roads.
Trail running?
Don’t know about best since this is the only island of that area I know but Guadeloupe has nice beaches (white sand on Grande Terre black sand on Basse Terre) and great trails leading to the Soufriere volcano on Basse Terre. Les Saintes - smaller islands a boat shuttle away - are worth a visit for both beaches and hiking too - although they remain pretty short. This article describes riding there if you are interested but I have no personal input on that. http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/…=119712#.UxlHb_mwKZ8
Edit: read your post too fast and missed your initial comment on biking.
You could run the trail out to Petite Case on the northeast corner of the Island. The beach at the end is absolutely stunning. Below is a link I found. Rental car is a must on St. Martin. Also want to re-enforce the food on St. Martin is out of this world!
http://www.stmartintrails.com/hiking-st-martin/hiking-trails/
I’ve heard Cycling is decent on Guadeloupe. Maybe I will bring a bike. Just thought if I can swim and run a lot, won’t ned to haul it down there.
I agree with you and share that thought. That is why that biking article surprised me in the first place.
When would you go? Send me a pm if you settle on Guadeloupe.
Probably December, either 2014 or 2015.
I went for Christmas/New Year my last 3 trips. Not necessarily the absolute best season for weather but still much better than Portland or Northern California that time of the year. If you are going from Portland you probably have to spend a night in Florida minimum each way. I would go more often if it was easier to reach (and if the mosquitoes did not love me so much - don’t forget repellent)
My wife won’t do skeeters, any other locations?
I don’t blame her. They get busy as soon as the sun sets but they are no issue during the day. I would think they are universally present on the islands you mentioned but I suppose I don’t know for sure.