St Croix, would be my pick and the price sure seems right too. Lynne pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Oh Cabogirl....we are definitely partial to St. Croix on this board but will do our best to help :)

I have never been to Bonaire or Curacao so can't compare (though would like to go sometime!). I hope those with scuba experience will jump in here but I do think St. Croix is known to be a great scuba diving location. And the location of the Renaissance is quite good as it is very close to "The Wall" at Cane Bay and you can also get to F'sted pretty quickly and folks always say a night dive at the pier in F'sted is a great experience. The dive shop at the Renaissance has been praised highly by quite a few people so I would check that out as well.

St. Croix is definitely not 'touristy' and you won't find an incredible nightlife. But there are some fun bars in the Cane Bay area (EAT @ Cane Bay, Rowdy Joe's etc.) so you could have some fun. You will want to rent a car given that there is nothing walkable from the Renaissance.

Well... I've never been to Curacao or Bonaire either, but we have been to a whole bunch of other islands. St Croix is our favorite by far and the reasons we like it so much sound like the same sort of things you're looking for. As you said,you can't find or get everything that you want in one spot and STX fits that commentary. It does not have the best beaches that we've seen or the glitziest resorts and so on but as an overall pick I do not think you can beat it. If I had never been to any of your 3 choices ,I'd pick STX primarily because I believe it to be the most tropical and greener of the 3. From what I've read about the other 2 they are pretty much dry and desert like. I know from friends that have been to Aruba that it is also very dry in most parts ,and it being part of the ABC islands (Aruba,Bonaire & Curacao) that they all will have to be pretty much the same feel climate and terrain wise. I guess that if you have the Marriott points to use that you'll stay at the Carambola. They place is really lush and has some of the best looking beaches on the island. We always stay at The Buccaneer but if the Buc were not there on STX ,I wouldn't hesitate to stay at the Carambola.Go to STX and I know you'll love it....

Thanks all! Bonaire is out as I didn't realize there aren't any marriotts there.. but now Grand Cayman is in the mix.. I suppose there are worse decisions to have to make! :)

I have been to all the islands in question -- for the purpose of diving. Of the five, St Croix is the least touristy. Grand Cayman is probably the most touristy (we actually saw six cruise ships in the harbor on the day we arrived). Curacao is the next most touristy, with Bonaire right behind -- although most of Bonaire's tourism is dive-related.

If you're tied to Marriott, St Croix is the place to go. The Renaissance Carambola is pretty far away from everything, but it has most of what you want right at your doorstep. Davis Bay (on which the resort is located) has lovely a lovely, sandy beach, and the resort has a co-located dive shop -- Sweet Bottom Dive Shop (http://sweetbottomdive.com/). The diving at Davis Bay is shore diving, but it's a relatively short swim out to the fabulous STX wall. A short drive into Fredricksted will get you to N2 the Blue (http://www.n2theblue.com/), who can take you to the reefs and wrecks of St Croix's west end. Also on the west end, don't miss the Fredricksted Pier -- by day and by night. For additional wall diving, you can go to Cane Bay (another nice sandy beach) for more shore diving on the wall (http://www.canebayscuba.com/). For even more adventure, check out SCUBA (http://www.stcroixscuba.com/) and Dive Experience (http://www.divexp.com/) for diving on the northshore wall.

If this is to be a purely dive trip -- not worried about lots of tourism development -- I'd say to to Grand Cayman. When we went, we stayed at Sunset House -- a dive resort. There was no beach, but the diving was super. After four days at Sunset House, we joined the Cayman Aggessor IV and saw just a whole lot more of GCM and Little Cayman (better diving than GCM). Farther up the coast from Sunset House are the beach resorts; the beaches looked very nice.

Diving at Bonaire is quite good, but is largely shore diving, and most of the dive locations are not at sandy beaches -- there are coral ledges to navigate to in/out of the water (maybe only a couple of steps, but a pain in the legs when one is 65, loaded w/ scuba gear and carrying a camera).

We didn't much care for the diving at Curacao -- maybe it was the wrong time of the year or something.

All that said. We chose to live on STX.

If diving and beaches are high on your list go to Grand Cayman. The diving on the quiet east coast is excellent and beaches are nice, Seven Mile on the busy west coast and Rum Point on the leisurely north side to mention a few. Sting Ray City is a must do!!

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