The Caribbean - St. Thomas or St. Martin

Looking for some budget minded ideas in connection with a USAir Carribean destination in early November. I sort of narrowed it down to these two and Aruba.

While St. Martin seems nicer, I think it would also be alot more expensive. We're hoping to snorkel and possibly go diving. Looking at a Thu-Mon trip, so no crazy routings, etc.

Thanks!

Snorkeling/diving isn't going to be great at either one of these places. But they are close to other places where it is better ... BVI in the case of St. Thomas and Saba in the case of St. Maarten. But that will add to the cost of the trip.

If St Thomas, you have St John and all of its great snorkeling an easy and very inexpensive ferry ride daytrip away. Or you can stay on St John, where the relatively inexpensive options include very well-organized camping places. It's completely reasonable to consider St John for a weekend getaway. The ferries from Red Hook, St Thomas run constantly, and you won't be wasting time in travel.

As inyourvillages says, Saba is a great diving/snorkeling destination, but will be more expensive to reach from St Martin than St John is from St Thomas. Saba itself is fascinating, but quite unlike the rest of the Caribbean (don't expect a beach!)

Have you been to the Caribbean before? St Martin is a good first start, because it has a little of everything. It does not have to be expensive. I don't know how budgety you want to be, but you can stay above one of the restaurants in Grand Case for about $60 a night. If you want to stay above the muffler shop in Marigot, that would be even less. There is huge rental car competition, and they are insanely cheap.

More conventional hotels in both St Thomas and St Martin should be having deals for November, which is still off/shoulder season but usually an excellent time to visit.

Good luck! :)

i completely blanked on st. john. clearly the best option for snorkeling at one of those two locales...although the accommodation tends to be very expensive resort or pretty expensive camping, IIRC.

Yes, mid-range in St John is tough to find. Estate Lindholm was a bargain when it opened, but prices have now crept up to the level of the real resorts. St John Inn or one of the other little Cruz Bay places would probably be least expensive now, outside of camping which is $80 - $120 with tent. Basic campsites still much less, but I don't think the OP is going to be lugging his gear down for the weekend.