World Travelers of Oppo - Input Please

"Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)" (galileo-humpkins)
09/14/2018 at 11:47 • Filed to: None

Mrs. Humpkins and I were about to book a return trip to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica - but a challenger has emerged. Anyone been to Curaçao and have any input? Looking to go in April ‘19 so weather at either place is not of much concern. We want to try new places in/around the Caribbean and Curaçao looks fantastic, however we also just loved PV so much that we feel like we must return so we are torn. Any input is appreciated. Have a Dutch vehicle for your time:

Donkervoort S8A

DISCUSSION (45)

For Sweden > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 12:05

Good: Full of Dutch

Bad: Full of D utch

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > For Sweden
09/14/2018 at 12:11

seconded

it really is a favourite destination over here tho.... but thats about all i know about the place

Party-vi > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 12:16

Go to Rock House in Negril, Jamaica. /thread

CaptDale - is secretly British > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 12:26

I want a Donkervoort so badly!

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > CaptDale - is secretly British
09/14/2018 at 12:51

I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t!

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Party-vi
09/14/2018 at 12:53

Looks nice, but Jamaica is lower on the list since we’ve both been there a number of times.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > For Sweden
09/14/2018 at 12:54

Both points will be fully considered.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 12:57

Because they are Communists?

Mid Engine > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 13:00

Depends on what you enjoy doing, if you’re into snorkeling and d iv ing I’d pick Roatan or Attila. I’m going to spend two weeks in Belize soon, one week on Ambergrise Caye and one week in Corozal

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > CaptDale - is secretly British
09/14/2018 at 13:00

Hmm...

The Dummy Gummy > Party-vi
09/14/2018 at 13:01

I’d recommend anyone against Jamaica personally.

The Dummy Gummy > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 13:02

Never been to Curacao, but my traveling philosophy is to never travel to the same destination twice. That said, I fail at the philosophy haha. But I have seen a fuck ton of countries and I’m still pretty early in the game. Hope to explore more in the future.

For Sweden > Party-vi
09/14/2018 at 13:06

Kingdom of the Netherlands > Kingdom of Jamaica

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Mid Engine
09/14/2018 at 13:14

I’m a bit jealous of you over those two weeks. We like to relax, spend time in laid back towns/areas that we can walk/explore, obviously various water sports but mostly taking it easy and exploring a bit. We definitely try to avoid the touristy areas/destinations as much as we can (hence the draw to Puerto Viejo). I’ve never been diving due to the concerns of being a Type 1 Diabetic so I’m (voluntarily) limited to snorkeling.

Roatan is pretty high on the list, for sure. I like the idea of it being somewhat underdeveloped in areas. But, Curacao seems to have interesting historical aspects mixed with more secluded areas to stay that might be a fun mix. The one drawback we see to Roatan is the amount of travel time it seems to take to get there from Chicago.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > The Dummy Gummy
09/14/2018 at 13:22

I like this philosophy, but I know we’d never be able to stick to it. Ours is more of, try new places in between return trips to places we really like, or love.

Party-vi > The Dummy Gummy
09/14/2018 at 13:24

You haven’t had Presley’s red snapper or lobster though.

Party-vi > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 13:25

Exactly. Go with what you know, and you know Rock House has no one under 12 years old allowed and the best restaurants within walking distance.

Party-vi > For Sweden
09/14/2018 at 13:26

Out my house with this bullshit > For Sweden

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 14:04

I’ve been to Curacao. It is a neat place, and most parts of it don’t feel like a tourist destination. Aruba is the island where the Dutch take American tourists dollars, while Curacao is where the Dutch go to vacation/retire. I was there in the Marine Corps doing a joint amphibious exercise with the Dutch Korps Mariners in 2008ish . I learned that I joined the wrong Marine Corps. After a night of drunken trading, I did end up with a complete Dutch uniform.

The beaches are fantastic, and it was the clearest water I’ve ever seen. In places, the continental shelf is only a few hundred yards off-shore, which makes for some fantastic snorkeling . You can be fining along looking at coral and fish, and then suddenly there is deep, dark blue for as far as you can see. The island ranges from reasonably lush and green on the windward side, to almost desert like on the leeward side.

Cristoffel Mountain is worth a hike up. On a clear day you can see Venezuela. In terms of outdoor advise, don’t mess the with iguanas. They’re mean, and they’ll whip the crap out of you with their tales. Also learn what the manzanilla tree looks like, and do not fuck with them. They’re very pretty and are widespread on parts of the island, but every part of the tree is poisonous . Just touching the bark will leave bleeding blisters, and if you touch your eyes you will have a serious problem. One of our recon teams (despite being briefed about the tree in advance) used them for hide sites . A couple of those guys ended up in the hospital.

Most of the island didn’t feel like a tourist, or even ritzy at all, place. It seemed like a place you could actually live without being fantastically wealthy. There is also significant wealth disparity on the island, and the black areas certainly have no shortage of poverty. Our advise by the Dutch, and was confirmed by my personal impressions, was that pretty much anywhere on the island was safe during the day, but at night paying attention to your surroundings was wise.

Also, some of the remote inlets on Western c oast of the island are privately owned and/or in active use by smuggling operations. While a beautiful inlet, the one that has spent RPG tubes hanging from the tree in front of the guy’s house on the road in is one to skip. He’ll tell you in no uncertain terms to leave, even if you’re a USMC reconnaissance company (we left, as he had ammunition in significant quantity and we didn’t. The Dutch didn’t tell us it was private land, and that they had once drunkenly burned the ruins of his families small ancestral home overlooking the inlet. ) .

Curacao is a place I would very much like to go back to. I think Southwest might even have reasonably affordable flights there these days, too.

Mid Engine > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 14:15

Direct flights to Roatan from Houston, Atlanta, LA, and much more...

The Dummy Gummy > Party-vi
09/14/2018 at 14:44

I’ve been to Maine for lobster, I’ve had fish from all over the world. I can guarantee you there are so many other places that are better than anything Jamaica has to offer. Jamaica ranks as the worst place in the Caribbean that I’ve been too.

The Dummy Gummy > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 14:47

That’s how we’ve fallen. We go to the same place in florida twice a year because we have a house there... but I rather go other places. Last year we did Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, B ali, China and Japan. I t was such a wonderful experience.

Party-vi > The Dummy Gummy
09/14/2018 at 14:55

That’s some harsh feedback. Where’d you stay if I may ask?

The Dummy Gummy > Party-vi
09/14/2018 at 15:05

Moon Palace. The hotel was nice, but traveling around and surrounding areas of that island was hot garbage. When I travel I like to explore the area, rather than be caged up in a hotel/resort.

I was in Cambodia last year, which is basically an extreme developing country and should make Jamaica shine, but Jamaica felt like the rest of the Caribbeans trash dump and some how mad Cambodia look glorious .

I will likely never go back because the beggars were worse there than any other country I’ve experienced . Depressing is too kind of a word for what that trip was to me.

Party-vi > The Dummy Gummy
09/14/2018 at 15:12

Rock House isn’t an all inclusive, and it’s in Negril (west end of the island) . If you were ever curious I can’t recommend it enough. Those might not be enough to fix your opinion of the rest of the country (7 mile beach is packed with people asking for money), but Rock House is fantastic.

The Dummy Gummy > Party-vi
09/14/2018 at 15:26

I appreciate the recommendations, but there i s too much to see in the world to go back. I was in Negril on a day trip (or two), but it’s just not for me.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Mid Engine
09/14/2018 at 15:55

Well yeah , not impossible, just limited in terms of getting the right flights from Point A to Point B to get to Point C in a timely manner - which is surprising considering we’re talking about one major hub to another . I did find one or two ways to do it on United without an overnight layover, but would probably have to do it in a more roundabout way with multiple airlines.

I think Roatan is going to be a later in 2019 trip.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > The Dummy Gummy
09/14/2018 at 15:57

A good friend of ours and her boyfriend did a similar trip in, I think, 2017. Seemed like an incredible trip, we’ve definitely decided to take one similar, just a matter of timing since we’d want to spend a fair bit of time.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
09/14/2018 at 16:05

This, this is good info. What you mentioned about Aruba is exactly why it’s not on our list to visit. I think we’d be more prone to staying/spending time in smaller areas but I’m not so sure we’d venture to areas like your smuggling encounter. We tend to stick to, you know, being in town or what are clearly designated tourist accepted adventure type areas (I hate admitting that).

I’ve come across a fair bit of reasonable flights so far, as well as places to stay. I honestly think it’s going to come down to a coin flip as to whether Curacao or returning to Puerto Viejo is the first trip, and which will be the next trip after that.

The Dummy Gummy > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
09/14/2018 at 19:14

I was there for a year so I had time to explore a bit more than usual haha

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > The Dummy Gummy
09/14/2018 at 19:19

Yeah, I shouldn’t have said similar trip so much as just a trip where they visited various areas in Thailand, Vietnam, and China.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/01/2018 at 16:56

Curacao was one of the highlights of our honeymoon Caribbean Cruise. We flew to Puerto Rico, sailed to Aruba then Curacao, then Dominica, then St Thomas, then back to Puerto Rico for another day.

In Curacao we had an excursion that took us on a half submersible boat ride to see underwater then up to a distillery. Got a cool talking tour about the history of the island on the bus rides and then got left behind at the distillery. This is where cruise tour vacations turn ugly. But not for us. They couldn’t get us another bus back to the ship in time so the distillery called us a cab. Cab driver gave us a great island tour with even better history of the island on the way back to town, he was crazy helpful and nice. I gave him a huge tip. The cruise line paid me back for all of it.

Walking around Curacao was just great everyone we found was awesome and it stuck out as the coolest island we went to. St Thomas had great snorkeling but, like Aruba was very touristy.

I recommend Curacao to everyone.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/01/2018 at 17:11

We went ahead and booked a return trip to Costa Rica for April, but Curacao is going to be the next one, not sure if later in ‘19 or early in ‘20.

Aruba and St. Thomas have minimal appeal to me because of just how touristy it is. How was Dominica? I’ve always wanted to go there.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/02/2018 at 10:40

Dominica was rough. We heard from people who had excursions from the ship that it was beautiful and they had a great time at the waterfalls, but we didn’t have an excursion booked and we just got off the ship and wandered around the little city there. It was really down trodden , gates at the sides of the touristy “town” area guarded by guys with AK’s. A pickup truck with a bed full of guys with AK’s and “POLICIA” on the side rolled through town at one point. There were some rather pushy beggars right off the boat.

It sounds like you’re more of an explorer as opposed to sit in a resort so I would say Dominica (unless it’s changed I have to admit it’s been 9 years) is not a great choice.

It did have a great local beer though. Props given where they are due.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/02/2018 at 11:26

Interesting, you’re the first person who I’ve come across who has been there. I knew that it was definitely not developed but it’s interesting about the gates around the town. I’d say we’re definitely more explorers than sit in the resort kind of people - to a point. As much as I’ve always wanted to go there, it remains down on the list because while we may not want the overly touristy places, we certainly like where there’s some stuff to explore without doing set excursions all the time - and I guess, never thought I’d say this, no gates with guards keeping us corralled in.

Right now, looks like we’re going to do Curacao and Roatan as the next big trips after returning to Costa Rica. I’ll have to do more research on Dominica if we decide to try and make a go of it at some point.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/02/2018 at 11:51

Yeah I have to say I was pretty surprised when we ran into that there. I mean, normally the cruise ship port is the most developed and nicest area. I’m still not sure if the Guards were keeping us in or others out, but they definitely were facing us, so I assume keeping us in.

Like I said, this was 9 years ago and it’s possible a ton has changed in that time. Definitely do some research before completely dismissing them. I want to look up Costa Rica with your positive experiences, we’re looking into a spring trip for our 10 year anniversary and I’m stock piling a crap ton of miles.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/02/2018 at 12:41

I’m definitely not knocking Dominica off the list at all, just conceding that it’s going to take a bit more research if/when we decide to go.

I’d recommend Puerto Viejo. Southern Caribbean side, and somewhat different from the touristy areas of the Pacific coast and Northern Caribbean coast. Enough of a town where there’s plenty of choices for food (and the food there is incredible) and things to do, but definitely not developed - plus warmer water . Only catch is that it’s about a 5 hour drive from San Jose. So flight/transport scheduling could be tricky. But it’s totally worth it. Banana Azul is like staying at a 5 star resort, with none of the fuss or size or quantities of people. There were days where we had the beach, for miles, all to ourselves (with the resident dogs to keep us company) . And their in house excursion/transportation company, Caribe Fun Tours, is equally as fantastic. Not to mention, super affordable. I could go on about the place and the wildlife and the people, but I think my opinions are quite evident.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/02/2018 at 14:24

Is there a good time to go? I imagine it’s hot year round down there and the horrible tripadvisor review they linked to is funny as hell btw.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/02/2018 at 15:49

From what I’ve learned, Feb - April and Aug - Oct as those are the driest times to go. However, it is the rain forest. That being said, when it does rain, the rain in PV is kind of a slow, steady rain with storms being more expected over night. We had, I think, 1 day with a bit of rain, and 3 nights that had storms (and the storms were incredible if you like a good night storm). This was in September. Overall, the temperature is pretty constant, highs in the mid to upper 80's with lows in the 70's. It is definitely hot during the day, but the evenings/nights are quite pleasant even though it’s still a bit warm. They say for travel in general to go in February to miss all the spring breakers, but honestly, I can’t imagine that’s remotely an issue in Puerto Viejo.

Which tripadvisor review? I looked but only see positives.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/02/2018 at 16:22

Been trying to reply for 30 minutes. THANKS KINJA.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g309265-d615680-r87588596-Hotel_Banana_Azul-Puerto_Viejo_de_Talamanca_Province_of_Limon.html

Here’s the link to the review, if you go to Hoel Banana Azul’s website, there’s a green box that has a few paragraphs about the area and then finishes with “ Puerto Viejo and Banana Azul are not for everyone , but their uniqueness is what makes them special.” The not for everyone is the link I posted above.

Basically the worst tourist in the world went there and had a bad time because the tiny hotel on the caribbean didn’t have a great variety of Vegan meal options and didn’t have AC in every room (which is clearly stated on their website). That worst touriest in the world then writes a chapter book on Tripadvisor with a 1 star. Owner responds politely and civilly too btw.

Anyhow, I was thinking mid-may for our actual anniversary but if it’s going to be sweltering we could probably move it some.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/02/2018 at 17:39

Ha, that is quite the damn novel of a review I missed the “it’s not for everyone” bit in that green box. Pretty cheeky to link that one . Feels to me like someone who 1. didn’t do their proper research as they stated they did and 2. simply just chose a place that doesn’t quite fit with their idea of a vacation. Oh well, I would agree it’s not for everyone, but nothing is. So, yeah.

I don’t think it’ll be anymore sweltering in May vs any other time. Keep in mind is is basically on the equator so temps, while hot, will stay pretty consistent. I’d say look into going whenever works best for your schedule and I don’t think you’d be disappointed.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/03/2018 at 10:13

I think it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen a Hotel do on their website. I also loved that they said they “cater too much to American tourists” but then continued to whine about not having Vegan options. Hysterical.

Anyhow, I told the wife about the place last night and she sounded excited. We’re still early in the planning stages and we have plenty of time. I threw it out as an option but we are all over the map (literally) right now. We were originally talking about going to Vegas (I’ve never been, we live in Michigan) but t he reward miles I now have mean I have enough miles to travel pretty much anywhere outside of going to like Australia and those were not available when we first started t alking trips.

Please listed last night that are potentials: Costa Rica, Alaska, Ireland, and Greece. Who knows. Glad to have insight to a cool and chill hotel though.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/03/2018 at 10:45

Agreed. I’ve been there, seems like every couple years we have a list of new places to try and can’t decide where to go, so we end up planning trips for the next few years. Then we do it all over again at some point.

Ireland and Greece are two that we talk about regularly. My wife really wants to go to Mykanos. I feel like that’s one where we need to have a little more time than our usual 7-8 days so we can maybe add other places into the trip. I’ve been to Alaska once, but it was on a cruise that my grandfather took all the grandkids. It was a lot of fun, but I’d like to go back and not do it cruise-style. And not with 13 other people. Seems to me you’ve got some good options and can’t really go wrong.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
10/03/2018 at 12:00

Maybe I’ll put all the destinations in a hat and pull one lol

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/03/2018 at 12:06

Sometimes, that’s the best choice!