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I am planning on going with my wife on a vacation after tisha bav. i am thinking of going to Aruba, have any of you guys ever been there or to any of the other islands? If you have been to Aruba would you recommend it and if you have been to any other ones which ones would you recommend and why.
I’ve never been to Aruba, just Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
I liked the Bahamas over Puerto Rico (found it to be cleaner).
My mother LOVED Bermuda whis is also really close to NY.
I’ve heard awesome things about the Virgin Islands, Curacao and Barbados. Oh, and Aruba too 🙂 I think you can’t go wrong.
My wife and I went to St. Thomas two years ago and had a wonderful time. It’s a beautiful island (and nearby St. John [you can get there by ferry] is absolutely stunning).
We went to a resort where we had our own private swimming pool. Some kosher food is available, but we brought our own meat and a small George Forman grill to supplement the basic staples available.
The Wolf
in my opiion aruba is the cleanest but not much to see so if your vacation is just to lay around then it’s your best bet. virgin islands is great and theres lots to see as mentioned theres no kosher on the island just reg supermarket stuff but in terms of proteins u r on your own. aruba does not have a chabad. curacao has a very old shul there but it’s more like a museum than a funtioning shul now…good luck.
As long as someone brought up the weather:
We were in St. Thomas in the last week of July and the first week of August. Nonetheless, there were no hurricane warnings. It rained each morning for about half an hour from five to five thirty, and then was beautiful and sunny for the remainder of the day. Warm, dry and nice.
There was also a Chabad House about a ten minute walk down the road from where we were.
I can’t speak to the issue of crime by night — my wife and I are not the “nightlife” types and we were back in our suite swimming in our pool each night. By day, however, there was never I time that I felt threatened, despite carrying around some nice looking camera equipment.
The Wolf
what kind of camera equipment?
Is it really not like that?
Depends on where you go and what you want to do. On St. Thomas (again, only using that because that’s the only Carribean island I’ve been on), the people tend to be conservative. While their dress won’t measure up to the Jewish standards of tznius*, you won’t find people wearing beach attire except at the beach. The fact that we had our own little villa (with our own private pool) helped quite a bit too.
If anyone has any questions about visiting St. Thomas/St. John that they don’t want to ask in public, feel free to drop me an email.
The Wolf
* But then again, you won’t find that in New York either.
what kind of camera equipment?
Camera, lenses.
The Wolf
just curious, one photographer to another as to what equipment you were using.
i use a canon 30D, i too use lenses with it.
At the time, I was using an advanced point and shoot (Canon S3 IS) with various “screw on” lens attachments (wide angle, telephoto, etc.). Even so, it wasn’t a cheap camera.
I’ve since moved on to a full fledged SLR (Canon XSi) with four different lenses. Perhaps you’d like to start a photography thread?
The Wolf
Why don’t you schedule your trip for Pesach and you can have your pick of any island that exists. In addition, you”ll have throngs of Jews and minyanim and daf yomi and glatt kosher/cholev yisroel and meet all the people you’re trying to get away from.
Ames I won’t even begin to tell u how many FRUM people I’ve seen on these vacations…
Places where I’ve gone that I recomend:
*St. John
*St. Thomas
*Aruba
*Puerto Plata
*Puerto Rico
*Cancun
Been to others bt these places I recomend
000646 – beaches in aruba are very clean, white sands, and very few natives hanging out near hotels. did not go scuba diving but we did go snorkeling it was really nice the boat takes you out to where theres literally thousands of fish it was really an experience and they have all those other sports but…july/august is the off season there so maybe call ahead to see whats available but at least youll get a better rate on tickets. bw we stayed at the hyatt but if you want a kitchenette look into the marriot
Wolf,
Mixed swimming is assur.
People- Ames comment was a hint. ames worded it very nicely. Others would probably put it more sharply. Read ames comment again and think into it. ames makes the most important point in this thread.
Right, chaverim. There are certain places that frum Jews just shouldn’t go and there are certain activities (such as mixed swimming, even in private) that one cannot engage in.
nice camera, huge telephoto range.
Chaveirem: I got what ames was trying to point out…but religous people are aloud to get out too. All these islands have PRIVATE places, just because u go there doesn’t mean u have to be with people. Be dan lecaf zechut
Moshe, Please point me to a halacha that says “mixed swimming” with your spouse is assur.
So chaverim and mosherose, does that mean we should all avoid anyplace with a warm climate? Israel has plenty of scantily clad people walking around. As does NY. So, lets all move to the Iceland (its beautiful there!) where it never really gets warm enough for people to walk around scantily clad.
Ask your rav and report back.
Why would you think that its permitted. Just because something is with your spouse doesn’tmean its muttar. You cant eat treif with your spouse. You cant be mechallel shabbos with your spouse.
Every frum Jew knows that mixed swimming is completely and utterly assur. I don’t know of anyone who make a hetter for a married couple. Why dont you show me where halacha says that its permitted?
mosherose, you must have meant that facetiously. The reason that mixed swimming is assur is because it is kiruv l’arayos. Can you think of a reason why that might not apply to a husband and wife?
Every frum Jew knows that mixed swimming is completely and utterly assur
This knowledge is good. What would be better is if you understood WHY it is assur. If you don’t know the ‘why’ then you’d best not extrapolate.
Oh c’mon!
BS”D
There is an exotic island off the coast of Queens called Riker’s. However, the pleasures there are really aimed at true yechidei segula – or is it yechidei skila?
MosheRose, I’m going to go with Squeak and assume you were kidding…
Sjs: he wasn’t kidding
cherrybim: I assume you are being sarcastic. The Mishna you alluded to in fact specifies that unnecessary talk includes your wife.
“Al Tarbeh Sicha im haIsha”
“B’Ishto omeres, kal v’chomer b’eishes chavero”
That should convince your wife. 😉
chaverim: What would have been the best example showing how silly mosherose’s statement was, would probably not have passed the CR censors…kol hamavin yavin.
kilobear- very good. But revise that to yechidei skilla (double “l” for more meaning ;))
PS- above argument is more of a “s’poss nisht” kinda thing (IMHO) then halacha
Just to take this train-wreck back to it’s original point…
If you truly have concerns about the native dress of places in the Carribean, then, by all means, contact your LOR. However, as I mentioned above, in the Virgin Islands (at least on St. Thomas and St. John) the dress there (away from the beaches) was no worse (and possibly better) than you would find in New York City in the summer.
The Wolf
The Wolf-Where did you rent the villa ? What was called ?
thanks
The name of the place is Pavilions and Pools on St. Thomas. It’s not a five-star accommodation, but it offers privacy and our own decent size pool.
The Wolf
My parents rented a stunning very private villa for a few nights they loved it but what’s your price range per night?
Oh and forgot to mention it was in St. Thomas
“The reason that mixed swimming is assur is because it is kiruv l’arayos.”
Do you know that thats the reason? Or maybe its assur because its among the things one should not do. Just to repeat the point, just because its with your wife doesnt mean that its permitted-there are plenty of things that are forbidden even with your wife.
Maybe you should find out the reason then and get back to us, instead of hocking and sounding like an ignoramus.
This thread was started 3 months ago by 000646 wanting advice on where to go in the Carribbean.Could you let all us curious folks know where you ended up going,and if you’d reccomend it to us or not?
We haven’t heard from him since, so presumably he is living at large there.
…or he’s living it large there
Big difference
I’m not sure which one is the case with him.
Who blasted you?
Nice! Anyone ever been on one of the kosher cruises?
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