Tropical Island?

Hi everyone,

I am planning to go to a tropical island for my next holiday, hopefully in March or early April. I want to go to an island that really does have crystal clear blue water, white sand beaches, palm trees etc. My problem is that all the islands look like that in the tourist brochures, but don't always look like that when you get there! I've been disappointed before.

So, if anyone has any suggestions of specific places (not just a country as a whole) that really are a tropical paradise please let me know. I'd really appreciate it. I'm on a relative budget, so the really expensive resorts are not an option this time around.

Thanks,
Karly.

Of the places where I have been, the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia, Lonnoc/Champaigne Beach on Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu and Orlofi Island in the Solomons were outstanding for paradise-like beaches.

Unfortunately, the South Pacific as a whole is not really cheap, thugh it doesn't have to be ultra-expensive either.

If we extend the region's boundaries a bit, there is also the stunning Pasir Panjang beach on Kei Kecil Island in the Maluku region of Indonesia. This would be much, much cheaper to stay on, and certainly no less attractive than any beach in the South Pacific.

Thanks heaps for the suggestions :) I'd pretty much rules out Tahiti as it appears to be the most expensice as a whole, but apart from that all the prices I've seen look pretty reasonable compared to my budget. As I said, I want the opinions from people who have been to the places as I have been disappointed before when booking just by what travel agents and tourist brochures say. Thanks again.

aitutaki has it all: friendly locals, peaceful lagoon, beautiful islaets, good food.

Aitutaki, Rarotonga, Moorea, Bora Bora, Tikehau, Fakarava are all tropical paradises. But it's the water and the palms (and mountains in the case of Rarotonga, Moorea and Bora Bora) that make it so. White sand beaches? They are mostly crushed coral meaning that reef shoes are a must and the beach itself is a pretty narrow strip. But, wow, they are incredibly beautiful and as stunning as the photos are they are more beautiful in real life.

Once you've narrowed it down to an island ask again about specific places. On Aitutaki, for example, the most beautiful spot is by Samades, no beach really but the lagoon there is georgeous and there is a sandbar jutting out into the lagoon by the Pearl (or what was the Pearl) resort. The other really stunning spots are out on the motus (like One Foot Island).

Laszlo, you got me Googling and digging out my old SE Asia on a Shoestring. What is the deal with Kei Kecil? Cheap and beautiful? One would think that it would be overun with backpackers. Is it because it's difficult to get to? Are there nasty things in the water like sea snakes and crocodiles? Could a woman walk down the beach alone in a modest bathing suit?

SC: I bet an old "SEA on a Shoestring" guide had nothing on Kei - too remote for that!

If you go on my Kei Kecil page, and scroll down to the bottom, you will eventually find links to info on accomodation, transport, etc.
Talking of sand - it is of the powdery sort there, literally as soft as flour and blindingly white.
More pics here - click on the small ones to enlarge.
Accomodation at the bungalows described on my page would be around 10 USD/person/night - with food, usually involving locally caught fish. One place has a villa kind of thing (no Tahitian standards, though) actually serving as its rarely-present English owner's house, which can be rented as the whole house for around 30 USD/night.
The island is remote by Indonesian standards, which keeps it off most backpackers' itinerary (there are so many other, more famous islands for them to go in Indo) but is actually served by daily flights from Ambon, which itself gets several flights from Jakarta. It is far enough though to keep crowds away - to be honest, you'd better bring any Western company you need with you! Locals are VERY friendly (also all Christians so culturally much liker Pacific islanders) but very few speak foreign languages.
Definitely no crocs and I never saw sea snakes either - also no stone fish or the like as the sand provides no hiding place for them!
There is a coral reef, but it's patchy and one has to swim in a bit to reach it.
For snorkelling, the nearby Banda Islands are better, in fact among the very best I have seen anywhere.
Woman walking down the beach in swimsuit? To be honest, I'd say you'd be OK in front of the bungalows, but to walk the entire 3 kms of the beach past its two villages, a sarong and a T-shirt would be a better idea... isn't this the same in Polynesia?

If you get more interested, feel free to drop me a PM for more info - I feel kind of guilty to hijack this thread on the South Pacific branch.
Though being just off the coast of West Papua ( see on this map), Kei is geographically and culturally more Pacific than Asian already.

Laszlo, what is the best season to visit Kei Kecil? Do these islands have the same weather pattern than for example Sumatra, Java, Bali?

Hey neighbour, how have you ended up here from the Iceland branch? :-)
Thanks for the info on hiking there!
Strangely, the weather pattern in Maluku, including Kei, tends to be the reverse of that in western Indonesia, meaning that our European summer is the wet season there. But that doesn't always mean much in these equatorial regions - you'd have to be pretty unlucky to get so much rain that it would spoil a holiday. June is supposed to be the wettest month. My pics on that site were taken in the wet (May), too - note the clouds!

On this rare occasion I have to disagree with Silvano when she says:

"They are mostly crushed coral meaning that reef shoes are a must and the beach itself is a pretty narrow strip. "

Yes, they are crushed coral, but it is a very fine crushed coral here on Rarotonga, not powder, but nothing rough either. I've never used reef shoes when walking on the beach. It's only in the lagoon itself that reef shoes are needed, due to the coral bits (uncrushed, regular coral) on the lagoon floor.

The other side of the coin is that since it is not a silica-based sand, it really doesn't get too hot to walk on, even in our summer.

Laszlo, thanks for the description of weather phenomena in Maluku!

Yeah, somehow I figured out that my student's budget doesn't really go far in Iceland... So 3 weeks in Iceland comfortably equals 2 months in SEA. ;) Not to mention that the weather in the tropics is somehow nicer than the windy and rainy Iceland. Also, from my recent Philippine trip I have developed a certain relationship with the tropics...

Have fun in Iceland! It's an incredibly scenic place... but also sooo damn expen$ive.

Hi Karly,

I second the suggestion of Isle of Pines. It really does have crystal clear water, white sand beaches with sand that is as fine as baby powder and palm trees. Good budget options there (unless you want to camp) are Relais Kuberka (6750 CFP per night = about $100 AUD), Gite Nataiwatch or Chez Regis which are slightly more expensive.

Laszlo, I don't mind you hijacking the thread, Kei Kecil looks amazing. I'm glad you mentioned it. Thanks again.

Thanks heaps to everyone else who has replied too. I'm looking into all the suggestions :)