Expert: Barry Benjamin - 1/8/2007

Question
Barry,
Thanks for the detailed info.  I just got off the phone with  the folks at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge, and while it looks great, there are some date availability issues.  I liked the look of that because theie webstie says that there is a reef 30 yards off the beach, but we'll have to see what we can do about the dates, or look elsewhere. And oh, I've just started looking at airfares, yikes!  Any advice on how to book for less?  We're flying from Boston, and it looks like if we don't want to spend 15-20 hours traveling, it will cost >$1,000 per person.  Does that seem correct?  

Thanks again, Denise
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Our family would like to travel to the out islands during April school vacation with our two 14 year old girls.  On our wish list for accommodations is a resort/hotel/inn/cottage with a nice walk-in beach and a freshwater pool.  If we could snorkel on premise, directly from our beach that would be a HUGE bonus, but we will plan on taking snorkel trips as well.   We've looked at the Bluff House on line and that looks nice, and has good Trip Adviser reviews, but don't' want to miss out on any other options.  Would love to hear your opinion, and would be happy to give you more detail if needed.  Thanks, Denise
-----Answer-----
Bluff House is a great place. There are many great places in the Out Islands. It seems that you would be able to visit many of these places on thier web sites. Fernadez Bay on Cat Island, Stella Maris on Long Island, Small Hope Bay on Andros and Peace and Plenty Beach Inn on Exuma are all great places with beaches and snorkelling available if not right off the beach then with in a short distance. I would continue to look at the web sites and even call some of the properties if you can do it inexpensively and ask some direct questions. I have a 12 and 14 year old girls myself and we have had the most fun just walking the beach or sand bars in the places we have visited in The Bahamas. We have always found some kind of sea life and have even seen sharks and manta rays only a few yards from where we were standing. Those are the kinds of experiences with my daughters that I will never forget. Happy hunting.

Answer
Denise:
I did a little research on flights (of course I had to guess on the dates of travel) on the web site below:
http://www.sidestep.com/air/search_result.do
(copy the above into your browser to see the results)
This is the sidestep web site and it gives a pretty good idea of what the lowest price might be. You might be able to get a better price from another web site or a travel agent. The lowest price was 432 per person. Because you are traveling internationaly the price has some fees and taxes in it that you will not find traveling domestically. If you travel during the middle of the week you tend to find the cheaper seats. The important thing is to be as flexible as possible. You can use sidestep to search fares for any destination in the future. I hope this helps.