Greetings -
I'm looking for a place in the Caribbean that best addresses the following requirements. Thoughts + recommendations appreciated. Also - places to avoid based on these requirements also helpful.

Looking for a place for my wife and I to spend a week in the Caribbean (on one or two islands).

The big requirements:
- walkable, at least within one town/village (we don't want to drive around or have to rent a car; place with bus service between towns would also work)
- not a cruise ship destination (key requirement)
- not monstrous resorts + no casinos (key requirement)
- local flavor + towns/villages/small cities that would be interesting to explore
- reasonably priced (i.e. <$150/night for hotel) + local restaurants at reasonable prices

Activities (one or more of):
- good beaches
- snorkeling ideally yes, but we are "not for the scuba," so good scuba not required
- food: local eatery preference, and not limited to "resort food"
- town/village/small city exploring
- hiking (if weather allows)
- kayaking

Thanks for your suggestions!

As long as you stay our of Philipsburg, I would entirely recommend St Martin/Sint Maarten (but especially the French side!)

Philipsburg is the most city-like, the capital of the Dutch side, has casinos, AND is a cruise ship magnet.

That said, the cruise ship traffic doesn't seem to stray very far!

Marigot, the capital of the French side is a bustling city with a French/Caribbean flavour, a fabulous market, and a real local feel (not very touristy at all!). Lots of shops too.

Grand Case is the town I would most highly recommend. It's got an awesome beach strip lined with restaurants that are mostly very good (French, Caribbean, gourmet, and so much more), a much more relaxed vibe, and a regular celebration night.

St Martin has decent "bus" service (the buses are vans, which people pack into... that you can flag down, and costs about $1 to get to the next town), amazing beaches (some may be tricky to get to without a vehicle) - some with pretty amazing snorkelling (and there are snorkelling trips by many local companies as well), great local eateries, and decent priced accomodation.

We stayed at an awesome place on Dominica (not the Dominican Republic) that fits most, if not all, of your requirements. PM me and I will give you more info.

Also, Basse Terre on Guadeloupe might work pretty well for your trip, but having a car is relatively necessary and driving there is totally easy. If you would be willing to rent a car I would choose Guadelope instead. Basse Terre has great food, affordable accommodation, snorkeling, awesome hiking, and no casinos, cruise ships (at least that we saw). Once again, I can give you more specific recommendations via email.