Where to spend a dive vacation?

[Helen Nguyen]

Hello everyone!

I'm from California and am looking for an amazing dive vacation that's not more than 8hrs away by flight so Asia is out of the question. We're looking at possibly Hawaii, Mexico or the Carribean. It's for my boyfriends dirty 30 and my 29th birthday in NOVEMBER We only have 6 days & we're looking for a place where we can dive and do other things like sight seeing. What would you guys recommend and why? We are only OWD.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

Maui / Lanai or Key Largo.

Better site-seeing in Hawaii. Slightly cheaper to Key Largo. Although, some pretty cool site seeing if you rent a car and drive down to Key West. Your call.

 

[runsongas]

channel islands liveaboard

 

[Chavodel8en]

the Costa Maya (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, or any of the smaller resort towns). I like because it has great diving, a great beach vibe and lots of sightseeing opportunities. Also, bc its such a heavy tourist area, there are lots of options at many budget levels, including economical (my favorite)

We just went to Cancun/Playa del Carmen in early Dec - not so hot in Nov & Dec also a plus. I havent been to Cozumel as a diver, but supposedly the diving is even better - but not a lot of non-diving activity.

I did more advanced dives, but I believe there is a lot of diving for all levels. You need to be comfortable with drift diving, however.

I love to dive, but I also like to do other stuff (plus my wife doesn't dive). From the mainland you could take tours to pyramids & ruins (Chichen Itza, Tulum, Coba), swimming (or diving) in cenotes, lots of different water activities, learning about Mayan communities, eco-tours to the jungle, etc

You could also split your trip - half on the mainland for sightseeing (and some diving), a few days on Cozumel doing nothing but diving.

Ive dove Oahu. Diving is comparable to the Yucatan, but more expensive trip.

Good luck and hope you have a great time wherever you choose.

 

[Dan]

Cabo Pulmo Mexico: Cabo Pulmo

When I was there in November 2011 tons of schooling horse-eye jacks swimming around in Cabo Pulmo marine sanctuary. My dive buddy tunneled through them, as shown below:

 

[diversteve]

With 6 days - Hawaii. From LAX there are morning flights that due to the time difference arrive just before noon. Maui will give you plenty of dive options - boats from the Lahaina area dive Lana'i daily and often anchor in protected bays when possible.The Cathedrals there are signature dives.

Boats from Kihei to the south go to Molokini Crater which is good diving inside the protected circle of the crater so again very suitable for OWD. You should see reef sharks there also. Lots of fish, lots of coral reef at either location. It's slightly possible a Manta may fly by inside Molokini at one site there.

Also there's shore diving up and down the coast if you want to do that. Easy entries, almost all are beaches. Most you park near the water also so hauling gear is over short distances.

Plus all the tourist things on Maui, the volcanoes, the bike ride down, the road to Hana, the helicopter rides that take you to areas where there are no roads etc. Lahaina is fun to walk around at night, there's a few galleries, restaurants etc.

The Big Island would be another good choice, diving is as good, maybe a little better in some areas. A memorable dive is with the spinner dolphins that frequent south Kona. Some shore diving but often over rougher entries. The number one memorable dive there has to be the Kona Manta Night Dive - it's on many top 10 dives in the World lists. As OW you can do it, they use a lot of lights to attract the plankton (thus the Manta';s) and they have so much control that they'll veer off at the last second leaving you to feel their wake - it's a singularly unique experience.


On a non-dive day visit Volcanoes National Park. Akaka Falls is worth a look also, you can do both in one day. One consideration is that inland the Big Island is a lot higher than the coastline so for example on the saddle road to Hilo no-flight restrictions apply since it climbs to over 6000'. There's also the observatories at 13,000' if that's of interest.It is the big island so a lot of driving between destinations in some cases.

I'd stay somewhere south of Kona/Kailua town. Much of the tourist infrastructure is there. Waikoloa/Kohala Coast is another option but it's much quieter. Most of the dive operations are based just north of Kona town in a marina so you'd be driving down daily unless you use one of 2-3 operators around Waikoloa. If you don't mind being tired the next day, there's a very late American flight that leaves there around 8PM so you have some time to do something the last day. IDK when it arrives at LAX.

I'm not a big fan of Oahu, Waikiki will remind you of downtown LA and the traffic during rush hour of OC. Dive ops pick you up for boat diving since they keep them in nearby marinas.

Six days is hard for the Caribbean from the west coast - you burn too much time traveling since most of the better dive destinations are a connection.

 

[KathyV]

Hello everyone! I'm from California and am looking for an amazing dive vacation that's not more than 8hrs away by flight so Asia is out of the question. We're looking at possibly Hawaii, Mexico or the Carribean. It's for my boyfriends dirty 30 and my 29th birthday in NOVEMBER We only have 6 days & we're looking for a place where we can dive and do other things like sight seeing. What would you guys recommend and why? We are only OWD.

Cabo San Lucas is very close and easy to get to from the West Coast.

 

[scubadada]

I would vote for Maui (@diversteve nailed it) or Cozumel. Either would be great diving with other things to do. Either would be a great 30th, 29th birthday celebration. I was that age once, quite a while ago.

 

[Trailboss123]

You have been given some really sound advice and options from everyone so far and I would be hard pressed to make a selection myself, given the options. I am reading between the lines, but given your ages and your desire for some above water fun and entertainment and the time of year, I would look at Cabo and Playa del Carmen/Cancun. For me personally, I would choose Cozumel. The diving is much better and while the nightlife and restaurant options are more limited; the nightlife and restaurants are more than adequate for me. I will always choose the best diving over everything else. Here is another option that no one has suggested. Even though I doubt it is what you are looking for from a topside perspective, I am going to throw it out there for others who happen upon this post and some of my favorite Scubaboard members like @KathyV to consider.
My wife and I spent our 25th wedding anniversary some 7 years ago in Loreto, Mexico. It was an epic week! Culturally interesting, good food, some awesome hiking, incredible diving and a very short hop from LAX on Alaska Airlines. We lived in Portland, OR at the time and it was still an easy hop, skip and jump via LAX. I feel like it is a bit of an undiscovered paradise for folks from the West Coast of USA.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Cozumel/Playa del Carmen. See Chichen Itza, Tulum, etc. Drift dive Cozumel and cenotes among other things.