Intro + 3 month Diving Sabbatical Advice...

[BlueSpirit]

Hi all - This is my first post! - After 10 years of hard work, I have just had my sabbatical approved, so now I need to get planning! - I have 3 months to travel, with an emphasis on diving, and shark diving in particular. I am drawn to central America, the carribean and also Australia. Does anyone have any advice? - tips for travelling with scuba gear will be very much appreciated

 

[Lorenzoid]

Your budget?

I did a budget Central America dive/adventure sabbatical, balancing it between Mayan ruins and diving. I started in Guatemala, spent a good bit of time there, then into Honduras for more. From Honduras, I took the ferry out to the Bay Islands (mainly Roatan and Utila) and spent a few weeks diving there. Then back to the mainland, and into Belize for more diving. From Belize, into Mexico, where I dived in Cozumel and Tulum (cenotes).

Sharks, eh? That's a tough one. I would say Bahamas.

 

[northernone]

Budget is the big factor. I've dove both sides of Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica. Colombia, Ecuador and of course Belize also offer good diving. Great dive opportunities abound. Shark diving is fairly uncertain. Galapagos is good. Any particular sharks you're after? I don't have dive experience outside of the Americas to contrast them to Australia etc but I've certainly enjoyed the bottom time here.

 

[BlueSpirit]

Thank you for your responses. Budget wise I am looking at around £10,000 ($US13,000) all in for flights travel and diving. I went diving in Mexico in June/July did two weeks of diving in playa del Carmen, cozumel and the cenotes and loved it. I am planning on travelling from the end of January 2018, so I was hoping to fly to Nassau for tiger sharks, back to Mexico for the Bull sharks then travel down the coast to Belize, try the blue hole and then south as I have the opportunity to do my DMT in Honduras. Then head down to equador and over to the galapagos. As an alternative I might skip the DMT and fly on to Australia for a month? Would you be able to advise further? Is this at all possible in the timeframe / budget or is it wishful thinking? - Thanks in advance for your time

 

[RayfromTX]

How much did you spend for the two weeks in May? The budget seems tight for that much diving and flying. The option to add in Australia is perhaps going to additionally strain that budget.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thank you for your responses. Budget wise I am looking at around £10,000 ($US13,000) all in for flights travel and diving. I went diving in Mexico in June/July did two weeks of diving in playa del Carmen, cozumel and the cenotes and loved it. I am planning on travelling from the end of January 2018, so I was hoping to fly to Nassau for tiger sharks, back to Mexico for the Bull sharks then travel down the coast to Belize, try the blue hole and then south as I have the opportunity to do my DMT in Honduras. Then head down to equador and over to the galapagos. As an alternative I might skip the DMT and fly on to Australia for a month? Would you be able to advise further? Is this at all possible in the timeframe / budget or is it wishful thinking? - Thanks in advance for your time

I can't speak to the Australia leg of your plan--sounds ambitious--but your Mexico, Belize, and Honduras route is well trodden. Should be no problem. I took buses all over C. America (and ferry to/from Utila/Roatan) because I was on a budget, but with your budget you could fly. As I'm sure you know, Roatan and, even more so, Utila are full of people doing the DMT. After spending a few weeks just diving for fun, I was on the verge of doing DMT there, but got the itch to continue my travels and had to decide between spending more weeks there and moving on. As I'm sure you realize, when you're doing the DMT, you don't have much time to dive around the island for fun--your dives are generally confined to the areas where students train.

 

[Trailboss123]

Thank you for your responses. Budget wise I am looking at around £10,000 ($US13,000) all in for flights travel and diving. I went diving in Mexico in June/July did two weeks of diving in playa del Carmen, cozumel and the cenotes and loved it. I am planning on travelling from the end of January 2018, so I was hoping to fly to Nassau for tiger sharks, back to Mexico for the Bull sharks then travel down the coast to Belize, try the blue hole and then south as I have the opportunity to do my DMT in Honduras. Then head down to equador and over to the galapagos. As an alternative I might skip the DMT and fly on to Australia for a month? Would you be able to advise further? Is this at all possible in the timeframe / budget or is it wishful thinking? - Thanks in advance for your time

I don't think I would include Australia in your plan from a cost perspective (both getting there and costs to live and travel there). I think your plan to go to Nassau, then to Playa for bull sharks, on to Belize and Roatan/Utila are good ones. I also think I would forego Ecuador, again due to cost to get there and the high cost for diving. From Roatan, you might want to consider some other Caribbean destinations. Cayman Airways now has inexpensive flights between Roatan and Grand Cayman. That might not be a bad idea, so you don't have to backtrack. Grand Cayman isn't the cheapest place in the Caribbean, but you could definitely add in a week of diving there. If your budget allows, you might want to finish up down in Bonaire where the diving is at its least expensive and from there, you can fly direct back to Amsterdam and then overland or fly back to the UK.

 

[BlueSpirit]

Thank you all, that is definitely food for thought. Lorenzoid,I think you are right, Australia is off the cards, as is the DMT. I think I will just do a couple of specialities that I am interested in, such as the shark awareness and maybe the underwater photography courses to complete my Master Scuba Cert instead. - I think they will come in useful for the diving I like to do. Trailboss123, thank you for a suggested route, the bonaire direct to Amsterdam would be the perfect way to end as I can get a cityhopper flight from Amsterdam to my home city on the east coast of the UK. - looks like I need to look more at the carribean islands for a potential route and interesting diving. Galapagos is going to be a hard one to miss out, especially as I am so close (relative to my UK start point). Does anyone have any recommendations for good dive centres from Belize onwards? A slight curve ball, what about trying to tie cuba into my trip, could that work? Thanks again

 

[Lorenzoid]

Cuba would be easy to add. Most of us Yanquis don't have much experience with Cuba, but the Canucks here should be able to chime in.

I envy your trip. No matter what itinerary you decide on, it's going to be a grand adventure.

 

[Trailboss123]

I thought about suggesting Cuba as well. I have not been, but have researched a fair amount and the best diving is via liveaboard and would blow your budget. As for Bonaire, as a single, I would look into an inexpensive room in an AirBNB and then get the unlimited tank with free nitrox package from any # of dive operators on the island. I like Dive Friends Bonaire - Best Bonaire Diving and Services due to the fact that they have 7 locations on the island where you can pick up and drop off tanks. As for specialties, I would do the Self Reliant Diver specialty if I were you. Not only will you acquire valuable skills, but since you are traveling solo, it will come in very handy. Bonaire would actually be a good place to take that specialty. The referenced dive operator offers it. If you think you want to go to Grand Cayman, let me know and that can be a whole other thread on where to stay and who to dive with and how to do it as inexpensively as possible, but with quality.