Recommendation for affordable all-inclusive?

[Aloha Joe]

Im expecting a job offer and thought I’d celebrate with a week-long dive trip somewhere. I’ve only dived SoCal and Hawaii so far.

Cozumel seems very reasonable at $1000 for the trip and $1000 for airfare from HNL. Is that my best option? I’m a 40yo single guy, fwiw.

 

[Damselfish]

From HNL I would consider going west instead, perhaps someplace in the Philippines.

 

[DangerousDan64]

Cozumel is gray but make sure that if you go “all inclusive” you find some reviews about the dive operation. Some of them are really shoddy. When I went there, I wanted the ease of all-inclusive but I read so much bad press about the food and the dive operations at these places that I chose a b&b in town that was only 5 blocks from the highly rated dive shop we dived with. There were great restaurants that were extremely cheap within two blocks of our rental (one that opened early enough that we could get breakfast without rushing before walking to the dive shop for our first AM dive. It DID help tremendously that my brother speaks Spanish fluently but I really enjoyed that trip.

Another very good option is Roatan. I stayed at Turquoise Bay. I read rave reviews about the food before I went. I did not find it worthy of the gourmand status many tried to bestow on it but it was satisfying and the package included 3 boat dives per day (shore diving is way too impractical at this resort). Turquoise Bay is a great place for divers in Roatan- it is off the beaten path, far from the crowds of West Bay and very quiet. If it is a party you are after and lots of nightlife options- go to West Bay instead.

 

[gr8jab]

Scuba Club Cozumel
Coco View Resort Honduras
Cobalt Coast Grand Cayman

The best value would be to join an existing organized trip. It doesn't need to be a local group, can make new friends from anywhere. My local store has people from across the country join our trips. Usually, group rates are a little less. Also, find a roommate if you can, and avoid the single supplement.

 

[Aloha Joe]

I’m chatting with someone now who also recommended Scuba Club Cozumel. Another op that came up is Dive Paradise.

The Caribbean is a touch closer than Philippines / Indonesia and I do speak some Spanish

 

[Mr. Sunday]

From the west coast the Philippines is the best option imo. Anilao or Puerto Galera would be my choice for an all inclusive 1 week.

 

[diversteve]

For a single diver, there's much better Roatan options than Cocoview cost wise as they have a single supplement add-on as the resort is not set up for that.

Reef House Resort is a less expensive option if you mostly plan to dive, There's also an option to buy half of the Anthony's Key BOGO from what I understand. Staying in a Superior (AC included) Hillside room is probably the cheapest option.

Flights from the domestic US to Roatan tend to be higher though. We did it really cheap by staying in decent cabins in the West End, 20 dives/$600 and food is really cheap. It's like they reduce everything else since flights are more. By more it's about $800 when most destinations for us are around $600. You walk to everything so the only transport expense is a cheap cab to other parts of the island or the airport.

Can't you find something in Fiji? That seems like a no-brainer from HI.

 

[diversteve]

It's not exactly AI although there are meal plan options and it's a little too far to walk to town but Villablanca Garden Hotel offers some bundled dive deals - there's 2-3 shops within walking distance and an average shore dive. My buddies all stay there in single rooms since it's so reasonable. I don't know much else about it. My buddy mentioned it was a fairly expensive cab ride from the airport - by Cozumel standards.

 

[diversteve]

Grand Cayman is about the Most Expensive place we've ever dove so I doubt Cobalt Coast qualifies as "afforable trip". It will cost you $40-50 to town/airport from there if they don't pick you up - be cheaper to rent a small car. Food we bought was really high so it probably gets passed on in their pricing also. And boat dives were pretty pricey - 2/$100 or so. There is a shore dive there and I believe they'll shuttle you over to Turtle Reef or Lighthouse Point nearby for other North Wall/mini-wall shore dives. IMO Turtle Reef is the best of them. So that will be just the cost of tank rentals from the on-site operators. I could make 2 days out of those dives since there's both a mini-wall and access to Cayman's North Wall as well as their boat dives. Take a day to dive the Kittiwake and Stingray City.

 

[flyboy08]

The Occidental on CZM and dive with ProDive on sight.