Best short trip option? Caribbean vs Jupiter?

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With only 5 days I'd focus on locations that don't require beyond local flights. That seems to exclude Cayman Brac, Little Cayman or Grand Turk. Most have connecting flights but it burns the afternoon getting there. From your location there should be islands you can reach by noon instead.

Also places where the better diving doesn't require long boat rides - that excludes Provo as the short trips return about 2:30PM (2 dives) and the 3 tanks cloeser to 5PM.

Cove's in Nassau has a 45-60 min. van shuttle from most properties since they're on the south side of the island and most things are north. Bahama Divers is a better option as they're across the bridge from Paradise Island and 10mins from downtown/Cable Beach. For the wife there's a shuttle that runs around Cable Beach./downtown and another to Atlantis. Also a fery over to Paradise Island from near the cruise dock.

Maybe Grand Bahama? Several shops are based in the marina area and two of them do Tiger Beach from there on all day trips. Unexso does the shark/dolphin dives and I'm a fan of Fred Riger at Grand Bahama Suba - he dives the Theo among other interesting sites.Pretty sharky there also.

One of the shops is based at the Wyndham - they go to Tiger Beach. I believe Unexso also has a small affiliated resort and Bell Channel Inn also has a dive operation. Grand Bahama is located at one of the south resorts also afaik.

For the wife, the beaches are nice, there's a touristy market area downtown and a casino. The marina area is also pretty nice. I've heard Freeport itself has declined but most of the resorts are elsewhere..

I would guess Bahamasair is direct from Orlando?

Good points, I think that focusing on direct flights would also exclude Bimini because I don't think that you can fly direct from Orlando to Bimini - is that correct? And the direct flight criteria might also exclude Cozumel. You can probably get to Provo from Orlando pretty easily but I still have concerns about the possible lengths of the boat rides to the reef.

OP, we are narrowing it down for you! It looks like your best choices for a short trip in early January may be Jupiter FL, Grand Cayman, or Grand Bahama, and possibly Nassau and you are most likely to see sharks in Florida and Grand Bahama or Nassau. You may have the best chance for warmer, calmer water in Grand Cayman but no guarantees and fewer sharks.
 
Good points, I think that focusing on direct flights would also exclude Bimini because I don't think that you can fly direct from Orlando to Bimini - is that correct?
IDK for sure since the seaplane crashed but I thought you went thru FLL to get to Bimini now on Silver. It's been some years since I checked though.
 
Beautiful coral was also listed as a preference in the first post, that would narrow it down further if trying to get both coral and pelagics. On this trip probably better to settle for one or the other. What I saw of the Bahamas was not so good for coral.
 
Beautiful coral was also listed as a preference in the first post, that would narrow it down further if trying to get both coral and pelagics. On this trip probably better to settle for one or the other. What I saw of the Bahamas was not so good for coral.

Very true, I've seen nice walls and corals in the T&Cs but based on the short list of easy access destinations, I think the Caymans have the best corals.

So the OP will have to decide what will work best and appeals to him - and also where he can find availability in the tropics for the holiday season at this late date - another important factor to consider!
 
Beautiful coral was also listed as a preference in the first post, that would narrow it down further if trying to get both coral and pelagics. On this trip probably better to settle for one or the other. What I saw of the Bahamas was not so good for coral.
That's true, I was focusing on the pelagics and short flights. The Out Islands esp. seem to have been hit hard with both crown of thorns and invasive algae in the past decade. I believe Grand Bahama largely missed both though.

Although some of the islands like Andros or San Salvador are also pretty good for pelagics - I didn't suggest them since he's bringing his non-diving wife - she wouldn't have much to do.
 
That's true, I was focusing on the pelagics and short flights. The Out Islands esp. seem to have been hit hard with both crown of thorns and invasive algae in the past decade. I believe Grand Bahama largely missed both though.

Although some of the islands like Andros or San Salvador are also pretty good for pelagics - I didn't suggest them since he's bringing his non-diving wife - she wouldn't have much to do.

The OP's wife can't make this trip, it will just be him on a short dive trip, but she will travel with him to the T&Cs and other destinations on later trips so I am sure that topside information will be very valuable.
 
Just checked my dive log for Grand Cayman in January. It's pretty unusual not to be able to dive west side in January. Weather generally sunny and temps in low 80s. Water temps were 78-80, and vis 70-80 feet. Windy on just a few of those days, but not a problem for diving west side. Generally we see nurse sharks on about 1/3 of the dives. Infrequent reef shark sightings, and someone on one of my dives a few months ago saw a hammerhead in the distance. I missed it. Not sure about east side as I live on west side and don't venture to that side very often for diving. The couple of times I've done the hour drive east we ended up diving south sound because the east was too choppy. Usually no diving north side in winter but we sometimes get lucky.
 
Yes usually January is good. But even if everyone has to go around south, it is still great and adds a little variety for regulars
The south side has some very good sites. I have dived some of the more eastern sites recently with Ocean Frontiers. I have not dived the western sites for many years. Some of the sites I remember are Eye of the Needle, Laura's Reef, Japanese Gardens, Chinese Gardens, Bats Cave Reef, and Pedro's Pinnacles.
 
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. I'll fill in a little of my thinking. I don't think the direct flight issue is important. I think expecting a day of travel there and back (wherever "there" is) is most reasonable. Puts a lot of pressure on everything to try to squeeze in afternoon dives on the travel day and limits options (is 1 extra dive on Nassau worth forgoing LC?). As for LC, the LCBC said they go to Bloody bay wall in any weather except tropical storms and hurricanes (when they wouldn't go anywhere). So, I think I've narrowed my choices to Jupiter/WPB vs. LC. Will give it some more thought, since I know they would provide v v different experiences.
 
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