Good shore diving that is not Bonaire?

[DrSteve]

HI Everyone,

My wife and I are looking in to places to go for our 2nd Honeymoon. Since we don't get to dive as much as we would like, we want to go somewhere where there is diving whenever we want. We've already done Bonaire, loved it, but there wasn't much variation in the reef life.

Are there any other places worth checking out? Curacao? Belize?

Cheers,

Steve

 

[drrich2]

I've seen a number of postings on the forum about shore diving in Grand Cayman. That and Curacao are the main 2 I hear of.

Richard.

 

[craracer]

There's great shore diving in Roatan

 

[diversteve]

Curacao is very similar to Bonaire in what you'll see. In some areas if dropped on the reef you couldn't tell the difference - except it's a little farther out. But there's nothing off Bonaire similar to the Mushroom Forest area.

Grand Cayman is a possibility, the Sisters (Little and Brac) are not.

Roatan only has limited shore diving on the south side. As does Utila off the AI resorts mostly.

St. Croix has 9-10 sites all around the island - I've no personal experience there. A friend said they enjoyed diving in the north side - there's a wall there just offshore.

Considered Maui? There's quite a few decent sites - typically shallower. Less on Kauai or the Big Island and the entries on the Big Island are mostly over lava rock. Quite a few sites listed all around Oahu also, never dove there either.

ShoreDiving.com - Your Shore Diving and Snorkeling Web Community! might give you some ideas. Some of it is older - the biggest thing I noticed is that several of the Grand Cayman sites they list aren't there any more. (condo or other development restricts access now)

 

[diversteve]

There's great shore diving in Roatan

Where besides Cocoview? There was nothing much accessible - or worth diving - off the north side.

 

[craracer]

Fantasy

Sorry, my bad humor.

I did some shore diving in GC while staying at Sunset House. The diving at CCV is far superior. Between the Prince Albert, CCV wall, DC and Neuman's, there's enough to stay busy for an entire lifetime.

Shore diving at Anthony's was pretty tough due to waves, and the channel dive was pretty bad.

 

[Cave Diver]

I did some shore diving in GC while staying at Sunset House. The diving at CCV is far superior. Between the Prince Albert, CCV wall, DC and Neuman's, there's enough to stay busy for an entire lifetime.

If your shore diving experience on Grand Cayman is limited to Sunset House, all I can say is well, it was limited. While the diving there is not bad, there are some fantastic spots elsewhere. Turtle Reef and Cobalt Coast rank among my favorites.

 

[craracer]

I forgot that I did a night dive at Turtle Reef, which was really good. The entry was from the back of a bar/restaurant. Quite interesting walking through the bar area kitted up.

 

[Insta-Gator]

+1 for Grand Cayman. But do yourself a favor, don't spend all your time at Sunset or anywhere close to Georgetown (they're good, but explore.) Rent a car and possibly hire a DM that knows the island. We did that several years ago and he took us to lots of shore dives where there were no other divers. It was great and we've been shore diving ever since.

 

[DrSteve]

I'll check out best times of year and then probably come back to find out about places to stay!