Question Anniversary Trip

[SonjaO]

Hi!

My husband and I are both experienced OW divers and are looking for dive destinations for our anniversary this coming March. We have 6 days and would be flying/traveling from the Tucson/Phoenix area. We love Bonaire, but have been there 6 times. We have been to Cozumel once more than 10 years ago and would consider going again. We have also been to Little Cayman, but decided 6 days is to short giving that getting there takes about 2 days.
I am considering Cabo, but not sure if March is a good time to go.
Looking for any other ideas for a shorter trip. Thank you in advance!


Sonja

 

[ReefHound]

Cozumel is a perfect short-visit destination. There are daily flights to either CZM or CUN from most places whereas many places like Bonaire or Roatan have weekly flights. Coz hotels are oriented to nightly rentals of any length of stay versus many destinations are typically weekly stays with weekend arrival/departure. Not that you can't stay a different number of nights at a place like Anthony Key but they are clearly set up for a Saturday-Saturday cycle, picking up a group at the airport on Saturday, doing a group orientation, assigning boats and weights at a designated time, etc.

As for other ideas I assume you want tropical. Some places might be Belize or Costa Rica. If you can handle cold water then Catalina is in your backyard.

 

[Jglo27]

I haven't been yet, but it's on my bucket list to go to Saba in the Caribbean. It's also owned by the Netherlands and seems to have similar vibes to Bonaire (I've been and LOVED the diving). All of the reefs are protected and the island is known as the Unspoiled Queen. It looks like a great place to dive and vacation!

 

[BLee88]

Hi!

My husband and I are both experienced OW divers and are looking for dive destinations for our anniversary this coming March. We have 6 days and would be flying/traveling from the Tucson/Phoenix area. We love Bonaire, but have been there 6 times. We have been to Cozumel once more than 10 years ago and would consider going again. We have also been to Little Cayman, but decided 6 days is to short giving that getting there takes about 2 days.
I am considering Cabo, but not sure if March is a good time to go.
Looking for any other ideas for a shorter trip. Thank you in advance!


Sonja

My wife and I are also planning for a ~7 day trip in mid March and I’ve been scouring the web for a solid two weeks trying to figure out a destination.

We are in Northern California and considered Grand Cayman (too expensive), Egypt/Red Sea (too far), Fiji (too far AND too expensive), and Bonaire (prefer to limit my scuba Sherpa duty)… then decided on Cozumel.

Been finding lots of great information on Cozumel here on SB but decisions have been hard to come by… North(Westin)/Centro/South(Landmark) hotel? Aldora/3P/SaltyEndeavor? or perhaps an AI far south? All have considerable pros and some cons and its absolutely killing me

Happy planning!

 

[Marie13]

Hi!

My husband and I are both experienced OW divers and are looking for dive destinations for our anniversary this coming March. We have 6 days and would be flying/traveling from the Tucson/Phoenix area. We love Bonaire, but have been there 6 times. We have been to Cozumel once more than 10 years ago and would consider going again. We have also been to Little Cayman, but decided 6 days is to short giving that getting there takes about 2 days.
I am considering Cabo, but not sure if March is a good time to go.
Looking for any other ideas for a shorter trip. Thank you in advance!


Sonja

Have you considered doing a day or two of cenote dives on the mainland as part of a Coz trip?

 

[DandyDon]

American has nonstop flights to & from Cancun if you don't mind the $700+ fares, while Frontier has some itineraries under 12 hours each way for $221. The bag drag to Playa del Carmen and the ferry ride is not bad usually, and you could include mainland cenote dives at the end of the trip to rinse the salt off.

Flying in & out of Cozumel is easier, but flight plans under 12 hours each way start at $562. So many decisions. What kind of lodging do you like? I like to stay in town and enjoy the local restaurants, but that's me. AIs down south are so convenient if you're not picky about food.

What do you want in a dive op?

 

[Rob9876]

We are in Northern California and considered Grand Cayman (too expensive), Egypt/Red Sea (too far), Fiji (too far AND too expensive), and Bonaire (prefer to limit my scuba Sherpa duty)… then decided on Cozumel.

Been finding lots of great information on Cozumel here on SB but decisions have been hard to come by… North(Westin)/Centro/South(Landmark) hotel? Aldora/3P/SaltyEndeavor? or perhaps an AI far south? All have considerable pros and some cons and its absolutely killing me

@BLee88 it's hard to beat Cozumel for total bang for your buck for dive travel. To me about the only thing that has a better $ per dive value may be a cheap Bahamas Liveaboard -- but I like the diving better in Cozumel, and like the island of Cozumel overall.

As for your decisions, there are no doubt trade-offs. You probably can't go wrong with any of the dive ops that you mentioned, and there are many other good ones too.

Personally, I would rule out AI unless you had a compelling need (big group, young kids, etc.). Cozumel has a lot of good restaurants at reasonable prices. We went AI the first 4 times we visited, but each time we found more restaurants that we wanted to visit the next time, and now we have more favorites than we can visit each time.

So now, when traveling with non-diving family we usually either stay in AirBnB north of town (short ride to town) or actually in town. For trips just for diving, we usually stay in town at a hotel with a package deal with our dive shop (many dive ops have those) and eat a quick breakfast at the hotel, walk to the dive shop, go diving, then just walk to places in town for lunch and dinner -- easy peasy. Don't really need a car, taxis are cheap if needed. But we often rent a car for one day just to drive around the island and to places that are farther from town (Chankanaab park, Punta Sur park, San Gervasio ruins, etc.).

The southern AI resorts have short boat rides to dive sites. But even though the island is small the ride to and from town starts to seem long for dinner, or if you need to get something (medicine, food, sunscreen, batteries, etc.), as there is really not much south of town besides beach clubs and lodging. I really prefer to be closer to town.