gcarter
Contributor
I did Montreal through Cairo to Hurghada on Egypt Air in November. Around $1,200 CAD return. I thought that was quite reasonable. I would expect similar or cheaper from NY or Boston.
Awarded a travel grant! Looking for recommendations.
- Thread starter Footprints and Bubbles
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2 different suggestions.
Strictly a rec. trip - look at the two liveaboards in Turks/Caicos. Should be under $2500pp and I think you can get flights for the other $1000 - several airlines fly to Providenciales (airport code PLS) from JFK or EWR. I think JetBlue is one. About the only educational aspect is a healthy deep wall reef and lots sharks. We did the Explrorer - it's a nice boat and roomy. Aggressor does functionally the same itinerary - at several sites they were at the next mooring over. It's also easy travel - a group of dr;s from NYC were on our boat, they flew down Saturday afternoon.
Rocio Del Mar now has a citizen scientist boat - Quino El Guardian. It's a little more shared cabin space than some liveaboards. They're diving the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez - JY Cousteau called them the "worlds aquarium" Lots of sea lions - they visit an island rookery, in July there should be several species of whales around..
Quino el Guardian Liveaboard
There will be scientists on board and you get to assist them. The boat is out of Puerto Penasco, MX which is accessible from Phoenix via van shuttle they can set up. Actually their office is in Phoenix.
Their sister ship, Rocio Del Mar also offers similar Midriff Islands itineraries in the summer months. My regular buddy has been on that trip.
hth,
Strictly a rec. trip - look at the two liveaboards in Turks/Caicos. Should be under $2500pp and I think you can get flights for the other $1000 - several airlines fly to Providenciales (airport code PLS) from JFK or EWR. I think JetBlue is one. About the only educational aspect is a healthy deep wall reef and lots sharks. We did the Explrorer - it's a nice boat and roomy. Aggressor does functionally the same itinerary - at several sites they were at the next mooring over. It's also easy travel - a group of dr;s from NYC were on our boat, they flew down Saturday afternoon.
Rocio Del Mar now has a citizen scientist boat - Quino El Guardian. It's a little more shared cabin space than some liveaboards. They're diving the Midriff Islands in the Sea of Cortez - JY Cousteau called them the "worlds aquarium" Lots of sea lions - they visit an island rookery, in July there should be several species of whales around..
Quino el Guardian Liveaboard
There will be scientists on board and you get to assist them. The boat is out of Puerto Penasco, MX which is accessible from Phoenix via van shuttle they can set up. Actually their office is in Phoenix.
Their sister ship, Rocio Del Mar also offers similar Midriff Islands itineraries in the summer months. My regular buddy has been on that trip.
hth,
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Another option might be Roatan/Utila. Flights will eat up more of your budget - around $8-900pp but everything is cheap there. Roatan's West End has a lot of decent accomodations well under $100/nt. I rented a 3br house for $1500/wk. Diving is cheap - $30-35 per boat dive. Anthony's Key may still be offering their BOGO also.
RIMS - Roatan Institute for Marine Science on site may help with the science end but it's largely a dolphin training facility.
From Roatan there's a weekend ferry to Utila which is a smaller version of the same. You might be able to snorkel with Whalesharks then - a resort owner told us they see them all year but reliably in spring. Maybe look at Coral View - a smaller property a few minutes out of town - they have a pool and a house reef. Utopia Village is the AI dive resort but it's out of your range unless you skip Roatan. You can also get to Utila via puddle jumper from San Pedro Sula but it has to be day flights - there's no airport llghts on Utla. aboututila.com for most things, IDK of an equivalent Roatan portal.
One downside of both - lots of bugs. And pretty humid in summer.
RIMS - Roatan Institute for Marine Science on site may help with the science end but it's largely a dolphin training facility.
From Roatan there's a weekend ferry to Utila which is a smaller version of the same. You might be able to snorkel with Whalesharks then - a resort owner told us they see them all year but reliably in spring. Maybe look at Coral View - a smaller property a few minutes out of town - they have a pool and a house reef. Utopia Village is the AI dive resort but it's out of your range unless you skip Roatan. You can also get to Utila via puddle jumper from San Pedro Sula but it has to be day flights - there's no airport llghts on Utla. aboututila.com for most things, IDK of an equivalent Roatan portal.
One downside of both - lots of bugs. And pretty humid in summer.
OP
Footprints and Bubbles
Registered
Thanks for all of these great suggestions! Quino El Guardian seems like a very interesting option. I've done some snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez, and really enjoyed it. Adding the opportunity to contribute to a research project would be icing on the cake. Just have to see if I can make the timeframe work.
Not sure that we want to do the Carribean this time around. It definitely meets our requirements in terms of budget, though.
Does anyone have thoughts on the Maldives? Seems like a fairly easy (albeit long) flight from NYC to Malé for about $1300 and boats aren't too outrageous.
Thinking it may be between the Maldives, Red Sea, Sea of Cortez, and the Galapagos if I'm able to persuade my accountant (I mean husband) to fork over the big bucks.
Not sure that we want to do the Carribean this time around. It definitely meets our requirements in terms of budget, though.
Does anyone have thoughts on the Maldives? Seems like a fairly easy (albeit long) flight from NYC to Malé for about $1300 and boats aren't too outrageous.
Thinking it may be between the Maldives, Red Sea, Sea of Cortez, and the Galapagos if I'm able to persuade my accountant (I mean husband) to fork over the big bucks.
lowlysubaruguy
Contributor
Philippines for sure. BEst bang regardless of the buck even though its the best bang for the buck.
Next trip there will be Bohol, Boracay, and Negros with an extra day on the way in and out in what ever the main city we fly into probably Cebu or Manila we ended up at both last trip. Youll have to figure inner island travel into your costs and youll need min of two weeks two to three is good. Ill warn you you need two days to decompress when you get home your going to be so out of whack and jet lagged its best to know ahead of time.
Diving averaged $40 to $45 per tank with rental gear top to bottom but we did a package on Boracay that dropped its price a little. So divings not that much cheaper than anywhere else if it even is cheaper. However everything can be very affordable. Lodging from $30 to $90 a night is what we paid. The place at $90 was on Cebu and it was a palace way out my league ( the toilets didnt work there either
$60 to $80 should be a good buget to pencil out per night. Your going to want to do a few tours we booked a few and then sometimes just walked out to the street and hopped on an electric cart and tossed at one dollar bills until we were ready to come back. The best meals ran $4 to $5 PP some were $2 others $7 to $10 one night we had a pick your own seafood dinner on the ocean it was $25 to $30 a head and then 16 of us had a dinner for $60 including the tip. And the food was actually pretty good. Worst meal we ate was at the amazing hotel it was a $16 buffet and I was hard pressed to find anything I liked short of eggs. But it was reall Phillipino food nothing was Americanized and i saw natives carrying plates stacked with it so people there liked it.
Next trip there will be Bohol, Boracay, and Negros with an extra day on the way in and out in what ever the main city we fly into probably Cebu or Manila we ended up at both last trip. Youll have to figure inner island travel into your costs and youll need min of two weeks two to three is good. Ill warn you you need two days to decompress when you get home your going to be so out of whack and jet lagged its best to know ahead of time.
Diving averaged $40 to $45 per tank with rental gear top to bottom but we did a package on Boracay that dropped its price a little. So divings not that much cheaper than anywhere else if it even is cheaper. However everything can be very affordable. Lodging from $30 to $90 a night is what we paid. The place at $90 was on Cebu and it was a palace way out my league ( the toilets didnt work there either
$60 to $80 should be a good buget to pencil out per night. Your going to want to do a few tours we booked a few and then sometimes just walked out to the street and hopped on an electric cart and tossed at one dollar bills until we were ready to come back. The best meals ran $4 to $5 PP some were $2 others $7 to $10 one night we had a pick your own seafood dinner on the ocean it was $25 to $30 a head and then 16 of us had a dinner for $60 including the tip. And the food was actually pretty good. Worst meal we ate was at the amazing hotel it was a $16 buffet and I was hard pressed to find anything I liked short of eggs. But it was reall Phillipino food nothing was Americanized and i saw natives carrying plates stacked with it so people there liked it.FT
Contributor
Puerto Galera and the incredible diversity of Verde Island, absolutely. Not so gruelling to get to Manila from the States, lots of direct flights. Local transport to PG has become a bit more of a pain with new ferry regulations; seek advice on the Phils portion of the board.
July-August can be rainy but you’ll be underwater, eh? If the weather starts to look very iffy, back up to Anilao and then you are only a drive from Manila.
If you stick with the Red Sea plan, I have never been but it’s on my watch list. Summer is very hot above the water, but provides the best temperatures in the water. Good chance of hammerheads and whale sharks.
July-August can be rainy but you’ll be underwater, eh? If the weather starts to look very iffy, back up to Anilao and then you are only a drive from Manila.
If you stick with the Red Sea plan, I have never been but it’s on my watch list. Summer is very hot above the water, but provides the best temperatures in the water. Good chance of hammerheads and whale sharks.
Hi all! I'm a longtime lurker finally taking the plunge and making my first post! I've been awarded a travel grant (!) through work and am trying to figure out where to go. Only stipulations for travel are that it be international (from the US) and during the coming summer. After taxes, I'll have about $6000 for both me and my husband. We'd be willing to throw a bit of our own money into the mix for the right trip, but don't want to go too crazy.
We're open to both land-based and liveaboards. The trip would need to happen sometime between the second half of July and the first half of August. We are flexible in terms of length of stay.
Places we've been diving in order of preference: Komodo (liveaboard), Belize (Lighthouse Reef), Bonaire, Hawaii, Cozumel, Iceland (Silfra), and Aruba.
Trips we already have planned: Hawaii (June 2019) and Raja Ampat (December 2019 on the Samambaia).
Certs: AOW, Nitrox, and drysuit. I'm at 136 dives, he's at a little over 100.
We're in our early to mid-30's, active, and have the "sleep when we're dead" mentality when it comes to travel. We live on the East Coast and would likely be flying out of NYC or Boston. After just booking or flights to Sorong, I'd prefer a slightly easier flight itinerary - at least for this trip!
Where should we go?!
The Aggressor is offering some decent specials for the Red Sea and you can add on a one week river cruise for $999 per person:
Scuba Diving Trips & Vacations on Liveaboard Boats | Aggressor Fleet
Since you have an interest in environmental science I also want to mention the Central Caribbean Marine Institute on Little Cayman, see the link below.
When we are on LC we stay at the Little Cayman Beach Resort (and we love it!) but we have visited the CMMI facility and enjoyed the tour that they offer once per week. We have also played against the CMMI team at the nighttime Trivia game hosted weekly at the LCBR Beach-Nuts Bar - the scientists won that game; and apparently they usually win the games and the prize of the free bottle of wine!
CMMI does offer opportunities to stay/study/dive with the Institute and they are environmentally conscientious - I had a hard time getting past their descriptions of the "bath house" and the "composting toilets" myself. The facilities sound a bit rugged but they do have a VIP Suite but I don't know what that includes. Personally I'd be looking for AC in the Caribbean during the summer but I don't know if that is an option at the CMMI facilities.
Facilities |
When we are on LC we stay at the Little Cayman Beach Resort (and we love it!) but we have visited the CMMI facility and enjoyed the tour that they offer once per week. We have also played against the CMMI team at the nighttime Trivia game hosted weekly at the LCBR Beach-Nuts Bar - the scientists won that game; and apparently they usually win the games and the prize of the free bottle of wine!
CMMI does offer opportunities to stay/study/dive with the Institute and they are environmentally conscientious - I had a hard time getting past their descriptions of the "bath house" and the "composting toilets" myself. The facilities sound a bit rugged but they do have a VIP Suite but I don't know what that includes. Personally I'd be looking for AC in the Caribbean during the summer but I don't know if that is an option at the CMMI facilities.
Facilities |
EcoSeaDawn
New
Hi, I'm new to the Scuba Board as well. I'm here looking to see how much interest there is in citizen science.
Its probably too late for you now but check out EcoSea Expeditions in Palau. www.ecoseaexpeditions.com
I'm the founder of the expedition company and a marine ecologist. The expeditions are based on a long term monitoring program I started as a Peace Corps volunteer in Palau back in 2000.
Its probably too late for you now but check out EcoSea Expeditions in Palau. www.ecoseaexpeditions.com
I'm the founder of the expedition company and a marine ecologist. The expeditions are based on a long term monitoring program I started as a Peace Corps volunteer in Palau back in 2000.
Hi all! I'm a longtime lurker finally taking the plunge and making my first post! I've been awarded a travel grant (!) through work and am trying to figure out where to go. Only stipulations for travel are that it be international (from the US) and during the coming summer. After taxes, I'll have about $6000 for both me and my husband. We'd be willing to throw a bit of our own money into the mix for the right trip, but don't want to go too crazy.
We're open to both land-based and liveaboards. The trip would need to happen sometime between the second half of July and the first half of August. We are flexible in terms of length of stay.
Places we've been diving in order of preference: Komodo (liveaboard), Belize (Lighthouse Reef), Bonaire, Hawaii, Cozumel, Iceland (Silfra), and Aruba.
Trips we already have planned: Hawaii (June 2019) and Raja Ampat (December 2019 on the Samambaia).
Certs: AOW, Nitrox, and drysuit. I'm at 136 dives, he's at a little over 100.
We're in our early to mid-30's, active, and have the "sleep when we're dead" mentality when it comes to travel. We live on the East Coast and would likely be flying out of NYC or Boston. After just booking or flights to Sorong, I'd prefer a slightly easier flight itinerary - at least for this trip!
Where should we go?!
@Footprints and Bubbles where did you decide to go diving this summer to spend your travel grant?
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