Beginner dive site + non-diver things to do for a short weekend

[ls1dreams]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a quick short memorial day weekend trip to head to with a friend.

Which location would be the best balance of cost, easy diving (I only have 17 dives under my belt), and stuff to do for a friend that is a non-diver.

The common recommendations near north america seem to be:

Florida Keys - seems like a good option though maybe more expensive than the rest

Cozumel - good top side I assume, though the drift dives make me a bit nervous as a new diver

Curaçao/Bonaire - not sure how top side is for entertainment. Also don't really like the idea of shore diving

Roatan - is there much to do top side? Utila seems a bit out of the way to be worth it.

Any other place I should look for a good balance of easy diving + entertainment for non divers? I'd be renting all of my gear.

 

[Cap335]

Florida Keys- I have had best luck using condo's vs hotels. Diving is cheaper if you book a package of dives.
Cozumel- Drift dives are easy don't let them bother you just stay close to the dm and let them know your new.
Curaçao/Bonaire- Bonaire has easier diving but not much for a non diver. Curacao has more going on on top
Diving is good but not as spectacular as Bonaire
Roatan- I haven't been
Other spots to try would be Cayman or Bahamas my choice would be Cayman

 

[stuartv]

I agree with cap335 on Cozumel. My 3rd and 4th dives after finishing OW were drift dives off Coz. They were great. Like Cap said, just let the DM know you're new and try to stay near him/her.

In FL, you could also consider the Jupiter/West Palm area. I did a week of diving with Stuart Scuba, going out of Jupiter and West Palm last year. They were great and the dives were very beginner-friendly. @sheeper is an instructor for them. He could probably add more to this. If you go to West Palm, you could also dive the Blue Heron Bridge, which is very easy, very shallow, and famous for the diversity of critters you can see there.

 

[victorzamora]

My wife's first post-course dives were in Roatan....it's very beginner friendly. The diving is likely the cheapest of the places you listed.

I will say I've only got 3 dives in the Keys, but I have no intention of going back. Besides being expensive, the diving was pretty mediocre.

I've got a few dives in both Coz and the Playa del Carmen area. Dives are slightly more challenging than Roatan in my experience, but nothing you shouldn't be able to handle. Warm/clear water makes diving pretty easy.

As far as there being things for a non-diver to do: There's plenty in Roatan, FL Keys, and Coz, but not necessarily easily accessible without a car...depending on where you're staying. What really matters, I think, is what kinds of things the non-diver is in to...and that's true everywhere.

 

[Damselfish]

Don't know how short "short" is but on a shorter trip it's good to minimize travel time. Otherwise between travel time and no-fly time you might not be able to fit much diving in. Take a look at actual flights available to different places, some may involve more travel time than you want and eliminate choices.

I think the Florida Keys are a good option for a short first dive trip, especially if you're not interested in shore diving. Other Florida options are worth considering too. Florida does get you shorter/cheaper travel, with no time wasted in immigration and customs lines.

Bonaire and Curacao are both easy diving, and Curacao is just as good or better if you dive in the right places. (I much prefer Curacao. However, it's a bigger island and not as dive focused as Bonaire, so for a diver can be more challenging to pick the right place to stay.) Note that you can certainly boat dive in Bonaire or Curacao - while you hear people talk about shore diving a lot, especially in Bonaire, you don't have to. The only shore diving we tend to do either place is off our hotel dock. As far as entertainment, it depends what your friend wants to do. Curacao has more things to do, actually quite a bit. But back to the travel time, these might not work well, especially Bonaire which tends to be a little harder (and more expensive) to get to.

Roatan - I've done little topside stuff in Roatan so I dunno, I mostly dive and relax. Utila is worth getting to sometime, but yes there is an additional travel hassle there so I'd skip it this time.

Cayman and T&C can be relatively quick and not too expensive to get to. (They're known for being more expensive once you're there if that's a concern, but there are some less expensive options in both places.) Probably more to do in Cayman. The better diving from Provo tends to be on the deep side with a longer boat ride, the shallower diving like in Grace Bay a shorter boat ride but not as good, though you might be fine with that for a first trip. Grand Turk you'll find shallower diving, but not a whole lot to do and it's an extra flight from Provo. (Same thing with Little Cayman, it's a place you'll probably want to check out eventually, but involves an extra flight and there's not a lot else to do there for most people.)

You might even consider St Martin/St Maarten, which has been discussed here some lately. It's not thought of as a dive destination by most people but there's some decent diving to be had that will probably be good for a newer diver. There are also lots of flights to there, as well as lots of places to stay and things to do.

You could also look at Bahamas or St Croix. Even Grenada might work if the flights are easy.

 

[Bison]

There are a lot of great ideas put forth in this thread but another option is a beach resort in Miami. Gives you access to Key Largo, Biscayne Key and even up to Jupiter. A little bit of diving at times but this can be coordinated through South Beach dive and surf shop. They will coordinate charters depending on where you want to go. I did this for a short stay in Miami and my non-diving members enjoyed the Beach resort amenities and Miami area until I returned from diving.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a quick short memorial day weekend trip to head to with a friend.

Which location would be the best balance of cost, easy diving (I only have 17 dives under my belt), and stuff to do for a friend that is a non-diver.

The common recommendations near north america seem to be:

Florida Keys - seems like a good option though maybe more expensive than the rest

Cozumel - good top side I assume, though the drift dives make me a bit nervous as a new diver

Curaçao/Bonaire - not sure how top side is for entertainment. Also don't really like the idea of shore diving

Roatan - is there much to do top side? Utila seems a bit out of the way to be worth it.

Any other place I should look for a good balance of easy diving + entertainment for non divers? I'd be renting all of my gear.

What kind of "entertainment" is of interest to the non-diver? Lying on a beach? Fishing? Windsurfing? Cultural sites? Drinking margaritas? Depending on the answer to that, I might agree with others that the east coast of Florida, including points further north of Miami, such as West Palm and Jupiter, could be a good choice. No surprises.

Keys: Cheap-ish flight from DC to MIA or FLL, where you would rent a car and drive to Key Largo. I'm not sure why you believe it would be more expensive than the other options, but I suppose it all depends on what kinds of airfares you're looking at. My wife and I used to take long weekend trips to the Keys because it was a cheaper option than the other places you listed. Key Largo reefs are ideal for beginners. Topside? Eh, drinking and eating? Lying in a hammock? Not a whole lot else to do.

Cozumel: I didn't go there when I was a new diver--my girlfriend at the time who was an experienced diver insisted the currents would be too difficult. But from what others have said, it sounds like if you make it known you're a beginner, they can accommodate you. Topside, well, it's a Mexican resort town, with all that that entails. A non-diver could also take a ferry trip to the mainland to see Mayan ruins and be back in time for dinner. I love Cozumel because I love all things Mexico, and the diving is great.

Curacao/Bonaire: Curacao could be a good compromise, as it's much more diverse, historic, even cosmopolitan, than Bonaire, which is basically a desert island with good diving. If the non-diver rents a car, there are plenty of things to do on Curacao. If you don't like the idea of shore diving, I'd skip Bonaire--that's the real draw of the place.

Roatan: I spent some time there, but didn't feel there was much to do topside. Some restaurants and bars that cater to divers and cruise shippers, but on the whole there's a still fairly undeveloped feel about the island. I suspect somebody will correct my mistaken impression. Very jungle-y, insects, etc. Utila has the same environment, but even less to do topside for a non-diver.

 

[victorzamora]

Lorenzoid: There's plenty to do on Roatan, you just kinda have to know where to look. There's Segway tours, jetskiing, waterskiing, parasailing (I think), the Botanical gardens, swimming with dolphins, iguana reserve, the monkey/sloth hangout, paddleboarding, ziplining, snorkeling, ATVs, etc. There are tours to Cayos Cochinos and the submarine experience.

There really is a lot to do, there's just not a lot of advertising for it. Much of it will require some travel to get there (it's a tiny island at ~35mi long and <2mi wide, but the fact that there's essentially one tiny road on the whole island doesn't make it "quick."

So, there's plenty to do, depending on what the heretic (non-diver) wants to do....but it may take some effort to do much of it.

 

[diversteve]

Utila is a beyond point - you either fly over from Roatan or mainland Honduras during the day only. Too hard to get to for a long weekend and unless your friends idea of a good time is slathering on the Deet and laying on a poor beach - or jungle hiking - there's not much else there to do. Probably the majority of the island is still uninhabited, town is mostly a backpacker haven with a lot of cheap, loud bars and the AI resorts usually require a boat to access town or the airport. Good diving though - IMO better than Roatan. aboututila.com

It's kind of the same with Bonaire - most flights will connect thru ATL or Newark taking the whole day to get there and back. Plus we did all the tourist attractions there from Friday noon to Sat morning and didn't miss much. Even the beaches are lousy - too much ironshore. I can name all of the decent ones on one hand. And all the good restaurants on the other.

It also seems to me that Roatan, Utila and Bonaire function best on a Sat-Sat schedule, more flights, the resorts are set up that way etc. Not that you can't get out after a few days but there's probably less options.

Curacao could work if you can get there quickly. It's a bigger island so there's more to do. Many of the resorts have a on-site dive operator and here's the list of things your companion could do. Things to do in Curaçao If you did want to shore dive, the DiveBus is an option, they'll pick you up in town, do all the heavy lifting and provide a DM on the dive. It's not much less than a 2 tank boat dive though and they dive the same site twice.

See if you can afford Grand Cayman also. It's good deep wall diving, shops pickup at most Seven Mile Beach resorts and it's rare to not be back by noon. One gotcha if you don't want to dive the deep first dive down the wall - at some moorings 60'f is blue water - others are just as good. Ask about it when you book, most shops do the same dives weekly. If you like wrecks Kittiwake is a good shallow one - dive cleaned and put down a couple years ago. So shallow surge just ripped the roof off the pilothouse - Iirc the bottom is 70' and the ship 60' tall. www.caymanislands.ky lists everything.

The Sister Islands - Brac or Little Cayman are also a flight over but it's only 1/2 hr. and coordinated with arrival flights. Both are really small and quiet though with limited resorts and dive operations..

 

[victorzamora]

Steve: I missed the 3-day weekend part. Bonaire/Curacao/Roatan/Belize are all going to not be worth the travel time (IMO). MAYBE a flight to CUN or COZ direct from one of the DC airports? Sat-to-Sat is definitely what most of these places are set up for.

OP: you'll have to also think about off-gassing a day before your flight back and how bad diving immediately after flying is. I drive to FL for long weekends (7hrs total travel each way) and am lucky to get 5 dives in, including one the morning of my drive home. If I had to throw flight in the mix, I would be much less motivated to make those trips.