Best Beginner Dive Trips?

[darkangel83]

We are very new to diving. We completed our open water in Belize, where we did 10 dives. It's time to plan our next trip! We would like to go somewhere in January, but are only able to be gone for about a week this time around (we live in Canada).

We have considered many options and now have so many ideas we are completely confused

Wondering if anyone had favourite places they went when they were first starting out??

Thanks!

 

[Paulmal]

I highly recommend Bonaire, all the shore diving you can do, if you stay a resort they include a couple of boat dives with your package. I have stayed with Buddy Dive every time I have been on the island and highly recommend them. Love the drive through fill station. We aim for 4 dives a day and often get more.

 

[darkangel83]

I highly recommend Bonaire, all the shore diving you can do, if you stay a resort they include a couple of boat dives with your package. I have stayed with Buddy Dive every time I have been on the island and highly recommend them. Love the drive through fill station. We aim for 4 dives a day and often get more.

Thanks, I will check it out!

 

[diversteve]

If you can get to MIA by noon there's an Insel Air flight direct to Bonaire that leaves at 2PM on Saturdays. Otherwise it's probably a series of connections. There's also a United/Continental direct red-eye on Friday night out of IAH (Houston) www.infobonaire.com has just about everything you need to know.

Where are you leaving from in Canada? Curacao is the same diving (almost identical - same reef 50 miles apart) but there may be better flight connections there. Also the shore dive entries are actually easier - most are off beaches or dive docks with facilities on the beach. www.curacao.com

While Bonaire diving is equally easy, entries are often trickier over coral rubble and submerged ironshore in the surf-line. Unless you just dive the resorts or boat dive but you'll be missing the best reason to go to Bonaire if you do. Outside of the resorts there are no facilities at any dive site on Bonaire - sometimes you're the only people nearby. It's not a reason not to go, just be careful on entries/exits - and carry a cellphone in a submersible case - one thing about Bonaire shore sites is there's some casual theft so you don't leave anything of value in the vehicle.

A lot of people from Western Canada go to Cozumel, I think there's very good flights - either direct or just one stop. Check in the Cozumel sub-forum for details if interested. It is mostly deeper drift diving though which may be something you'll want to wait until later to do - get more dives first.

 

[Dhboner]

Dominican Republic...no current...lots of marine life and healthy coral and all-inclusive for around $1,200.00 Have a look at the La Romana/Bayahibe area. My favourite dive op there is ScubaFun. PM me if you want any more information.

Bob (Toronto)

 

[TSandM]

Well, you Canadians have some world-class diving of your very own! If you are in the western part of the country, you have Vancouver Island, with some of the most amazing color and density of life in the ocean anywhere. If you are in the East, you have the wreck diving in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence river. Of course, it's cold water . . . but if you learn to dive closer to home, you'll dive more often, and the more you dive, the more comfortable and safer you are doing it.

 

[darkangel83]

Well, you Canadians have some world-class diving of your very own! If you are in the western part of the country, you have Vancouver Island, with some of the most amazing color and density of life in the ocean anywhere. If you are in the East, you have the wreck diving in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence river. Of course, it's cold water . . . but if you learn to dive closer to home, you'll dive more often, and the more you dive, the more comfortable and safer you are doing it.

Thanks for your reply! We live in Western Canada and have heard great things about the diving on Vancouver Island! We are planning a trip later next year with one of our scuba shops to do our wreck diving and deep diving certifications! For our January trip, we just want to get out of here, find some warm weather, and do a lot of diving

---------- Post Merged at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:55 PM ----------

Dominican Republic...no current...lots of marine life and healthy coral and all-inclusive for around $1,200.00 Have a look at the La Romana/Bayahibe area. My favourite dive op there is ScubaFun. PM me if you want any more information.

Bob (Toronto)

Thanks! I will look into it

---------- Post Merged at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:55 PM ----------

Thanks for the great info! Seems like we will have to do a little more research into where we want to go!

---------- Post Merged at 04:57 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 04:55 PM ----------

If you can get to MIA by noon there's an Insel Air flight direct to Bonaire that leaves at 2PM on Saturdays. Otherwise it's probably a series of connections. There's also a United/Continental direct red-eye on Friday night out of IAH (Houston) www.infobonaire.com has just about everything you need to know.

Where are you leaving from in Canada? Curacao is the same diving (almost identical - same reef 50 miles apart) but there may be better flight connections there. Also the shore dive entries are actually easier - most are off beaches or dive docks with facilities on the beach. www.curacao.com

While Bonaire diving is equally easy, entries are often trickier over coral rubble and submerged ironshore in the surf-line. Unless you just dive the resorts or boat dive but you'll be missing the best reason to go to Bonaire if you do. Outside of the resorts there are no facilities at any dive site on Bonaire - sometimes you're the only people nearby. It's not a reason not to go, just be careful on entries/exits - and carry a cellphone in a submersible case - one thing about Bonaire shore sites is there's some casual theft so you don't leave anything of value in the vehicle.

A lot of people from Western Canada go to Cozumel, I think there's very good flights - either direct or just one stop. Check in the Cozumel sub-forum for details if interested. It is mostly deeper drift diving though which may be something you'll want to wait until later to do - get more dives first.

Thanks for the great info! Seems like we will have to do a little more research into where we want to go!

 

[diversteve]

Another option might be Hawaii...January is Humpback Whale season. Probably won't see any diving but you'll hear them. Diving in Molokini Crater off Maui is very good to excellent with easy boat entries. Most moor inside the crater so it's calm. Also there's some good shore diving just off Maui that can be done escorted - in south Maui check with Maui Dreams Dive Co, Shaka Divers (Shaka Doug here on SB) or Tiny Bubbles in the Lahaina area. Lots of boat operator recommendations in the Hawaii forum, you can't go wrong with B&B Scuba, Ed Robinsons, Lahaina Divers or Extended Horizons. There's about a dozen more also - I have personal exp. with the ones named above - except Tiny Bubbles.

 

[drrich2]

When you're options are so open, sometimes it's nice to take a 'best of breed' of each of the obvious categories, and research each and compare it. Some suggestions:

1.) Bonaire - Buddy Dive would be a good choice. I'd skip the boat dives & save some money. Nice house reef. Be ready to drive a stick shift or pay around $150 extra for an automatic transmission. Driving around the island the first time will be strange, but should be doable. I went with a group the first few times, but you should be fine. A good way to do a lot of diving Consider getting nitrox certified first, since free nitrox is often included. Buddy has an included breakfast buffet, which is a nice perk.

2.) AquaCat Live-aboard in the Bahamas - there's a review on this forum - with a live-aboard, you can dive real often like Bonaire, without driving anywhere, having to eat out or cook, lugging gear in & out, and well, from what I've read from others you engage in the basic bodily functions, eat well and dive a lot. Haven't done one yet; my wife and my main dive buddy are both sea sickness prone and 'boat shy.' In winter, you'll need a wet suit in the Bahamas, I believe. And you are stuck on a boat; I doubt you've got constant internet access, either. Bahamas is one of the destinations people often see sharks.

3.) Cozumel - if by any chance you're an air hog, some op.s (like Living Underwater) have big steel tanks (like 120 cf tanks; thank you, Jeremy!!!). You can stay near town (or not), go all-inclusive (or not), eat out at a variety of restaurants in town (or not), enjoy great viz. and nice reefs, and likely some bigger animals than you'd see much of in Bonaire. Even in January (which is when I did 2 dives there) temp.s ought to be warm (I think it was 75 or so when I dove). I enjoyed drift diving; my wife & brother-in-law fought it for some reason (wife had sinusitis problems pretty bad then, too).

I'm assuming with a week's vacation out of Canada to the Caribbean, you're probably not wanting lengthy travel, and for a first trip, probably wanting to keep a more budget-minded trip (so I didn't mention Grand Cayman or Turks/Caicos).

There are other options, but those should get you started. Consider full package price; airfare (from the U.S.) to Cozumel is much cheaper than Bonaire. On the AquaCat meals are included, so you save a lot vs. eating on Bonaire. You'll need to be more independent on Bonaire, but can dive anytime you please, day or night, on your own schedule.

Richard.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[TSandM]

Okay, if you're in Western Canada, I can understand your desire to get out to someplace warm in the winter!

I don't know how difficult or expensive it is to go to Maui from where you are, but the diving infrastructure there is set up for beginners. There are a lot of boat operators, and also pretty easy shore diving, if the surf isn't up. (It's where my husband and I did some of our first independent shore diving.) The diving isn't mind-blowing a lot of the time, although there are a lot of turtles and you almost certainly will see some sharks, but the flip side is that the island has a lot of other things to do and decent accomodations and restaurants, and everybody speaks your language (or at least ours).

Similarly, the Yucatan/Riviera Maya area in Mexico is lovely at that time of year. The down side is that there is no shore diving to speak of -- it's all boats. However, you also have the possibility to dive the cenotes, which are unique and beautiful. The reef diving, like Maui, isn't generally mind-blowing, but there are a lot of reef fish and there are turtles. Cozumel has more spectacular reefs, but it is all drift diving in currents, and whether you are comfortable with that or not would determine whether it's a good beginner site. (I don't think so, for reasons I've articulated here before, not the least of which is that the first dive is generally deeper than I think most novices should be going.)

If you can find somebody else who wants to go with you, give some thought to a crewed sailboat charter in the British Virgin Islands. They are incredible vacations at what works out to be a very reasonable price, when you consider that the charter fees include your lodging, transportation, meals AND liquor. Some include diving, and others charge extra for it, and some arrange it with shore-based dive ops, but it won't cost you MORE to dive from a boat than it will from a shore based operator. We've done three BVI charters, two sailing and one diving, and I really think it's a wildly underrecognized way to have an amazing vacation.