Best Caribbean Dive Trip

[jimmyboy]

What was your best Caribbean dive trip (diving and hotel/motel/resort stay) and why?

 

[SchoonCR]

What was your best Caribbean dive trip (diving and hotel/motel/resort stay) and why?

Here is a trip report I posted on Bonaire talk, which should show you why I loved Bonaire so much. No beaches, but the BEST, most convenient diving in the world. I LOVED being able to just drive around the island, and pick the your spot to get in and go.



Here is our report on the diving we did on our trip July 24th - 31st a Lion's Dive INN.

DIVING:

Day 1

Check out dive - Buddy's Reef
Nice dive, good intro to life on the reef

Boat Dive - Ebo's Special
Nice dive

Shore Dive - Buddy's Reef Night Dive
Actually a twilight dive. Decended to about 60 feet at about 7:15pm, and worked our way up to about 30 ft. Got out of the water at about 8:05pm, so we had the pleasure of seeing the light change. Nice.

Day 2

Boat Dive - Klein - Bonaventure
Saw a frog fish, which was a first for us. Took us both several minutes to visualize him, even though we were staring right at it.

Shore Dive - Invisibles
Real neat dive on the south side, with the large coral islands creating easy natural navigation. Lots of garden eels between the 2 shallower coral islands, and the 3rd island which begins at about 85 feet.

Shore Dive - Andrea II
Pleasant dive, but nothing to report

DAY 3

Boat Dive - 1,000 Steps
Considered skipping this one, so we could do it as a shore dive, but then decided was a lot of work. (Wife helped the decision, even though it only is 62 steps) Saw a HUGE shovel nose lobster. Small green eel as well.

Shore Dive - Fish Hut
This dive is not on most of the dive maps (yet), but does have a yellow dive marker (now). Very nice dive, with a huge abundance of every type of fish you could want to see. An spotted eagle ray, and a green sea turtle were spotted by our group, but we missed them. One of our top dives of the week.

Shore Dive - Pink Beach
Probably our least favorite dive of the week. However, keep in mind, that still makes it one of our top 20 dives in our life! Bonaire diving is just that good. I would skip it though. Did see a nice sized scorpion fish (stonefish?) Sand is not pink either.

Shore Dive - Reef Scientifico - Night Dive
Enter Charlie, the resident Tarpon Guide (or perhaps a cousin) For all 35 min of the dive, he followed close by, and passed in front of us. A yellow snapper did the same, and if I would stop to shine my light on something for more than a sec, he would get right in front of the light, and I would literally have to poke him to get him to move. Neat stuff. All the plates bolted to the reef make it easy to name this reef.

Day 4

Shore Dive - Alice in Wonderland
Neat dive, though the swim to the outer reef of the double reef system is quite a kick, and perhaps not worth the wasted air, or BT. Did see a HUGE Green Moray eel which was free swimming. ANother spotted eagle ray was seen, again, not by us.

Shore Dive - Angel City
Right near by, again, a southern dive on the double reef system, the channel between is very close, and you can swim between the 2 to view both. Lots of activity. Saw a small green sea turtle, our southern ray, and a HUGE scorpion fish.

Boat Dive - Klein - Carl's Hill
Cool little wall dive, with the wall starting at about 25ft, and dropping down to about 80ft. HUGE Buff fish. Remember to look up (swim on your back) on this dive. Beautiful visuals.

Shore Dive - Buddy's Reef - Night Dive
Very active this night. About 6 large tarpon making their rounds. Saw my first octopus, and then another one later in the dive. Nice sized spiny lobster hanging out in a open coral head (don't know names, sorry)

Day 5

Boat Dive - Hilma Hooker
Talked into doing this on the boat, and I regret it. Really wanted the visual of swimming up on this wreck from the reef. Was a nice dive, not much life though. I am more of a reef guy than a wreck guy, but was worth doing.

Shore Dive - Margate Bay
VERY ACTIVE. Saw just about every fish you could see. Beautiful dive. One of the top 1 or 2 dives of the week.

Shore Dive - TOWN PIER - Night Dive
We were only 4 of the 40 in our group to do this dive. PLAN IN ADVANCE. You will need to fill out the paper work, give your passport numbers, and need some luck that boats aren't docked. We signed up Sunday, and barely got in on the Thursday night dive. SIMPLY AMAZING. NOT TO BE MISSED. The colors were just astonishing. ORANGE! Saw another frogfish. A first for us as well, 2 seahorses seemingly asleep on a softcoral in the sand about 20 yards off of the pier (good guide) Also saw a spotted eel eating scraps from a local restaraunt, and a baby sea turtle sleeping against one of the pylings.

DAY 6 - Last diving day

Boat Dive - Bloodlet
Was SUPPOSED to be Rappel, but a boat was already moored there. Was a nice dive anyway.

Shore Dive - Jeff Davis
Went Seahorse hunting, as one was spotted that morning (needle and haystack anyone?) Came up short. Was escorted back to shore by a 3 foot baracuda, for at least 15 min. Rather creepy. Did see, and take a picture of, the memorial.

Really wanted to do the Lake, Hilma Hooker Shore Dive, Ole Blue, and Repel Boat Dive. Guess I will have to save those for another trip. We basically crossed the northern most dives past Karpata, and Southern Dives past Fish hut (and around Lac Bay) off our list. With our larger group, and even when it was just 4 of us on a shore dive, we didn't want to even bother with sites that may have a strong current. No point, with 50 other dives to do.

All the shore dives we did require some balance and concentration getting in the water, as there are often holes in the rock getting in that are tough to sea, and some wave surge, moreso in the north than south. No problems if you are careful, healthy, and pay attention.


ISLAND

I may not even boat dive next time I am on Bonaire. Our little Toyota Hilux 4 door did great getting us around. What a different, but beautiful island. Do yourself a favor and make the loop all the way south past the dive sites, and around past Lac Bay and then back to Kralendik. Largest Cactii I have every seen in my life, well over 40 feet. The south end is VERY interesting as well. Waves crashing up on the rocks... Very much like looking off the end of the world. North end is beatiful as well. Devote at least 2 hours to make each loops (so you have time to stop, and peak around), and take your time. Remember the shortcut if you are just diving and heading back though... Will save at least 20-25 min.

Donkey's and Lizards... That is their wildlife. Hilarious to see a pack of donkey's 4 feet off the road just sitting their staring at you. Good stuff.

SHORTCUT: About the one-way round the loops around throuh Rincon. Save yourself AT LEAST 20-25 minutes, AND see on of the best/highest views of the island, and take the dirt road short cut. Only about 500 yards after your take the right at the stop sign by Karpata (snack shack closed), you will see a dirt road to the right, marked by a red rock. Will run over one of the highest peaks on the island, and connect back at Andrea II. A little bumpy, but no problems at all.

Resort

We loved Lions Dive Inn! Nothing bad too say, but we did get a great room. Not all the rooms are the same, at all. We had a bottom floor room, and the sliding glass opened up right onto the pool deck. We only used the front door once all week, left it locked and bolted the whole rest of the week. We are trusting folks, and with it all being interior, we just left out the sliding glass, and left it unlocked. Many of the rooms had a door on the back that you could lock, that would have been even better, but we came out ok. Nothing of value was in the room (well, money and jewelry and travel dox we locked in the safe), and all of our dive equipment was locked in their equipment room (nice touch). Bon Bini Dive shop was great. Had tanks at the shop for the boats and the dives off their pier, and a drive thru shop by the road where you could sign tanks out for shore excursions.

All I can think of folks. WONDERFUL TRIP. This is the first report I have ever done... Hopefully it will ad some useful advice for someone... I felt I got so much good info from here in the months leading up to our trip, I thought I should post it. I have underwater pics as well, if someone can tell me how to post it, or link a gallery (they are uploaded at snapfish)

Ryan
Auburn, AL USA

 

[vladimir]

the BEST, most convenient diving in the world

I like Bonaire too (I'm going back in October), but the world is a big place. The diving off the beach in Sipadan is pretty convenient (once you get there) and was spectacular when I was there in 1995. Still a great dive I think.

My favorite Caribbean trip was a recent one to the Turneffe Island Lodge in Belize. A beautiful, secluded setting (a private island, 20 guests), nice accommodations (get a cabana) and excellent diving 5 minutes away by boat. We saw dolphins, a hammerhead, bull sharks, gray reef sharks, eagle rays, turtles, schools of jacks and permit, and a crocodile in the mangroves.

 

[reefsong]

Of all the places in the Caribbean I've been to diving, the most special, romantic, charming, and delightful place of them all is Saba. There's no glitz or glamour and it's a little more difficult to get there than many of the others, but, oh what a place! The island with it's lush mountain and great hiking, scenery and bird watching, the diving with it's clean undamaged well cared for reefs, the pinacles, the sharks, abundant fish and turtles, the coral gardens, Diamond Rock! Wow!, the friendly and interesting people - so easy to get to know there, the intimacy of the whole experience and the sense of complete relaxation and peace when I'm there, make Saba my favorite place in the Caribbean. Don't get me wrong, I've had many wonderful trips to Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatan, Cayman Brac and have been a repeat diver many times to all but Cayman Brac because all those places have some wonderful things to offer at each place. But there's something magic about Saba for divers who are not there to party but to dive on pristine reefs on an intoxicatingly beautiful mountain island.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Easy. . . Little Cayman. Truly getting away from it all with fantastic diving and nothing else to do.

 

[parrotman]

Bonaire for sure.

I've been to Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel, Cay Sal Banks in the Bahamas, Hawaii, California coast, Oregon coast, Florida and of all of these places the only place that I have returned to is Bonaire and I have been there 4 times. Plan on going again in the spring.

 

[sharkdiver00]

Since this is a question specific to the Caribbean...

I have to say the East End of Grand Cayman with Ocean Frontiers. I find myself going back year after year. The u/w life and corals are still in pretty pristine condition and OF is the best operation bar none. Place to stay... who cares, but Sunshine Suites and now Compass Point Condo's. Not to mention that every time I get there they have opened another great divesite

A close tie has to be Saba, (place to stay Juliana's and diving with the Mike's) but since it is harder to get there I don't go often enough.

Was recently introduced to the Cenotes of the Mayan Riviera with Hidden Worlds and it is fast becoming another favorite... it is not ocean diving, but those are some incredibly beautiful places.

Maria

 

[Stivo]

for me, my hands down favorite is Dominica. Fantastic diving and a gorgeous island to boot. There is abundant fish life beautiful corals & rock formations underwater. Almost all of the major sites are very well protected and relatively unspoiled. Top side, the hiking and biking is fantastic. There are over 300 streams with waterfalls and hotsprings. If you go, be sure to hike to Boiling Lake via the Valley of Desolation. You hike through the rainforest passing through a volcanic landscape with sulfur springs, streams & vents... a very unique place. Then you come to a large boiling sulfur lake one of only a few in the world. At the end of the hike, there is a gorge & waterfall that you can cool off in.

Another good island is Greneda. There are beautiful reefs & good wrecks like the Bianca C (sunken cruise liner in about 110-150+ feet of water. Nearby Isla de Ronde is virtually untouched with fantastic reef, abundant sea life and some of the biggest lobsters I've ever seen!

 

[Vic McAlister]

We had a blast at Cayman Brac, the diving at Brac/Little Cayman was awesome. The DM's with Reef Divers are the best. THE LAZY DIVERS way to go... you really dont touch your gear once you get there.... they prep it, tank changes and rinse the gear. You get on the boat and when your ready to dive, you sit a bench at the back of the boat and they bring you your fresh tank and bc. Help you get the bc on and pull the bc off when you return from the dive.... NEXT best thing to a live aboard...

Brac Reef Resort is an awesome dive resorts....

Check it out.

Vic

 

[AggieDiver]

Put me down for Brac Reef Beach Resort on Cayman Brac with Divi Tiara on the Brac a close second.