Best place to scuba with friends in Caribbean that's cheap?!

[scubagirl_]

I am planning a trip with 6 of my friends (beginner scuba divers) to the Caribbean! I have been looking at Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, and all the Bahamas islands. I need to know the best place to either shallow reef dives or big animal dives! I am looking for the cheapest way to live and dive at this place! Please help me with picking an island to live and find beautiful ocean disoveries.

 

[Kmart4321]

Just returned from one week aboard Blackbeard cruise.
Dollar for dollar, i couldn't beat it for price.
Its not fancy by any means and isnt for everyone but food was good, dive sites had plenty of large and small life and crew bent over backwards to make sure we had a good time.
I will be booking again.

 

[diversteve]

I rarely - if ever - have seen Cheap and Tirks/Caicos in the same sentence. Besides expensive food/flights/accomodations, diving there is all boat diving and 2 dives are well over $100 generally. It's also a lot of deep wall diving and some of the moorings can be 60' or less. The best of which take most of a day to get to and back, including lunch so you're often back around 2:30-3PM. Even if you all shared a big condo or house, doing a reasonable amount of diving will cost you more than a week at some other locations for everything.

Bahamas are almost as expensive. Anything beachfront certainly is. Nassau only has 2 diver operators so the prices are higher than they should be. Over $100 for two dives also. One of them - Stuart Cove's also does the famous shark feeds - "big stuff". Bahama Divers is the only other operation on the island. Both pick you up, Cove's just about has to since they're 45mins. south of town. All boat diving also.

You won't find a lot of really inexpensive hotels either - the cheap ones downtown (except the Hilton) are in pretty scary areas. Cable Beach is pretty nice and Paradise Island really nice - the Atlantis mega-resort is there. The least expensive nice options - the B&B's or Orange Hill motel - are too far from Nassau to be done effectively by cab so you'd need to rent a van.

The Out Islands have the added cost of an additional flight from Nassau or Florida airports except United an others fly direct to some points also. Stil the same issues withe expensive boat dives and food prices. Bahamas Government Portal - Welcome to Bahamas Diving lists some of the options on all the islands.

For cheap everything - except flights - consider the Bay Islands - Roatan or Utila. Especially Roatan's West End which has cheap everything. From hostels on up, cheap food with lots of options, diving with any of a dozen plus operators is often 10 dives/$350 - most do 3 per day - a couple 4. Night dives are $40 more. There's a lot of info here - you might consider diving with them also since they do a lot of DM training so often one or more shadow your group on dives for free. Also their official DM's on the trip are often instructors - usually two per dive. Roatán, West End | Scuba Diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras | PADI One option for your group - see those 4-5 pink roofed condos on the right point? There's a couple on vrbo.com and they have 4-5 bederooms. Coconut Tree is the dock in the middle of the bay. I rent from these people

Utila is a smaller version of Roatan that costs around $150 more r/t to fly to - from either Roatan or San Pedro Sula on the mainland. It's generally suggested not to overnight on the mainland and Utila has no airport lights so you have to get there by mid-afternoon to fly onto the island. Alice at Worldwide Travel (Facebook page) is a good resource for local flights. Utila Official Site - Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras - Tropical Island Paradise covers just about everything. One thing there is that there's a lot of inexpensive rentals since they cater to DM trainees and backpackers. So near the bars can be pretty "thumpy" till late at night. There's some properties west of town that are quieter - everything there is also walking - I don't think there's a dozen cars on Utila yet.

Probably the only sharks on Roatan are at the paid shark feed. Anthony's Key does a Dolphin Dive at 60' where you mostly are asked to sit on the sand. It's around $140 now. We did see grouper, a few cuda, some rays and lots of turtles on many dives. Utila is similar except we often saw a free ranging shark or two. One of the best dives - Black Hills is a 50' seamount with a lot of bigger stuff hanging around, Oceanic triggers, grouper, schools of fish. As we were leaving, two sharks were working their way up.

hth,

 

[Lorenzoid]

Good replies so far. I don't know anything about Turks & Caicos, but I have been under the impression it's not all that economical compared with other potential dive destinations. I was not impressed with the diving in Jamaica, and if you read the few threads on SB that discuss Jamaica, you might not be that tempted. But if you luck on out a cheap flight, then why not. The flight is a major component of the total cost of your trip.

The Bay Islands of Honduras, chiefly Utila and Roatan (West End, at least), are backpacker havens--inexpensive diving and lodging. I spent a month as a dive bum on Utila. The tradeoff with Utila would be cost to get there. You can fly in on a puddle-jumper or you could take a ferry from the mainland. Neither option is convenient, and both add to the total cost (and time). In contrast, Roatan has direct connections with the US, making it more economical.

Another backpacker haven is Caye Caulker, Belize. But again, you have to spend a little more to get there. If you're just going for a week, maybe places like Caye Caulker and Utila are not the most economical options.

Grand Bahama island can be less expensive than New Providence island (where Nassau is). As diversteve pointed out, the out islands of the Bahamas have great diving, but the puddle-jumper to get there is going to cost you.

If you can get a cheap flight to Cozumel or Cancun, don't rule out Cozumel just because you think it's too touristy or something. The diving is great, and there are many economical options for lodging. And you're in Mexico!

 

[phoenix31tt]

I don't know about flights but for me Bonaire is the most cost effective and easy dive location in the Caribbean

 

[Lorenzoid]

I don't know about flights but for me Bonaire is the most cost effective and easy dive location in the Caribbean

I love Bonaire, and the fact that you are not dependent on boats can lower the per-dive cost if you cram in a lot of diving, but the flights are very pricey for me. Once there, if you can share lodging and truck rental with others, and save on meal cost by doing your own cooking in a condo or rental house, the per-dive cost indeed can be lower than many other places.

 

[diversteve]

I'm responding to Phoenixtt's post ^ both as an answer and more for the OP's benefit.

It is when you get there except for a couple of factors in the OP's case.

One is they're new divers so may want to hire a guide at an extra cost. New divers they might find the task loading of getting over the ironshore at most of the sites a little daunting. Or shorediving on their own - although it is one of the easier places I can think of for that in terms of currents and navigation.

Also flights from now until mid-spring will be around $1100PP unless they're willing to do 18-24 hr. connections - depends on where they live of course - MIA, ATL or HOU being direct once you get to them. The longer flights run around $800 now, mid-$600's is possible in summer.

And food is not cheap on Bonaire. Most of the restaurants are pretty high and the markets are pretty high also since everything is imported. Except goat meat...lol.

To take advantage of shore diving, trucks - with their group size - are pretty much required - or only boat diving at a higher cost as well. One advantage there is that most resorts have a house reef for basic practice and some are known dive sites so quite good. Several are adjacent so "diving the resorts" until you're more comfortable is an option. Sand Dollar condos are sometimes on vrbo.com reasonably - they have a small beach and are on Bari Reef - one of the better shallow dives.

Staying off the water could be more economical - there are houses/villas that rent by the week that could be shared - some 3-4 bedrooms - I can even think of about a dozen that are waterfront - not beachfront. Most offer shore dive packages for $120-150 - adding-on boat dives doubles that or more. Some resorts have up to 3BR condos also. Another significant cost difference is that staying off- water - most condos/villas etc. also have a dive operation affiliation - is a lot cheaper with a large group since it's one price for the condo - the on-water resorts all bundle at a Per Person rate which is always quite a bit higher. The farther away from the water the cheaper also. Places like Coco Palm Garden - across the street from the ocean - can be half of the property they're near - Belmar condos. The Dive Hut in town is also a reasonable shared option - includes breakfast and in town for other meals - there's just not much shore diving in town so vehicles are needed.

Boat diving on Bonaire is actually pretty reasonable and includes a DM on every dive. Most people just go there to shore dive but they miss a full 1/3 of the potential dive sites doing that since 26 of them surround Klein Bonaire - a short ride away. InfoBonaire | The Bonaire Information Site or Bonaire Offical Site - Top Destination for Diving and Eco-Activities are good places to start.

I'd also look at Curacao in much the same way. Except flights might be more direct, certainly cheaper since many stop there on the way to Bonaire and one other option is there's a lot of waterfront condos that are reasonable. Many even have a dive operator on-site. You'd need a truck to get to a lot of the dive sites but an advantage is that most have dive operators on-site as needed for guides and just about every one is a Beach entry vs. over the ironshore - significantly easier for a new diver. Plus there you can find decent 2-3 br. condos for under $1000/wk. split in 3rd's that's pretty affordable. Boat dives are a little more expensive than Bonaire typically though. Food is certainly cheaper since it's the container port for the area - everything going to Bonaire goes thru there first. Curacao, a unique Caribbean island paradise. Official Curacao site lists almost everything.

Also compare dive site entry photos for both islands here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

 

[Dirty-Dog]

A lot will depend on where you're traveling from. We travel from Colorado.

For us, Bonaire is a little difficult to get good connections to, but the diving is excellent. It's shore diving, unguided, which can be problematic for newish divers. It shouldn't be a deal breaker, though. Most of the dive sites have excellent landmarks, and the lack of significant current makes navigation pretty simple. Worse case, you can use Prairie Dog navigation - pop your head out of the water, see where you are, then drop back down 10-15 feet to get out of the waves while you swim in.
This time of year, connections to Bonaire (for us) are ridiculous; either ridiculously expensive or ridiculously long.

Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas are great diving, but by no means inexpensive. Ever. I posted a review HERE about diving in Nassau with Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas. Their price is $125 for a two tank, with very short bottom times and long transport times.

I find Cancun and Cozumel easy to get to and affordable.
Both are boat dive locations, so you will have a guide.
Cancun is shallower (other than a couple wrecks, there really isn't anything deeper than 60') and generally has milder currents. We dive with Alvaro from AlwaysDiving and it costs about $80 for a two tank.
Cozumel is deeper, and generally has more current, but it's still nothing that the average newish diver can't handle. We dive with Aldora Divers and it's about $100 for a two tank, but you can get HP120 tanks for tons of bottom time. Especially since most newish divers tend to go through gas faster.
Both places have AI resorts if you like those (we do...).
Cancun, obviously, has the most night life, for when you're not diving.

Belize can be good, if you get a little lucky. I recently booked a week at Coco Beach Resort for this Janurary at $2200 for the flight and resort. White Sands offers discounts on pre-paid multi-day packages, but their base rate of $80 for a two tank is very reasonable. Belize can also be pricey, if you don't get lucky. Kim booked two days after I did, and for the same trip it's costing her $2000. For one person.

Roaatan and Utila are a nightmare to get connections to, for us.

 

[They call me Tater]

St. Croix is great for some beginners. Lots of dives, plenty to do on land and while no island is cheap, it is way more economical than T&C. Check out N2theBlue.
( no I don't work for them )

 

[phoenix31tt]

My wife and I had around 20 dives when we went bonaire and I think it was super easy (don't attempt to do the known difficult sites, which are easy to identify with the bsdme book). Anybody with a halfway decent open water course should be able to do unguided dives in bonaire.

Food isn't a problem either if you make your own (which we did for lunch, you can do it for bfast and possibly dinner for some days as well)

Bfast dinner and truck rental were included with the rate and we went to one of the more expensive locations.

Airfare is really the kicker depending on where you're coming from... For me it's a direct flight to Curacao and then a puddle jump to Bonaire, cheaper than some of my direct flights to other Caribbean islands (I live in the Caribbean).

But where you really see cost savings in bonaire is per dive, can't be beat.


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