Caribbean Criteria

[PaulVS]

@drrich2.... Thanks for the comparison, very informative. Shore diving is something we've never done but are very interested in trying.

As for the all-inclusive resorts in Curacao, they have Dreams, Zoetry, and Sandals, Renaissance.... among others.

My wife and I watched a YouTube video about Curacao and the diving there, and were pretty impressed. We'd be happy if we can find three or four locations to alternate our trips to.

 

[tursiops]

OP, what is the attraction of AI such that it becomes a priority criterion?
Is it possible that you really just mean on-site restaurants?

 

[living4experiences]

Are you looking for a dive vacation or vacation diving? Some good locations in the Caribbean won't have mainstream AI resorts, so you may be excluding yourself from great diving islands if a high-end AI is a must. Here's a quick rundown of the locations I've visited and a "yes" or "no" if I'd go back based on the quality of the dive experience and not the hotels I stayed at.

Curacao-Yes
Bonaire-Yes
St. Croix-No
Isla Mujeres-No
St. Lucia-Yes
St. Kitts-Yes
Barbados-Yes
St. Thomas-No
St. Maarten-No
Grenada-Yes
Aruba-No
Belize-Yes
Roatan, Honduras-No
Bahamas (Bimini, New Providence, Exuma, Eleuthera)-No
Grand Cayman-No

 

[drrich2]

My notes are dated, but in case they're of help:

Curacao Trip Research Notes
Curacao Trip Report with SB Surge Jan. 2019

 

[PatW]

I have done Grsnd Turk, Salt Cay, South Caicos, (Both Turks and Caicos) Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Tortola (BVI), Cozumel, Routan, Utila, and Turneffe Atoll (Belize), I tend to dive “out islands”. They tend to be a bit pricier and the amenities a bit more spartan but I like the vibe.

Little Cayman and The Brac both tend to have very good visibility, good fish life, turtles and good corals especially on The Brac. I really like these places.

I really liked Utila - not so much for large fish. But good corals and variety and potloads of sea horses. But the in town resorts tend to be backpacker places and a bit rowdy. Diving on Roatan is similar.

Turneffe Atoll diving is very nice. Visibility is not gret about 60’ but the diving is good.

Cozumel has bunches of resorts and dive ops and decent prices. I really like the Cozumel Palace but it is in town and it is a loooong boat ride to Palancar. Last time I stayed at Secrets Aura which is a nice place and it is a really close to the best reefs. We dove with ScubaLife and they were a really good op.

Salt Cay is a little island. It has a population of 70 people. When I dove there, I must have met about 75% of them.

It kind of depends on what you like. I like the Sister Islands do the Caymans the best. Turneffe is really good and so is Cozumel in different ways.

 

[mcohen1021]

Punta Cana is on our radar, but not sure about the quality of reefs there.

After doing Cozumel 3x, you'll feel Punta is a waste of money. They do have a gorgeous beach, but the diving is not very good.

 

[NeilA.]

Following.

Im very interested in the same subject, but we’re indifferent to AI. Also a challenge for us is flying out of SEATAC to the Caribbean is a red-eye ordeal (usually). Hence the return trips to Cozumel. I’ve been eying Fiji.

 

[PaulVS]

So to clarify the importance of all-inclusive, my wife is a group fitness instructor and the larger AI resorts pay very well to have certified instructors do classes during their stay. (One class a day like "Yoga on the beach", Aqua Zumba, etc)

So while they are working vacations for her, she loves doing fitness classes... and even more so at a great locale like the places we're talking about in the Caribbean. The time she'll need to invest is not a great inconvenience.

If it wasn't for that we'd probably only go on one trip every two years or so. Not to mention that most reputable all-inclusive resorts are typically a great deal to begin with.

Given the enormous benefit of this perk, the quality of the diving has to drop down to second place on our list of importance. But from what I'm hearing here, places like Curacao, Belize, St.Lucia, etc will be just fine.

Very much appreciate all the good info on this...

 

[tursiops]

So to clarify the importance of all-inclusive, my wife is a group fitness instructor and the larger AI resorts pay very well to have someone do classes during their stay. (One class a day like "Yoga on the beach", Aqua Zumba, etc)

So while they are working vacations for her, she loves doing fitness classes... and even more so at a great locale like the places we're talking about in the Caribbean. The time she'll need to invest is not a great inconvenience.

If it wasn't for that we'd probably only go on one trip every two years or so. Not to mention that most reputable all-inclusive resorts are typically a great deal to begin with.

Given the enormous benefit of this perk, the quality of the diving has to drop down to second place on our list of importance. But from what I'm hearing here, places like Curacao, Belize, St.Lucia, etc will be just fine.

Very much appreciate all the good info on this...

Thanks for the straightforward and helpful answer!

 

[Damselfish]

Very helpful to clarify what the deal is with the all-inclusives. Many of the AIs liked by divers such as on Little Cayman or Brac, Turneffe in Belize, tend to be smaller, remotish, non-chain, not the sort that offer fitness classes. They’re all about room+meals+diving - not all kinds of other activities, most people are busy diving. And sometimes a destination has the right type of AIs, and good diving somewhere, but not really in the same area.

Curacao certainly seems like a good bet for you. Somewhat unique like Coz in offering lots of good diving options AND the sorts of AIs you are looking for. Maybe St Lucia, Grenada, T&C.

Dominican Republic I don’t have any experience, but I’m under the impression most of the tourism and big resorts aren’t where the decent diving is?

Someday perhaps the Sandals on St Vincent will finally open (now 2024 haha?) and diving is good there. Date keeps slipping, I suspect was partly to prioritize finishing the Curacao resort. (Also airlift has always been an issue there. They built a better airport, but then they had to get airlines to fly to it, without big resorts to fill, chicken and egg problem.)

I assume you’ve gone through the lists of likely AI company resorts and noted which resorts offer diving. Of course that doesn’t always mean the diving is actually good.