Caribbean Family trip: Which one do you recommend?

[DougD72]

I have been to all of those islands except Brac. I am assuming the 5 and 12 yr olds are the nondivers. Of all the choices, Provo has the best beach by far of all your options so if you are beach people that would be my recommendation for an island. One of the dive knocks on Provo is long boat rides. They can be long but I find it worth it and they don't have to be. Dive Provo's 1 tank PM off Grace Bay is a couple hours and the diving is fine. A two tank off Grace Bay will likely take all morning to 1 PM ish. Check Dive Provo's website. I don't know anything about the resort based dive op.

Curacao has decent beaches as well and very good diving and if you are looking to stay at a resort I would recommend taking a look at Lion's Dive Resort.

Little Cayman may be too quiet for the family and limited dining and shore activity options. I would save LC for a dive dedicated dive trip.

Bonaire is also a good choice but I would wait until the kids are ready to get certified. There is no place better for kids to start diving IMHO.

Whatever you decide, enjoy your trip.

Actually me and my 12 yo are the divers. She is both AOW and Nitrox. My wife and the 5yo would be the non-divers, but they both snorkel. Given your travel experience.....if I also threw Ambergris Caye or Isla Mujere into the running would either of them be better than T&C or Curacao?

 

[FishWatcher747]

I'd recommend Curacao. Someplace like Lions Dive Resort. Right on the beach for snorkeling and diving. Grab a tank and go diving. Honey we'll be back in an hour, we are going diving. How convenient is that?

 

[bmag78]

Can I ask why you recommend against using their dive operation? Given that the dives are included in the price of the resort, using an outside operation at $200 per day per person for two people could quickly add $2,000 in additional costs for five days of diving.

Generally they're a "cattle car" dive op with crowded boats. A large percentage of the clients are casual divers which is perfectly fine. But...
Divers are mandated to follow the guide in large groups and tend to be shorter and more conservative profiles due to inexperienced divers .... Like 30 minutes.
The majority of their dives are in Grace Bay and Northwest point which is also fine but going to Turks for diving and not going to West Caicos Island and possibly French Cay misses what's generally considered to be the best diving there.
I've also seen them do some pretty weird stuff like live drop a dozen divers on top of another boats divers and do a drift type dive under two other boats without telling the other boats. A few other things too
They don't have the greatest rep on the island.
I've heard people see a surface marker buoy and say "I guess beaches is out here again".
I'm sure some people here might have had a nice trip with them. I also understand the finance angle.

 

[tkaelin]

Actually me and my 12 yo are the divers. She is both AOW and Nitrox. My wife and the 5yo would be the non-divers, but they both snorkel. Given your travel experience.....if I also threw Ambergris Caye or Isla Mujere into the running would either of them be better than T&C or Curacao?

I have no experience with either. Congrats on the 12 yr old diver. Mine were 12 &15 when they were certified.

 

[DougD72]

Generally they're a "cattle car" dive op with crowded boats. A large percentage of the clients are casual divers which is perfectly fine. But...
Divers are mandated to follow the guide in large groups and tend to be shorter and more conservative profiles due to inexperienced divers .... Like 30 minutes.
The majority of their dives are in Grace Bay and Northwest point which is also fine but going to Turks for diving and not going to West Caicos Island and possibly French Cay misses what's generally considered to be the best diving there.
I've also seen them do some pretty weird stuff like live drop a dozen divers on top of another boats divers and do a drift type dive under two other boats without telling the other boats. A few other things too
They don't have the greatest rep on the island.
I've heard people see a surface marker buoy and say "I guess beaches is out here again".
I'm sure some people here might have had a nice trip with them. I also understand the finance angle.

You aren't the first person whose said they have a really conservative diving operation, and that they tend to stick to beginner sites of 60' or less.

Which is disappointing to learn because their website has a map of dive locations, half of which are labeled as advanced and run as deep as 100 ft. So I assumed they were running boats to both beginner and advanced locations.