Caribbean resort ideas

[scubadada]

I agree with @DreadnoughtNH on one thing, I wish LCBR, CBBR, and CCGC offered 4 dives per day instead of just 3. The only days you can get 4 dives in is on the one or two days per week that there are night dives. It is certainly possible, Ocean Frontiers offers 4 dives per day, 5 with the twice weekly night dives. Of course, if conditions allow, you have unlimited shore diving at CCGC

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Turks and Caicos has my vote. It only rains like 40 days per year and the vis is always great.

 

[Damselfish]

I agree with @DreadnoughtNH on one thing, I wish LCBR, CBBR, and CCGC offered 4 dives per day instead of just 3. The only days you can get 4 dives in is on the one or two days per week that there are night dives. It is certainly possible, Ocean Frontiers offers 4 dives per day, 5 with the twice weekly night dives. Of course, if conditions allow, you have unlimited shore diving at CCGC

It's certainly possible, but the flip side of doing 4 a day at any of those places is that with the boat trips and all, you (and the staff) have little downtime. I've done the AM & PM 2 tanks at Ocean Frontiers, and it's a bit of a rush. .(Ocean Frontiers also used to only do 3 a day, long time ago. I suspect they made the afternoon a 2 tank not necessarily so people could get in 4 a day, but because they had more demand than they could handle - the morning 2 tank would always be full and they'd have more people that wanted to go. For them, it really ups their capacity, )

 

[scubadada]

I never felt rushed after a leisurely lunch in the condo

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

I felt incredibly pressured at LCBR to complete dives in an allotted time so we could be back for meal times. I completely understand this from a logistics standpoint, but since my goal on a dive vacation is as many dives as safely possible, it's not preferable. IMO, it's really the ONLY mark against this resort.

I think that the time pressure at LCBR is due to the prime dive sites (Bloody Wall) on Little Cayman are on the opposite side of the island from LCBR (requires a 30 minute run out and 30 minutes back), whereas the boat dives are only minutes from the CocoView Resort dock. Additionally, most CCV second boat dives in the AM or PM are 'drop dives' on the wall near the 'Front Yard', so you literally are swimming into the resort.

 

[KathyV]

I felt incredibly pressured at LCBR to complete dives in an allotted time so we could be back for meal times. I completely understand this from a logistics standpoint, but since my goal on a dive vacation is as many dives as safely possible, it's not preferable. IMO, it's really the ONLY mark against this resort.

I think that the time pressure at LCBR is due to the prime dive sites (Bloody Wall) on Little Cayman are on the opposite side of the island from LCBR (requires a 30 minute run out and 30 minutes back), whereas the boat dives are only minutes from the CocoView Resort dock. Additionally, most CCV second boat dives in the AM or PM are 'drop dives' on the wall near the 'Front Yard', so you literally are swimming into the resort.

We were at LCBR in November and we didn't feel rushed although they did set time limits for the morning dives (50 min and 60 min) but if you were one of the first to jump in and last out, they didn't care if you went overtime, as long as you adhered to your computer and weren't making everyone wait for you. They do need to get back to the resort after the morning dives so they can restock the boat, and folks can have lunch, and then all head out for the afternoon diving.

 

[DeputyDan]

With that budget perhaps the Reef House Lodge on Roatan.

Beware yea get whatcha pay for !

Roatan Dive Checklist - Reef House Lodge | Roatan Dive Vacations

 

[KathyV]

I don't know when @trimixr is planning to travel, but the Cobalt Coast all-inclusive dive resort on Grand Cayman recently announced that they have some unexpected open spaces for Easter Week and they are offering a free Nitrox upgrade on any of their packages during that period, see the link below.

They have packages that start at $1595 per diver that include s2 dives per day and unlimited shore dives on the house reef, 2 meals per day, airport transfers, and all taxes and hotel tips. So that's a little closer to the OP's budget and you can usually find decent priced airfares to GCM - although Easter may be more difficult at this late date.

https://www.cobaltcoast.com/grand-cayman-dive-packages/?fbclid=IwAR2N06ksK0vXaU0YiR9LIuaVZMwA6RV9IYTCbI0BspSmSef_HYJb07HH0SM

Cobalt Coast Has Openings Easter Week - Offering Free Nitrox Upgrade

 

[KathyV]

Looking to spend two weeks at an all inclusive dive resort in the Caribbean. Have stayed at Belize and Grenada recently. Anyone have ideas for other places? I know Roatan and Cozumel are cheap but those are my back up places to book at. Interested in Barbados, Turks, Curaçao, Jamaica, Caymans, and open to others. Hoping to not spend over $2500 p/p all in. Ideas?

The Two-For-One (or "no single supplement" if you are traveling solo) special is available in 2020 for Anthony's Key on Roatan, see the link below:

Anthony's Key Two-for-One Special is Available for 2020

 

[saxman242]

The only other AI that I know of on Provo is Beaches and it is not a bargain destination. We only did one Club Med vacation many years ago and we didn't like it - but they had their own dive op and cattle boats - now they have PADI dive ops so it may be better. I only suggested Club Med Turquoise because it may be closer to the OP's budget

I've dove with the seafari folks at both club med in Turks and the club med Columbus Isle in the Bahamas. They run a great operation. I'm headed back in March to the Turks location and look forward to diving with them again.

Yah, the boats are big and can have a lot of divers on them, but they're great about splitting the beginners off and giving you the freedom to do your own thing. If you're the type that only wants to dive on a six pack, you won't love the big boats, but other than that, they're great.

Much better than the sandals/beaches that only does group dives and ends the dive when the first person hits 1200 psi or so.