Central America -where to dive first?

[Heg]

Hi
I appreciate that this covers a vast area, but I truly have no idea where to start. We live in Brisbane, but hubby flies over to the west coast (Portland OR) three times a year for work. WEewant to try and take advantage of the fact that his international airfare from Oz is 'free', so we though we might do a side trip.
But where? Honduras? Cancun? Belize? Cocos ?It's impossible to narrow down without a bit of help please....

We are both advanced divers with well over 200 dives. We have dived Indonesia, Australia, including the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Vanuatu and Thailand . We love liveaboards , but are happy to be land based as long as we can have at least three dives a day. We HATE all- inclusive, large and impersonal hotels. The words 'kids club' has us running for the hills. Happy to stay in small resorts or in cabins. We dive on nitrox, so this must be readily available . Pretty walls and reefs and the odd wreck dive would suit is just fine. We do like to see the bigger stuff too.
Any advice including best time of year to travel, would be very welcome. (hubby's visits are usually in Feb, June and October)
Thank you so much

 

[Doc]

From Portland to the Caribbean can be quite a trip. Some destinations might require an overnight in your Southern US Gateway City.

It sound like you're going to have an opportunity to do several side trips to the Caribbean, so your list of "Honduras, [-]Cancun[/-] (try Cozumel, instead), Belize, Cocos, that should work okay. Cocos is liveaboard country. The remainder of what there is in "Central America" will not be comparatively worth the travel hassle for you from Portland.

If I have your money I would consider further into the Mar Caribe- Tobago, and San Salvador. Your passport will get you to Cuba, but actual dive-op infrastructure is shakey until they get their act straightened away.

...We have dived Indonesia, Australia, including the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Vanuatu and Thailand . We love liveaboards , but...

So you understand that this will be a let down, because you also say, "We do like to see the bigger stuff too.". The Caribbean is not about that. The Pacific side of Central America, notably Cocos, can be. If you decide to concentrate very specifically on what unique u/w stuff there is to find in the Central American zone, I would, on the Caribbean Side- focus on the outer Cays of Belize and the South side of Roatan.

If you really do mean "Central America", there really isn't any locality (island) to recommend beyond the last comment. The other islets of CA are places we look at when we think we're bored with Belizian Cays or South Roatan. We go, it's a travel adventure, very rustic, spotty diving.

....but are happy to be land based as long as we can have at least three dives a day. We HATE all- inclusive,...

Gosh that's too bad, especially as in most cases, it's a bit contradictory. If you really want 3x a day anywhere in the Central American Caribbean, it gets cost prohibitive to do it otherwise, it also bites heavily into your schedule to have to search out food, wait for it, travel back and forth.

...large and impersonal hotels. The words 'kids club' has us running for the hills...

This is fairly obvious, but not for the reason you're likely thinking. Where you find these two "qualities", the local diving has evolved into what we Muricans refer to as, "suck", but I do not know the proper word in Brisbaneese.

As to the calendar? February, June and October? Any real answer is going to take a further narrowing down of what you specifically want in terms of: #1) Central America precisely, #2) Pacific or Caribbean side, or possibly #3) Further east into the Mar Caribe? The three months you specify are, in terms of CA weather, certainly not "the worst" of choices, but to give you a better read, you're going to have to decide where in this region you are headed. To an Australian, this area looks the size of somebody's own private Wallaby farm, no big piece of real estate. It is, in fact, a collection of micro-climates and convergence of air flows and water temps- quite a roiling cauldron of weather, all in Central America.

...the odd wreck dive...

Most Caribbean wrecks are placed ships. Some are quite good with heavy growth, but most are not what you are used to. The notable exceptions to a "placed wreck" being blah? The Prince Albert on Roatan, and as for actual accidental wrecks? The Bianaca C of Grenada, she's a bit deep.

...We dive on nitrox, so this must be readily available ...

Depends on the profile of the dive, right? Some localized dive areas simply are not bothered with nitrox as it is not required for local depth profiles and the totality of numbers of daily dive offered. Others will $ell you whatever you want to buy.

So you'll be standing at 122° W Longitude instead of your home at 155° East....

The places that you can access will be dramatically different. Just as the Brits use the Red Sea as "their Caribbean", various locations that may have seemed like the Dark Side of the Moon, they become do-able from your new Longitude. From Portland, you will have unfettered access to Western Canada and Alaska- maybe not for your style (nor mine) of diving, but a good travel opportunity. The other very real possibility for you is Galapagos. It will be a major excursion from Portland, but nothing as tough as getting there from Australia.

Remember- for us in the US, a trip to Maldives is quite an undertaking and usually remains a distant dream even for old divers. From your home station in Brisbane, I would imaging that the Maldives is not outside your scope of a "wish list".

Everything changes depending upon where you are standing.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'm going to be in Brisbane for work. I'd like to hop over to Indonesia for a side trip to dive. Where should I go? Okay, okay, I know you are capable of using a map, and you know what you're asking. Enough ribbing

The diving in Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, etc., is going to pale in comparison with what you experienced in Indonesia, Fiji and GBR (I haven't dived in Vanuatu or Thailand). On average, Caribbean reefs just aren't as colorful and healthy as the so-called Coral Triangle of the Indo-Pacific region. So keep your expectations reasonable. With that in mind, if I were you, I would make my decision based on non-diving considerations, perhaps activities I'd like to do topside. Mayan ruins, for example? The culture of Mexico?

The one outlier might be Cocos Island, since it is not Caribbean but rather Pacific side. It has been called the Little Galapagos. If you are into large animal sightings, such as hammerhead sharks, a Cocos liveaboard might be a good choice.

Have you considered Baja California? The Los Cabos area could be of interest.

 

[victorzamora]

Gosh that's too bad, especially as in most cases, it's a bit contradictory. If you really want 3x a day anywhere in the Central American Caribbean, it gets cost prohibitive to do it otherwise, it also bites heavily into your schedule to have to search out food, wait for it, travel back and forth.

So, I disagree with this. If you stay in West End (and the rustic accomodations there) or you stay somewhere like Luna Beach and walk the mile-or-so to West End daily you can happilly and easily do 3+ dives per day (3+occasional night dive) and eat baleadas or right next to West End divers or what have you. There are like 6 restaurants within a few minutes' walk from my preferred dive op (West End Divers). There's a tiendita across the street (rustic convenience store) and a "grocery store" (in the most central american of ways) just down the road for drinks and snacks....plus SUPER cheap baleadas (Honduran specialty) practically across the street. Higher quality food can be found a few minutes (2-4) away...and you can certainly make it off the boat, to lunch, and back before the next dive. I did it four-straight days my last time in Roatan, and that was with a semi-diving wife. Had she have been in-gear for diving like I was, we could've made it 5/5 with no hassle. Also, at $25-$30 a tank....3x per day for a week isn't really cost prohibitive.

The cost in Belize would start skyrocketing. Same as in Mx. But with food and lodging and diving all being so cheap in Roatan, you can certainly do them all separately.

Having said that: OP, why are you against all-inclusives? I was super against them for a while, but have started coming around. I think that the right AI resort on the right island could certainly be the ticket. Cocoview on Roatan has been described to me as that right mix.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've been known to dive 5 dives a day off West End. I find the diving pretty. That said it sadly doesn't stack up to the areas OP has been. I see lots of little creatures to my delight and free swimming morays. I enjoy that there actually is some diversity in the topgraphy on the sites.

Best diving in Belize is definitely out at the Atolls. Very good diving can be had out of Placencia too. Check with Spllash Divers.

If you do want to hit some of Belize's inland offerings, definitely do put the ATM cave on your itinerary!!

 

[Heg]

I'm going to be in Brisbane for work. I'd like to hop over to Indonesia for a side trip to dive. Where should I go? Okay, okay, I know you are capable of using a map, and you know what you're asking. Enough ribbing

.

Raja Ampat is very nice

---------- Post added April 8th, 2015 at 09:22 AM ----------

Thanks to you all for your input. Very much appreciated and most helpful.

Having said that: OP, why are you against all-inclusives? I was super against them for a while, but have started coming around. I think that the right AI resort on the right island could certainly be the ticket. Cocoview on Roatan has been described to me as that right mix.

I think my term 'all inclusive' was a bit misinterpreted. I'm happy for a dive resort to feed me several times a day. I do like to be fed . However I was referring to those massive multi- level 500+ room 'hotels' that offer kids clubs and specialty nights and banana boat rides and no one ever leaves the damn resort as every last item has been 'included' in the price. AAARRGGHH!

The one outlier might be Cocos Island, since it is not Caribbean but rather Pacific side. It has been called the Little Galapagos. If you are into large animal sightings, such as hammerhead sharks, a Cocos liveaboard might be a good choice.

Cocos and Galapagos both on the list, when the budget allows.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Raja Ampat is very nice

Exactly. Raja Ampat would be a "side trip" from Brisbane like Central America would be a "side trip" from Portland--well over 2,000 miles. All a matter of perspective, I suppose.

 

[victorzamora]

I've been known to dive 5 dives a day off West End. I find the diving pretty. That said it sadly doesn't stack up to the areas OP has been.

I'm sure, but I think it's just about managing expectations. It sounds like OP wants to just see a different area of the world, not necessarily a "better" one. I think Roatan, staying on West End, the cultural experience is cool enough that the diving is better because of that. West End, overall, is probably my favorite place in the world (admission: I've never done South Pacific)....even though my heart is trying to lean toward's Tulum's caves, I keep coming back to loving Roatan.

I think my term 'all inclusive' was a bit misinterpreted. I'm happy for a dive resort to feed me several times a day. I do like to be fed . However I was referring to those massive multi- level 500+ room 'hotels' that offer kids clubs and specialty nights and banana boat rides and no one ever leaves the damn resort as every last item has been 'included' in the price. AAARRGGHH!

Well, I definitely understand that perspective. Kind of ruins the Caribbean vibe for me. There are a CRAP TON of those in Cancun. Less in Cozumel. Sounds like none in Bonaire. I don't think there are really any in Roatan....Anthony's Key Resort might be the closest they've got. Cocoview is all-inclusive, and there's no real need to ever leave....but that's just because they feed you and take you diving. Besides a trip to West End for shopping, that's really all you've got. Having said that, I still prefer West End (Splash Inn, SeaGrape, whatever that thing is beyond Half Moon Caye)....as long as your expectations aren't set too high on room fanciness. If they are, look at Luna Beach Resort and realize you'll be walking or water-taxiing it to West End.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . . There are a CRAP TON of those in Cancun. Less in Cozumel. Sounds like none in Bonaire. I don't think there are really any in Roatan....Anthony's Key Resort might be the closest they've got. Cocoview is all-inclusive, and there's no real need to ever leave....

AKR is nothing close to a "500 room hotel." AKR is 56 wooden bungalows, either on pilings on the water or up on the hillside. It's pretty serene.

I liked West End, too. I stayed and dived there some years ago when I stopped on Roatan as part of a year-long backpacking adventure. It appeals to a mix of budget and mid-range travelers. Last time I was there I saw that they had paved the main road, and there seemed to be day-tripping cruise ship people walking about. Ah, progress.

 

[victorzamora]

I know AKR isn't some giant hotel, I meant that they have everything. Now that I think about it, I was actually thinking FIBR. The one with the artificial beach and the dolphins. Still not ginormous by any means, but seems to have that AI vibe.