Cheap and quick from Ohio

[scubadada]

...Another option worth considering is SE Florida. I believe Spirit flies to Fort Lauderdale then you'd need to rent a car (pretty unavoidable in SE Florida) -- I'd drive up to the Palm Beach/Riviera Beach area (there is an airport, PBI, there but don't believe Spirit goes there). Then if you plan accordingly with the Blue Heron Bridge (BHB) tide chart you can do morning 2-tank boat dives and then follow up with afternoon/evening/night dives at BHB depending on the time of high tide. Frankly, of the places I've dove so far (see my About on my profile) honestly I'd place SE Florida as 2nd to Cozumel but above the other Caribbean places that I've been. You can find BHB tide charts online at either the Force-E scuba or Pura Vida divers websites, among others...

Another way to get in more dives would be to take advantage of the afternoon 2 tank dives that several operators offer, especially on the weekends. One operator I use also frequently offers a 3 tanker.

 

[bvbellomo]

You should do Cleveland to JFK about 150 rt and Jet Blue to Bonaire current one way special at $89 or $98 ( not a typo) . You could round trip to Bonaire for under $500

Cancun, you could do the bag drag and be on Cozumel 4-5 hrs after you land for another $100 bucks or so.(Public bus to Playa del Carmen Ferry to Coz)

St.Thomas was nice but have not dove their in 30yrs so cannot comment on current situation.

There are a lot of nice options like this that put me 12 hours door-to-door, which realistically means 2 days without diving, and doesn't make sense for a 3 or even 4 day trip.

 

[bvbellomo]

I drive 3 hours to Monterey, you have the Great Lakes right next to you.

This is a topic for another thread, but I've wanted to try Erie wreck diving for years. This is not like driving 3 hours to Monterey, you need a boat and at least 1 other diver if not a group. The cost and logistics can approach a trip somewhere tropical.

 

[bvbellomo]

While everyone is different, with different airline schedules as well, I find it hard to beat Cozumel for international travel even if I have to do the "bag drag" from the Cancun airport. Just have to be sure to fly into Cancun with plenty of time to catch the ferry over (usually not that hard), and then schedule your flight back late enough to allow for the bag drag -- I usually try to have my flight leaving CUN at 12:30 or later. If you are looking to maximize the number of dives, many dive ops offer afternoon 2-tanks, twilight 2-tanks, and night dives (night dives are great there!). Theres also a dive op who does blackwater dives there fairly often. Another (and cheaper) alternative is to do morning 2-tank boat dives, then do afternoon and/or night shore dives from somewhere like Hotel Barracuda, Tikila, Hotel Cozumel by Wyndham, Blue Angel, etc.

Another option worth considering is SE Florida. I believe Spirit flies to Fort Lauderdale then you'd need to rent a car (pretty unavoidable in SE Florida) -- I'd drive up to the Palm Beach/Riviera Beach area (there is an airport, PBI, there but don't believe Spirit goes there). Then if you plan accordingly with the Blue Heron Bridge (BHB) tide chart you can do morning 2-tank boat dives and then follow up with afternoon/evening/night dives at BHB depending on the time of high tide. Frankly, of the places I've dove so far (see my About on my profile) honestly I'd place SE Florida as 2nd to Cozumel but above the other Caribbean places that I've been. You can find BHB tide charts online at either the Force-E scuba or Pura Vida divers websites, among others.

Forgive me if you already know this, but I just want to mention that once you start adding anything more than a personal item (backpack, etc.) I find that Spirit starts to quickly become less affordable than other airlines -- especially if traveling with your own scuba gear, but they even charge a good bit for a carry on bag. Related to that, I believe Spirit limits checked bags to 40 lbs. rather than the 50 lbs. most other airlines allow, which for me makes it impossible to bring my own gear - even after drying a day my slightly damp gear seems to be around 49 lbs., YMMV.

I can't comment on some of your other areas, but I'll say I haven't heard anything good about diving in Aruba, Jamaica seems a mixed bag of reviews (may want to search ScubaBoard), and for Puerto Rico I've heard you'll need to drive hours West or East from San Juan to find good diving.

I've tried to plan out SE Florida and always backed down once I saw the cost. As you said, this probably needs a rental car. Hotels and dive operators in the USA are some of the most expensive in the world.

 

[arew+4]

There are a lot of nice options like this that put me 12 hours door-to-door, which realistically means 2 days without diving, and doesn't make sense for a 3 or even 4 day trip.

I must have spaced on the long weekend thing, it's really hard to make anything work on that schedule, even if you cut the pre fly dry time down to 18hrs or "flame suit on" 12hrs. You are looking at 1.5 to 2 days of diving 4-8 dives. Seems like a lot of stress for a little diving.

 

[Rob9876]

I've tried to plan out SE Florida and always backed down once I saw the cost. As you said, this probably needs a rental car. Hotels and dive operators in the USA are some of the most expensive in the world.

No doubt SE Florida is expensive. Even driving (it's about a 12 hour drive for me to SE Florida) by my rough math for anything more than 4-5 days it's cheaper for me to fly to Cozumel than to drive to SE Florida, with the expense of hotels, diving, food, etc. And yes, rental car in SE Florida is really a must in general, and to get an economical hotel we've stayed about 20+ minutes from the marina/BHB.

As for long weekend trips to Cozumel, yes, you'd probably need to take a 4 day weekend -- and maybe a half day extra to fly down also. Not that bad overall, but yeah, it takes work to get to warm water and good viz reef diving for those of us north of Georgia. At least in Coz you don't need to rent a car, can get very cheap lodging, can get good cheap food away from the tourist spots, and the diving is cheaper and better too.

 

[USdiver1]

I live in Cleveland and like to take big scuba trips.

Is there anything worth doing a 3 or 4 day trip?

Tobermory, on Lake Huron in Ontario. Worth 3 - 4 days for sure. Much accessible from shore.