Could use some help....

[Togalive]

Hey there, I just joined the forums and it looks like I have ALOT of reading to do, so I'll get started asap, but I had a question for the experienced divers that seem to be so prevalent here.

I am trying to plan a vacation for late August to early September, one preferably that is entirely dive based. I am about to enroll in a local dive shop's Open Water course, and will be completing it before I go on the trip. Anyways, I've been looking everywhere from the virgin islands, to Honduras, to Cozumel, and it seems that the more places I look to, the more questions come up. Overall, I have to keep the total price per person (there are two of us, my father and I) to about 1400-1500 per person (including airfare, dives, hotel) for a 7-10 day trip. I've found a few packages that meet that description, but all of them seem to only have 10 dives total, and in all honesty, I was hoping for something more like 12 or 14 dives.

So does anyone have any suggestions on places they have been? I'm flying out of California, so airfare to the east coast is pretty universal whether it be the Florida Keys or the Virgin Islands.

P.S: The best deal I have been able to find is in the Virgin Islands, or rather St. Croix in particular, which was hotel + airfare + 10 dives for about 1500 a person. However I would like to have more dives then 10.

Any Suggestions?
Austin

 

[Thalassamania]

Your problem is the length of you trip. Let's look at a 10 day trip for a minute: The first day is spent traveling, so is the last. The day before the last is not available for diving because of flying after diving rules (there are alternatives, and we have discussed that in other treads), so now you're down to 7 actual days of diving. At two dives per day that yields 14 dives. But if your trip is 7 days, that's only 4 days of diving and 8 dives. There are operators that do 3 a day and do night dives, that may be a solution, but will add to the price. If your going from California, you might consider Kona, here in Hawaii, many operators do three dives a day.

 

[Togalive]

You make a good point, would there be any particular operators in Kona that you'd recommend?

I appreciate the help!

 

[eponym]

I am trying to plan a vacation for late August to early September, one preferably that is entirely dive based. [snip] Overall, I have to keep the total price per person [snip] to about 1400-1500 per person (including airfare, dives, hotel) for a 7-10 day trip. I've found a few packages that meet that description, but all of them seem to only have 10 dives total, and in all honesty, I was hoping for something more like 12 or 14 dives.

So does anyone have any suggestions on places they have been? I'm flying out of California, so airfare to the east coast is pretty universal whether it be the Florida Keys or the Virgin Islands.

Any Suggestions?
Austin

Been to Kona twice, liked it, good value for us West-coasters, but not really warm water (70F both times I've been, check online). If you want the Caribbean, check out Sueno del Mar hotel & dive center in West End on Roatan (Honduras). We did four dives a day plus one night dive during the week. They used small open boats (pangas), nothing fancy. Can't say just what it costs these days but it was very reasonable at the time. Note that you'll be getting your own meals in the town, anything from French cuisine to a vieja at the side of the road making tacos two for a buck (quite tasty).

-Bryan

 

[Thalassamania]

There are a lot of different operators, from small intimate operations to larger boats, as well as shore guides. Post in the Hawaii O'hana on ScubaBoard and you'll hear from a lot of them.

 

[DeputyDan]

Your time frame is Hurricane season in the Carb/Florida area so you best bet would be the ABC Islands if you are coming this way. Bonaire will give you everything you are asking for if you can get the airfare in line.

In Kona We used The following operator:

Kona Honu Divers - Kona Coast Diving, World Famous Manta Ray Night Dives


I would have no problem using them again. And if you are a newer diver they are probably an even better choice.

Be sure to let whomever you dive with know your skill level!

 

[DandyDon]

Got to love these threads with empty titles so you have to look to even see what it's about. I think it's a set-up, and I generally fall for it.

I started to post this in General Travel, but opted to put in the Cozumel forum for some reason I can't remember...

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/339528-how-do-you-shop-air-hotel-package-discounts.html​

And you may find this helpful...

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/337733-new-fantasy-island-package-special.html​

You did not put your location in your profile (color me not surprised ) or more information about days of week to travel or much more so these ideas may not apply directly...

Air to Cancun to sometimes easier to arrange and/or cheaper than to Cozumel, especially during September when the airlines cut schedules for a month or two but it looks like you can do LAX-CZM for $474 total (I try to price everything with taxes and fees included for discussions)easily enough, any week. It's good to know that part when shopping for packages.

Or using the Orbitz 200entertain discount code (which works all over the Caribbean, Latin America, and Hawaii, but works best in Mexico) you can get air & 3 star hotel for $583 shared for a week, or $643 private rooms - no snoring competition. :cool2: Depending on the times of your arrival and departure, that's 5 days diving* so with 5 morning 2-tank trips, some 1-tank afternoon trips or better 2-tank twilight & night dive trips, it'd be easy enough to get 7 trips @ $60, 14 dives for around $420 = $1,000-%1,063. Add extra days, mainland tours of Mayan ruins, Cenote diving, etc for not much more. If you do 2-tank morning and 2-tank afternoon dives, you'd better own and know your dive computer well, dive in safe margins, and really need to add some Nitrox tanks - which is $100 extra training and $7-10/tank.

* Thal is much more and better diver than I will ever be, but I don't understand his no diving the day before flying? Divers Alert Network (DAN) says 18 hours after last dive for multiple days of diving and I have never skipped the last day before diving. See DAN Divers Alert Network​

Or fly to Roatan for $551 + 817 = $1368 including taxes for Fantasy Island and that includes 3 dives a day = 18 boat dives plus free shore dives, food and beer. LA is not on the list of air included packages but you could ask and maybe get all that for even less.

I've tried to keep these ideas as cheap as possible as you will have additional expenses...

DAN dive insurance: at least $70 each/year for the middle plan, $105 for top - don't even look at bottom plan.

Trip Insurance: I use TravelSafe.com but compare a multitude at InsureMyTrip.com | Quote | Help

You'll probly have to own your mask, snorkel and fins for training, but if you rent gear - that's extra.

And if you rent gear, you also need to own a Safety Sausage, Storm Whistle, and Signal mirror.​

 

[Togalive]

Got to love these threads with empty titles so you have to look to even see what it's about. I think it's a set-up, and I generally fall for it.
[/INDENT]

Haha, thankyou Don, for the laugh, and the great info! I've sent you a message regarding Roatan, Honduras

Your time frame is Hurricane season in the Carb/Florida area so you best bet would be the ABC Islands if you are coming this way. Bonaire will give you everything you are asking for if you can get the airfare in line.

I have a question, initially I had looked into Bonaire but it seemed like the airfare from my location was pretty much a killer (I live 3 hours north of Sacramento, CA), and the cheapest I could find was about $700 from L.A. Would Honduras be a hurricane-safe bet? It definitely looks to be the best option so far to put down my money and get most bang for my buck, but how does it compare to the ABC's? Any tips for getting a lower air fare?

Basically what it looks like at the moment is that Honduras seems great, but late August would mean pretty heavy rains, which is never fun.
Cozumel on the other hand seems overall to be a good, nearby alternative (we were looking at the Cozumel Scuba Club), but overall we just simply wouldn't get the total number of boat dives we could get out of Honduras.
Last but not least is Bonaire. We were able to find great packages for a trip here with plenty of dives, but as said before, the airfare from California seemed to completely destroy it as an option.

So I guess between the two, knowing you would get 7 more dives total in Honduras, but would be there in the rainy season/hurricane season; versus going to Cozumel and only doing 5 days of two tank dives compared to Fantasy Islands 6 days of 3 with a night dive, which one would you pick? Shorting yourself 7 dives, or taking the chance of some heavy rain/tropical storms (which I assume would be a bit of a vacation killer)?

Once again, I really appreciate all of your input!
Austin

P.S: I just got a reply to the message I sent Don regarding hurricanes and his trips to Honduras, so a lot of my anxiety regarding potential problems has been relieved, however I still look forward to people's individual opinions on the situation I've presented

 

[herman]

Many people write off Bonaire for the same reason but I suggest you reconsider. Do all the math and consider what you are getting for your money. The part that is going to run your bill up a bunch is doing more than 2 dives per day. I took a quick look at a well known Coz dive op, the price for 6 days of 2 tank morning dives is $435, extra 1tank dives were $40 ( $80 for 2 tank) and night diver were $50. So just doing 3 dives a day and adding in 3 night dives your total dive bill is going to be in the $825 range- doing 4 dives a day plus 3 night dives and your bill for diving alone is over $1050. Another thing to consider is actual bottom time. Most dive ops keep the dives in the 45 to 60 minute range. For a new diver this might not be an issue but for me it cuts deeply into the dive I paid for. I routinely get 75 and at times up to 90 minutes out of an AL80 tank. Doing 4 -75 minutes day dives and a 60 minute night dive per day on Bonaire is easy and it is possible to do to 7 or more dives a day if you want......although that is not as easy as it use to be. I am paying for bottom time and want all I can get. The way I like to determine the value of a trip is to take the total cost and divide it by the bottom time I am going to get for my money.

I routinely do trips to Bonaire where the air is in the $700 range and still stay in the $1500-1700 range- leaving next Sat and staying at a nice on the water condo for $1675pp which includes everything but food, park tag, exit tax and truck gas. Those things should run another $200pp. This includes all the diving I can stand and nitrox (a good idea if you are diving that much ) is included in the price. I could cut the price of the trip down by a fair amount if I stayed off the water, not a big deal on Bonaire, no place is more than a mile off the water.

Food is another issue. Most places are just a bed and shower which means you are going to eat out 3 meals a day. Many, most actually, of the resorts on Bonaire are condos with a kitchen. Bagels and cereal for breakfast and PBJs for lunch can go a lot way to reduce your food bill.
Finally, you may can do better on air if you get creative, I found air for my last trip for under $600 but since I had already changed my dates once I decided to keep it as it was. Try looking at flying into Miami and catching Insel Air or look at flights into either Aruba or Curacao. These are major hubs and often you can find good prices to them. From there are 3 commuter airlines that fly to Bonaire several times a day, the RT price is less than $100pp.

I guess my point is, you can likely find a total package price a little cheaper until you factor in all the cost. If you do 2 dives a day and spend the rest of the time on the beach then you can certainly spend less money. On the other hand if your goal is to rack up as much bottom time as possible, then once you have factored in the cost of extra diving in, your $/minute of bottom time changes a lot.

 

[DeputyDan]

I agree with Herman but if you still want Roatan look at Coconut Tree Divers and staying at one of the inexpensive places at the West End.

Look at this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/338328-coconut-tree-west-end-divers.html

You can find much more like this in the "Bay Islands" Section of the board!