I live in South Carolina and am looking for some dive trip suggestions. At the end of June I want to take a long weekend trip with me and a friend. I am looking for something reasonable in price for that trip and kind of thinking maybe the Bahamas. I want to take a second trip in September or October that is a little nicer and about a week in length. Thinking the Caymans or Honduras but a live aboard might be interesting too. My friend will have just been certified so I need somewhere that offers some simpler dives. Thanks for any suggestions.
Dive Trip Suggestions
- Thread starter barefootek
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Key Largo is great for newbies. About 750 miles depending on route choices if you want to drive and avoid the 18 hour wait to fly back, or flights for $217 RT & up.
For a longer trip, consider Cozumel.
For a longer trip, consider Cozumel.
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For June look at Nassau. 5 hr flight/$415 dollars r/t on Spirit. I used 4 days starting 6/24 for the fare. Stay on Cable Beach or Paradise Island and dive with Stuart Cove's or Bahama Divers. SC's will pick you up and shuttle you to their location (45 min. ea. way) Bahama Divers is near the bridge to Paradise Island. Most of the dives near Stuart Coves start at 50' or less. There's one - Hollywood Bowl - that starts at 10'. Several wrecks starting at 35-45' also. And a lot of sharks at/near the feed sites. The coral is patchy in some areas with a sandy bottom which might actually be good for a new diver with buoyancy issues. Interactive map: Stuart Cove
Grand Cayman tends to be deeper 1st dives - to maybe 100' or so down the wall followed by shallower 2nd dives. There are some beginner dive operators like Foster's but they do all the cruise traffic. There are some shallow, easy entry shore dives there - Sunset House, Eden Rock, Lighthouse Pt. Turtle Reef, Cobalt Coast. Sunset House and Cobalt Coast are also semi-AI resorts - they package room/diving/breakfast IIRC. They just dropped the Kittiwake in 60' and Stingray City is only 15' deep - and fun.
Roatan you might consider Cocoview or Fantasy Island. There's a couple easy entry decent shoredives off their property and I believe they run their boat dive setup somewhat by experience level. We dove a week with Coconut Tree Divers off the West End, in a week we only did one drift dive, one dive deeper than 80' and I mostly stayed around 50' since I was filming w/o lights and it was overcast all week (May). Still saw a lot of good stuff, turtles, eels, big grouper. etc. If you wanted to do the Dolphin Dive at Anthony's Key, that's done sitting on the bottom at 60'.
There's an Aggressor on Cayman and Utila. The Cayman Aggressor tries to run to all three islands, sometimes weather doesn't allow it. The Utila Aggressor does both Utila and Roatan. It's a little harder/pricier to get to Utila than Roatan. http://www.aggressor.com/
Cozumel for a new diver isn't such a great suggestion.
It's mostly deeper, fast moving drift diving. There's also a lot of boats in the area with their divers in the water at many sites. Can be a little too much task loading for a new diver.
Grand Cayman tends to be deeper 1st dives - to maybe 100' or so down the wall followed by shallower 2nd dives. There are some beginner dive operators like Foster's but they do all the cruise traffic. There are some shallow, easy entry shore dives there - Sunset House, Eden Rock, Lighthouse Pt. Turtle Reef, Cobalt Coast. Sunset House and Cobalt Coast are also semi-AI resorts - they package room/diving/breakfast IIRC. They just dropped the Kittiwake in 60' and Stingray City is only 15' deep - and fun.
Roatan you might consider Cocoview or Fantasy Island. There's a couple easy entry decent shoredives off their property and I believe they run their boat dive setup somewhat by experience level. We dove a week with Coconut Tree Divers off the West End, in a week we only did one drift dive, one dive deeper than 80' and I mostly stayed around 50' since I was filming w/o lights and it was overcast all week (May). Still saw a lot of good stuff, turtles, eels, big grouper. etc. If you wanted to do the Dolphin Dive at Anthony's Key, that's done sitting on the bottom at 60'.
There's an Aggressor on Cayman and Utila. The Cayman Aggressor tries to run to all three islands, sometimes weather doesn't allow it. The Utila Aggressor does both Utila and Roatan. It's a little harder/pricier to get to Utila than Roatan. http://www.aggressor.com/
Cozumel for a new diver isn't such a great suggestion.
It's mostly deeper, fast moving drift diving. There's also a lot of boats in the area with their divers in the water at many sites. Can be a little too much task loading for a new diver.
OP
Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. It looks like both of you actually looked into flight information and everything. I had considered the issue with the flight but the wait doesn't seem to bad when you look at a 10-12 hour drive. Still might consider driving a round about route. My Dad lives in Crystal River so I might go by and Blue Grotto or Devil's Den to give a really easy dive to get use to each other. That also cuts into my time to do dives that I would rather do. Sorry I was just kind of thinking as I wrote.
Thanks again for your research and your information. The bad thing is I will probably research several things myself for the next couple of weeks. Then in three weeks after she is certified I will probably make a snap decision based on where she wants to go. Women, I cant live with them and probably can't drowned them because they will use less air.
Thanks again for your research and your information. The bad thing is I will probably research several things myself for the next couple of weeks. Then in three weeks after she is certified I will probably make a snap decision based on where she wants to go. Women, I cant live with them and probably can't drowned them because they will use less air.
DeputyDan
Contributor
Since your friend is new and you are going in the summer I would second Key Largo.
In the winter you have a 50/50 change of not being able to dive due to the wether.
In the winter you have a 50/50 change of not being able to dive due to the wether.
KeyLargoScubaShack
Guest
Key Largo's best diving is definitely the summer. As a fellow Carolinian I would definitely say it isn't a bad drive either, especially if you have places you can stop along the way. Key Largo is a pretty affordable area as far as dive locations go and we have plenty of reefs and wrecks to choose from. Key Largo is a great place for beginners because we have so many shallow reefs and even some shallow ship wrecks. The weather is great in the summer, hardly any wind, so no waves, warm water, and great viz. I'd be happy to answer any more questions about Key Largo Diving or feel free to check out our website.
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