Diving location with nice beaches

[Mason Gierke]

I am in the early stages of planning our family vacation. We are new divers with mostly quarries dives, by the time we take this trip we will have another year and a half under our belt as well as a week in key largo. I could dive all day long and be happy but the wife and daughter max out at 3 dives a day. Looking for a place that has nice sandy beaches for them to hang out at during non diving times. The type of diving isn't really a huge deal, drift, wall, shallow, probably not to much shore diving cause they dont like jumping all the gear. Mexico or Caribbean preferably, maybe AI, I would like to keep it under $2000 a person without airfare. Any suggestion would be great. From all the reading on this site I know where the good diving is but not sure about the good beach spots. Thanks.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Southern California.

 

[EireDiver606]

Beautiful beaches in Donegal and Galway. Scubadive West in Galway in Ireland.

 

[jgttrey]

Cayman. Fantastic beach, safe, good food. There's always good diving on one side of the island or the other, no matter the weather. And, you can shore dive from Macabuca or a few other places without having to schlep gear more than 100 feet. Cayman sets up very well for a family that has varying levels of diving enthusiasm (or none at all).

It's not as expensive as it's made out to be. You just have to take care in selecting accommodations. Tons of advice on this in the Cayman forum.

 

[Anthony A.]

Aruba, bonaire, curacao, bahamas, antigua, belize, barbados, st. kitts (my fav).

All have great diving and family friendy. And the beaches are all beautiful.

 

[drrich2]

I suppose 'good' is relative. California's got some sweet diving, but colder water and you wear more exposure protection. Places that leap to mind are...

1.) Grand Cayman - near the 7-mile beach area, looking at Comfort Suites or Sunshine Suites (watch that resort fee when you price SS) as oft-mentioned value options.

2.) Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos - but long boat rides unless you're doing a live-aboard, in which case you don't get the beach. Rep. for being expensive. Mentioned for completeness, but I suggest skip this.

3.) Cozumel, the southern A.I. resorts (not all have beach; check each). (Research notes).

4.) Curacao - if you want A.I. and near civilized amenities, Sunscape Resort Curacao. If you want something nearby that sounds a bit similar without A.I., Lions Dive Resort from what I read. Curacao's warm all year, and outside the 'hurricane belt.' Shore diving a nice option.

5.) St. Croix - not so much a mainstream destination, but I enjoyed it a lot (research notes).

6.) Aruba - also not often put out as a mainstream dive destination, but could be worth a look for a trip with some diving.

I think Grand Cayman might be a fine choice for you guys; price out a package. As you compare destinations, G.C. has a rep. for being expensive but airfare is often good, Cozumel is pretty cheap on-island with decent airfare costs (especially if you're open to doing the 'bag drag'), and with Curacao airfare can be expensive but again, price overall package cost (including vehicle rental, since some destinations may not need one, and some may).

Richard.

 

[saxman242]

2.) Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos - but long boat rides unless you're doing a live-aboard, in which case you don't get the beach. Rep. for being expensive. Mentioned for completeness, but I suggest skip this.
.

We stayed at the club med in T&C back in June. Boat rides to most dive sites were 20-30 minutes. There were a few further ones no more than an hour. Diving was fantastic, overall price for a week, all inclusive, after diving was thrown in was right about $2k a person.

 

[drrich2]

Good to know; if it's of further interest, my research notes planning a Turks & Caicos trip. People have given somewhat different accounts of boat ride trips out of Provo.; the impression I got was around 45 minutes, with some variation. The original poster will want to consider if any of the family are prone to motion sickness, and if so how well treatments work for that person. A 45 minute ride would bore me, but even with good sea conditions, would be pushing things for my wife.

Richard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Richard, you forgot St. Lucia, which you had commented on in a previous thread: thoughts on St Lucia

 

[arew+4]

Grand Cayman, should keep them happy, even if they don't keep to 3 a day. Cozumel offers trips to the main land if they get get "dived out" I have heard this happens but have never seen it first hand.