Diving suggestions for September (based in NYC)?

[Riddim]

Hey all! New to the board, thanks for having me and any advice is greatly appreciated! My sister is coming from abroad to visit the states in September and we want to plan a dive trip and vacation for early September. We're both beginner divers with open water certs and probably around a dozen dives a piece. At first we were thinking the Cancun/Cozumel area or even Belize but I'm concerned about the hurricane season at that time of year. We'd only be there about a week and I'd hate to see everything ruined by the weather. Is this a valid concern? Will we just be rolling the dice?

Any other suggestions that involve a warm, preferably beachy, area that have decent airfares are greatly appreciated! Our only real limitation is she needs to fly one way there from the East Coast with me but then return to LAX afterwards and I've been having lots of trouble finding reasonable one-way tickets for most locations except Cancun or other major destinations (for example Belize is ~$500 round trip but ~$450 one-way!!!). Thank you for any help you can give!

 

[Doc]

You are rolling the dice. Buy trip insurance.

If you stay below the line of the Bay Islands and over to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, you are less likely to get hit with an actual Hurricane, but may nevertheless get rained upon.

Of the overall possibility of such events, Belize represents the historical Southernmost landfall of any, and Cozumel is the next stop North. At that time of year, they are not alone in this, the Antilles, Cayman, Cuba and the Bahamas are also in the distinct realm of ugliness.

 

[diversteve]

Curacao has nice beaches. http://beaches.curacao-now.com/

Same great diving as Bonaire but much easier to get to. http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=3

Depending on your budget there's everything from small apts. to upscale resorts. Most that are waterfront have an on-site dive operator - and there are several good dive boat operators. There's also about 50 shore dive sites - many with onsite facilities. The reef parallels the shore line so navigation is simple. With one or two exceptions it's mostly low-current diving also. You'd need a car as the better diving is spread out along the western side of the island.

It's a bigger island so there's a lot more non-dive options also. Shopping downtown is world famous, about a dozen casinos, restaurants in all price ranges.
Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

September is peak hurricane season in the Caribbean, you are always going to have a risk. We are already on D fro Atlantic storms which is high for June.
From NYC, have you considered the Azores? One of diving,s best kept secrets, and we can arrange flights directly from USA and Canada now. The water is warm and the best diving season is July to October and well away from hurricanes. My boss actually grew up there, so knows the islands well.
Here is a clip on Azores diving. Dive Azores - Scuba Diving . Whale Watching - Faial island - YouTube
Its not the best for reefs, but makes up for it in big fish, whales, dolphins and schools of giant manta.
Or you can go to my new facebook page where I post scuba vacation deals, and LIKE. Scuba destination deals. | Facebook
Or just email me with specifics of what you want.
Happy diving
Bryan

 

[chauncy19]

agree with DiverSteve. the ABC islands are your best bet given the time of year. September gets even harder to get to Bonaire. Curacao has similar diving. have been out west to ALLWEST apartments in westpunt. great place and diving but its a bit remote out there. AA from Miami direct to Curacao.