Economical, short scuba trips to S. Florida or Caribbean

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FPDocMatt

Contributor
Messages
446
Reaction score
197
Location
Middletown, Maryland, USA
# of dives
25 - 49
I'd like to make frequent scuba trips, but would like to do so economically.

I live in Maryland. I want to dive in warm water. So we're talking southern Florida or the Caribbean or Bahamas, I presume.

As a physician, I lose money each day I don't work. So I would like to schedule a dive trip about every 6 weeks or so year-round, centered around a weekend--say Friday to Monday. The Friday and the Monday could be my travel days, and I could dive on Saturday and Sunday.

The flights should preferably be non-stop. I can fly out of Baltimore (BWI) or Washington DC (Reagan or Dulles).

I would prefer boat dives, but shore dives are okay if they don't involve a beach (for example, shore diving off a pier directly into the water is okay). I really don't like fighting waves to get in and out of the water, and I don't want to have to lug gear any distance at all.

On the other hand, I don't want to be on the boat for an hour to get to the dive site.

My wife is a diver, but our work schedules differ. So sometimes she'd go with me, sometimes she wouldn't. On the trips when she didn't, I'd have to be able to hook up with a dive buddy, or hire an instructor to dive with me.

I'd like there to be good visibility, and lots of marine life. I'm not really into wreck diving, except insofar as the wreck is populated by fish.

I'm advanced open water certified.

I'd also like to get more certifications, such as rescue diver, at some point.

I'm motivated by positive people interactions, so would tend to gravitate toward repeat visits to the same destination, if it were a place where the people were nice.

It's important to me to be connected to the Internet wherever I am.

Any ideas? Thanks!
 
If your profile is correct, you have less than 24 dives, so let's discuss that in regards to your plans.

#1. Flying and diving don't mix. As a dr I am sure you realize that you will be losing 1 day minimum of dive time on a trip. It is also recommended you don't dive on our arrival day, unless short and shallow, due to dehydration and DCS risk. So that means, safety in mind with your long flight days... if you fly on Friday and Monday, you can only dive on a Saturday. Sunday would be possible to dive in am only if your flight on Monday is afternoon. Some people dive up to 18 hours before flights but most wait a full 24. SO... do you really want to only dive 1 day?

#2. Florida dives... they are different by location. The Keys dives, particularly Key Largo, are good for beginners as they tend to be more shallow, lots of fish, and little current. You would fly into Miami or FLL, rent a car, and drive down to Key Largo... more time wasted on a short trip.
Dive sites off Ft. Lauderdale and all of the southeast coast are drift dives with current. There are fish, but shallower dives still have current and unless diving a wreck you will be drifting as a buddy team and picked up by the boat. Wreck dives are different in that the boat moors to wreck so you go down and back up the line.

3. Caribbean... Cozumel tends to be the least expensive place to visit and there are direct flights there from major cities. Check. YOu are once again short on time, and dive boats go out at specific times in the am. A 2 day dive trip would be very costly overall IMHO.

So.... I would rethink your idea that you can fly somewhere tropical to dive for a 4-day weekend. It really would only get you a couple of dives. Try to work your trip out to at least 5-7 days.

Just my 2 cents from 12 years of diving. If you want to see where I have gone, check out my website. I have photos and dive shop links, videos, etc.

robin
 
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if you fly on Friday and Monday, you can only dive on a Saturday. Sunday would be possible to dive in am only if your flight on Monday is afternoon. Some people dive up to 18 hours before flights but most wait a full 24. SO... do you really want to only dive 1 day?

Bummer. I really don't want to go diving every 3 months, that's only 4 times a year. I would really like to go every month, but that would be pretty expensive with air fare and hotel. So every 6 weeks seemed a nice compromise. Let's see, if I found a night flight after work Thursday, then dove Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, then flew back on Monday afternoon, that might work.

The Keys dives, particularly Key Largo, are good for beginners as they tend to be more shallow, lots of fish, and little current. You would fly into Miami or FLL, rent a car, and drive down to Key Largo... more time wasted on a short trip.

Doesn't sound too bad. How long is the drive from the airport in Miami to Key Largo?
 
Key largo is a great spot, Rainbow reef divers has great prices, and guides in the water at no extra cost. You can do 4 dives per day with them. they have 2 boats that go out every day, 1 shallow, 1 deep. So diving on Sat and Sun would give you 6 dives minimum depending on your flight time 8 if you get a late afternoon or evening flight. The drive down from Fort Lauderdale or Miami is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. You can also look into Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands so you don't have to fool with customs. I'm thinking of doing the same thing, and I'm torn between Puerto Rico, and Key Largo, and like you I'm alone most of the time, so I seek out ops that put guides in the water, because I've found they usually cost about the same as the one's who you have to hire a guide with at an extra cost. I'm from the Atlanta area, so I can go and do 8 dives in Key largo, or 6 dives in Puerto Rico. Diving on a Fri, and Sat, and traveling on a Thur, and Sunday. I always get a late afternoon, to early evening flight out so I can dive the day before. I know rbint said you should rethink it but from your post I see you don't get the luxury of long vacations so you have to do what is best for you.
Dive Key Largo, Islamorada, Florida Keys with Rainbow Reef Dive Center;scuba diving:diving, Florida keys, florida diving
 
You might look at Fort Lauderdale. I know there's a direct flight from JFK on either Jetblue or AirTran so there might be one from BWI. Lots of diving in the area and in the Jupiter Beach area north of there - look at the Florida Conch forum for ideas/details. You could also possibly drive to the upper Keys but traffic through MIA sometimes slows that down considerably.

You might be able to reach Nassau within your time frame also. It's not particularly cheap there though. Bahama Divers near Paradise Island might be one option - they pick up at Cable Beach hotels also. And do a 2 tank AM and 1 tank PM dive. There's virtually no shore diving off Nassau though the reef is too far out. Stuart Cove's is the other diver operator but they're 45mins. by shuttle from Nassau on the south side of New Providence. Given your dive schedule I wouldn't want to spend 3 hrs. per weekend on the bus. We spent a couple days there but it was so long ago I don't know any hotels to recommend.

We couldn't find any reasonably priced accommodations on St. Thomas a few years ago as we transited thru to the BVI's. Diveops there that are often recommended here are Blue Island and Admiralty. Admiralty is also located at the Windward Passage hotel so that might negate the need for a car. They do often do wrecks though as there's a lot of them just south of Charlotte Amalie.

All your flight options with customizable times can be found here: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm They're the database for most of the major airlines/travel portals but you can't book thru them. I use it to get flight info then call the airlines directly. It's now owned by Google so the same info for domestic flights can be found at Google Flights. http://www.google.com/flights/

Most places you're not going to find anyone to dive with much after mid-afternoon Sunday. So a Monday afternoon flight should give you almost 24hrs no-fly time. It's the minimum DAN currently recommends for anything more than a single dive trip. They're currently doing a new study but results from the 2002 study can be found here: http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/research/studies/flying_after_diving

You might want to join DAN also as they'll be of help if something does happen unexpectedly.
 
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Like Cozumel. If you stay at the Cozumel Hotel and Resort you can get an afternoon dive in as soon as you arrive(just sip water on the plane) right from the hotel pier. Dive Paradise will rent you a tank and weights for $6.00 even if you are diving with someone else. Any shop can pick you up at the hotel pier. I use Deep Magic but a hotel package with dive paradise would be cheaper. Look up hotel on Apples site.
 
You should do several locations and see which best fits your needs.

Key Largo
Jupiter/Ft. Lauderdale
Cancun
Cozumel
Curacao
Aruba.

The list is based on the biggest chance on direct flights rather than where the best diving is.
But with < 24 dives you will like them all.
 
To add my 2cents to this--not a real fan of florida diving. maybe the keys are good but east coast of florida i'd do if i lived there only.
whatever flights make the most sense to Caribbean . I think given your time frames flights are most important variable. Have dived in Cozumel and Curacao and both are excellent. Did do Puerto Rico south coast ,BVI and Jamaica. all could work if you can get there but i don't think you can. I am an avid Bonaire diver now but its too hard to get to for short trips.
Am a big fan of Jet Blue --I know they go to Aruba from Boston and because of that it has always been on my radar. Baltimore don't know.
 
Okay, so I've looked at several options, most of them recommended by repliers to my post. Input much appreciated!

The cheapest part of the dive trip is the diving itself. The flight and hotel are the principal expenses.
  • Cozumel looks like the most fun and luxurious, but a bit expensive compared to Florida.
  • Cancun has a direct flight from my area, and it's only 4 hours. If funds were not an issue, I'd probably do that. Direct flights are so much nicer.
  • I've been to Sunset House on Grand Cayman and love it, but it's also a bit more expensive to do it every 6 wks.
  • Key Largo's not bad. A SW Airlines flight to Ft Lauderdale is quite reasonable, then a rental car to Key Largo. In fact, I might do this one.
  • South Beach Divers in Miami is cool. I wouldn't have to rent a car to Key Largo, and they take you to Key Largo in their van, and do some wreck diving in Miami as well.
 
Look into wrecks and reefs of West Palm Beach/Boynton Beach. Lots of flights into the area. Plenty of hotels for any budget. Whenever I got to Florida for business I always strap a few days on the front end for diving.

The downside to going to Florida for a weekend is the potential for getting blown out one or both days. I've spent several weekends in the Keys watching "Law & Order" marathons all weekend while waiting to hear that each dive has been blown out...

Don't forget that you're not far by car from North Carolina, lots of good wreck diving there. Water can be warm(ish) in late summer.
 
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