Family Dive Trip - Suggestions?

[LateBloomer]

We are looking for a family-friendly diving destination for our family for spring break in March. We are fairly new to diving and our 17 and 11 year old daughters just got certified. Priorities are: 1) Easy-to-access dive sites 40' - 60' 2) Affordable (relatively speaking).

 

[AlanWald]

Where are you located. Airfare can be a significant cost in a dive trip and travel time door to door is important also if you have limited vacation. Also are you looking for warm water and stuff to do on the surface. Were you trained to warm or cold water?

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
Assuming your in the US, Bonaire and Curacao are you 2 best options.

 

[timbre]

I will second herman's suggestion for Curacao. Just returned two weeks ago with wife and three kids recently certified. Many dives from shore, great soft corals, would go back again. PM me if you want more info.

 

[robint]

We are looking for a family-friendly diving destination for our family for spring break in March. We are fairly new to diving and our 17 and 11 year old daughters just got certified. Priorities are: 1) Easy-to-access dive sites 40' - 60' 2) Affordable (relatively speaking).

Well, according to your profile you are in Kansas and have only been to Caymans. If you are looking to same money, Caymans aren't the place to go. Lots of options in Caribbean much cheaper. Spring break isn't that far away though so I would get something booked relatively soon.
Dive sites 40-60' deep? You might have a problem there as most dive ops are going to take the boats to deeper spots - remember, you are diving with other people on the boat and they don't want to do shallow dives most likely. Here are a few options - Key Largo (most dive sites are only 30-50'), Bonaire (shore diving to the depth you pick, and there is tons of stuff to see in less than 60' depth.), or try contacting someplace in Belize outer islands and ask if they can accomodate you.

I would NOT go to Cozumel as some people will suggest - yes it is cheap but your depth issues will not be observed as DMs work for tips and will take the boats where the most people want to go - and a 30' dive is not going to win on a group vote. There is only ONE reef in 30-40' range anyhow -- most are 50' deep or more. Plus the current can be scary for a new diver. Our daughter got certified at 12 and our first dive trip was to Cozumel when she was 13.... DMs didn't care her age and insisted she was okay and kept taking us to deeper sites. Yes, she was fine but the current did freak her out and she didn't want to do 80' dives.

If money wasn't an issue, I'd say try a liveaboard to Belize or Bahamas like the Nekton. Most dives are 40-60' and easy for a beginner. Plus you get in 4-5 per day, but nothing else to do but dive.

robint

 

[Capt Gary]

So just remember that you'll have to have Passports for your entire family if you plan on going out of the US.

If you do decide to dive the Florida Keys and have any questions, whether you dive with me or not, please don't hesitate to let me know. We have reef dives that range from 20 to 40 feet and would be perfect for the fairly new diver.

Good Diving/Hunting,

 

[robint]

oh, I just had one more suggestion.......... Bimini, Bahamas
Several dive shops there and at least half the dive sites are in your daughters depth range. Lots of fish and she may even see a few reef sharks! Lots of dolphins in that area too which are really cool to see underwater. It's easy to get there, too. Just a short hop over from Ft. Lauderdale. It isn't very expensive either, much less than Caymans. More rustic with small hotels, shops, restaurants, sandy beaches.


robin

 

[DeputyDan]

I agree with Herman if you are looking outside the US

Key Largo inside the US.

Except for the airfare you will find Bonaire/Curacao much less expensive per dive.

I look at dedicated dive trips as cost per dive since that is the reason I am going.

 

[jasondcrawford]

I guess I'm not sure what 'Affordable' really is -- what's affordable for you might be totally out of my price range. With that said, I'd definately look into Key Largo. There are lots of flights and even a few airports you could choose between to save money.

Several people have suggested Bonaire, which is supposed to have great/easy diving, but when I had just been certified shore dives were the last thing I wanted to do. If you're whole family is new to the sport, it's nice having DMs around on the dives to help make sure things don't go wrong (Especially with an 11 year old). Shore diving is also extremely tiring, as it involves more work setting up and breaking down your gear, finding the dive sites, hauling your gear out to them, suiting up, fighting any waves there might be, etc. (Bonaire could be different -- my only shore diving was in Catalina and it was exhausting!)

Hope you find what you need. Also be careful of going to the popular spring break places for the universities -- unless you want to be on a beach with several hundred drunk college kids.

 

[Damselfish]

Shore diving is much less work in Bonaire then probably most cold water places at home. But it's still more work than boat diving and the entries at some sites can be challenging. However, even though everyone talks about shore diving in Bonaire there's no law says you can't boat dive there - and the boat dives are cheaper than they are at many destinations. And shore diving off the dock at your hotel (if you stay one of thoses places) is very easy, no guide normally but it's hard to get lost on those dives.