Family friendly dive destination?

[capybara]

I'm trying to plan our 10th anniversary trip for early June, so I want something to find someplace special (upscale but not super expensive either). Pre-baby we did a lot of diving including trips to Hawaii, Florida, Cozumel, BVI, and Galapagos. Post-baby we have been diving in Catalina, Riviera Maya (with a day trip to Cozumel), and Hawaii (Big Island and Kauai) with our daughter. So far we've been bringing Grandma on all these trips and she watches her while we dive which is great, but I'm thinking for our anniversary we might want to try something a little more romantic. She'll be almost 2 by then so hopefully she'll be OK with a babysitter if we go diving. Any suggestions on where to go and what hotel/resort to stay at with good services for children? I was thinking maybe something like Belize, but wondering whether it's safe (water quality and mosquitos etc) for toddlers and what area would be the best. Club Med has family resorts in Ixtapa and DR but I don't think the diving is anything to speak of. We're traveling out of San Francisco and only have 1 week so we probably can't do anything too remote. (Would love to see a whale shark again though ). Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[ayeshacantrell]

I recently spent a year working on a small Maldivian Island called Bandos. Diving is fab and its one of the few resorts that has a kids club where they are happy to looking after you little ones ! Its very close to the airport too - but no noise dont worry - only a 20 min boat transfer which is fab when travelling with kiddies too.

 

[capybara]

I recently spent a year working on a small Maldivian Island called Bandos. Diving is fab and its one of the few resorts that has a kids club where they are happy to looking after you little ones ! Its very close to the airport too - but no noise dont worry - only a 20 min boat transfer which is fab when travelling with kiddies too.

That sounds intriguing. But I checked the airfare and it's 27-40 hours and $1600 pp. Ouch! Maybe when she's older...

Has anyone stayed at Hamanasi Resort in Belize? Is it child friendly? How's the reef diving there? It looks like they have whale shark diving at Gladden Spit too! How does it compare with staying in Placencia (Robert's Grove) or Turneffe Island?

 

[robint]

That sounds intriguing. But I checked the airfare and it's 27-40 hours and $1600 pp. Ouch! Maybe when she's older...

Has anyone stayed at Hamanasi Resort in Belize? Is it child friendly? How's the reef diving there? It looks like they have whale shark diving at Gladden Spit too! How does it compare with staying in Placencia (Robert's Grove) or Turneffe Island?

I wouldn't attempt any air travel that long with a young child. Not only will the child be miserable but so will all the other airplane passengers! Some kids travel well on planes for a few hours but after that all kids get stir crazy.

Most of the larger resorts in Cozumel and Riviera maya have kids clubs/babysitters. I think I saw that Ramon's Village in Ambergris Caye, Belize has one also. From what I was told, those trips out to look for whale sharks from Hamanasi/Placencia area are all day trips. You might want to wait on that until she is older.
Roatan might be an option also. Many of the family type resorts have child care services, like Fantasy Island and Anthony's Key Resorts.
Grand Cayman might be a good choice also if you can get decent flights there.

robin

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Can highly recommend the kids club at El Presidente in Cozumel. The best solution is to take a nanny and go wherever you want.

 

[cappyjon431]

My wife and I got married at Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros Island in the Bahamas. We had a bunch of family stay at the resort including a half dozen small tykes. The SHB staff did an awesome job of keeping the kids entertained so the adults could go diving, hiking, etc.

As for safety, Andros is a sparsely inhabited island with virtually no crime. The resort is self contained, so there is no concern with outsiders coming into the resort. Very few bugs, clean drinking water, and a wide variety of food make this a great place for adults and kids.

 

[DeputyDan]

That sounds intriguing. But I checked the airfare and it's 27-40 hours and $1600 pp. Ouch! Maybe when she's older...

Has anyone stayed at Hamanasi Resort in Belize? Is it child friendly? How's the reef diving there? It looks like they have whale shark diving at Gladden Spit too! How does it compare with staying in Placencia (Robert's Grove) or Turneffe Island?

I think GypsyJim has stayed at Hamanasi. You may drop him a PM!!!!

 

[underseasian]

I stayed at Thatch Caye in southern Belize (I chose it over Hamanasi as it is next to the reef system as opposed to on the mainland) and was amazed at how good it was. Try looking for it on trip advisor for some reviews, I think it recently won an award for the Best Honeymoon Destination in South and Central America, so it must be romantic!

 

[rye_a]

Can highly recommend the kids club at El Presidente in Cozumel. The best solution is to take a nanny and go wherever you want.

The only problem with this is that the kids' club at the Intercontinental is only for children 5 and up. We do love that resort though...

The best solution we found was through the management company for the condo we rented in PDC. We spent a week at the Luna Encantada unit A2 (you can find LOTS of units there on VRBO.com, the building is wonderful.), and the managemet company put us in contact with Uta, a German expatriate who married a PDC local and has a couple kids. She brought activities for our then 3 year old and 1 year old, and was wonderful (at a very reasonable price).

We really liked being in a condo to be able to cook meals and have snacks for our kids, and we really liked having multiple rooms and a great balcony so we could put the litte ones down for naps and not be trapped in a hotel room. There is no shortage of great restaurants in PDC, and everywhere we went the staff were very kid friendly.