First dive trip advice

[robint]

Wow diversteve, relax. If you look at what I said, it is that NEW DIVERS should boat dive with a DM for awhile after certification. MY OPINION.
Bonaire is expensive for just doing a few house reef dives a day. I would never go there just to do 2 dives per day at a house reef. It isn't worth it. MY OPINION again. Yes, people can boat dive there.... but it sort of defeats the purpose of going to Bonaire!

FYI - shore diving at Bonaire is not all beginner level. Entries and Exits are tricky sometimes. Navigation is fairly easy there but learning that comes with time, not a beginner skill set. I have done a face plant on a shore entry, tripped and gotten knocked over by waves several times... in Bonaire. Ditto my husband. If you want to pay for a DM to go shore dive with you there, then it really runs up your cost and once again, MY OPINION, defeats the purpose of going to Bonaire.

And having been around my husband with teaching students.... they don't remember everything they learn. They forget gear or walk around looking for things. It takes diving for 20-30 dives before you can learn what needs to go in your gear bag. I just think.... MY OPINION... that newbies do better on boat dives with a DM briefing them and checking them as they jump in water.

robin

 

[drrich2]

Drift diving is easy, once you learn what to do.

Did 2 dives in Cozumel; Palancar Gardens & Santa Rosa. Enjoyed drift diving, but wife (a vacation diver type who likes easy conditions) didn't. You need to understand that getting closer to the reef you drift slower, out farther from it you drift faster, which is important when trying to pace your dive guide. She fought the current, whereas it's important to 'go with the flow,' though you may need to turn & fin against it a bit at times to look at something, etc...

In Bonaire, I swim out & then decide which way to go by trying to swim into current, most dives. Problem is, current is often so minimal it's hard to tell which way it's going. That's pretty benign.

There are some fairly easy shore entries in Bonaire, but it pays to have medium or thick soles dive booties (not those think little booties), and don't even think about trying it with full foot fins.

Groups go to Bonaire a lot. You can likely join a dive shop group headed there, and shore dive with the core group. That's what I did for my first few trips there.

Richard.

 

[odens_14]

whether or not Cozumel is good for beginner divers is moot now. Wife very much likes the idea of curacao so let's focus on that!
We're looking at a condo in Willemstad, but most of the trip reviews I'm finding stayed on the west side of the island. The shore diving site listed earlier has the sites pretty much evenly spaced over the southern coast so I don't think we'd be further away.

It sounds like many of the sites have dive shops, is it that much easier to just get tanks from each of them or are we better off value wise doing unlimited tanks from one shop? (atlantis has 6 days unlimited for 109/pp)

what's the best site to book the flight from aruba to curacao? I think our flight schedule allows us to get to and from curacao on our travel days? our flight will get in to aruba @ 3:49pm Wed and our flight from aruba will leave @ 4:39 pm.

 

[drrich2]

Check out this thread comparing Bonaire to Curacao. DiverSteve laid out a lot of info. on options for how things are done on Curacao.

Richard.

 

[diversteve]

Wife very much likes the idea of curacao so let's focus on that! We're looking at a condo in Willemstad, but most of the trip reviews I'm finding stayed on the west side of the island.

What condo? In town some of the diving isn't as good as farther east or west. Obviously there's more non-diving things to do. Don't get too close to Punda/Otrabunda (downtown along the harbor) or you have to deal with the shoppers and the cruisers. Lots of traffic. Anything east near the Sea Aquarium is fine. Or west in Piscadera Bay.

The shore diving site listed earlier has the sites pretty much evenly spaced over the southern coast so I don't think we'd be further away.

You really aren't. Tip to tip the island is just over an hour driving. The west has slightly better shore diving possibilities and several affordable ocean front condos/resorts on the water so what you read about are preferred for proximity to good diving - at some it's just off your doorstep. Prices tend to be a little cheaper but it's much quieter and a drive to most things back to town. Including most food/restaurants. We started off out there but planned to relocate in town for a week after. IMO that was a good plan - we drove 2/3 days to town for something anyway.

It sounds like many of the sites have dive shops, is it that much easier to just get tanks from each of them or are we better off value wise doing unlimited tanks from one shop? (atlantis has 6 days unlimited for 109/pp)

Either or both. Anytime you're driving by Atlantis that's an option. They're in town so you might find yourself doubling back more often than you'd like. It really depends on how many dives you plan to do and where. Relaxed Guided Dives is another option, their fill station is just past the airport on the main road west. Rent from Go West if you get out to Westpunt since there's about 20 stone stairs down to the water there. We hauled tanks and rented tanks equally all over the island.

what's the best site to book the flight from aruba to curacao? I think our flight schedule allows us to get to and from curacao on our travel days? our flight will get in to aruba @ 3:49pm Wed and our flight from aruba will leave @ 4:39 pm.

Expedia They've got the DAE flights at $106 r/t. Orbitz at $162. I often use Kayak.com, check the compare all box mid left and it pops up new windows (behind theirs) with Travelocity, Expedia and a couple others to compare.

 

[odens_14]

Let the daydreaming begin...we're booked to curacao for the 15th - 22nd . Thanks for the heads up on the DAE flights we saved about $100 there!!

I've got emails out to a few condo owners from vrbo, I'll be back to ask which location is best when I hear back from them.

 

[odens_14]

diversteve, What did you think of my dream apartments? I think we're between that and Willemstad Vacation Rental - VRBO 3579826ha - 2 BR Curacao Apartment, Gorgeous Caribbean 2 Bedroom Luxury Ocean View Apartment; it's part of the royal palm resort that's right by picadra. it's more expensive and not on the water but also looks much nicer than the other options in our budget. although the $120/night would be pretty much the max and would mean more cooking in and being tighter on the spending money. unless we can recruit a couple of our friends to split the cost since there is a second bedroom, but the list of people I'd want to share an apartment with is pretty short so that's unlikely.

I like the idea of my dream apartments better. being on the water is big for me and I'd rather have the extra spending money; however, the wife is worried about being to far from anything else. How far are you from the city? a grocery store? restaurants? a nice beach? any nightlife?

 

[lamarpaulski]

If you choose Cozumel it would be a wise and cheap investment to hire an extra Dive Master to accompany you on first dive(s) to help get settled and add an extra measure of safety. IMHO There are tours to Chichen Itza or Coba or Cenotes (snorkel) or Tulum etc for non-diving and good restaurants. I thought the Mayan temples were amazing as was Gran cenote and dos ojos. I did not dive them and you probably shouldn't but anyways there are plenty of things to see and do in and from Coz.

My wife and I are recently certified and are just begining to plan our first carribean dive trip.
our requirements:
1) a week long trip in January 2014 would prefer it to include MLK day (Jan 20th) to save a day of vacation.

2) Destination served by Southwest or AirTran (I have enough points to get free flights for both of us). We're thinking either Aruba or Cozumel via Canucun, but other options are nassau, montego bay, punta cana, san juan, or a cruise out of one of the major US ports.

3) I'd like to keep the non travel costs around $1,500 including everything room, diving, food, etc. (we could probably swing up to 2k if we needed to make it a great vacation)

4) not picky about the hotel we don't need anything super fancy. However, we would prefer something on the water and a bonus if it has a kitchen.

5) We don't want to go somewhere where diving is the only thing to do, my wife likes diving but she's not sure it's all she wants to do on her week of vacation.

let us know what your best suggestions are. Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

I like the idea of my dream apartments better. being on the water is big for me and I'd rather have the extra spending money; however, the wife is worried about being to far from anything else. How far are you from the city? a grocery store? restaurants? a nice beach? any nightlife?

The city is about 30-40 mins. away. The road to Lagun is slower and hillier than it looks. Driving to the Punda side of downtown one night for dinner had to be at least 45mins. I didn't really time it. Piscadera or the Airport is probably 1/2hr.

There is one tiny store nearby but she didn't have much. My friends were there a day earlier and when we landed they called and told us to buy food b4 driving out. Otherwise the next closest larger store is likely Centrum Market in Piscadera. If you do stay at My Dreams I recommend you shop there on the way out. (there's one more in the area to the West but it's not very big either from what I've read)

Playa Lagun is the nearest beach. It's walking distance with no gear or two mins. by car. Nice beach, there's both a beach chair operator and Discover Diving on-site. Discover Diving has a small restaurant but it's more of a sandwiches, simple stuff type of place.

The owners of My Dreams recommended some restaurants the 1st night, Landhuis Daniel - which is on the main road closer to town or a couple in Westpunt - about 15mins the other direction. You can google them, Rancho El Sobrino, Jaanchies, Sol Food or the restaurant at Lodge Kura Hulanda. We ate at Sobrino - it was meh...No one in the bar that night except one local girl. Interestingly she's now my buddy's wife.

About 5mins. the other direction is Playa Jeremi, also a nice beach. No facilities at Playa Jeremi and I have read of break-ins there recently. You park up on the hill and walk down a path so I could see how that's possible. You can see both beaches and many others here: http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/Curacao/index.htm

Nightlife is all Downtown or at least Piscadera. More of the clubs/beach bars etc. are in town or slightly east of it. http://www.curacao.com/Attractions-and-Restaurants/Entertainment-Nightlife There's also Mambo Beach which is a little of both. Pirate Bay is a beach bar in Piscadera - walking distance from Royal Palm. Tables right on the beach, music some nights. When it was Hooks Hut, there was also a dive op there - IDK if there still is. There's a shore dive off their property but the reef is a surface swim out. Next door at the Hilton or Marriott it's slightly closer. There's also a nice indoor bar at the Marriott and an outdoor bar at the Hilton. Several Jazz clubs downtown also. Casinos are all over town - at least a dozen - those at the Marriott and Hilton in Piscadera are small. The largest one is the Carnaval downtown - almost the size of one off the strip in Vegas.

I'm not trying to disparage My Dreams because we really liked it and the owners. It's right on the edge of the cliff and they have cantilevered the deck slightly so if you climbed (60' vertically) down the ladder you'd be on this flat shallow area. My buddy climbed down but said if we wanted to try diving it that we'd have to haul the gear back up with a rope. Nice breezes all the time and there's a lot of security. You have to unlock/open an 8' high gate to get in. Every window/door had bars on it and there was a security panel in my room. When we asked about it they said it wasn't for the guests but for when no one was there - they'd had people break in previously. We had absolutely no issues the 4 days we were there.

All the other properties around there were similarly walled/fenced. So it must be an issue in that area. From what I understand Lagun is sort of a summer retreat for people who live in Willemstad. Depending on when you go, it's possible you'll be the only ones there. We were in the spring. There's only 8 units total, the $20 difference is ocean view vs. mtn. view. We took 5 of them, they all seemed to be the same. Nice, newer, clean, but kitchen facilities are limited. Fullsize frig, IIRC a dishwasher but there's no oven and just a two burner cooktop in a drawer. Microwave also.

There must be some good deals at Royal Palm since you're the second to be considering it. I know a little about it since our resort was on the same street after we moved there mid-week. Rather than repeat myself - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/le...ntal-recommendations-curacao.html#post6814498

Did I ever mention Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean ?

 

[robint]

Now that you have decided on a destination, Curacao, you should post your questions up in The Caribbean Forum, under Lesser Antilles sub-forum. There are tons of people posting there who can give you advice and opinions.