Freakin airfare - why so expensive?

[scubadada]

Living out here on the West Coast, I find myself often encouraging local divers to consider Florida as a dive vacation destination. Not really on many people's radar. I think the default reflex is to leave the country, but there is so much good diving in Florida. My 3 experiences in Florida have all been outstanding-- 1x in Key Largo/Islamorada and 2x in Boynton/West Palm/Jupiter. I am a big fan.

Biggest problem is conditions late fall through early spring with cancelled dives due to conditions, wind and swells. I dive here year round and generally do fine. Looks like nobody going out of Boynton Beach or Jupiter tomorrow, but I will get out of West Palm. Late spring through early fall are much more predictable. We have Lemon Shark aggregation now, Goliath Grouper aggregation late August-September. The reefs, particularly, Boynton Beach, are fantastic.

 

[morecowbells]

Living out here on the West Coast, I find myself often encouraging local divers to consider Florida as a dive vacation destination. Not really on many people's radar. I think the default reflex is to leave the country, but there is so much good diving in Florida. My 3 experiences in Florida have all been outstanding-- 1x in Key Largo/Islamorada and 2x in Boynton/West Palm/Jupiter. I am a big fan.

I have heard good things about Florida diving but have never been there. The main reasons being the larger boats and long boat rides. Due to such bad motion sickness, I have to pick destinations with shore diving or short boat rides. Are there Florida destinations with short boat rides out to the reefs?

 

[herman]

The problem with Fla is it's just not cost effective if you are planning on diving a lot. I know air to Bonaire is high but that's not the only cost. If you run the numbers, for me Bonaire is almost half what a comparable trip to the Keys is . I have a trip planned to Bonaire shortly which is running me just under $2000pp which includes everything but lunch, dinner and park fee. Food is about a wash for cost. I just did a quick search for diving in Key Largo and it breaks down like this.

Air- $300,. nice an cheap compared to the $900 I paid to Bonaire
Rental car- $200 (plus taxes???) And a lot more gas will be needed
Resort 7 nights in March $1500 and include breakfast (but I would bet its no where near the quality of the one in my Bonaire package) and I suspect that does not include taxes.

That in itself brings me to $2000 (plus taxes???) which is about the cost of my Bonaire trip and we have not got to the diving.

Now lets add diving. I checked a well know major charter which runs about $90 for a 2 tank dive, $100 if you do nitrox. Assuming 4 nitrox dives a day for 6 days ( my Bonaire dive package is unlimited nitrox) , that comes to another $1200. Add in tips and the cost of diving alone is almost the cost of my entire Bonaire trip.
Now lets do a little more in depth comparison of the diving. I will get at best 60 minutes of bottom time per dive or 24 hours of bottom time for the Keys trip. Had more than one captain pissed at me for 75 minute dives. My average dive on Bonaire is 75 minutes (often more) and I can easily do more than 4 per day but for the sake of comparison, I'll assume just doing 4- 75 minute dives per day, that is 30 hours of bottom time or an additional 6 hours of diving. Granted I am shore diving but I prefer it to boat diving since I am not on anyone's schedule. I also have the option of doing more dives, longer dives or night dives if I choose at no additional cost. And finally the possibility of not diving due to weather, in the keys it is entirely possible ( although not likely) that the entire week could be blown out due to weather. While I get my diving money back, I am still out the cost of the trip and wasted vacation time. And for anyone who had not been to the keys, there is NOTHING to do if you are not diving.....well set in a bar and drink but I can do that at home.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Keys diving BUT if it's anything longer than a long weekend, I'm heading to Bonaire, Cur or Coz, the price is simply not worth it when you factor in everything.

 

[Schwob]

Late spring through early fall are much more predictable.

Which calendar period would you say qualifies as "late spring" in SW Florida (not sure you mean on calendar or weather or gardener or... terms)?

 

[dmaziuk]

... Bonaire is almost half what a comparable trip to the Keys is .

Not being in Florida: priceless.

 

[wgw04024]

I've noticed airline prices fluctuating drastically multiple times a week lately. For example, bought my ticket to germany a few months out for 700ish, 2 weeks later it was down at to 4. I'm finding less of an incentive to book out in advance, and just take the risk of paying an even higher price if i don't find something i like before 2 or 3 weeks before flight date. Just booked 9 people from boston to costa rica in march for just over 400 each. A relaxation trip but I will dive a couple days.

 

[scubadada]

Which calendar period would you say qualifies as "late spring" in SW Florida (not sure you mean on calendar or weather or gardener or... terms)?

I call late spring May or early June

 

[Schwob]

I call late spring May or early June

Thanks.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Living out here on the West Coast, I find myself often encouraging local divers to consider Florida as a dive vacation destination. Not really on many people's radar. I think the default reflex is to leave the country, but there is so much good diving in Florida. My 3 experiences in Florida have all been outstanding-- 1x in Key Largo/Islamorada and 2x in Boynton/West Palm/Jupiter. I am a big fan.

Florida is definitely on my radar...I have heard great things about it, especially the shark diving which I love! I do want to visit sometime. I also hear the Keys are great.

Airfare is reasonable but landing costs like hotel, car rental, and food add up. I've been to Florida before, but not for diving. It's not expensive in that it's prohibitive, but factor in costs for per-tank diving and adding all that up, it turns out to be more expensive than for me to fly out to southeast asia all-in assuming I don't do a liveaboard and do land-based, even with airfare. When I travel with someone and can share a twin/double room the costs are even lower for hotels. They're cheap enough as a single already. It's hard to beat the boat diving with tanks, weights, guide costs in the Philippines with nitrox..It's like $25 a tank and it's concierge diving. Meals for 2 people, including alcohol, appetizers, 2 entrees can be less than $10-$15 USD per meal.

Do you think costs are also up because there's an event in Bonaire or there's as group that is searching prices and adding them to "carts" but not checking out that is swinging the flights? I wonder what Hopper app says. Anyone check that yet? They do pretty accurate fare forecasting.....

 

[Trailboss123]

Florida is definitely on my radar...I have heard great things about it, especially the shark diving which I love! I do want to visit sometime. I also hear the Keys are great.

Airfare is reasonable but landing costs like hotel, car rental, and food add up. I've been to Florida before, but not for diving. It's not expensive in that it's prohibitive, but factor in costs for per-tank diving and adding all that up, it turns out to be more expensive than for me to fly out to southeast asia all-in assuming I don't do a liveaboard and do land-based, even with airfare. When I travel with someone and can share a twin/double room the costs are even lower for hotels. They're cheap enough as a single already. It's hard to beat the boat diving with tanks, weights, guide costs in the Philippines with nitrox..It's like $25 a tank and it's concierge diving. Meals for 2 people, including alcohol, appetizers, 2 entrees can be less than $10-$15 USD per meal.

Do you think costs are also up because there's an event in Bonaire or there's as group that is searching prices and adding them to "carts" but not checking out that is swinging the flights? I wonder what Hopper app says. Anyone check that yet? They do pretty accurate fare forecasting.....

I would concur that for us on the West Coast, a place like the Philippines makes a ton of sense from a cost perspective, particularly if able to find a direct flight into Manila and cut down on the travel time. I have kept costs down in Florida by finding a reasonable AirBnB and I have also found that the diving can be pretty inexpensive if you have your own tanks or can obtain tanks somehow. The boat diving costs themselves out of Boynton and West Palm are really quite reasonable (much less expensive than Channel Islands boat dives) and even more so if you don't have to pay the additional tank costs.