Good Dive + Canyoning (or some good eqv)?

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land luber

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Looking for thoughts of a one stop shop for good diving + good tankless land based adventure (canyoning is just the best I can think of). Polar opposities, I know ;)

Last year, the trip was to Belize with half on the Cayes and half at caves branch (Belize Vacation Travel Packages: Caving and Jungle Adventures at Caves Branch) which was wonderful. We did it all in about 8 days and have the same amount of time this year.

Looking for something else this year, preferrably in the Caribbean. From my research so far I came up with the Dominican Republic (Bayahibe diving) or Dominica.

I have concerns that the diving in the DR will be a big let down, especially when all we can compare it to are all the large critters we could find in Belize. Also, there is alot less info on Dominica. It seems the diving is good, but the big critters may be fished out to an extent.

Any thoughts on these locals for such a trip OR anything else I overlooked?

Thanks to all.

Now back to my paper pushing...

Land Luber
 
My gallery has some Dominica diving pics, and some topside pics. My wife and I loved the trip. We didn't do any canyoning but from the touring we did do topside I can tell we should've done more. I'm just a dive freak and never want to dry out. :) It's true there weren't a lot of 'big fish' but we still saw plenty of fish, eels, turtles every dive, a few stingrays, dolphins on the way out (not in the water with us, unfortunately), etc. The reef substrate is spectacular.

A guy I met there says he's done some canyoning recently and they've found some new narrow caverns/gorges and waterfalls (not 'new' in the sense of newly formed, more in the sense of newly recognized) that he'd love to go back to with an underwater camera, like I dragged up to Titou gorge.

I wrote an endless trip report in the Lesser Antilles subforum of the Caribbean forum...it's only a couple pages back, or search on my name to find it easier. Let me know if I can answer any questions, I'd honestly say Dominica is in my list of places I'd like to return to again, someday.
 
Dominica was high on our short list. As it turned out we didn't have enough time to do all of what we wanted, so we decided to forgoe the canyoning and just go to the ABC.

Thanks for the thoughts though.
 
Go to Dominica when you can. There is tons to do there above and below. Both the diving and land based activities are great! I have copied and pasted some of my reviews from Trip Advisor below...I have pictured up there if you want to check them out. I am amydelyla there too.

Just got back from 10 days of diving with Cabrits Dive Center. My boyfriend and I were there in April/May and had a wonderful time. I completed my Advanced Open Water courses with them. The instruction I received was very fun, knowledgeable and safety conscious and the diving was splendid! The owners, Helen, Peter and Hunter are wonderful, as well as the rest of the staff. If I am ever in Northern Dominica again, I will be sure to return to Cabrits Dive!

If you are going to be in Dominica, I strongly recommend doing a canyoning tour with Extreme Dominica Adventure Tours. My boyfriend and I took an hour long bus ride for the sole purpose of going canyoning with this company and it was well worth it. Neither one of use had ever been rappelling before, but after a quick lesson we were rappelling down waterfalls into the beautiful Titou Gorge. We also got to jump off of waterfalls into pristine greenish blue pools of fresh water. It was absolutely amazing! As adventurous and fun as the canyoning was, the guides always made us feel safe. They even made a special vegetarian lunch for me. The tour was expensive, but well worth every penny. Totally incredible! If you can afford it, don't miss it.
 
David and I have done a few mixed adventure trips with friends. We went to Belize diving and to Caves Branch (excellent!!!), Dominica diving, hiking and biking (stunning country), Dominican Republic diving (fair), hiking (tallest peak in Caribbean, snow flakes and all) and kayaking, Roatan diving then to La Ceiba kayaking (awesome river) and to Peru to hike the Inca Trail but didn't have time to spend a week or two at the nearbyish Galapagos Islands. We did go diving in Puerto Rico and hiked but didn't go on any canyoneering adventures there. We now live in Curacao (fantastic diving) and have a small but challenging mountain to hike. I'm sure there's a lot more adventure destinations like Hawaii or Fiji, have fun!
Sunshine
Curacao Sunshine - Rental Property on the Island of Curacao
 
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