Good Place for Diver and 14 yr old Son

[Otter]

My youngest son wants to go diving for his 8th grade 'promotion' (causing my non-diving wife and diving-eldest son some chagrine). We have talked about Coz, but I am concerned that he will be bored topside.

Maui is out as we have gone there the last 3 years AND [more importantly] my wife wouldn't sit still for us going there without them -- likely means that it will be 4th year vacation later in the summer.

He is mostly a warm water diver, with <20 dives; I am an instructor so I am in the water frequently. I am looking for something consistent with a new O/W diver.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Otter

 

[Fly N Dive]

i'm almost 16 and went to coz in feb, he wont be bored. there is lots of stuff to do there.

 

[Otter]

I have been several times. What would a 14 1/2 find interesting. We can certainly go out to the runes. What else?

Otter

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Tough ticket.

Coz may be too deep for a Jr diver, and drift diving deep is a bad combination for a young and relatively inexperienced diver.

The Florida Keys offer good and shallow reef diving. Bonaire offers all of the shore diving you can stand and lets you set the profile.

 

[Fly N Dive]

does he like fishing? that could be fun
our dive boat went out @ 8:30 and came back at about 1:30 we had lunch, sat around the pool/beack, snorkled, walked into town, napped/rested/tv
i dont know where you plan to stay, but there are some places that have lots of topside activities, like trampolines in the water, and other wierd but cool things.
there is a paintball place, didn't go, but looked like fun, the otherside of the island is a cool place to go, but watch out for the waves!!!! I wasnt too impressed with the ruines so i wouldnt be suprised if he wasn't. the coolest thing there by far were the lizards.

as for what Drew said when i went there i had about 15 dives under my belt. i went with a group from my LDS that was led by on of the instructors that did my comfined water. as i said before i was 15 1/2 when i went, so the age gap isn't much. i felt very comfortable diving with 2 local DM's and one i knew personally. I had no problem with the drift diving, or diving deep, i stayed at the top of the group. not all the dives were drifts, the shallower you went the more it was a drift dive. The group in all was about 12 divers with 2 nondivers (my mom and sister) because of the size we had a boat to ourselves. and because we all knew each other it was like having 11 other buddies. of course we each paired up, but knowing that you were surrounded by people who you knew would lookout for you was comforting. Also being the youngest diver on the trip everyone looked out extra for me!!

So after all that rambeling what i wanted to say was......
Its your choice, the diving is GREAT!!! and i want to go back, but i'm not your son, so i dont know if he would like it.

 

[Fly N Dive]

didn't read the last of Drews post, if you go the the Keys stay in key west, ther is so much to do, and its really a blast!!!!!!!

 

[herman]

I guess it depends on what the kid is interested in. In Key West there are several museums including Mel Fishers one on the Atochia (?sp) treasure ship. There is an aquarium there thats ok. You can also do some fishing close by.

In Bonaire you can easily get in more diving or some good snorkling from shore and take up a lot of time that way. Without the need for boat diving and the shallow water around the island, it's a lot easier to get in 4 or 5 dives a day. Then there is the night diving. There are lots of cool lizards and donkeys to check out. World class wind surfing and wind surfing training is available at Lac Bay as well.

 

[daylight]

Guess I'm showing my age.
If my Dad had been able to take me to the Carribean for my 8th grade graduation, he wouldn't have had to worry whether I was bored topside. I would have been extremely happy just being there.

Otto,
Bonaire or Roatan are good candidate location for such a fortunate young newly certified diver.
Enjoy and Dive Safe,
Larry

 

[TampaJack]

Cozumel is fantastic. I went two summers ago with my 12 and 15 year old boys. We OW certified in Monterrey a month before the trip.

The diving in Coz was great. My boys did fine, in fact even better than me.

Rent a car. Drive to beach clubs where you can snorkel. Drive to the east side of the island, where you can play in the waves. Go downtown at night. Rent a scooter (he'll love that, for sure).

A great and cheap place to stay is Alicia's B&B. A nice and reasonable hotel is Hacienda San Miguel.

You can't go wrong in Coz. The diving is totally memorable. A great trip for a father and son.

PM me if you want more info. A great site is http://www.travelnotes.cc/cozumel.html

 

[Otter]

Coz, Bonaire, Fla....they all have something to offer. THEN just when you think you know whats going on, he decides he is going to play both football and baseball in HS and now has practive beginning in 8 days. So looks like he will be doing some local diving with me until we do the family dive trip.

Thanks again to all.

Otter