Help me decide where to go, please.

[jd950]

I need help picking a dive destination in the Caribbean. My family of 4 divers will have accumulated enough air miles to fly free in the Spring or Summer to any Caribbean destination American Airlines flies to.

We can take up to two weeks for this trip. We don't care about nighttime activities, as such and don't need a fancy place to stay or an all inclusive, and I prefer not to spend what those places cost. We love shore diving, but are happy to go somewhere where we could combine shore and boat diving. I generally like to do 3-4 dives per day. My wife is usually happy with 2, maybe three.

I am looking for suggestions other than Curacao, Cozumel and Bonaire (American doesn't fly there but it is an easy hop from Curacao). Not that we don't like those places but we were hoping for someplace new and these are our fallback destinations if we can't find anything better.

We don't like cattle boats, big dive ops or crowds. I hate dive ops that limit dives unnecessarily or demand that we follow the DM like ducklings following their mother. My son and I go slow and take photographs.

We are happy with a variety of sea life and nice coral or at least intersting underwater terrain. We ;enjoy frogfish, seahorses and other less common creatures. Some bigger stuff is nice, but not critical.

I have been looking at Dominica, St. Croix and the Caymans, but would be happy for guidance from people who wnet other places. I thought Saba might be nice, but we would have to fly to St. Maarten and take Winair and I am hearing reports about severe luggage restictions that might be a problem since we have all of our own gear.

Please let me know what else I should consider. Thanks for any help.

 

[Sully3]

Dominica is great.
Lots of unusual little stuff, (lots of frogfish in the spring)
and quite a few turtles as well.
we saw two sharks also. One reef, and one nurse.
St. Vincent is the best place in the Caribbean for little stuff.
Most of the critters seen aren't in books yet. We have been five times.
and bonaire is great. There are a million threads on bonaire here.
mine is Bonaire Photos August 2009. three sets of photos on there.
we have been elsewhere, but what kind of diving u described these three
fit it best in some way
hope this helped
matt

 

[potato cod]

You could also do the Turks and Caicos. We loved it and Caicos Adventures was great! They DON'T limit your dive times or make you dive with a DM. The walls off West Caicos were comparable in terms of marine life to the diversity and numbers we saw in the Great Barrier Reef. Really healthy reefs. There are some smaller non-inclusive hotels on the island, and gorgeous beaches if you're not diving.

 

[Sully3]

You could also do the Turks and Caicos. We loved it and Caicos Adventures was great! They DON'T limit your dive times or make you dive with a DM. The walls off West Caicos were comparable in terms of marine life to the diversity and numbers we saw in the Great Barrier Reef. Really healthy reefs. There are some smaller non-inclusive hotels on the island, and gorgeous beaches if you're not diving.

I love when DM dont limit your dive time.
St. Vincent was like that. and bonaire you
don't need a Dm all the time so...

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I second the nomination of Turks & Caicos. Only down side is you have to fly American through Miami!

 

[mtnguy]

That's what it says on their immigration stamp---and it's true. I just returned from Saba last week. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Ana and Hurricane Bill limited me to 3 dives before the boats were pulled for safety, but it was not my first visit, so I fared better than first-time visitors.
Saba is a beautiful island geared almost entirely toward visiting divers and/or hikers. Rising nearly 3,000 feet, it is one of the highest points in the Carib, and you would be hard-pressed to find an acre of flat land anywhere on the island.
The diving is excellent, the people welcoming, the food outstanding, and the overall vibe wonderfully relaxed.
I've stayed at El Momo and used Sea Saba, and would recommend that you do the same. Start with SeaSaba's excellent web site (just Google SeaSaba), where you can learn all about the island and it's diving. El Momo is a bargain, and the owner, Andries, is on-site, and couldn't be more helpful.
I traveled with my dive gear to Saba and WinAir didn't charge me excess. Depending on when you go, the flights may have the available capacity to bring your stuff along, but if they don't, they'll bring it on a later flight and you can send someone to pick it up at the airport---
As an American Airlines retiree, I've been to all the islands you are considering and, while I liked them all, Saba seems to fit your criteria best. Give it a go....and
say Hi from Greg when you talk to El Momo and SeaSaba....
Greg

 

[bsumner]

I would choose St. Croix. It offers a variety of dives on reefs, walls, and wrecks from dive boats, as well as very nice shore diving. The Frederiksted pier is a great shore dive - you will see seahorse, octupus, squid, eels, etc. Cane Bay is also an excellent shore dive.

 

[jd950]

Thanks for the input so far. I agree that Bonaire offers great shore diving, I am just looking for something different on this trip; someplace I haven't been and maybe someplace I could not afford if it weren't for the "free" airfare.

Flying through Miami doeosn't bother me, I just make sure I have long connection times, and I enjoy a chance to get a bite of Cuban food. I hope to continue avoiding flying through San Juan, though.

I had not looked much at Turks and Caicos, I will research that a bit. Dominica and St. Croix were already on my list, and Saba, too except that as I understand it, there is no shore diving there and I would have to take Winair with a limit of one caryon weighing not more than 6 lbs. We have always carried our regs and computers and I carry my dive camera and strobes, so I am a bit worried about meeting their limit. I suppose I could work around this.

 

[DeputyDan]

I need help picking a dive destination in the Caribbean. My family of 4 divers will have accumulated enough air miles to fly free in the Spring or Summer to any Caribbean destination American Airlines flies to.

We can take up to two weeks for this trip. We don't care about nighttime activities, as such and don't need a fancy place to stay or an all inclusive, and I prefer not to spend what those places cost. We love shore diving, but are happy to go somewhere where we could combine shore and boat diving. I generally like to do 3-4 dives per day. My wife is usually happy with 2, maybe three.

I am looking for suggestions other than Curacao, Cozumel and Bonaire (American doesn't fly there but it is an easy hop from Curacao). Not that we don't like those places but we were hoping for someplace new and these are our fallback destinations if we can't find anything better.

We don't like cattle boats, big dive ops or crowds. I hate dive ops that limit dives unnecessarily or demand that we follow the DM like ducklings following their mother. My son and I go slow and take photographs.

We are happy with a variety of sea life and nice coral or at least intersting underwater terrain. We ;enjoy frogfish, seahorses and other less common creatures. Some bigger stuff is nice, but not critical.

I have been looking at Dominica, St. Croix and the Caymans, but would be happy for guidance from people who wnet other places. I thought Saba might be nice, but we would have to fly to St. Maarten and take Winair and I am hearing reports about severe luggage restictions that might be a problem since we have all of our own gear.

Please let me know what else I should consider. Thanks for any help.

Take the ferry to Saba - shouldn't be a big deal for a diver...