Help Needed in Selecting a Dive Destination

[Codeman00]

Hey everyone...

I'm trying to narrow down a honeymoon dive vacation spot for my fiance and I in July and I need some help from those of you that have dove a lot of different places. I have been on a Blackbeard liveaboard (Bahamas), and also to Bonaire, Cozumel, Key Largo, and Grand Cayman. I consider myself to be a pretty adventurous diver. She has been to Grand Cayman too for our first dive trip and she is more tentative than me but getting more and more adverturous as her skills increase. We have different criteria for our vacation and I wanted to see if anyone could steer me in the right direction to some top locations to research.

Definite Wants

1. I want a cool place to dive in the Carribean, Bahamas, etc...any place from Bonaire up to the Bahamas to inland toward south America and the Mexico coast line.
2. I want to go somewhere I haven't been.
3. She would like a nice tropical looking beach, at least some nice sand to get out into the water. I would like that beach to have an area that I can snorkel while she lays in the sun and reads a book. The Reef Resort in Grand Cayman is a perfect example.
4. A place that isn't so rural that we're bored out of our minds when we aren't diving. We won't be running around every day and night but its nice to have some options.

Would also be good..

1. I wouldn't mind seeing sharks, and larger life (in other words, not Bonaire)
2. A moderate cost dive vacation. I know cost is a relative term. I'm paying for the entire trip. Blackbeards would be dirt cheap. Let's consider Bonaire to be relatively cheap. Grand Cayman to be cheap to middle of the road, and Turks and Caicos to be relatively expensive. Fiji would be ridiculously expensive.
3. I wouldn't mind having some shore dive options but its not a necessity. I do want to dive a lot..at least 2-3 times a day

What are my options? I think Turks & Caicos would work although a bit more expensive than I want. I also think that Roatan might work too? Any help is appreciated.

 

[diver 85]

Beqa Lagoon, Fiji would be perfect......

 

[tadeotadeo]

I would look into San Andres Island and Old Providence Island between the two island, only a 20 minutes flight between them, you could get everything you want except the large wild life. If you need any information on either place let me know.
Ciao

 

[RJP]

Curacao
- Bonaire-like diving
- Beautiful honest-to-gosh white sand Caribbean beaches
- Plenty to do top-side
- Great restaurants
- Not much pricier than Bonaire
- Cheaper than Caymans/T&C

As my non-diving wife describes it...

"Bonaire is where divers go to vacation, Curacao is where vacationers go to dive."

Each day we (me, wife, two kids) would sit at the beach at the Marriott, or find any of a dozen other beautiful beaches to hang out at for the day. At some point around mid morning I'd say to my wife "Think I'll go for a dive... want me to grab you a coffee on the way back?" Strap a tank on, walk into the water, and back 45min later. Play some more with the kids, do some snorkeling, grab lunch, maybe play tennis. Then mid afternoon "Honey... want me to get you a Pina Colada... on the way back from my dive?" Two or three night dives during a week are easy to do... "Who wants go to the beach bar and play 'look for daddy's dive light' after dinner?"

:d

 

[danvolker]

Hey everyone...

I'm trying to narrow down a honeymoon dive vacation spot for my fiance and I in July and I need some help from those of you that have dove a lot of different places. I have been on a Blackbeard liveaboard (Bahamas), and also to Bonaire, Cozumel, Key Largo, and Grand Cayman. I consider myself to be a pretty adventurous diver. She has been to Grand Cayman too for our first dive trip and she is more tentative than me but getting more and more adverturous as her skills increase. We have different criteria for our vacation and I wanted to see if anyone could steer me in the right direction to some top locations to research.



Definite Wants

1. I want a cool place to dive in the Carribean, Bahamas, etc...any place from Bonaire up to the Bahamas to inland toward south America and the Mexico coast line.
2. I want to go somewhere I haven't been.
3. She would like a nice tropical looking beach, at least some nice sand to get out into the water. I would like that beach to have an area that I can snorkel while she lays in the sun and reads a book. The Reef Resort in Grand Cayman is a perfect example.
4. A place that isn't so rural that we're bored out of our minds when we aren't diving. We won't be running around every day and night but its nice to have some options.

Would also be good..

1. I wouldn't mind seeing sharks, and larger life (in other words, not Bonaire)
2. A moderate cost dive vacation. I know cost is a relative term. I'm paying for the entire trip. Blackbeards would be dirt cheap. Let's consider Bonaire to be relatively cheap. Grand Cayman to be cheap to middle of the road, and Turks and Caicos to be relatively expensive. Fiji would be ridiculously expensive.
3. I wouldn't mind having some shore dive options but its not a necessity. I do want to dive a lot..at least 2-3 times a day

What are my options? I think Turks & Caicos would work although a bit more expensive than I want. I also think that Roatan might work too? Any help is appreciated.

How about using a Dive Resort in Palm Beach, Florida?

• Stay at a 4 star hotel, on the beach of Singer Island...hotel has spectacular accomodations, great restaurant with reasonably priced food , awesome beach, great tiki bar overlooking beach and ocean, and on and on..Cost to divers using special Diving rate is $160 per night ( they charge non-divers around $300 per night...rate requires a Dive cert card and free SFDJ id number)..
• Use one of a dozen different dive boats, to drift dive over reefs with far more colors and fish than they keys or Cayman, with great BIG animal opportunites on every dive, and an enormous range of "challenge", based on what type of dives you are looing for....
• Hotel is less than 10 minutes from entertainment district of downtown Clematis Street West Palm Beach---an artsy city district with night clubs, cafes, restaurants , shops and boutiques, pretty much everything to do you could want at night. Two more mintes from Shopping District of City Place.
• Hotel is near huge mangrove and estuary system great for kayaking in and photography.
• you name what you would like to do, my bet is it will be easy for you to have it on this trip.
• if you want photographic evidence of how spectacular the diving is, compared to Cayman or the Keys, visit www.sfdj.com and look for the diving "zone" that interests you the most ( out of what Palm Beach has to offer).
• A Palm Beach Dive Resort vacation will give you much better diving, with much less cost, than a trips to the islands you mentioned.....beyond diving, the food will be much better in Palm Beach, and the number of things to do could not be touched by any of the places you are considering.

 

[greylion]

Ambergris Caye in Belize has lots of Nurse sharks and nice beaches with a number of good restaurants. You can go there for a reasonable amount of money.

Island Dreams Travel scuba diving vacations, cozumel scuba diving, dive travel, dive resorts, diving trips

 

[diversteve]

A lot of the beaches on Roatan (and Utila) have a sand fly problem. So maybe not the best choice to lay out in the sun. Also about the only place you'll see sharks is the shark dive.

Cocoview, Fantasy Island or Anthony's Key all have some beach. The snorkeling is probably better at CCV/FIBR - they share the same area. AKR has the dolphins - you can snorkel with them. There's also some snorkeling off the Key - from what I've read it's shallow for a long way out. All three also have a dive off the resort - CCV has several. For a honeymoon you might also look at Barefoot Cay - there's only about 9-10 villas total, they're just off Mary's Place - one of the best dives in that area - have a nice beach, snorkeling, an in water palapa about 200' out on the reef and their own dive operation that takes 8 divers max. The thing that always puts me off about CCV, FIBR or AKR is the size of their "fleet".

Barefoot is more expensive but still cheaper than Turks/Caicos. Everything there is imported so prices reflect that. Although T/C might be a good option. We saw sharks, turtles or Eagle/Sting Rays on just about every dive. We were on a liveaboard but spent a 2 afternoons/1 evening in town - there's one smallish casino, some good restaurants, at least several clubs, expensive shopping. Grace Bay was a nice area with an excellent looking beach but looked pricey. There's also a Beaches or Breezes - one of the AI's - there.

We didn't see anything big on Curacao. Except for some big Morays. Once some dolphins swam by our apts. And we did a lot of shore diving. There are some nice resorts - the Marriott mentioned above is one - they have a really nice beach, shoredive and Caribbean Sea Sports on-site for boat diving. Some nearby restaurants, a couple casinos (there and the Hilton next door) and about 15mins. from nightlife - although there was something going on Friday night at the Marriott - we could hear the music from the restaurant. Curacao diving is almost identical to Bonaire so since you've been there...

 

[robint]

Okay... I am going to make 2 suggestions.

shore diving and a small beach/sunning area can be found at both. Both have hammocks waterfront, too. Great place to sit and read.
Scuba Club Cozumel Dive Resort and Scuba Cozumel Dive Shop
CoCo View Resort Roatan .

For a HONEYMOON I would go for either, but that may be just me... I like more rustic, I find that more romantic than glass and chrome.


CocoView has all oceanfront and over-water rooms, very romantic to me!

and

SCC is like a Mexican hacienda, but all rooms face ocean

Both are all-inclusive but not typical yucky buffet food
SCC is sitdown dinner each night, elegant appetizer, entree, and dessert
CCV is buffet, but homestyle meals and very yummy

You really can't guarantee to see larger life at either, although there is a shark dive in Roatan and nurse sharks are seen in Cozumel.


As far as other destinations...
Ramon's Village, Belize Resort, Belize Resorts, Resorts in Belize, Ambergris Caye - 2010 is Belize looks really romantic enough for a honeymoon for me. No shore diving there, but they have a nice beach. You can see nurse sharks like Cozumel.

A liveaboard is probably your best bet for seeing bigger life. There are several in the Bahamas and Belize, but I don't see doing a honeymoon on a liveaboard personally.

robin

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

Your requirements sound pretty similar to my own when we travel.

In T&C, the snorkelling off Grace Bay beach is not very good - there are only a couple of spots which get too busy for my taste. Coral Gardens is a bit of a zoo...they've roped it off because over the years the people who don't know what they're doing walked all over the coral. The other place is Smith's Reef, just on the ocean side of Turtle Cove Marina. Point being...if you're on your honeymoon, you probably won't be staying at a place where you can just walk out and both sunbathe and snorkel on Grace Bay.

I have a couple of ideas for you.....in Turks and Caicos one place that I'm looking into is Northwest Point Resort - very secluded - about a 20 minute drive from town. As a result, the price is very affordable and they have some great deals right now. Rooms aren't the Ritz, but you get a full kitchen so you can make some meals at home if you want. A nice sand beach and you can get to some snorkelling with a bit of a swim. Bonus is your room includes a rental vehicle so you can drive anywhere on the island to explore the various beaches on your down time. Because of the car, you can arrange a dive package with any of the local dive operators. I'd suggest Ocean Vibes or Flamingo Divers or anyone who has their boats in the south marina due to shorter trips to the sites. I wouldn't suggest having them coming to pick you up in the boat because you'll end up diving at Northwest Point instead of hitting the good spots like West Caicos and the Channel. Maybe even a trip to French Cay. Drive to the marina each diving day to meet them there instead. Meals are expensive when eating out. But, most of them are worth it...some of the best meals I've ever had!

If you do want to stay right on Grace Bay and don't want to spend the big resort price, try The Sibonne. It is a motel style place - one of the first hotels on the beach. But it is affordable and has the best restaurant IMHO. You can do dive packages there with Ocean Vibes.

Another place I am looking into for a personal vacation, but haven't been, is Guana Cay which is an islet off Abaco in The Bahamas. It is supposed to have some of the best diving in the Bahamas (according to some posts I found here) and there is a long sandy beach with a reef close to shore for snorkelling. It is a much slower pace there...just a couple of bars/restaurants. Much more of a homey feel. So, not sure if it might be a bit too slow for your needs. But there is a chance to see bigger life like eagle rays, it has the sandy beach and it has the snorkelling. Abaco Diving and Snorkeling - Dive Guana

Good luck on your search for the perfect honeymoon!

 

[dry heat diver]

Hey everyone...

I'm trying to narrow down a honeymoon dive vacation spot for my fiance and I in July and I need some help from those of you that have dove a lot of different places. I have been on a Blackbeard liveaboard (Bahamas), and also to Bonaire, Cozumel, Key Largo, and Grand Cayman. I consider myself to be a pretty adventurous diver. She has been to Grand Cayman too for our first dive trip and she is more tentative than me but getting more and more adverturous as her skills increase. We have different criteria for our vacation and I wanted to see if anyone could steer me in the right direction to some top locations to research.

Definite Wants

1. I want a cool place to dive in the Carribean, Bahamas, etc...any place from Bonaire up to the Bahamas to inland toward south America and the Mexico coast line.
2. I want to go somewhere I haven't been.
3. She would like a nice tropical looking beach, at least some nice sand to get out into the water. I would like that beach to have an area that I can snorkel while she lays in the sun and reads a book. The Reef Resort in Grand Cayman is a perfect example.
4. A place that isn't so rural that we're bored out of our minds when we aren't diving. We won't be running around every day and night but its nice to have some options.

Would also be good..

1. I wouldn't mind seeing sharks, and larger life (in other words, not Bonaire)
2. A moderate cost dive vacation. I know cost is a relative term. I'm paying for the entire trip. Blackbeards would be dirt cheap. Let's consider Bonaire to be relatively cheap. Grand Cayman to be cheap to middle of the road, and Turks and Caicos to be relatively expensive. Fiji would be ridiculously expensive.
3. I wouldn't mind having some shore dive options but its not a necessity. I do want to dive a lot..at least 2-3 times a day

What are my options? I think Turks & Caicos would work although a bit more expensive than I want. I also think that Roatan might work too? Any help is appreciated.

Robint made great suggestions with Scuba Club Cozumel, great diving, reasonably good accomodations, and close enough to town to enjoy the night life. On Roatan, Coco View is pretty hard to beat. A little rustic but easy convenient diving including some great shore dives, a great attitude from the staff, and a relaxed comfortable atmosphere. A little inconvenient to get to the island night life, but not too bad. We prefer Coco View, but stayed last February at Anthony's Key. The restaurant and bar are definitely somewhat better and it is a short cab ride to the west end and, of course, the dolphins are right there. The dive masters and boat crews are better at Coco View (in our opinion). The Waihuka Shark Dive is a must do, at least once. In any event Roatan is awesome. We went to Fiji two years ago for our 35th anniversary, stayed at the Pearl South Pacific, and thought the whole experience pretty much sucked. Over priced and under delivered, and totally disfunctional. We'll take Roatan anytime.