Honeymoon: Dive Resort or Live Aboard?

[pcowboy6196]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for some opinions. My fiance and I are fairly new divers and are getting married in November and are wanting to do a diving vacation type of honeymoon. I am looking at live aboards for the amount of diving and experience but am not too keen on the privacy issue. Has anyone done a live aboard for a honeymoon or know anyone that has? How was the experience?

I think she may be more inclined to do the resort thing. From what I've read going to a dive type of resort can be just as good with 2 to 3 tank boat dives a day with unlimited shore diving. Where would be the optimum location for this. I've heard tons about Bonaire, and Saint Lucia looks fun as well.

Any of your thoughts or suggestions are welcome. We aren't trying to break the bank for the Dream Spot, but want to have a pleasant and fun honeymoon.

Thanks,
Wes

 

[m7scuba]

I'd go for the resort. If it will make her happy, it will make you happy .

 

[Scubaroo]

My wife and I did the diving resort honeymoon - I *sincerely* doubt you would have any level of the privacy you desire on a liveaboard, and you may also wish to consider the other guests on board - they are there on a dive vacation, and they may not want to be around a couple of honeymooners! Don't spend your honeymoon worrying about having to be discreet because of a thin bulkhead wall.

 

[pcowboy6196]

Well neither one of us are "shy" about boats...Both of us were in the NAVY and were deployed on Aircraft Carriers often ...But i haven't been on a live aboard and have read about the berthing issues. So I think that that will have to wait for next years vacation.

That being said, what are some good resort recomendations that's wallet friendly (trying to stay around $2-3k tops for the both of us)?

 

[almitywife]

I would have been a widow long before the end of my honeymoon if my hubby arranged a liveaboard!

my suggestion, contact a travel agent that specialises in diving vactions, go to a resort. Im inclined to resorts that have a dive operation on site or near by (package deals?). find out how many scheduled dives they do each day. this way you will have plenty of dive time plus down time to do things while giving yourself the 24hr break before your flight.

this way-my hubby ended up doing 28 dives, in fact, check out this link http://members.ozemail.com.au/~almity1/Wedding/Wed5.jpg to see how lucky he was!

best of luck and enjoy!

 

[gzscuba]

Hi Wes,

Congrats on the upcoming wedding!
My wife and I went to Sandals Halcyon St Lucia for our honeymoon a few years ago & really enjoyed it. The diving is included in the price, but you can do only 2 dives per day. If you and your finacee are pretty new divers, that might be the right number for you. Personally, when I get back to my room after two dives in a day, I'm rather tired. As a new diver, you may not know your limits in this respect, and I'd suggest you err conservatively. Yes, a liveaboard can offer you a great time with lots of diving opportunities and a great chance to get more experience. But what if you get a cold, or your ears get screwed up, and you can't dive? Being on a liveaboard unable to go in the water isn't exactly a dream vacation. You'll only go on one honeymoon in your life (hopefully) - try to make it as memorable and resistant to problems as possible.

Case in point, my wife and I went to cozumel last year and did 5 days in a row of 2 tank dives. We averaged a little over 2 hours of bottom time per day. My wife told me that on our next dive trip, we need to mix things up a little, and take a day off in the middle because the diving started to take a toll on us. And she was right - by the end of the week, one of my ears was feeling a little funny due to all of the clearing I was doing.

If you go to a resort, diving will be one of the many activities that you can enjoy. Can't dive because your ears are screwed up? No problem, you can go into town and shop, go on a hike in the jungle/forest, lounge by the pool, play volleyball ..... You get the idea.

The only other recommendation that I'd make is that you do some diving around home before going on the honeymoon - during your copious free time during the wedding planning . My wife and I certified a year before we got married and got in about 17 dives after certification (part of that was AOW) before the honeymoon. As a result, we were able to concentrate on enjoying the beautiful scenery rather than on our buoyancy. Even a few 15-20 foot dives in ponds and quarries goes a long way to helping out your buoyancy skills.

Good luck with the wedding and honeymoon plans! Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[Diver Dennis]

There is a thread around with a link to a Four Season's live aboard. Veeeery nice with lots of privacy but a bit pricey.

 

[pcowboy6196]

The only other recommendation that I'd make is that you do some diving around home before going on the honeymoon - during your copious free time during the wedding planning . My wife and I certified a year before we got married and got in about 17 dives after certification (part of that was AOW) before the honeymoon. As a result, we were able to concentrate on enjoying the beautiful scenery rather than on our buoyancy. Even a few 15-20 foot dives in ponds and quarries goes a long way to helping out your buoyancy skills.

Good luck with the wedding and honeymoon plans! Let us know what you decide to do.

Luckily I will get alot of diving in before then. I am going to Hawaii on business twice before the big day for 3 weeks each and plan on getting some good diving in there. We also have a decent lake 1 1/2 hours from us that has decent diving. We just love diving so much, we got to thinking about the dive resort honeymoon. We were originally going to go on a cruise and changed our minds once we got our open water certs. By the time of the trip I will hopefully be certified to Rescue with some nitrox and other tec training in the mix. Luckily I have a great Instructor that's a PADI course director and IANTD instructor to trimix, retired NAVY SeaL, etc.... We get along great and he is more than willing to get me as much training as I have time for. (Sorry for getting off topic) But I am excited about diving and have for sure decided that we will maybe try out a 3 to 4 day livaboard next year. I will definately look at St. Lucia and all other suggestions you guys have. St. Thomas is also a consideration because one of her cousins is a Dive Master at one of the resorts. So maybe we could get a real good deal there as well. I will have to have her give him a call and find out how it is there.

Wes

 

[Cap335]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for some opinions. My fiance and I are fairly new divers and are getting married in November and are wanting to do a diving vacation type of honeymoon. I am looking at live aboards for the amount of diving and experience but am not too keen on the privacy issue. Has anyone done a live aboard for a honeymoon or know anyone that has? How was the experience?

Not a live aboard but I would reccommend the Caroline resort in Palau. private cabins in one of the best dive areas in the world.

Randy

 

[pcowboy6196]

Not a live aboard but I would reccommend the Caroline resort in Palau. private cabins in one of the best dive areas in the world.

Randy

That is quite a recommendation. Quite beautiful from the pictures I seen. I will have to email and them and get some pricing information.