I am in the process of picking out a place to go in April for spring break. I have been filtering through so many trip reports and recommendations on here and it is a bit overwhelming. I thought I would take a shot at asking for some recommendations based on what our needs are. We are a family of 4. Myself and my daughter (11yo) dive, my wife and my daughter 8 yrs do not dive. I am looking for a place to help her build confidence and experience. To date her dives have been a single shallow dive in Roataan, lake dives with viz in the 3-15 ft range, and Florida springs. I really want to get her on some great viz OW dives with plenty to see.
We are looking for 7-10 days depending on the flights I can get. I am trying to stick with SWA since I have the miles. She is Jr OW so we will keep the dives to her level, shallow, to 40 ft or so. We are comfortable diving as a pair once I get the lay of the land. I do photography and she wants to do some as well so it is important that we can linger and take our time for many of the dives we do rather than be on a constantly moving reef tour. The dive op needs to be ok with a certified 11 year old (some places restrict age). We are ok with a resort, an AI, or piecing everything together ourselves. Our preference is usually with slow pace, off the beaten path places. Ideally there would be activities for my wife and young daughter such as a pool, or nice beach area to play at and maybe snorkel. Self catering is usually our preference to save money but we are open to not having it. We don't mind renting a car to drive, but if everything is walk-able we would do that. We have all our own gear so would only be getting tanks, and weights. A house reef would be nice to add more dives beyond the standard 2 tank trips. And of course I am looking for the biggest bang for my buck.
Based on the SWA locations I have ruled out the following due to poor logistics or poor diving. San Juan, Punta Cana, Montego Bay. I am have been looking at FLL and then down to Key Largo to dive with Rainbow reef or another op in the area. It is fast, a direct flight, slow paced, shallow and easily accessible sites and the cheapest flights. Cayman is up there on the list but is much more expensive. Coz is supposed to be a good bang for your buck, but I am not sure if there are many suitable dives sites for her, as I believe most are deeper than 40ish and are drift dives. I don't think I want to layer on drift diving until she gains some more experience, It also makes photography a bigger challenge.
Am I missing any other options? What would be your top rated ops that could fit what we are looking for? In Cayman I have looked at Sunset House, Ocean Frontiers, and maybe CBBR but they have not returned my email yet asking about package options with my situation. In FLL I have looked at Rainbow Reef, and Horizon divers. I have not looked at anything in Coz yet.
I am also curious how ops handle the packages were you get progressive discounts for more trips. I want to do 5 trips/10 tanks for each of us. What do most of you do, book that or book the minimum you will do and add more as you go? If you do the later do you get the discounted rate. My concern is we sign up for what we want then one of us gets sick, congested, or doesn't want to dive a day.
We are looking for 7-10 days depending on the flights I can get. I am trying to stick with SWA since I have the miles. She is Jr OW so we will keep the dives to her level, shallow, to 40 ft or so. We are comfortable diving as a pair once I get the lay of the land. I do photography and she wants to do some as well so it is important that we can linger and take our time for many of the dives we do rather than be on a constantly moving reef tour. The dive op needs to be ok with a certified 11 year old (some places restrict age). We are ok with a resort, an AI, or piecing everything together ourselves. Our preference is usually with slow pace, off the beaten path places. Ideally there would be activities for my wife and young daughter such as a pool, or nice beach area to play at and maybe snorkel. Self catering is usually our preference to save money but we are open to not having it. We don't mind renting a car to drive, but if everything is walk-able we would do that. We have all our own gear so would only be getting tanks, and weights. A house reef would be nice to add more dives beyond the standard 2 tank trips. And of course I am looking for the biggest bang for my buck.
Based on the SWA locations I have ruled out the following due to poor logistics or poor diving. San Juan, Punta Cana, Montego Bay. I am have been looking at FLL and then down to Key Largo to dive with Rainbow reef or another op in the area. It is fast, a direct flight, slow paced, shallow and easily accessible sites and the cheapest flights. Cayman is up there on the list but is much more expensive. Coz is supposed to be a good bang for your buck, but I am not sure if there are many suitable dives sites for her, as I believe most are deeper than 40ish and are drift dives. I don't think I want to layer on drift diving until she gains some more experience, It also makes photography a bigger challenge.
Am I missing any other options? What would be your top rated ops that could fit what we are looking for? In Cayman I have looked at Sunset House, Ocean Frontiers, and maybe CBBR but they have not returned my email yet asking about package options with my situation. In FLL I have looked at Rainbow Reef, and Horizon divers. I have not looked at anything in Coz yet.
I am also curious how ops handle the packages were you get progressive discounts for more trips. I want to do 5 trips/10 tanks for each of us. What do most of you do, book that or book the minimum you will do and add more as you go? If you do the later do you get the discounted rate. My concern is we sign up for what we want then one of us gets sick, congested, or doesn't want to dive a day.
