Question Looking for recommendations for a long trip

[Underwater Tourist]

Hello people, I am planning a long trip (1 month) with my girlfriend (also diver), and right now we are researching destinations in the caribbean as well as south america. Given that both of us barely traveled in that area of the world, any word of advice will be much appreciated!

Some of the things we are looking for / looking to avoid:

#1 Extremely touristic places a-la Mexico. After our trip to Mexico, we really felt like people just look at us as a walking wallet and the only desire they have is to upsell us something. That was a major negative for us, and something we are really not looking for for a month long trip

#2 Public beaches that are actually public, meaning that you don't come to a "public" beach but then you are expected to pay or else you will be politely asked to leave. Essentially, after having worked for the day, we want to be able to come to a beach without any problems

#3 Reasonable proximity to a dive center and good diving sites. Also, it would be great to have places to visit on land (nature etc) since we are staying for a long time

#4 Not a jungle village, some civilization is preferred

#4 Safety. A woman can walk alone at night.

From our research, it looks like Aruba really fits the bill. It's not the cheapest, especially the south west area, but it does tick all the boxes.

I am sure there are a dozen of other places we haven't looked at

 

[lexvil]

You’re looking for Curaçao

or as an alternative I have a friend who can travel with you, it may be just a few miles down the road but you’ll swear it was the longest trip of your life.

 

[Underwater Tourist]

You’re looking for Curaçao

or as an alternative I have a friend who can travel with you, it may be just a few miles down the road but you’ll swear it was the longest trip of your life.

When looking at Aruba we also considered Curacao, but Aruba left a slightly better impression. Because its a smaller island, the drive between any two places is much shorter so we really felt we can explore it from A to Z.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

I’m with @lexvil in this one. Full disclosure, I’ve never been to Aruba, but have been told by dive buddies with a timeshare there that Curaçao is much better diving, as better nature.
We were there in January with a group of 3 divers and a group of 3 non. Everyone said they could have spent more time as 1 week wasn’t enough.

 

[Damselfish]

I thought Aruba was really touristy when we were there like 35 years ago. Maybe not in the way you describe Mexico, but touristy.
I’m a fan of Curacao for the diving and a fairly interesting topside. There are charges at some of the beaches that have facilities but its not a shakedown kind of thing or really a bad thing. Some have dive shoos you can (and probably should) rent tanks at instead of hauling them around.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

@Arseniy Urazov , there were a few threads started today in the Curaçao forum by @Dive Curaçao that may be of interest to you.

 

[Dive Curaçao]

@Arseniy Urazov , there were a few threads started today in the Curaçao forum by @Dive Curaçao that may be of interest to you.

Many thanks and if we can be of assistance in any way, please let me know!