I did my check out dives in the Bahamas and have to say, I have no great interest in rushing back there. Unless you go to an out-island where the diving is supposed to be better, I wouldn't bother.
Cozumel is great. Not a non-stop flight from NYC airports, but, we fly into Cancun and it's a painless and cheap hop down to Playa del Carmen and then over to Coz on the ferry. Air with Continental out of Newark works best for us. 9:15a departure arrives in Cancun around 12:30. Last month we were lucky with a quick time through customs and the drive down had not traffic. We were at our hotel on the island 3:00! We are hoping for the same for our mid-Feb trip. One note on Coz in Feb. Carnival runs Feb 22-28 and things are booking up. We are going 15th - 20th, but with all the big resorts still closed post-Wilma, hotels for mid-Feb and March and booking up. We do a conecting flight through Houston on our return so we can fly out of Coz and not schlep back to Cancun. Our Feb air was around $400pp, but it was booked last month so it may be higher now.
Continental is now flying non-stop to Curacao. Looks like an easy flight at around 4 1/2 hrs. We plan to do it this summer.
Grand Cayman is also an option. There are non-stops but not every day of the week. We used to go once or twice a year to the Cayman Diving Lodge on East End, but they are still not rebuilt after Ivan. Ocean Frontiers is on the East End and has nice new condos and decent packages. I've dived north, west and east on GC and I like the East End diving the best.
Cozumel is great. Not a non-stop flight from NYC airports, but, we fly into Cancun and it's a painless and cheap hop down to Playa del Carmen and then over to Coz on the ferry. Air with Continental out of Newark works best for us. 9:15a departure arrives in Cancun around 12:30. Last month we were lucky with a quick time through customs and the drive down had not traffic. We were at our hotel on the island 3:00! We are hoping for the same for our mid-Feb trip. One note on Coz in Feb. Carnival runs Feb 22-28 and things are booking up. We are going 15th - 20th, but with all the big resorts still closed post-Wilma, hotels for mid-Feb and March and booking up. We do a conecting flight through Houston on our return so we can fly out of Coz and not schlep back to Cancun. Our Feb air was around $400pp, but it was booked last month so it may be higher now.
Continental is now flying non-stop to Curacao. Looks like an easy flight at around 4 1/2 hrs. We plan to do it this summer.
Grand Cayman is also an option. There are non-stops but not every day of the week. We used to go once or twice a year to the Cayman Diving Lodge on East End, but they are still not rebuilt after Ivan. Ocean Frontiers is on the East End and has nice new condos and decent packages. I've dived north, west and east on GC and I like the East End diving the best.
