Need suggestions for where to take our next dive vacation - two teens and dad.

[Siljesyl]

Hi all - got some good recommendations for our last dive vacation in Cozumel, so will try once more for this years vacation.
The plan is to go on a dive vacation for a long week in early July. The rest of the vacation will be in Miami and Orlando, so hopefully there are some good connecting flights out of either Miami or Orlando.

We are three divers, 15, 17 and 52, all AOD with Nitrox.
What we liked about our dive vacation at Occidental Grand Cozumel:
Efficient in the morning: took our breakfast at the buffet restaurant, walked down to the pier - set our equipment up and 10 minutes later we where in the water.
Had our lunch at the beach restaurant next to the pier, and then it was time for diving again.
We had night dives almost every other night.
And when the prison feeling of an Ai got too intense, we had the town 20 minutes away for some good Mexican food.

What at we are looking for is somewhere else than Cozumel, an OK size resort with an on-site dive-operation. Potentially an AI with the possibility to off the reservation maybe once or twice during a week. Hopefully with good connections out of Miami or Orlando. wifi is unfortunately a must.. But the quality of the diving is the most important criteria.
All suggestions will be appreciated!

 

[drrich2]

I don't understand just what the time frame is. How long is the total vacation? How many days diving, and is it set what days of the week those will fall on? I ask because some places are accustomed to a 'Saturday to Saturday' customer base, as opposed to people diving, oh, Wednesday - Sunday.

When people focus on diving quality, and with an interest in A.I., seems like Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are highly spoken of. I haven't been, but do some Searching on the forum and I suspect you'll like what you read.

Richard.

 

[lamarpaulski]

Cozumel is hard to beat. You could dive the Caymans which are great but more expensive. The very best diving is on Little Cayman which requires a shuttle flight and is small and isolated. Grand Cayman has very good diving and more top-side choices. Possibly several days on each would work.

 

[drrich2]

It'd be helpful to know more about what qualities figure in your quality of diving. Coral reefs? Schools of colorful tropical fish? Big animals like Goliath grouper & sharks? Looking at your criteria, I wondered whether CocoView in Roatan had any openings. From what I've read Roatan isn't a big animal destination, and 2 of the 4 'boat dives' offered by CocoView/day are drop-off dives where you fin back to shore/resort, but if you want to dive a lot, they could accommodate you.

Then again, if you want a lot of diving, you could probably save the airfare & drive down to dive Key Largo, bang out maybe 4 dives/day, but probably not with an A.I. resort (my trip report; Rainbow Reef Dive Center's location has moved a bit). In fact, if you've got enough time, you could dive Key Largo a few days, then head north for a couple of days diving out of Jupiter, Florida, hoping to see bigger things & sample diving a lot different than the Florida Keys.

I can't tell from your 'About Me' section of your profile, so where all have you dove before?

Richard.

 

[Oldbear]

+1 for Roatan, either CocoView or AKR, for Key Largo, for return to Coz (one trip is never enough).

 

[lamarpaulski]

Return to Coz ..do a ferry trip to PDC and dive cenotes...ditto see ruins like Coba, Tulum, Chitzen.

 

[Siljesyl]

I don't understand just what the time frame is. How long is the total vacation? How many days diving, and is it set what days of the week those will fall on? I ask because some places are accustomed to a 'Saturday to Saturday' customer base, as opposed to people diving, oh, Wednesday - Sunday.

When people focus on diving quality, and with an interest in A.I., seems like Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are highly spoken of. I haven't been, but do some Searching on the forum and I suspect you'll like what you read.

Richard.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Sorry for being a bit short on details. We hail from Norway, so we plan to be in the Americas for 3 weeks. I get to do Diving for 7 - 8 days (dad decides the vacation) , the rest will be split between Miami/the Keys and Orlando(kids decision). First I fix the Diving, then the rest will be scheduled accordingly. The diving is done to hopefully get the kids as interested in diving as their father.. They have done diving in Thailand, Malta, Cozumel. I have in addition done Great Barrier Reef (rough seas and bad viz). Sipadan, Bonaire, Maldives, Bali just to mention some.

Getting the Kids as interested as their dad, I try to minimize the physical/logistic aspect. The toting of diving gear even for a sporty 15 old girl can be a bit of a downer. Hence the idea of a resort like approach with boat dives, short distances and minimal logistics involved. Also resorts often offer other amenities like beaches, sunchairs and swimming pools. Also that Breakfast, lunch is easy accessible.

I guess that that the diving they find most interesting is focused more on larger objects than on smaller critters (Turtles and Dolphins the dream). And probably on boat dives where the traveling distance is not more than 30-40 minutes.

If there are other activities around as well that is a positive. Kids like to do other activities than just diving. Last year we did Cozumel for a week , club med Cancun for a week and New York for a week.)

I plan to do the diving based around west-coast (LA- here we come!) in 2017. I was very happy with the arrangement at Occidental in Cozumel last year. Cost is not so much of an issue.

---------- Post added December 27th, 2015 at 02:37 PM ----------

+1 for Roatan, either CocoView or AKR, for Key Largo, for return to Coz (one trip is never enough).

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my posting. Are there any carriers offering direct flights from Miami/Florida in July to Roatan? Which of the resorts CocoView or AKR is most teen friendly?

---------- Post added December 27th, 2015 at 02:40 PM ----------

Return to Coz ..do a ferry trip to PDC and dive cenotes...ditto see ruins like Coba, Tulum, Chitzen.

Thanks for taking the time to post an answer.
Repeat trip to Cozumel is my fallback plan. We did the Cenotes as well last year. The kids preferred diving the reef instead...

 

[diversteve]

AKR has a beach and small pool. Cocoview has neither. Within their dive schedule you'll do more at CCV over a week. The other kid-friendly attractions - ziplines, nature parks etc. are a taxi from either location. As far as the dream - you'll see Turtles on many dives off Roatan. Dolphins are a given at AKR - if you pick the right cabana, it's hard not to see them in the pens on Bailey's Key across the channel. Dolphin Programs | Anthony's Key Resort | Roatan | Honduras We also saw quite a few grouper, a few barracuda and occasionally a stingray on dives but no sharks - for that there's the shark dive. AKR will shuttle you there also - it's only booked thru resorts/dive shops. Roatan has more of a reputation for smaller stuff.

But the quality of the diving is the most important criteria.

Given where you've dived, you are going to be under-impressed with Roatan IMO. My friend dove Thailand the year before we went to Roatan and she said Roatan was better - certainly clearer. Being a diver/DM, she would've done the best of Thailand possible from a day boat.

Another issue with Roatan - at least the AI resorts - is most run Sat-Sat schedules. The best flight option I'm seeing is a connection thru Houston on United that's 7hrs+ each way.

I'd probably look at Grand Cayman first since price isn't a factor. There's a lot of dive operations and some that promote valet diving actually do provide it. Your daughter won't have to haul her gear more than once to the boat/shop - unless you shore dive they'll keep it, clean it, load it on the boat daily for her. You can do up to 4 dives/day, someone is usually night diving. It's spectacular deep wall diving so there's always a lot of interesting things to see. The two AI resorts - Cobalt Coast or Sunset House are really just average as far as accommodations and there's a lot of nicer resorts and condos on Seven Mile Beach. Both do have pools but no beach since they're on ironshore.

Behind some of the Seven Mile Beach hotels are the marinas where many of the dive boats are kept so everybody has a van shuttle and picks you up daily for diving. See if Indigo Divers meets your expectations but there's a lot of other options. The Westin is very nice for any non-divers in your group while you're gone.

Since the wall fringes Grand Cayman, no boat ride is more than 15-20 minutes - some a lot closer. dive365cayman.com lists a couple hundred of the better dive sites - most with videos.

Cayman Airways flies direct to/from Miami. It's a 90 minute flight. It's probably going to take you longer to get thru Miami customs/immigration on your return.

Little Cayman is a couple of resorts, condos and two? dive operations. It has Bloody Bay Wall on the opposite side of the island and probably better diving than Grand Cayman. I just don't see what the kids will do there the rest of the week. 170 people live there permanently to give you some idea of the quiet. You would fly on from Grand Cayman on Cayman Airways to get there. (1/2 hr.) https://www.caymanislands.ky/

Another option might be Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. As good as or better wall diving than Grand Cayman - IMO better. There's two options there - nearby dives off Grace Bay or Northwest Point or the "best" diving off West Caicos and French Cay. If Jojo the Dolphin is still around, he might interact with divers off Grace Bay - we heard some wild dolphins off West Caicos but didn't see them. Lots of sharks, just about every dive. The walls are especially coral filled and pristine in most areas. You'll see rays, grouper, turtles, sharks - often on the same dive.

Of course there's always a downside - in this case it's those dives are the better part of an hour ride away. They typical process is the shops pick you up around 8am or so and shuttle you to their south side marina. Then it's a 45min. boat ride, 2 tanks with lunch and the return. Typically you're back at your resort at 2:30 - add a dive and it's 4:30. IDK about night dives but I'm sure there's some. Provo is more upscale than Grand Cayman so there's a lot of good food options as well as a row of 4-5 star resorts lining Grace Bay Beach which is one of the nicest in the world. So all the usual activities associated with that can be found there also.

There is no dive portal for T/C that I've ever found but Turks and Caicos World’s Top Islands - Turks and Caicos Tourism Official Website has options. Dive Provo has a good reputation here on SB. I haven't dove with them since we did the Explorer Liveaboard. But often saw day boats out at West Caicos from Provo. I assume the shops have some option for keeping your gear since there's no shore diving on Provo.

American Airlines has 2 morning and one evening flight to Provo from Miami. 1hr 50min flights.

 

[DeputyDan]

I would stay in Florida and either dive in the keys or in the Jupiter/Ft. Lauderdale area.

Much less travel time and you are probably going to see bigger stuff in the Jupiter/Ft. Lauderdale area.

 

[robint]

you are going to have a hard time beating Cozumel... you have probably done the best of the Caribbean in that regard, easy inexpensive AI with great diving.
With two teenagers, I totally get why you want an AI... they are eating machines!
Like others have mentioned.... a few days diving Cozumel again, then a few days doing cenotes on mainland would be great. Spend a day on mainland and go to Chichen Itza.
I have videos that might help you decide.

Roatan can be fun, look at Anthony's Key. Cocoview is our favorite, but might be boring for teens.