Need travel advice - 1st time...help...

[Derek S]

Okay, before I have 3 bazillion and one people jump on me...

- I did plenty of searches and even some manual looking by myself. I found a lot of great information, but I still lack the answers/opinions I need.

- I have very specific instances that I'm not sure if a blanket "dive destination XYZ is great and it'd be perfect" will suffice.

- I did check with the LDS'es, and one of them does have a trip scheduled, but it doesn't jive with my schedule. That being said, here goes:

I'm a relatively new diver (certed August '04) with 27 dives to my log. I've purchased a used drysuit from my LDS, but wonderful Mother Nature has conspired against me by freezing over many, if not all of my potential shore diving sites. I've decided that I deserve a vacation, and what better to do than to go to a tropical paradise and dive my brains out, right?

Okay, now for the particulars:

- I will be going solo on this trip (unless anyone else is looking for a travel buddy for sometime in March, the earlier the better) as I don't know anyone who dives who is willing to take a trip then. So knowing that, I'm going to need a resort/dive op that caters to 'newer' divers.

- I plan on completely maximizing my trip (duh, who doesn't?), getting in at least 3 dives a day, hopefully as many as 5. This will probably mean shore diving, so I am looking for a place that has decent shore diving, but more importantly, someone to go shore diving with. My average shore dive consists of 10-feet VIZ and muck, so anything would be a plus. Having a buddy, however, will be paramount.

- I've considered a live-aboard, but seeing as I've never been on a ship in open seas, I don't know how I'll do as far as seasickness is concerned.

- I'm a very much jeans and t-shirt kinda guy. I'm more content eating peanut butter and jelly or ham sandwiches than gourmet meals (that doesn't mean I'm not educated or refined ), so I'm looking for a "no-fuss, no-muss" experience. I want to dive, dive, dive, and when I'm not diving, I want to relax in my air-conditioned room or at the poolside reading books on diving. I may consider bringing the laptop so I can upload pictures from the digital camera or play a few games along the way, but you get the idea.

- Price isn't an object per se, but I don't want to break the bank for this vacation. I plan on taking some training this summer so I need to have some left in the 'play money' tank to work with. Basically, I'm willing to pay as long as the experience lives up to the cost.

So, all that being said, what are people's opinions and thoughts? Thanks in advance, I appreciate it greatly.

Again, if anyone is looking for a dive/travel buddy for early March, please let me know. I am open to any and all ideas, thanks!

 

[caymaniac]

You need to find a trip to Bonaire, then you could go at your own speed, shore dive as much as you want, even take some boat dives. The viz is great, allot to see and plenty to do if you want a break from diving. No big currents, easy diving, great for starters. I see that there have been some specials from Chicago area to Bonaire, but your profile doesnt show where you are so it's hard to suggest where you should look for deals to where it is that you might want to go.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac

 

[Derek S]

You need to find a trip to Bonaire, then you could go at your own speed, shore dive as much as you want, even take some boat dives. The viz is great, allot to see and plenty to do if you want a break from diving. No big currents, easy diving, great for starters. I see that there have been some specials from Chicago area to Bonaire, but your profile doesnt show where you are so it's hard to suggest where you should look for deals to where it is that you might want to go.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac

I'm in Rochester, NY. I was looking into Bonaire, but almost all the flights are overnight flights or of the 10-16 hour variety with multiple transfers. I'm not sure I'm up for all that, but I am keeping Bonaire in mind.

 

[RICHinNC]

Unless having the shore right outside your door is a requirement...and an expensive one.....take a look at
www.goldenreefinn.com one of the few places that do not penalize the single diver by making the pay for two in a room when there is only one.

Again...I agree that Bonaire meets your described needs long plane ride or not. When you consider bonaire is just above Venezuela....yep...long flight. But you can get in 5 dives a day easy if you have the stamina. And, I dont think buddies are hard to find there.

Rich

 

[diversteve]

Three places came to mind:

Bonaire as mentioned previously, especially if you stay at Buddy or Capt. Don's, you shouldn't have any problems finding a buddy. Also on the boats we were on, nobody was that fussy about having to have a buddy, we sometimes dove one two or even three depending on who was doing what - I was filming sort of away from the group alot of the time. All I took to Bonaire was t-shirts and shorts, in some places I was overdressed as most people just wore something over their swimsuits.

Grand Cayman at Divetech/Cobalt Coast since it's really oriented to divers. Also most of the diveboats tend to have a little more support in the water, I've been on two deep dives there where there were two DM's in the water. And they're used to catering to someone with your experience as they get a lot of cruise ship divers. There were solo divers on just about all of our boat trips who had no problems pairing up. And you can shoredive at Sunset House, Eden Rock, Turtle Reef and Cobalt Coast and will be able to buddy up at any of those places easily. Esp. Sunset House and Eden Rock(when the cruise ships are in)

Or Maui, there tends to be a lot of solo divers, I've gone solo three times and each time have been able to find a buddy on a boat. Also at some of the shore dive sites, Waimea Beach, Airport Beach and Black Rock in particular, there's usually divers that you can buddy up with. Also there's two shore dive outfits, Maui Dreams and Shaka Divers. Some of the LDS's have buddy lists for both local and out-of-town divers. I know Maui Dreams and Pacific Divers both do.

Steve

None of these are exactly cheap though, on Bonaire everything is higher than expected until you realize it's all brought over by ship, Cayman had to be one of the pricier places I've been, especially for food. If you don't have a passport, you can get into either place with the right combination of d/l, notarized BC etc.

 

[Derek S]

Unless having the shore right outside your door is a requirement...and an expensive one.....take a look at
www.goldenreefinn.com one of the few places that do not penalize the single diver by making the pay for two in a room when there is only one.

Again...I agree that Bonaire meets your described needs long plane ride or not. When you consider bonaire is just above Venezuela....yep...long flight. But you can get in 5 dives a day easy if you have the stamina. And, I dont think buddies are hard to find there.

Rich

WOW! I can stay for 2 weeks with them for what one week would cost me at one of the other resorts! I am going to look into them Rich. I've also got a line on a live-aboard from someone else.

Thanks!

 

[baltimoron]

You might be able to get there pretty fast, actually. I took the liberty of choosing some random dates and doing an Expedia search. (I know... I'm wierd, but this is one of my favourite passtimes.) Air Jamaica flys out of BWI to Bonaire with a connection in Montego Bay. Only takes about 5 hours. Now, if you get up early, you can take a nonstop Air Tran flight from ROC to BWI, get on the Air Jamaica flight, and you're in Bonaire by 3:30 PM. Now, you can leave Bonaire at 4:10 PM and get home by 10 or so. All for the grande total of: 800 dollars. That saves lots of time and money then flying to ATL then to San Juan and such.

PM me wih more details, and I'll keep looking. It's fun!!

 

[Derek S]

You might be able to get there pretty fast, actually. I took the liberty of choosing some random dates and doing an Expedia search. (I know... I'm wierd, but this is one of my favourite passtimes.) Air Jamaica flys out of BWI to Bonaire with a connection in Montego Bay. Only takes about 5 hours. Now, if you get up early, you can take a nonstop Air Tran flight from ROC to BWI, get on the Air Jamaica flight, and you're in Bonaire by 3:30 PM. Now, you can leave Bonaire at 4:10 PM and get home by 10 or so. All for the grande total of: 800 dollars. That saves lots of time and money then flying to ATL then to San Juan and such.

PM me wih more details, and I'll keep looking. It's fun!!

Will do tonight when I get home from Job # 2. Thanks! :14:

 

[Hank49]

Have you considered the Philippines? It's far but once you're there it's pretty cheap and the marine life has about 10 times the diversity of the Caribbean. When I left there in 99 a dive was US$14 on Boracay. When I got to Belize it was about $40 here.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

I would have to vote for Cozumel for several reasons:

Shorter flight time: NY to Houston ( )--Houston to Cozumel (2 hrs. 30 min) and only one connection.

Excellent exchange rate. Even with the dollar bouncing up and down you get better than 11 pesos to the dollar.

Tons of places to dive: Reefs, a couple of wrecks, shallow to deep walls and even shore diving. You can start on the shallow flat reefs and work your way down as your skills and confidence improve. Plan on 80 to 100 foot vis.

Lots of places to eat and yes you go to the Chedarui and buy your own groceries cut in your room (electric skillet, stove, etc.), go out and eat or do an All Inclusive.

And finally there is very little crime.

Jim