New certified diver...recommended dive locations to travel to to get my feet wet...

[wgw04024]

Hi,

I got certified last year in a group naui course in Maine. That went fine. I have been on a couple lake dives here in Maine, but that's it so far. Here is my question. I'm looking for recommendations on places I might be able to go that would be good for doing 3 or 4 days of diving, to get my feet wet. Continental u.s., carribean, etc. I see lots of places online, but I'd hate to get to a place, especially if I'm alone, and feel uncomfortable about it. You know, maybe they just have a great website designer Anyway, I was looking to maybe do this in April or May of 2014.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated. Whether it makes any difference...43 yo married male. May bring the wife if there's things for her to find that she can do while I'm underwater.

Thanks so much!
Bill-Maine

---------- Post added February 13th, 2014 at 01:58 PM ----------

P.s. My buddy who I took the class with took off and went to australia for 3 months, and is diving as I type this probably. Part of this is so hopefully he doesn't get too far ahead of me in experience so we can dive together this year.

 

[aeweems12]

If you're looking at April or May of this year you might consider coming to the Invasion. It's in Roatan April 26th-May 3rd and as of this morning there were 2 rooms available. There will be tons of divers from here meeting up for a week of awesome diving and social gatherings.

If that's not quite for you, I really liked Chuck and Robbie's in San Pedro, Belize. We stayed at the Blue Tang Inn, which is maybe 100 yards from the dive shop. They are great with beginners (I was one myself when I dove with them) and there will be plenty of things in town to keep your wife occupied.

Good luck!

 

[icechip]

Some good ocean sites right around you there in Portland/Casco Bay. By April, even a wetsuit will work.

 

[Benign-Chaos]

Key Largo, FL. I did my first boat dives last month after a summer of shore diving in RI. I went with Rainbow Reef Dive Ops and can't speak highly enough about them. The entire long weekend trip and diving far exceeded my expectations. My buddy from Maine went with me. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and drove down. Easy Peasy.
http://www.rainbowreef.us/

 

[Floribbean Divers]

If you would like to go to a great place that to me is one of the safest places for a new diver, Go down to Buddy Dive in Bonaire. The dive crew there is awesome to dive with and they really watch over everyone, not just the new divers. One of the Dive Masters there is named Murphy. He is known world wide. He not only will buddy up with you but he knows that reef like the back of his hand. The price is great and includes the condo, rental truck, breakfast and all the diving from boat or shore you will ever want to do. Voted best shore diving for many years in all the magazines. If you want to go some place awesome and safe definitely consider Bonaire. If you want any info PM me.

 

[diversteve]

Since your time is apparently limited - I'd look at locations you can get to from Portland without long flights/overnights. I don't think Belize or Roatan are. A quick check looks like at least one way is about an 18 hour overnight flight. Some had two connections. If you're hauling dive gear, I wouldn't do that personally. I get flight info here: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm You can't book but they have just about every carrier except Southwest. Google Flight uses the same data since Google owns it now.

Besides Florida two you might want to look at are Nassau in the Bahamas or Provo (Providenciales), Turks/Caicos. Nasau is about a 6-7 hr. flight thru JFK and Provo is similar for about $300 over the base fare of $600+. Both have excellent visibility and shallow diving with the option to do deeper wall diving later in the week if you feel comfortable doing so.

Stuart Cove's is the main Nassau operator. They'd shuttle (45mins) you from any of the Cable Beach/Paradise Island resorts so if you rented a car your wife could use it during the day. You'd want to since cabs are expensive. Your wife could look around Cable Beach, downtown nearby (big tourist market) and there's some really nice beaches. Also a fort tour if that's of interest. The other big draw on Paradise Island is the Atlantis mege-resort/casino/waterpark/dolphin activity etc. etc. etc.

Cove's does shallowerdives near their location including a paid shark feed. You can also dive sites near the shark feed to see them since they don't leave the area. There's a lot of wrecks that they've placed over the years also - some of the wrecks also harbor sharks. Bahama Divers is the other option - they're a lot closer on the shore side of the bridge to Paradise Island. A lot of Nassau dive traffic comes from the cruise port so they're used to dealing with divers of all levels.

Provo is pricier to stay than even the Bahamas. It's also IMO much more pristine and tranquil. Grace Bay Beach is called one of the nicest beaches in the world. There's local diving off that area (by boat) with a likelihood of seeing sharks - we did. Later in the week do a boat dive to West Caicos or French Cay - two deserted islands about 45mins. away. We saw sharks on every single dive at French Cay, at least two dozen stingrays, turtles, barracuda and lots of smaller critters in all the coral. The wall there is just stunning - drops away to 6000'.

Maybe St Thomas also - IDK about flights. It's shallow diving, lots of wrecks south of town and shallow diving in the Cays off the East End. You can also day trip over to St. John in about 1/2 hr. on the ferry. Charlotte Amalie is a big cruise port so dive operators are used to all levels of divers. There's also Bolongo Bay which is a dive resort on the beach - St Thomas Diving Club is onsite. A nearby shore option is Coki Beach - easy dive.

If you do go to West Palm/Ft. Lauderdale find someone here to show you around at Blue Heron Bridge.

hth,

 

[drrich2]

I had a great time last September diving with Rainbow Reef Dive Center out of Key Largo while staying at the Courtyard Marriot, taking 2 2-tank boat trips/day to cram 20 dives into 5 days, using their best price package deal of 10 trips (20 dives) for $600 (+ tax, came out to $640 something) + tips. Guides provided. A brief summary from another post of mine:

I did 20 dives in Key Largo; 3 Spiegel Grove, 1 Duane, otherwise reef & Benwood wreck dives. Average depth mostly 16 - 40 feet, clustering in the 20 something, dive times around 50 minutes, usually not much current but a couple of drift dives if memory serves. The deep wreck dives were much shorter, max. depths around 81 - 106 feet, with some current. And with Rainbow Reef Dive Center, I could do 2 boat trips/day, & got 20 dives in 5 days.

If you want to do the deep wreck dives, bring your AOW card. I saw a couple of guys I believe just had OW, and didn't have log books showing deep experience, either, and they didn't get to.

Here's a link to my trip report, for more info. Non-diver family might enjoy a trip to some area attractions, in Key West, Miami, etc... Can be a bit of a drive. This way, you're still in the U.S., you can rent a vehicle and it'll be automatic, we drive on the right side of the road, etc... Key Largo didn't have much in the way of a beach; I'm told there's something down in Marathon.

You said you'd hate to get to a place, especially alone, and feel uncomfortable about it. Which makes me think staying U.S. could work for you.

I've been to Bonaire, and stayed at Buddy Dive, too. Enjoyed it! In Bonaire, shore diving is a big deal and there's great opportunity. You drive a rental truck (stick unless you pay another $150 or so) up & down the west coast, stopping at various sites to walk in and dive. You won't recognize the road signs, and they have 'round-a-bouts' instead of 4 way stop sign intersections, at least in places.

Airfare to Bonaire is not cheap. If you're only diving 3 or 4 days, I'm not sensing this is your trip.

I did 4 dives in St. Thomas on cruise ship stops; enjoyed it, and there are some reputable op.s (Admiralty and Red Hook are spoken well of). That said, I don't think I'd go down there just to dive, when I can hit Key Largo.

So, if you want to get in some dives to keep up with your buddy, only have 3 or 4 days to do it, and you don't like traveling alone to some strange place where you're not comfortable, I'm thinking Key Largo, a trip like I linked.

If you're looking at a longer trip, but just 3 or 4 days spent diving, and you've got a wife to entertain, have you guys been on a cruise? I did 2 dives in St. Lucia and 2 in St. Croix on one recently, and I could've dove more had I wished (and been traveling alone...).

Richard.

 

[Silty Sam]

I would add my endorsement of Key Largo and Rainbow Reef. I am also a newly-certified diver from the Portland Maine area. I dove several days with RR around Christmas. We rented a townhouse. Everything was very close by. The boats and folks at RR were great. I didn't have a buddy, so I used their free in- water guide on wreck (I have my AOW and nitrox certs) and reef trips.

 

[spectrum]

Bill, your 3 local shops all sponsor dive trips. This has a lot of advantages. They know the destinations and can tell you want to expect. You will be diving with local divers and if your lucky some will at least translate into local mild weather dive buddies. You should end up with a stable buddy situation rather than a parade of random insta buddies.

By late May the local water and weather will be getting reasonable for diving wet. Before that it can be done but there critters are scarce and a brief dive is likely. On the other end you're good into Novemner.

Pete

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If you're looking at April or May of this year you might consider coming to the Invasion. It's in Roatan April 26th-May 3rd and as of this morning there were 2 rooms available. There will be tons of divers from here meeting up for a week of awesome diving and social gatherings.

If that's not quite for you, I really liked Chuck and Robbie's in San Pedro, Belize. We stayed at the Blue Tang Inn, which is maybe 100 yards from the dive shop. They are great with beginners (I was one myself when I dove with them) and there will be plenty of things in town to keep your wife occupied.

Good luck!

These are both good recommendations for beginners ... Roatan, especially someplace like CocoView where there's a "front porch" you can dive anytime, allows you to get in a lot of diving. And there's just no substitute for bottom time. The diving's easy, and there's lots to see. Belize was my first dive trip after I was OW certified ... San Pedro is a nice place to go, although the diving is limited to what you can do off a boat. The dives, again, are easy. And there are non-diving activities available.

I haven't been to one of the ScubaBoard "Invasions" since about 2005 ... and that one was a great way to meet people, hook up with other divers, and just have a lot of fun. I'd seriously recommend you consider it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)