New diver First dive vacation Where to go??

[heatherohio]

My husband and I are waiting patiently waiting to complete our check out dives the first weekend in june. We are learning to dive in Ohio. No pretty reefs to check out, but looking forward to that day. We are looking for suggestions for some of the best tropical diving, carribbean, etc. LOCATION-wise, that will be good for us newbies. Also, we would gladly take recommendations for good vacation packages/outfitters for a dive trip to those destinations. Thanks for your responses!!!

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

Suggest you look at either Bonaire or Cozumel. Both fairly easy diving. As for vacation packages, I recommend you looking into http://www.bayadventures.com/. I have used them for several years and am very pleased with their services.

45 days till Roatan

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[booth22]

Wife and I just finished our first trip since OW cert. and first dives outside of lake diving in AZ. We spent a week on Utila @ Laguna Beach. We would highly reccomend them and Utila itself. The diving was great, especially for new divers used to mucky lakes, and the staff at the resort was more than helpful with any questions we had. I can only hope future trips feature the quality of service/staff we experienced. PM me if you have any questions, and you can get more info at www.utila.com

Booth

 

[heatherohio]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Does this outfitter include airfare from the states to the resorts. I am looking a all inclusive including air fare and dives.

thanks again!

 

[Doc]

No pretty reefs to check out, but looking forward to that day. We are looking for suggestions for some of the best tropical diving, carribbean, etc. LOCATION-wise, that will be good for us newbies.

Go to someplace, any place that is cheap to get to and cheap to stay at.

It will be a great number of dives (20 if you are lucky) before you'll be able to notice the difference between fair diving and good diving (in terms of reef life).

Go and log some flop-in-the-water dives. Get comfy. See a Squirrel Fish, see a Grouper. Notice where the reef is versus the surface.

Get some more dives. Get comfortable. Then,. and only then should youi consider some place that requires observational skills, underwater comfort and buoyancy control as a dive destination.

If you are within reach of Florida, try Nassau, Freeport Grand Bahama, etc. You can dive cheaply, a lot, and get that experience.

Bonaire is best done with careful observation and the ability to shore dive. Cozumel is cheap but has currents and drift diving, Utila require attention to minute critters to be enjoyable and is expensive to get to. Do them next trip- not this one.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

Yes, Bay Adventures will include airfare if requested. I always have them include it...they seem to find the best prices.

Not to contradict Roatanman, but our first dive trip was to Bonaire. Our second to Coz. We found them both easy diving for novices.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[oly5050user]

My husband and I are waiting patiently waiting to complete our check out dives the first weekend in june. We are learning to dive in Ohio. No pretty reefs to check out, but looking forward to that day. We are looking for suggestions for some of the best tropical diving, carribbean, etc. LOCATION-wise, that will be good for us newbies. Also, we would gladly take recommendations for good vacation packages/outfitters for a dive trip to those destinations. Thanks for your responses!!!

if you are happy with your LDS talk to them about it.If they are a PADI facility they can connect you with padi travel..I have always found that for going to a dive resort the prices given are always comparable or less expensive than many agency's or what you can do for yourself..If you like pm me and I will email your email address to one of the people that I know there to contact you,and answer any questions you may have...They can do a complete package..I book with them after trying others and there is a difference ..less problems with padi travel than others that we have used..we book padi travel ourselves and send anywhere from 1 diver to a current 34 on our costa rica trip in April 22.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I led a shop trip to Roatan this week and there were a few new divers along for their first warm water dives. Anthony's Key provided them everything they needed and the diving was great.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

If you want to start less extravagantly the Florida Keys are beautiful and you can go from .25 star to 5 star at your pleasure. The diving is great on Largo and Key West, I can only assume the remaining keys are the same. I plan to find out before I die I tell you that.

The furthest I've ventured so far is the Bahamas, they were great too. I'm holding off on Bonaire, Coz, Belize until the next couple years. Building up to it with this delightful cold-water diving But the Keys are nice for a tropical getaway without leaving the country.

 

[downdeep]

RoatanMan is truly wise. My first ocean experience was in Hawaii. I had a whole 14 dives logged and I thought I was a diving sack of hell. Looking back, I didn't know a parrot fish from Woody Woodpecker. And neutral buoyancy? Forget about it.

The easiest diving I have ever done was in Grand Cayman. It was expensive though.