Shore divng

[dah466]

Looking for some advice on destinations in the Caribbean offering unlimited shore diving. A little background on myself. I started diving a few years back and discovered motion sickness and diving don't always go good together. I stumbled upon Bonaire and love it (no boats needed). I have been the last two years for 10 days each trip and it has lived up to my expectations. I would like to change it up this year and try a new destination. I realize I will not find something comparable to the ease of Bonaire's shore diving but there must be a close 2nd out there? My perfect scenario would be shore dive sites close to where I am staying if not out the front door with easy access to tanks. I don't want to drive a half hour to reach the nearest site. I do not mind diving the same two or three sites. I would probably schedule 4 - 5 boat dives over the duration of my trip but I don't want to commit to anything. These would be based on weather, location of site and number of people going. If the boat dive sites could be very close to where I am staying as well that would be great. I prefer a 5 minute boat ride over a half hour. I do not need an all inclusive but would stay at one if it made sense. I stayed in condos on Bonaire and love it. My first thought is Roatan but I get mixed reviews on the shore diving. Any info on islands, resorts, condos and dive operations would be great. Thanks! On a side note I am working on the motion sickness issue but have not found the miracle drug yet.

 

[diverjen]

I would love to hear the responses since I also love Bonaire for the shore diving, although I am not overly prone to motion sickness/sea sickness. The responses to this question I have heard before are Curacao, Cayman Brac, Grand Cayman, and St. Croix in the Caribbean and Tulamben in Bali.

 

[diversteve]

Curacao in some areas meets everything you want. Actually I think the diving there is better than Bonaire in most areas. There's also a marine park there that starts south of downtown - several dive resorts are in it. And there's condo complexes all along the coast line - most are adjacent to some of the better shore dives. Very few are on them specifically because they're public beaches but several are an easy walk to the dive operator/beach entry point.

In terms of ease of diving, Curacao beats Bonaire hands down except for the drive between some of the sites. Most are off beaches, have dive operators on site and some food options. Many will even offer to watch your vehicle since there is a theft problem there also - nice to be able to lock/leave stuff in the truck. I think the best dive I've done off either island is Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland off Westpunt in West Curacao. Go West Diving is on-site and there's both Lodge Kura Hulanda (upscale) and All West Apts. on the beach there. Marazul is a condo complex about one bay to the south also. There's 3 condo complexes overlooking Playa Lagun - another best of Curacao dive site. We rented duplex condos in Piscadera Bay and walked across the street to the Marriott/beach. Farther south in the Lions Dive area - they have some apts. that could be considered condos - full kitchens etc. And across the channel is Sea Aquarium Condos - they're on vrbo.com For nightlife in that area Mambo Beach Club is five mins. walk and downtown is 5mins. drive west.

If you carefully select both dive operator and site, many of the boat rides are pretty short also. 2-3 times during the week we saw dive boats moored at the same site we were shore diving so I personally wouldn't waste the money. There are a few specific dives that are good boat dives - Watamula is one. Since it's on the far west end, Go West Diving is the closest. Still going to be 10-15mins. by boat though. There's other options also. Caribbean Sea Sports at the Marriott in Piscadera Bay dives Blue Bay Wall - it's probably all of five minutes away since Blue Bay is basically the other side of Piscadera Bay. Some of the marine park sites to the south can be a longer ride but those you dive with one of two Ocean Frontiers shop - either at Lions Dive or Santa Barbara Resort farther SE which gets you closer to some of them. Again there's sites between both shops they both dive - like the famous Tugboat. We did it from shore also although we did see dive boats in the area - the wall around the point is a good dive. You can also leave the driving to the Dive Bus but they're priced like boat dives.

There's really no shore diving to speak of on Roatan outside of 4-5 resorts that each have one. Tanks for the other 2-3 public sites are extremely hard to find also. Inarguably the best shore dive there is Cocoview - you've got the Prince Albert wreck and Newman's Wall just off their property. Fantasy Island is across the channel so shares it. Reef House Resort has a shore dive and Anthony's Key on the north side has two - technically. You can muck dive in the channel between the resort and the key and there's a shallow (for a long way out) shore dive off the key. If that's enough shore diving for you, all 3 Utila resorts also have one. Laguna Beach technically has 2 with a surface swim - one from their dock and the other north of the property. And they have a muck dive in the lagoon channel the cabanas are on also. Not condos though - meals are at the resort.

diverjen's pretty much got your other options covered. There are a few shore dives possible from St John in the USVI's also but I wouldn't go there for that specifically. We did a few boat dives out in the Cays there and they were all pretty calm - in late spring.

On Grand Cayman most of the sites have on-site operators as well - the few that don't are few and far between. Some are downtown so that's a little ugly daily when the 4-5 cruise ships port. If you thought Bonaire pricey though - Cayman takes that to a whole higher level. There's hundreds of condos along Seven Mile Beach and while there's no diving there - some of it is 5mins. by boat just offshore. You see the dive boats moored out there - just too far to swim. Several of the operators have large flat-bottom boats that they beach so you can walk on and go dive nearby.

ShoreDiving.com - Your Shore Diving and Snorkeling Web Community! gives you an idea of destinations to consider also.

If you aren't set on the Caribbean, there's a lot of shore diving in Hawaii also. Maui's probably the best for that - about 40 sites and some are almost back to back. Many nice beach entries also.

 

[salth2owannabe]

No dive site advice, but have you tried the Scopolamine patches?
My wife has issues with any boat rides but she tried these patches a few years back and not a single issue since.
No side affects for her either.

 

[drrich2]

After Bonaire & Curacao, your options drop off dramatically. I haven't sampled the Florida shore diving, but Lauderdale By The Sea and Blue Heron Bridge might be of interest. There's more shore diving in Florida than that, but you'll need someone else to give you details.

Richard.

 

[morecowbells]

I completely sympathize with you on the whole sea sickness issue. I feel bad for my husband who would love to do a liveaboard to the Galapagos or Cocos Islands. It is difficult for me to tolerate being a boat for 20 minutes, I would rather throw myself on a sword than to eat and sleep on a boat with no land in sight. Alas, we choose destinations with shore diving or shorter boat rides.

- Cozumel. If you stay on the south end of the island, boat rides are 10-20 minutes max. Choose a dive op which uses a 6 pack fast boat-not a large, puttering cattle cart.

-Roatan. I have not seen much in the way of shore diving, although I am not familiar with the bigger resorts. I have stayed in both Sandy Bay and West Bay. Boat rides were tolerable and typically less than 15 minutes. Enjoyable diving, reasonably priced accommodations and beautiful topography are appealing. Number of fish not nearly as copius as Cozumel, Bonaire or Curacao.

-Saba. Zero shore diving. Boat rides short, however strong surge and swells were my Waterloo. Due to stunning topside, I would go back, but not sans Scopalimine patch.

-Curacao and Bonaire. Shore diving paradise! To summarize, Bonaire less driving, shorter distance to swim out to reef. Curacao, more driving, larger island, heavenly beaches and I agree with Diversteve that the diving was more interesting. More dramatic coral structures, frequent encounters with green moray eels and turtles. Another consideration is the abundance of flights(which are typically more reasonable) to Curacao.

I would like to try St. Croix soon. I have read positive things about the shore diving there, but somehow, I keep hearing Cozumel or Curacao calling my name

 

[choiahoy]

My wife also gets terribly seasick, so we've tried to choose our destinations to include shore diving, which also always helps keep costs down.

After Bonaire & Curacao, your options drop off dramatically.

I agree and would maybe include Grand Cayman, which is more similar to Curacao in that most shore diving locations have a dive shop on site.

But your best bet might lie outside the Caribbean in Maui and the Big Island. We're heading there this summer and while I'm not expecting Bonaire, I do think there's a certain extent of dive freedom in the sense that you can rent tanks and go shore diving on your own schedule.

 

[Damselfish]

My husband can't deal with most boat rides without the Scopolamine patch. There was a period long ago when it was off the market for a few years, and we wound up going to Curacao a lot. Plenty of shore diving, and boat rides usually short and flat enough that he could manage with only Dramamine. Obviously we could have kept returning to Bonaire too, but we prefer Curacao (we find a bit more variety in the dive sites, more interesting to us above water, and slightly easier to get to.)