Suggested Dive Trip with 12 year old and non-Diver

[j5rice]

Hello,

I was originally certified and did a family dive trip to Cozumel 25 years ago as a 17 year old. I recently got re-certified with my 18 and 16 year old sons and we did 2 dives on a family vacation to Costa Rica earlier this summer. My wife and 12 year old stayed on shore while we dove. Now my 12 year old is itching to go, so I'm getting (re) re-certified with him next month (August).

We would like to plan a family trip in December over Christmas break. Looking for recommendations for a good dive destination that will be good diving for a 12 year old recently certified diver, and will be fun for my wife, who has no interest in diving but is happy to go hang out in a beautiful location.

Any suggestions? We were thinking Grand Cayman or Turks and Caicos, but open to other suggestions! My parents (who dove for 10 years after our original trip 25 years ago) suggested Bon Aire, but I'm worried that would be good diving for me and the boys but less fun for my wife.

Thanks for any ideas.

Jeff

 

[davecampbell]

Curaçao

 

[FF / EMT]

Hawaii, the ABC islands, the USVI, the British VI,
Grand cayman is nice, and there’s some good dive shops there 2

 

[Doc]

December in the Caribbean is… well, at least it’s not November. Caribbean’s second wettest month with the Storm Season trying to settle down.

An oft noted fact -that if you’re bound to that calendar? Stay with Venezuela, ABC, Corn, Bay Islands. End of list.

 

[j5rice]

Tied to kids school schedule. Could potentially move to spring break (march). But wanted to do winter break (last week of Dec, bleeding into Jan). Thanks for the info!

 

[rick00001967]

st maarten, cayman, cuacao

 

[ScubaBunga]

When my boys were 12 and 10 ( 10 yr old certified just before trip but was already as aware as his older brother) we did curacao and did only shore dives (via Dive Bus rentals). It worked well and I was able to manage to keep an eye on both of them and plenty to see within the 40' kid limit (although we did pass this on several dives). Next trip a couple years later was to Bonaire and included several boat dives. Both sites are great with the kids as you can shore dive, vis is great and dive shops are very good. We had also done dives off of tampa, fl on bridge wreckage and simple wrecks - those were beyond the 40' depth and took time to find a shop that would take the boy.