Where to dive in December?

[tangfish]

Hi guys, I'm almost completely shriveled up from being out of the tropical water too long. I'm getting set to decide where I'm going diving next, and looks like December is going to be the month. Can any of you guys recommend good places to dive in December based on conditions (both weather and vis), prices and any other considerations you think are helpful?

Thanks!!

FS

 

[herman]

Come join me in Bonaire. Dec 4 to 11. A buddy of mine and myself are heading down. We had originally thought about Fla keys but after pricing it out and factoring in the possibility of being blown out several days Bonaire actually came in cheaper. We are doing the trip out of Miami for around $950 (air/room/diving..basically everything) plus food which typically runs us in the $20-30pp/day range (plus beer ).

 

[alcina]

It would be helpful to know what kind of diving you like to do and what your budget is...

 

[tangfish]

Hey, where are you staying on Bonaire? Can you send me the info, that sounds like a good trip you've got going on there, I think I can arrange to use mileage for the airfare too.. As far as what kind of diving, I guess the good kind! I love macro, I'm a photographer, drift diving is excellent. Not into wrecks. Basically I'd like to just see somewhere different. I've already done Hawaii, Coz, Belize, Bahamas, Cuba, GBR, Thai, Indo, Philippines and Malaysia as far as tropical goes, so places that differ in biodiversity and geology from those places. I write for a travel mag too so the more there is to say about a place the better!

 

[tangfish]

Has anyone been to Dominican Republic? I read one trip report that said good things.

 

[Padipro]

Why not look at South Florida. I mean anywhere between Palm Beach and Miami. I live in Ft. Lauderdale and the diving here can be fantastic all year around. The winter water temps are in the high 60's to low 70's, the air temps can be as high as the upper 70's and there is little humidity that time of the year. We have some great wrecks as well as reefs from as shallow as 20 feet to as deep as 250 feet. The flying time is much less then going to one of the islands, there's no customs to have to clear coming or going, there's no need to exchange dollars for something else and for the most part we speak the same language, Spanish.

Check out this site for a list of some of the sites around the area.

 

[herman]

We are staying at the Golden Reef Inn and diving with Buddy Dive. Most of the UW photography is macro. I am trying to learn to be a photographer. Here are a few links for you to look at.
http://www.goldenreefinn.com/index.html
www.buddydive.com
www.infobonaire.com
www.bonairetalk.com ( board similar to this one)

 

[diversteve]

Has anyone been to Dominican Republic? I read one trip report that said good things.

Isn't it the other half of the same island as Haiti? I wonder if it was damaged as bad and if they're ready for tourists yet.

I'd go to Bonaire, the macro opportunities there are great. We spent a whole dive filming clusters of corals and tubesponges at the Salt Pier and I've got some great video of featherdusters opening/closing at Cliff - during the day. And the DM's know where the seahorses are, ours did when asked. There's soft corals and fans and large purple tube sponges just about everywhere you go. We saw turtles and a family of squid in 25' of water so the light was great for filming.

You can drift dive at Hands Off (and other sites) off Klein and then for the shallower 2nd dive do the other side of Klein and see Turtles in the shallows. We also dove Forest and saw black coral at 70'. We also inadvertently did a shore drift dive at Vista Blue, the currents in the afternoon there were intense, so we kicked north about 15min. and drifted back to our entry point.

Look at last month's ScubaDiving, Salt Pier is featured in "The Great Dives" and Bonaire is #3 on the list of 10 best photo destinations, that says it all.

Steve

 

[RICHinNC]

hey herman....is this place the New place...or where you stayed last time??
rich

 

[tangfish]

How does bonaire compare with curacao and aruba? flights are easier to those two places and i might be going with a non-diver, is there much to do on bonaire, is bonaire that much better that I'd be kicking myself for going somewhere so near and not getting to dive there?