Where to dive?

[twothumbs]

I live in NYC area and have heard good things about Cozumel, however its not easy to get there. You either have to stop in Houston or Atlanta or fly into Cancun and then get to Cozumel. Either way, its about 7-8 hrs of travel time. I am only going away from a Wed and returning on a Sunday.

Any other destinations that travel is direct and easy would be great! I am looking for an all inclusive hotel w/ a dive shop at the hotel.

I have heard mixed reviews of both Jamaica and the DR.

thanks

J

 

[oly5050user]

I live in NYC area and have heard good things about Cozumel, however its not easy to get there. You either have to stop in Houston or Atlanta or fly into Cancun and then get to Cozumel. Either way, its about 7-8 hrs of travel time. I am only going away from a Wed and returning on a Sunday.

Any other destinations that travel is direct and easy would be great! I am looking for an all inclusive hotel w/ a dive shop at the hotel.

I have heard mixed reviews of both Jamaica and the DR.

thanks

J

See you are in NY ..Us too..
Jamaica has only fair diving in my opinion..Been to negril area and was not impressed at all..Dr don't know but if you want a dive vacation that would not be my choice..I set up trips both group and individual here in nY.Going next week to Costa Rica and taking 34 people there. In August have a small group to Key West for lobster season and to hang out,conch style...September putting together a group to Little Cayman,pm on anything if interested.

 

[twothumbs]

I have also been looking at St. Thomas, any suggestions?

thanks

J

 

[twothumbs]

I have also been looking at St. Thomas, any suggestions?

thanks

J

 

[ronrosa]

I live in NYC area and have heard good things about Cozumel, however its not easy to get there. You either have to stop in Houston or Atlanta or fly into Cancun and then get to Cozumel. Either way, its about 7-8 hrs of travel time. I am only going away from a Wed and returning on a Sunday.

Any other destinations that travel is direct and easy would be great! I am looking for an all inclusive hotel w/ a dive shop at the hotel.

I have heard mixed reviews of both Jamaica and the DR.

thanks

J

I can't think of any good Caribbean scuba destinations with direct flights Wed and Sun out of NY. :huh:

You might have to decide on so-so diving with direct flights or good diving and 1 stopover. From NY, 1 stop in Miami, Houston or San Juan will pretty much get you anywhere in the Caribbean.

 

[DepthCharge]

I live in NYC area and have heard good things about Cozumel, however its not easy to get there. You either have to stop in Houston or Atlanta or fly into Cancun and then get to Cozumel. Either way, its about 7-8 hrs of travel time. I am only going away from a Wed and returning on a Sunday.

Any other destinations that travel is direct and easy would be great! I am looking for an all inclusive hotel w/ a dive shop at the hotel.

I have heard mixed reviews of both Jamaica and the DR.

thanks

J

If you want some place with similar diving to Cozumel (drift that is), try West Palm Beach FL. Easy to get to and great drift diving. No walls tho. You can fly out in the morning and be there early PM. No all inclusives tho. but they do have some great errrrrrrrrr...........gentlemans clubs to spend your suface interval at.

 

[twothumbs]

does that mean don't go to St. Thomas? How about Nassau?

thanks

J

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Twothumbs,

Although none of them are anything really special, for diving I'd pick St. Thomas and Nassau over either Jamaica or the Dominican Republic.

On St. Thomas, Chris Sawyer's (http://www.sawyerdive.vi/) does a good job; on Nassau check out Stuart Cove's (http://www.stuartcove.com/); in the DR, go with Scubafun (http://www.scubafun.info/) down south in the La Romana area.

Best of luck.

 

[Sharka]

Hey, I live in NYC and I have been having the same problem considering where to go for a quickie trip. If the sole purpose of your trip is to go diving, forget a direct flight (unless you go with a group on a chartered flight). Only place I would consider for a quickie dive trip is the Grand Caymans (Little Cayman is great but too much flying, won't do for a quickie trip), Roatan, Provo or Cozumel. If you look at the connections at various airline, if you are willing to flying out at 5 or 6am from LGA/JFK/Newark, you can get to any of these places between 12 to 2 pm. Of course it's bit more time than I'd like to spend at the airport, but if you look at the schedule for a direct flight, they tend to leave later in the morning from NYC, so you get to your destination at around noon, hence you only have an extra an hour or two at your destination. For me that's not enough to compensate for the poorer diving sites. If you get your act together (and have no lost luggage, wait long time for transfer, etc), in any of the aforementioned locations you can do an afternoon shore dive by 3-4pm on the day of arrival.

But if you REALLY don't want to spend any extra time flying then I agree with Doc, St. Thomas will be your best bet.

By the way - if anyone know any ops that do chartered flights out of NYC to good diving destinations (like what the Canadians do from Toronto to Roatan), pls PM me as well, I am interested. Thanks!

 

[hammerhead man]

Cozumel is by far the best bang for the buck in my opinion. Other possibilities are Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos (Provo). However, there will probably be a stop over in Miami if you go to either of these places and I hate Miami airport. The flight from Miami to either Caymans or Turks would be short. I like the diving better in Provo because you can see big animals as well as the small reef fish. For the Cayman's I would suggest the east side of the islands for diving and for Provo, I would recommend diving with Caicos Adventures. Regarding resorts, there are not many all-inclusives in either Cayman or Provo but there are numerous all-inclusives in Cozumel. I have used www.bayadventures.com to book my trip to Coz; however, we book without the dives because I always use a local dive op, Luis Cabannas (http://www.cozumel-diving.net/luis/). For places to stay I would recommend you check on www.tripadvisor.com to get reviews on the resorts at any of the places I have mentioned. Contact me at wjames3@cox.net if you want any other info.

good luck

Bill