my .02,
Nassau might be a good option but it's all boat diving. But short rides out to the sites. There's only two dive operators one of which is Stuart Cove's. They do a shark feed, and dive some shallower wreck sites. They're used to new divers as they get a lot of cruise ship divers. The downside of Stuart Cove's is they're on the south side of the island and Nassau/Paradise Island is on the north. So about 45mins each way on a
free shuttle twice daily. The other diveop, Bahama Divers is just off Paradise Island.
The BVI's are a good alternative. But pricier. Mostly boat diving, but shallow and interesting. One of the most diverse for day to day diving.
An interesting trip would be to fly into St. Thomas, spend a couple days diving there, quite a few wrecks and better than average 60' or less diving, then hop on a fast ferry from the East End over to Tortola or Virgin Gorda. That way you don't have any flight obligations and can dive the day before. The last morning it's possible to leave Virgin Gorda on the ferry to make a 2PM flight out of St. Thomas to Miami, my friends did it.
BVI diving is shallow, very interesting and Dive BVI is an excellent operation on Virgin Gorda. In a week of diving we saw turtles, about 1/2 dozen sharks and big schools of fish. On some of the islands one side is the Atlantic and the other the Caribbean so it makes for an interesting mix. We did one dive where there was a huge baitball of Silversides caught in a current and watched as barracuda and other predators had lunch.
On VG you're not going to find a lot of affordable accommodations though, Leverick Bay is a less expensive option. And you'll need a car to go to town or the Baths (snorkeling among huge boulders - look it up) from there. Some gorgeous beaches but not much to do on VG other than diving or sailing though.
The signature wreck there is the Rhone, which may be the best wreck in the Caribbean, as it's around 70' deep or less. Sawyer's Diving even does it from St. Thomas as an all day trip. And the other islands, the Dogs, Cooper, Norman etc. have some of the better shallow water diving I've seen. Tortola might be a better option it's a couple hours closer to St. Thomas, offers the same diving, and more affordable accommodations with more to do at night..
Bonaire would be a good option but with a catch. It's called the
shorediving capital of the Caribbean which it is as far as
convenience but it's not the easiest entry/exit when diving from shore. Most - not all - entries are over ironshore and coral rubble, harder to do when new, trying to balance your gear and plan your entry/exit points. And no gloves allowed.
The upside is that there's also great affordable boat diving and every dive resort is on a good dive site/house reef with a dock. So start with those dives and "graduate" to shore diving by yourselves later in the week. We spent one day just diving the resorts after I sliced up my shin doing an entry. Most diveops put a DM in the water also.
All sorts of reasonable accommodations at the dive resorts or condos. Even the condos have dive packages. But food is pricier there also.
Or you could just go to Curacao...Same diving as Bonaire, it's on the same reef. With much easier entries, a lot of the shore dive sites are flat sand beaches. And daily boat diving from the dive resorts, most of which also have dive docks and facilities that make shorediving by yourselves a breeze. Also just about every shoredive there has some sort of facilities, at most you pay a small fee for lockers, rinse facilities and improved access to the water, most have a dive dock for easy entry.
There's also the Dive Bus on Curacao, it's escorted shore diving, they pick you up and go to some of the better sites. So for slightly more than doing it yourself, you get a guide and good diving. And they're just the best people also.
All sorts of dive resorts, regular hotels or condos in all price ranges. There's a couple dozen hotels in town and several all-inclusive dive resorts farther west, more isolated but better diving. And there's a 1PM AA flight from Miami daily. Food is priced more reasonably, what you'd typically expect to pay in the Caribbean.
An expensive thrill on Curacao is the dolphin dive through Ocean Encounters. $200pp for a 1/2hr. dive with a pair of bottlenose dolphins. You go out 100 yds. offshore on a boat, get in the water at 30-40' and wait for the dolphins to settle down. Then they come over and interact with you for up to 1/2hr. depending on their mood. It's pretty cool to get sonared. And are they fast...
A good thing about Bonaire or Curacao is that it's really hard to get lost shorediving. The reef parallels the shore about 100 yds or less offshore and it's obvious when you're going the wrong way as it all falls away deeper. So determine which way the moderate (if any) current is running and swim into it for 1/2 your dive then ride it back to your entry point. And the visibility is so good that generally you can spot the marker ball lines easily. The water is usually flat calm also.
hope my 4AM ramblings help,
The BVI fit them as well, and on the trip we took, we had five novice divers (two of whom did their third and fourth open water dives the day before the trip began) and there were no conditions we encountered that taxed them at all.
