BDSC
Contributor
I've dove quite a bit in the Caribbean over all the years and Little Cayman and the Little Cayman Beach Resort is tough to beat. I think it's the best diving in the Caribbean. Easy diving with great food and great resort.
Where Next? To Repeat or Adventure On?
- Thread starter SquidSpotter
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
drrich2
Contributor
I suggest trying something new, at least every other trip or so. I did Bonaire 8 separate one-week trips and loved it, but eventually started branching out to other destinations both to diversify location (e.g.: similar tropical aquarium condition Caribbean diving) and to try new things (e.g.: the goliath grouper aggregation out of Jupiter, FL, the sand tiger sharks out of Morehead City, NC, a California Channel Islands live-aboard I just got back from with cold water but kelp, harbor seals, sea lions & a torpedo ray).
Consider that Bonaire and Anthony's Key Resort are bound to be very different experiences, yet you love both. What if you'd only done one but not the other? Who knows what else you might be missing out on?
Richard.
Consider that Bonaire and Anthony's Key Resort are bound to be very different experiences, yet you love both. What if you'd only done one but not the other? Who knows what else you might be missing out on?
Richard.
One great thing about diving is that no matter where you are, or how many times you have been there, every dive will be a different experience. No two dives will be the same, even at the same dive site. Enjoy the adventure where ever you go, and consider yourselves extremely fortunate to have an all diving family. Not many of us are that lucky.
- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,875
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
+1 for Curacao - it's basically a larger Bonaire with much easier entries - typically off sandy beaches with dive shops/facilities on-site. You can boat dive there also to Klein Bonaire and there's maybe 1/2 dozen boat-only dives but even some of the scheduled boat dives can also be done from shore easily. At one site mid-island we came up from a dive to find a dive boat tied off to the ball marking the site. www.curacao.com lists most things. Once you get 10mins. or so away from town things get pretty quiet and restaurants, food stores etc. get pretty scarce so plan accordingly.
If you're trying to stay shallower with the kids the BVI's are an option. Tortola is a little bigger and busier, Virgin Gorda smaller and quieter. Very scenic in the BVI's - excellent beaches, good restaurants but it's 100% boat diving so with 4 that could be pricey. We stayed on Virgin Gorda and used DiveBVI but bviscuba.org lists all the options there. Possibly Mango Bay or Leverick Bay Resort would be good for 4. Or a small villa on vrbo.com. Downside to Leverick Bay is that while everything is there - it's a solid half hour drive back to "town", the ferry port etc. And the Baths - a tourist attraction/snorkel restaurant area - 10 mins. past that. From Mango Bay it's maybe 15mins. drive to DiveBVI's main shop. It's a smaller island with a permanent population of about 3K so not much traffic.
Diving is mostly shallower, a lot "greener" than Bonaire or Roatan - more fans, soft corals etc. Turtles everywhere and we probably saw 10-12 reef sharks over 10 days. DiveBVI lists depths on their sites - at some of them the "feature" either breaks the surface or comes very close. The only deeper dives are the wrecks - their wreck alley is 80-100' since it started with a real wreck. The signature wreck is the Rhone though - even your 12 year old could do it. Not much over 70' anywhere and the back half runs uphill so the photogenic prop could be less than 40? Dive Sites – Dive BVI
You get there by flying into St. Thomas and taking the fast ferries over - takes an hour or two. They're so reliable you can leave the last morning for a flight that afternoon - my friends did. Ferry Schedule in the BVI Since St. Thomas is a major cruise port, there's often reasonable flights. Expect long lines on Saturday though at the airport as they all arrive/go home.
If you're trying to stay shallower with the kids the BVI's are an option. Tortola is a little bigger and busier, Virgin Gorda smaller and quieter. Very scenic in the BVI's - excellent beaches, good restaurants but it's 100% boat diving so with 4 that could be pricey. We stayed on Virgin Gorda and used DiveBVI but bviscuba.org lists all the options there. Possibly Mango Bay or Leverick Bay Resort would be good for 4. Or a small villa on vrbo.com. Downside to Leverick Bay is that while everything is there - it's a solid half hour drive back to "town", the ferry port etc. And the Baths - a tourist attraction/snorkel restaurant area - 10 mins. past that. From Mango Bay it's maybe 15mins. drive to DiveBVI's main shop. It's a smaller island with a permanent population of about 3K so not much traffic.
Diving is mostly shallower, a lot "greener" than Bonaire or Roatan - more fans, soft corals etc. Turtles everywhere and we probably saw 10-12 reef sharks over 10 days. DiveBVI lists depths on their sites - at some of them the "feature" either breaks the surface or comes very close. The only deeper dives are the wrecks - their wreck alley is 80-100' since it started with a real wreck. The signature wreck is the Rhone though - even your 12 year old could do it. Not much over 70' anywhere and the back half runs uphill so the photogenic prop could be less than 40? Dive Sites – Dive BVI
You get there by flying into St. Thomas and taking the fast ferries over - takes an hour or two. They're so reliable you can leave the last morning for a flight that afternoon - my friends did. Ferry Schedule in the BVI Since St. Thomas is a major cruise port, there's often reasonable flights. Expect long lines on Saturday though at the airport as they all arrive/go home.
Last edited:
Coral_Reefer
New
Having been to Bonaire and just returned from AKR this week, I'd have to lean toward Bonaire, but it depends on how crazy your kids are on diving.
You have junior divers, so I think Bonaire will have the better <60' diving options, although certainly Roatan has plenty. But AKR is very dive focused. Three/Four dives per day (if you want), and the other activites (Zip-Line, Dolphin Encounter) will only go so far to keep them occupied. No TV but good internet. In Roatan with young kids, you'd really want to be in the resort most of the time, and I'd worry they'd get bored. I feel Bonaire would give you more around the island options if you weren't diving that day, and would be safer overall.
You have junior divers, so I think Bonaire will have the better <60' diving options, although certainly Roatan has plenty. But AKR is very dive focused. Three/Four dives per day (if you want), and the other activites (Zip-Line, Dolphin Encounter) will only go so far to keep them occupied. No TV but good internet. In Roatan with young kids, you'd really want to be in the resort most of the time, and I'd worry they'd get bored. I feel Bonaire would give you more around the island options if you weren't diving that day, and would be safer overall.
OP
SquidSpotter
Registered
my kids have been to both. we like them for different reasons. we did ALLLL the things at both places--ziplining, dolphins, horseback riding and diving at AKR, and donkeys and flamingos and restaurants and diving in Bonaire. We love them both, but the kids got sick of hauling their own gear in Bonaire (my then 14yo who is now 15 not so much, but the 10yo girl got real tired. she is now 11). The hammocks in AKR are still a conversation piece with them. They think of cabin #54 as "ours" and want to go back to the same one. I might have just answered my own question...
and yeah--they're pretty crazy about diving. fearless. love night dives, even. nuts.
Belize for sure... We did a liveaboard with our 15year old and he had so much fun, gained some valuable experience and diving was super easy. Top that with a few days in the jungle, ruins and ATM cave are so amazing and a must see for young and old.
Coral_Reefer
New
my kids have been to both. we like them for different reasons. we did ALLLL the things at both places--ziplining, dolphins, horseback riding and diving at AKR, and donkeys and flamingos and restaurants and diving in Bonaire. We love them both, but the kids got sick of hauling their own gear in Bonaire (my then 14yo who is now 15 not so much, but the 10yo girl got real tired. she is now 11). The hammocks in AKR are still a conversation piece with them. They think of cabin #54 as "ours" and want to go back to the same one. I might have just answered my own question...
and yeah--they're pretty crazy about diving. fearless. love night dives, even. nuts.
If they are dive nuts, then yeah, I can see AKR. The do make it pretty easy!
Similar threads
