Best place for diving on a budget?

[415Gem]

Tboxcar Just got back from 30 days in the P.I.`s. Wow!!! Paradise. The Philippines is the place especially if you are a single man. $20 nice htels room 2 star with a/c cable TV and a refrig in rooms. Boat dives from $10 with 45 min boat ride and DM with beverages and fruit ( Moalboal) to $16 ( same as above ) Alona Beach and Malapascua. $20 ( same as above ) Apo Island ...actually Dauin ( El Dorado and Atlantis ) was the most I paid fortanks. Rooms were $15 to $20 a night. Food ...It`s hard to spend $10 a day... really! Will go back cause of Tubbatha Reef plus 7,000 plus islands. The Filipino people are so kind...though so poor $ 2.50 USD for 8 hrs labor??? An amzing trip, I feel so grateful to have seen such amazing marine envirement. Oh yeah 80 degree water. Nice. Thrseher Sharks, Whale Sharks, Mantas,Turtles, Banded Sea Snakes, schooling barracuda and jacks in the hundreds. So many fish...that you fell like your in a museum. If you can get to the P.I.`s ... I used FF miles NW 60,000 miles ...it`s so cheap. I think I spent 2 K , 30 nights , 75 dives , 5 airfares within P.I.`s. Priceless.

 

[GlasserinD]

Thanks to this thread, I have some local diving lined up. I'm looking for some warm weather diving too. Seems like cancun airfare is cheaper, is there shorediving in cancun? Do they charge to shoredive?

OK - here's the deal. If you have free air travel or milage to burn, then Bonaire is a good choice. Almost all dives except those on Kline Bonaire (an island off the island) can be reached by car and shore diving is awesome. Next - regarding Cancun. DO NOT go to cancun to dive!! - unless you want to take a side-trip and dive the caves - or cenotes south of Playa del carmen. A great excursion, but some are afraid of the cave diving experience. If you are going to Mexico, go to Cozumel. Wilma did some damage, but not that noticable underwater. The hotels are still in pain, but there are deals to be had in the downtown area, they need the dollars, and the food and drinks are cheaper. Lastly, I might suggests a cheap trip to Southeast Florida. Skip the keys and dive the Palm Beaches and the treasure coast (jupiter, Juno). Hotels are clean. Dollars are taken. English is spoken. This time of year the water can be a bit chilly, but for a Chicago boy, you can take it. Florida has turtles, great sea-life, sharks, lobsters, etc. On a budget - it's hard to beat, frankly. Be sure to BUDDY UP! - It's a big ocean. Have fun, Eric.

 

[Kirkandtiger]

Pulau Weh, Sumatra, Indonesia; Dahab, Red Sea, Egypt; Perhentian Islands, East Coast, Malaysia; Aqaba, Red Sea, Jordan; Utila, Caribe, Honduras. All great diving (ok, Utila isn't great, but still really good), and cheap (especially Pulau Weh). For SE Asia and Middle East, it is best to spend at least a few weeks to offset the high cost of airfare. Thailand, however lovely of a county, doesn't have the best diving (and I dived the best they have - Similans). Closer to home, yet colder, I did a trip a couple months ago to dive the wrecks off Milwaukee, and really enjoyed it. - Kirk

 

[cowdog77]

Wow, terrific thread!

Yep, Scubaboard rocks all right ~

 

[m3830431]

Have you checked out spots around Chicago? Water's cold, but there's some great diving up there in the Great Lakes!! (Lake Michigan, right?)

Alex

FWIW.

Diving usually good until your auger is to short to get through the ice.

 

[jaydub]

So far of the places I have been able to dive I would say okinawa is the top ranked spot. But then again I have been able to dive many places. Okinawa, belize, and sea of cortez.

 

[cleung]

I would think that some of the most affordable diving would be in the Florida Keys. Although there's not much shore diving, the dive trips are reasonable and the cost to get there won't be as much as island destinations. Also, one can stay in budget hotels in Florida City (I have an article about Keys diving in my website).

If the cost of travel can get you to Cozumel, the diving there is reasonable too.

 

[AXL72]

1. There is no shore diving in Cancun, because there are no good reefs off the beaches. In fact, you have to sneak through a "couple's" resort at the south corner of the hotel zone for some not too exciting, scattered coral heads...the only coral close to shore. Not worth the effort, in my oppinion after snorkeling there.

2. Cancun does have boat diving, which I was pleaseantly content with.

3. If you are truly on a poor man's or woman's budget, I would recommend funjet to get you to Cancun, taking a bus ride to Playa del Carmen, then taking the ferry to Cozumel. It will take you a few hours, and will be a major pain in the booty lugging your luggage around, but whatever works for your budget.

Once in Cozumel, you may have to stay at a hotel that is purely for sleeping (not diving or anything else). For shore diving, you may not be impressed with Cozumel. However, I heard a rumor about good shore dives at the southern end. It just seemed like a pain to me to get to them. Try to get a package deal before you get down there for boat dives. Paradise Divers may be within your budget if they offer a package deal.

4. ALL MEXICAN BEACHES (except the "parks") are FREE FREE FREE per Mexican law. You may have to walk through hotel lobbies, which are technically private property, to get to some of the beaches. However, once on the beach, you are on public Mexican land. Feel free to use the palapas (palm umbrellas) and beach chairs that are owned by the hotels, while you are on the beach.

 

[JC Fedorczyk]

Blackbeard's. It's not shore diving but it sure is cheap.