Dive Destination Suggestions - Pacific & Caribbean

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What about Dominica, better or worse than Cayman or T&C? Also, I found prices to Bonaire to be sane as well, but we prefer to go boat diving on this trip.
there's nothing to stop you from boat diving in Bonaire.

As far a Providenciales, well there are other places I prefer to T&C in general, but it's commonly thought that the island of Provo itself is not the place to dive so you don't want to judge it by that. From Provo you want to get on a boat to West Caicos or maybe French Cay and places down there, or Grand Turk, South Caicos, Salt Cay. Basically anyplace but Provo for the most part.
 
Alright, looking into flights, the most sane destination I've come up with so far is Turks and Caicos.
I know you are looking for a land-based vacation, but you may want to consider the T&C Aggressor. It has snorkeling-with-humpbacks expeditions during your time frame.
 
Alright, considering Bonaire for a minute. Is 2 weeks quite a bit of time there? I'm thinking that maybe I fly into any of the 3 ABC islands and then do one week on one island and the other on Bonaire (probably Curacao for the other week?). What do y'all think? Is it a pain to go between islands with all the gear? Bonaire has been a dream for me for a long time, as I love shore diving, but this trip I want to pamper the girlfriend and thus the desire to do boat dives with handlers.
 
I'm a big fan of the Bonaire vacation, but I have found 2 weeks to be too long. If Bonaire diving has a flaw, it's the lack of variety in dive sites, and there's not a whole lot to do on land. I think 10 days is the ideal time to spend there. I boat dive when I am there, just because I'm lazy when I don't have structure, so the scheduled 9:00 am dive gets me moving in the morning.
 
Some people would love to spend 2 weeks in Bonaire, I wouldn't at least not anymore. Hard to say for someone else, depends what you like. I think there are 2 small airlines that fly between Curacao and Bonaire so doing both is a viable option. I haven't used either but they're discussed on other threads.

Shore diving of the sort where you drive around and lug your gear isn't my idea of vacation either and certainly wouldn't qualify as pampering for your girlfriend. But she might be happy mixing the boat dives in Bonaire with some diving off your hotel dock, which is about as easy as shore diving gets. Curacao same thing, though boat diving there is more common and IMO even more desirable because there are more good sites that either need to be done by boat or are much more convenient that way.


They tend not to "pamper" you on boat dives in Bonaire/Curacao as much as some other places. If you really want the valet service thing, if Little Cayman works for you someplace like Little Cayman Beach Resort might be good, good dive service and very relaxing place because there are basically no decisions to make - though you won't be restaurant hopping there either. Or on Grand Cayman, I get the impression there are a variety of smaller ops that give good service and are discussed on other threads but I haven't used them. (Lately I've tended to use Divetech, which is a very good op but pampering isn't really their style.) With 2 weeks you could spend a week someplace on the West End (closer to restaurants, shopping, and a few places have relatively convenient shore dives) and a week on the East End (still a few good restaurant options but you'll do a bit more driving. You probably wouldn't want to shore dive. Dive with Ocean Frontiers, that will be pampering. Stay on site at Compass Point if you want the convenience of walking to the boat, or get picked up at Morritt's or the Reef if you want more of a resort.) I don't know from Seattle, but from the East Coast Cayman has usually been one of the less expensive places to fly to. (But will probably cost more when you get there.)
 
What a great thread, lots of excellent information! I really enjoyed the Caymans and also BVI. You can't beat Palau! And if you like wreck diving I'd recommend Chuuk (Truk Lagoon). And why not Hawaii, you might be able to get a good price on airfare?
 
If I had enough money and enough free time I would book myself to go to Palau, no hesitation. What I have heard and seen of it, it seems to be the last piece of relatively untouched paradise on earth.
If you can get hold of the BBC documentary "Pacific Abyss", you'll see enough to be convinced! :)
 
Since you say you don't want to do a liveaboard, I wouldn't recommend Palau or Truk. You can't do either one (in my opinion) unless you are doing a liveaboard. Don't expect to be pampered at either place land-based, and the current at Palau and the depths at Truk aren't appropriate for newbies!

If you want to be "pampered" and land-based, maybe you should consider Curacao. Same type of abundant fishlife and reefs as Bonaire but more typical boat dives with shore diving available if you want. Not as much of a dive-dive-dive location. There are more things to do topside also, from what I have been told.

We loved Bonaire, especially the fact that at all the resorts you can just walk down the stairs into the water and do a fantastic dive! We did 1-2 boat dives per day, and 2-3 shore dives each day. Not much else.
my topside video:
[vimeo]1079594[/vimeo]

:D
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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