I think Bonaire would be great. The easy entry dives will build confidence. Your swim out to the reef is over sand in crystal clear water to where the reef starts in about 20 feet of water. There is so much to see without going deep. The good thing is that there is a lot to see even in the shallow water on the swim out and you can let your son relax and take it easy. You can hire a DM/guide through any of the dive shops for your first few dives if it makes you more comfortable.
We took my 11 year old grandson to the keys last spring. He was so anxious about all of the firsts (first salt water, first reef, first boat dive) that he got sick. He was a trooper and made it through one dive. The next day he did not want to get back on the boat. We took turns sitting out with him for the rest of out long weekend. We have built his confidence back up with local diving, but will be very careful where we go on our next family dive trip. We will probably go to Bonaire. If we could have taken him on some nice slow shore dives in the Keys we probably could have recovered from the bad start, but they don't exist.
I definitely would not take a young inexperience child on a Cozumel drift dive. Too much happening too fast and I doubt you would really be able to stay above the 40' limit for a Jr OW diver.
Make your choice carefully, diving is a great family activity, but you have to have a location that will get your son off to a good start.
We took my 11 year old grandson to the keys last spring. He was so anxious about all of the firsts (first salt water, first reef, first boat dive) that he got sick. He was a trooper and made it through one dive. The next day he did not want to get back on the boat. We took turns sitting out with him for the rest of out long weekend. We have built his confidence back up with local diving, but will be very careful where we go on our next family dive trip. We will probably go to Bonaire. If we could have taken him on some nice slow shore dives in the Keys we probably could have recovered from the bad start, but they don't exist.
I definitely would not take a young inexperience child on a Cozumel drift dive. Too much happening too fast and I doubt you would really be able to stay above the 40' limit for a Jr OW diver.
Make your choice carefully, diving is a great family activity, but you have to have a location that will get your son off to a good start.