Folks,
I took a trip to Old Providencia Island and for those of you who want great diving, nice local beers, a great beach and fresh fish with coconut rice all at great prices this is the place to go. If youÃÓe looking for nightlife and gourmet restaurants this is not the place to be. OPI reminds me of my first trip to the Caribbean back in the early 1980s.
I dove with SonnyÃÔ Dive shop and stayed at SonnyÃÔ Cabanas. SonnyÃÔ is a great dive shop. Best rental equipment IÃ×e ever seen. Everything I used was just about brand new. Only Albatross Charters in Cozumel comes close to them. Though in fairness to most of dive shops I pick most of the gear is very well maintained though it might not be the newest. I loved the adjustable reg that SonnyÃÔ uses, plus they had a new fat guy BCD. IÃÎ not a gear head so I donÃÕ remember the brands.
Trips to dive spots are short and in open 25ft or 32 ft boats with center consoles for the dive equipment. You will get wet esp. if the wind and tide are making a decent chop.
I went diving 7 days and the groups were always split. Experienced divers were dropped in one spot, newbies or groups were dropped in another. My group usually had at least one dive master on vacation in it. On all the dives we only saw another dive boat once. There are three shops on the island and within 15 minutes of walking from each other.
Dive masters are all great. Look in the dictionary for for a picture of a guy who loves life and Avelino's (sp?) picture is there.
For those of you in the northeast US reading this use Tad Miller (he posts here) to help with your connections b/c getting there took two days. I had to stay on San Andreas overnight. Tad set up everything the diving, rooms on SAI and OPI and the cabs. He also booked my flight from SAI to OPI. If Tad wasnÃÕ as knowledgeable as he is I never would have taken this trip.
The only thing I would change is not to have any meals included with my room fee at SonnyÃÔ. There are 7 restaurants within 5 minutes walking distance and several a short scooter or a cab ride away. If you go with family rent a golf cart to get you to the nearby beaches and restaurants.
The rooms are simple and very clean with AC and about a 1/5 the price of the Del Cameron affiliate rooms. Since I only sleep in my room the price was right. They also have a TV and a fridge. They are a 5 minute walk to the beach, probably 2.5 minutes for a 10 y.o. Once you get to the beach there are multiple beach bars, drinks are very cheap. I couldnÃÕ imagine why IÃÅ pay 200+$/night for a beach hotel room when I was paying 45$. IÃÅ rather stay the 5 days with the money i saved. Please note I did get a special rate as a single and b/c they were not fully booked. I think it is about 90$ for a couple. Yep there I was sitting outside the 250$ rooms and ruining their view! ÅÐh, look dear there is a short, fat, hairy guy sitting right outside our window isnÃÕ that exciting?
You also need to throw your watch away or figure out how to set it to island time. Only the dive shop seemed to use a watch and once you left that all bets are off. If you are an early riser looking to go for coffee good luck! SonnyÃÔ has is at the shop but I get up a ~7am and I couldnÃÕ find anyone serving. When IÃÎ working I get up a 5:45 am so 7 is sleeping in.
Most people should be able to get to the top of the peak and walk around Santa Catalina island. When you go to Manzillo (sp?) Bay I ate at the first place on the right The ladies who run it let me pick my fish from the ones that being cleaned as I got there. Cost for 1 large yellowtail, the best rice I had, salad (shredded carrots and ??), fried plantains and 4 Castinita (175 ml) (sp?) beers -> less than 10$US. I couldnÃÕ finish everything. A couple I met stopped there on my recommendation and when they received their meals they had put 2 snappers on each plate. The reason given, ÅÕhey were kinda small same price. They live outside of London so they were stunned.
Great place to go. I don't think you can go wrong since there is a wide range of prices for hotels.
I'll put a picture or two up.
cheers - markt
