Looking for destination advice - March/April 2024

[Cheryl Petreman]

Except Belize where the reefs are too far from the mainland. So your choice is (1) liveaboard (2) diving from the mainland with very long boat ride and just a few reefs to go to, and (3) dive from resort on some atoll, however, these are too relaxed to my taste. Last time we checked, though awhile ago, they were all doing 2 dives a day.

see Trip Report - Itza Resort, Long Caye, Lighthouse Reef, Belize Itza offers 5 dives/day & will soon offer nitrox

 

[Paul Desmarais]

If you really want to try a live aboard, consider Egypt. The live aboards are much less expensive, more than making up for the increased cost of the flight, and the reefs, if you go south along the Egyptian mainland - Elphinstone, Brothers Islands, Fury Shoals, Daedelus and St. John's reefs are in excellent condition with lots of fish. People say there are lots of sharks, and some people see them but in 80 dives in Egypt, I saw three sharks. I saw more sharks , lemons, reefs, nurse, and bull, diving Jupiter and Riviera Beach in Florida in one day than two years in the Red Sea. Lots of turtles, reef fish, eels and macro stuff in Egypt though, lots of rays, and whale sharks are not uncommon.

Dive Mania, out of Hurghada, the owner, Haitham Afifi is a good guy, runs live aboard trips of a variety of lengths, so it might be possible to a combination of shore diving and live board on one trip. You can find him on Facebook under Dive Mania. I know he has a trip running to dive the Thistlegorm wreck soon. You can mention my name - I dove with Haitham a lot, though not recently. I relocated to the U.S. in 2021.

If you want a shore diving experience, Marsa Shagra, with Red Sea Diving Safaris is excellent. The house reef,with unlimited shore diving, is very good, comparable with Bonaire (I went with my wife in October) in terms of quality and types of sea life. As far as Bonaire goes, you can't go wrong there. I loved it. The boat dives are all short rides, with relatively calm seas, with only one boat per dive site, so no people soup.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Any advice? Any suggestions (destinations, hotels/resorts)? any other locations we should strongly consider?

Seems like LCBR would tick all of your boxes...... There is the 30 min flight from GC to LC but not really a big deal since you're already starting out from MIA.

Myself and a buddy recently had the same exact discussion on where to go this year and we'll be at LCBR from April 24 thru May 3. Our wives are sitting this one out so just the two of us. Since your buddy prefers boat over shore diving, LCBR is basically all boat diving off of really nice Newtons and their "valet" assistance makes it all super easy. Three dives a day plus a couple of night dives. No real nightlife on LC other than the resort bar which is just the right speed for us.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @jejton

You may want to consider Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers on Grand Cayman. Direct fight to Grand Cayman. 7 night-6 day from $1990 pp and includes accommodations and hotel tax, 6x2 tank dives (can add more, no shore diving, nitrox extra), breakfast, rental car, full kitchen for your cooking. There are restaurants, some may be able to deal with your restrictions. Ocean Frontiers is a great operator.

 

[chillyinCanada]

True Blue Bay Resort, in Grenada, diving with their onsite Aquanauts. (No shore diving to my knowledge)

For my next suggestion, you don't get the best of the Belizean reef and there's no shore diving available but it's good diving, nonetheless.

Stay at Mayan Princess Hotel and dive with Amigos out front. Also take Amigos 3 dive day trips to Turneffe and/or the Blue Hole Halfmoon Caye to see the best of the Belizean reef. Long days but on comfortable boat. They do feed the divers but could probably accommodate you bringing your own lunch. The day trips will also show you the diving rhat you could expect if you choose to stay out at the Atolls for a next trip.

 

[chillyinCanada]

A Caribbean liveaboard that shows the best of the dive sites not easily accessed by staying on land, is Turks and Caicos Explorer. This doesn't suit your criteria but might suit you personally to try a liveaboard in the future.

 

[Ajddiver]

Did you make a decision? My buddy and I are also having the same conversation (and have been 2 through threads her too). We were planning to head to Freeport, Bahamas, as it was an easy hop, but AA took away our nonstop except sat-sat which is too long for this one. We aren’t that excited about Nassau with only Stuart’s Cove operating there and after reading many of the posts here about Nassau diving.

We are going to Bonaire in 2 weeks (with the families), which we are excited for and I can let you know thoughts on that trip afterward too if it helps.

But we are looking ahead to try and get a quick 4-5 day trip in somewhere “close” from the east coast in May (we see in NC).

 

[Doctorfish]

Little Cayman Beach Resort, Cayman Brac Beach Resort and Compass Point on Grand Cayman would all meet your needs. I've been to all of them.

Bonaire is not just shore diving.Many of the dive lodges like Buddy Dive, Captain Don, offer daily boat dives as well if that is your preference.

Of the three places in the Cayman Islands, Compass Point will be a little less expensive and will not require a second flight. I know that LCBR and CBBR will accommodate some dietary restrictions.


At Compass Point the rooms have a kitchenette, and there is a good grocery store just down the road.

 

[bmag78]

Ok so we had to postpone this trip to end of May. Still trying to decide on a destination. Overwhelmed with conflicting advice. Once again, we are looking to a dive focused trip (beer with some music at the end of the day would be nice). Preferably a direct flight from MIA/FLL (a hopper flight to final destination is acceptable), dive resort or resort/hotel with a good dive op close by would be great (would prefer to avoid having to make transportation arrangements for each dive), boat dive with shore diving mixed in, 3 dive trips/day goal (that can include a shore dive), night diving available. Whats not important - food (we will be packing our own), nightlife (no clubbing for us, but some evening entertainment always appreciated), luxurious accomodations (won't turn them down but as long as its clean, safe and has running bathroom/shower water we will be fine). Budget, with airfare and accomodations, up to $5,000 (less is preferable). Not a necessity but if I can use Chase, Marriot or Hilton points towards accommodations, that would be great.

Keep going back and forth between Roatan, Bonaire, Curacao, Cozumel and Bonaire.
This is what I've been getting
Cozumel - lots of options for dive ops, accommodations, flights. Almost all drift diving. Not the biggest fan of drift diving as we like to stop and smell the roses when seeing something interesting. Not a deal breaker but definitely a factor.
Bonaire - I'm fine with shore diving but my buddy would prefer more boat diving on this trip for ease of entry
Curacao - More of a family vacation with good diving, then a dive vacation in and of itself
Roatan - Lots of boat diving, few shore dives, mixed reviews on dive resorts (seems like AK and CCV are the ones most people use but they seem to only offer AI packages and we don't want to pay for food we wont be eating).

Any advice? Any suggestions (destinations, hotels/resorts)? any other locations we should strongly consider?

Despite the advice of one poster above , liveaboards in the Caribbean are far more convenient and economical than land based. Not even close. If you want to do 27 dives in Turks it will cost you 10K. The liveaboard under 4K , room , board and 27 dives.
The Caribbean explorer week is less than 3K plus air

Consider Explorer Ventures in Turks and caicos or the itinerary from St Martin to St Kitts (or vice versa). If it's a dive trip you want go liveaboard. And both are short hops from Miami.