Newly certified, where should I go for a solo trip??

[boulderjohn]

Bonaire is known for its great shore diving, so if you go there and want to take advantage of that aspect, you will need to find a buddy and be confident of your dive planning and navigation skills. Keep that in mind.

I am going to agree with Dennis and disagree with some of the suggestions from other posters.

My wife is an avid snorkeler but a non-diver; consequently, we vacation in places that are good for her and good for me. I have therefore done hundreds of dives in many locations as an unattached diver. I am quite used to it, and I have some suggestions.

In general, if you choose any location that focuses on boat diving, you should not have a problem. It is really easy to walk onto a boat as a single diver and find someone to dive with. It happens all the time, so people are used to it. In many cases, if there is a DM involved, he or she will make sure everyone is buddied up. In some places, like Cozumel, DMs are required, and everyone must stay together as a group. Sometimes you have a specific buddy; sometimes you don't. The important thing is to scout out the area ahead of time and pick out the operator who is right for you and your level of ability. Some operators cater to beginning divers, some operators cater to advanced divers, and most are somewhere in between.

Things can be different if the area focuses on shore diving. Before I went to Bonaire (about 8 years ago), I scouted things out carefully by participating in several dedicated Bonaire forums. I said I would be going as a single diver, and I asked for and received advice on getting buddies for shore diving. When I arrived, in our orientation we were told that our resort had a system for matching up single divers so they could buddy up on shore dives. They also said that if we were having problems getting those dives, we should contact them for help. I used their system, and I made zero contacts. I guess I was the only unattached diver there--it sure seemed like it. I believe every other person at the resort was part of a group, and those groups all had plans of their own. I had bought a package that included a certain number of boat dives, and those were no problem. I did get some shore dives in with some of the people I met on those dives, but it was not easy. The helpful tips I got from the forums yielded one shore dive. I contacted the management at the resort for the help they promised for those having trouble finding buddies. They told me to purchase more boat dives.

 

[diversteve]

As well as being more advanced diving, Saba would be rough for finding a buddy unless you lucked out. There's only 3 dive ops, a few small rental properties, one, maybe two small hotels and virtually nothing else to do there except hike. Not even any beaches as the entire island rises out of the ocean.

Just about everybody non-resident on Bonaire is a diver or with a diver. So I don't see how you couldn't find buddies. Buddy's Bar would be filled with them every night - so would Habitat's next door. As would City Cafe downtown except it's closed - those people all must be going somewhere...

Wear a dive t-shirt on your flight and you may have some options b4 you even arrive. We also made tentative plans with several people on our boat the first couple of days. None worked out although twice we arrived at a dive site in time to see them packing up and leaving. Later another couple told us they'd seen us at two different sites - there's nothing unique about us either.

I spent the entire flight to Roatan a couple years ago talking diving with a guy next to me, he offered that I could join him/wife for diving - not realizing that my buddy was across the aisle - and that we were going on to Utila.

And I'm hardly the most outgoing person you've ever met.

 

[boulderjohn]

As well as being more advanced diving, Saba would be rough for finding a buddy unless you lucked out. There's only 3 dive ops, a few small rental properties, one, maybe two small hotels and virtually nothing else to do there except hike. Not even any beaches as the entire island rises out of the ocean.

I went there as a single diver, and it as the same as just about any other place I ever went as a single diver--as long as it focuses on boat diving.

I got on the boat, met the other people on the boat, got acquainted, discussed the buddy situation, and went diving.

I was only there one day, flying over and back from Ste. Maarten. My non-diving wife went with me. We checked in at immigration and customs, and the agent stamped our passports and directed us to the individual taxi driver who would take us across the island to the dive operator with whom we had reservations. My wife spent the rest of the day in a variety of locations, including climbing the mountain. She was taken to each and picked up by our taxi driver. One time he had been to the grocery store, and my wife went with him to his house to drop them off. She met his wife. At the end of the day he took us to the airport, glanced at his penciled scratchings on a scrap of paper, and told us what we owed him. It was a mere pittance, so we felt obliged to leave a healthy tip.

It as a great trip, and I would go back in a heartbeat.

 

[ScubaDoo83]

Ok so I'm going to narrow my search to boat dives as they seem the most relevant to my situation. Right now location is still up in the air but Florida/Caribbean is looking pretty good....

 

[Pyro_]

As a new diver I found that belize was good. Also enjoyed blackbeards live aboard

 

[drrich2]

Here's a link to my trip report from diving Key Largo last September with Rainbow Reef Dive Center. Some high-lights for you:

1.) Budget as dive trips go, overall.

2.) 20 Boat trips crammed into 5 days with guides provided at no extra charge.

3.) Aside from the optional trips to deep wrecks, mainly shallow reefs in warm water with good viz., appropriate for newbies, and nice corals, plenty of fish and usually a 'hard bottom' (not swimming over an abyss, which bothers some people).

4.) At least out of Nashville, cheap airfare.

5.) Stayed at the Courtyard Marriott & they were at the end of the parking lot.

6.) You stay in the U.S., so laws, road rules, etc…, are mostly what a U.S. citizen is used to.

7.) Getting put with somebody on the boat was no problem.

It would be a great way to get a bunch of fun ocean reef dives in fast, without breaking the bank.

Richard.

 

[ScubaDoo83]

Impeccable notes there Richard, much appreciated. I'm gonna price out this exact trip for myself and see what it comes to. What's life on land like there for evening time?

 

[drrich2]

I don't get out much, but there are restaurants you can drive to. And of course, mainland Florida isn't far. From what I understand, Key West is more the party destination, but Key Largo is said by some to have the better diving.

Richard.

 

[boulderjohn]

There is a lot to be said for the Keys for new divers, especially Key Largo. A lot of the dives are shallow, but with pretty decent reef and fish. There are a lot of dive operators going out of there, so you have good choices. I am not much on night life myself, but I know there are bars where people hang out, etc.

 

[diving4ever]

14 Hours LAX to Fiji???????

Try 10 1/2 hours, not 14.

Maybe not if you include the layover and flight to Suva which is where the Siren is.