Resort advice for June 2012

[crispix]

Hi,

I'm looking for recommendations for a 6 or 7 night stay stay at a resort for end of June / early July 2012. I've done a bit of research. I'm wondering if I've missed any prospective resorts.

Criteria:

1. "Barefoot luxury" suitable for divers and non-divers. My wife does not dive. The resort needs to be intimate with good or great food, excellent service.

2. Good diving -- it doesn't need to be great diving, I'm just happy to be in warm water, but great diving is a plus. Full service is a bigger plus, where I just show up in the morning and my gear is rinsed and ready to go.

3. All-inclusive is a plus. Bungalows are a plus (opposed to hotel rooms or condos). Buffet meals are ok for breakfast / lunch, but dinner should be full service.

(Yeah, I'm picky.) So far I've found two places that I think fit our criteria:

1. Southern Cross Club, Little Cayman. Looks really good, great reviews. Biking around the island sounds like fun, too.

2. Curtain Bluff, Antigua. Also looks good, a bit more luxury, but it sounds like diving in Antigua kind of, well, sucks. Also seems a bit more family oriented, and we will be without kids for this trip.

As a point of reference, we've been to Kona Village Resort in Hawaii, and we found it to be near-perfect for a diver and non-diver. The resort was intimate and relaxed with a perfect balance of casual luxury. Something like Club Med, Beaches or Sandals is the wrong direction -- don't want mass-produced mega resorts. Anything like Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton is also the wrong direction (I'm picky, but not that picky!)

Any other suggestions for resorts on other islands?

Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

Maybe one of these?

Barefoot Cay, Roatan - Roatan Resort | Luxury Beach Bungalows & Private Villas | Barefoot Cay Resort
Utopia Village, Utila - Utopia Dive Village | All Inclusive Resort, Scuba Diving, Fishing and Spa on Utila, Bay Islands Honduras
Lodge Kura Hulanda, Curacao - Curacao Beach Resort | Lodge Kura Hulanda and Beach Club | Curacao Resort
Harbour Village, Bonaire - Harbour Village Luxury Hotel Bonaire

 

[sharknut]

Gran Bahia tulum/akumal was pretty good, all inclusive and it came with a la carte meals. The resort in on the mayan riveria (mexico) and had its own dive shop. You can hit up the cenotes, riveria reefs, whale sharks and cozumel all in the same area.

 

[sharknut]

whoops, didnt realize this was in the greater caribbean section, my bad, lol, ignore the last post

 

[crispix]

@sharknut, on the contrary, thanks for the post. No need to limit this to the Caribbean. We could end up in Fiji for all I know. Mexico is certainly in the mix.

 

[Scoober]

Since the world is your oyster: Palau Pacific Resort. Only problem is that the diving doesn't suck--it's some of the best you will find anywhere on the planet! But seriously, the difficulty is the long travel time. If it is an option, Google the resort. And if you head that way, let me know and I can give you the scoop (but in any event, dive with an off-site operator, as the on-site operator really mainly caters to Japanese divers).
You also mentioned Fiji. One of the greatest places I have been! Plenty of luxury (eg, Jean Michelle's place on Vanua Levu), and more causal (eg, out in the Yasawa Islands), and my favorite for the diving--Kadavu.
For the best beach with the best sunsets anywhere--but mediocre diving--Boracay, Philippines, is un-beatable! Talk about barefoot paradise!
For closer to home, perfect beach, quiet resort, amazing Cenote diving (but mediocre ocean diving), the resorts on the Tulum, Mexico, beach are tough to beat!

 

[divejay]

On Grand Cayman, "off the beaten path" is Cobalt Coast Dive Resort which has an all inclusive package for divers and non-divers. It has all the full service ocean front luxury suites and Northwall boats dives and awesome shore diving best in all the Cayman Islands right out your front door. The restaurant has a great menu plus an fresh catch of the day. Once a week they have Lion fish on the menu. You can walk for miles in either direction on the beach and not see a soul. There are shaded beach chairs for reading a book on the beach. There are also many land adventures as the Turtle Farm, Queen Elizabeth Bontanic Gardens, Georgetown shopping, horse back riding, bike around, Rum Point, Stingray City and etc.

Being at this dive resort you will always be able to find a dive buddy for afternoon and night dives right out front. They also have a second shore diving shop at Lighthouse Point, 2 miles from the resort, which they run a shuttle when requested. The deep wall is close to the dock and you will fall in love with the canyons and swim throughs.

All Inclusive Food, Drinks and unlimited Diving 24/7.

 

[divejay]

Stayed at Cobalt Coast all inclusive resort, Grand Cayman. I had two young kids with me and a wife. There was a great dive shop on property. I took a rescue diver course with Toni, who was just a pleasure to work with, Very clear and concise and patient. The boat dives were great, boat trips from the resort made less time away from the kids and people at this resort tend to be more seasoned divers which made for in my opinion a more pleasurable dive experience. They were safety concious but also let you do your own thing, Shore diving was very awesome as well. Would not hesitate to go back to the resort or with Divetech. I've been with three other dive shops who all were good on the Island, but this is the best one by far I've used, and I would go with them again.

Visited October 2011

 

[Ravzie]

Agree with dive jay!! CC was awesome. The hub and I were there last Dec.

 

[Willar]

Take a good look at Couples Negril (Jamaica) and Iberostar Grand Paraiso (near Playa del Carmen).

Couples service is top notch on par with anyone in AI-class. Not a huge resort, "World's Best" beach, good dive op. Diving around Negril is very nice, been diving there for years. You won't see huge fish but the water is extremely clear, 84F in June, little current, nice reefs, some cool swim-throughs and a couple of airplane wrecks nearby. Service is excellent, food very good. Diving included in the price.

IB Grand Paraiso is one of the best on Riviera Maya coast. Diving in the area is very good but not as clear. Mostly reefs but you do have one cool wreck and cenotes are very cool. Dive shop is Dressel Divers, excellent crew with instructors if you want any certifications. Dive groups can be large but will work with you if you want a small group. Dressel is extra cost but buying a package ahead saves 15% at dresseldivers.com . IBGP has a reputation as outstanding service. We stayed at the lesser IB Paraiso Lindo next door and loved it.

I'd put these two up against anyone else (unless you're talking extreme $$) because they both have great features for the non-diver.