Toddler, Preschooler, Hubby and Me (non diving Auntie too)

[diverjen]

Hi Guys! Departing from Denver, CO...

I have been out of the water too long. For better or worse decided last year to move instead of a dive trip and now its been three years since we have been diving (minus the pool). We were really hoping to plan something this fall but with the pandemic it will likely be next spring or summer. We have traveled with the baby and the preschooler with my sister a couple of times to San Diego for work/play trips and probably should have just figured it out to dive La Jolla or Catalina but I digress....

Ok so I am looking for reccs in the Caribbean (or maybe Hawaii) to take this circus with on a dive trip.

About us, we were avid snorkelers until we certified so we have snorkeled Curacao, Belize, Roatan, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Akumal, Mexico years ago.

We got certified in 2011 and have done 3 diving trips to Bonaire and 1 trip to Anilao/Puerto Galera. We have slightly over 100 dives, but we will need to take an advanced refresher here before leaving and want "easy" diving. We have a crap ton of United Miles. I lean towards heading back to Bonaire but the last time I was there in 2017 I did an East Coast dive and thought, hmm this is fun maybe we should dive some other places.

I have read the boards a lot and here is what I am thinking about:

1. Wait until after July 30 2021 (seems like forever from now) and our youngest will be 3 and our oldest 5, go to Sunscape Curacao. The only two downsides I see to this is no United flights and maybe for better or worse too similar to Bonaire.

2. Beaches Turks and Caicos

3. Piece something together in Maui

4. Costa Rica - how is the diving? I am getting mixed reviews.

7. Leave the kids at home with Auntie and go to Belize Atolls or Little Cayman

OR: I know that Roatan, Grand Cayman, and Coz all have good family options - I just don't know how I will feel diving them compared to Bonaire... happy to hear your thoughts on this.

OR: somewhere else I am not thinking of?

Overall expectations are to get about 10 dives in a week long trip and have some family and beach time with the kids, probably with my non-diving Sister in tow to help with the kids while we dive in the mornings.

Thanks for sticking with me! So so lonely

 

[rick00001967]

i think bringing someone along to look after the kids so you guys get time for yourselves is a great idea. i know people who were able to do this and it works out well for them. unfortunately not everyone can afford to do this.

if you were looking to keep costs down by shore diving, curacao def has some great spots. grand cayman as well. although cayman ain't gonna be cheap.

with the mexican peso being so low right now, that may be a good option. not sure where it will be valued by next year though. we like coz and playa, but the shore diving is not what bonaire, grand cayman, or curacao would be.

 

[Rickk]

Some of our best vacations with kids involved taking the in laws. That gave us 4 adults and 2 kids, everyone had a chance to enjoy being with the kids, being able to do adult things and the kids really loved the time with the grandparents.

We were in just about every combination, a kid alone with each adult, two kids one adult, two kids 2 adults and all 6 at a time.

No one ever felt constrained by having kid responsibilities and yes the resort had youth programs so sometimes the adults could be together while the kids went off and met other kids from around the world. ( 20+ years later my daughter is still in contact with a girl from the UK.)

 

[diverjen]

Some of our best vacations with kids involved taking the in laws. That gave us 4 adults and 2 kids, everyone had a chance to enjoy being with the kids, being able to do adult things and the kids really loved the time with the grandparents.

We were in just about every combination, a kid alone with each adult, two kids one adult, two kids 2 adults and all 6 at a time.

No one ever felt constrained by having kid responsibilities and yes the resort had youth programs so sometimes the adults could be together while the kids went off and met other kids from around the world. ( 20+ years later my daughter is still in contact with a girl from the UK.)

We did this with our now 4 year old when she turned 1 and it turned out pretty well. We went with my Dad and MIL to Bonaire for a week. They are both divers and so we did a combo of trio diving and just couples. It was great and worked pretty well, although I don't know that I could ever convince them to do it again. I think my 1 year old completely overwhelmed them and they live on the other side of the country so they are not used to watching them. My sister on the other hand has traveled with me about 3 times now and sits for us occasionally so she is very close with the girls. The biggest challenge there is making sure she can have a great time too and not just feel like childcare or its a big favor she resents.....