Warm water, easy logistics trip

[Hintermann]

Another 2 votes...no, make it three for Little Cayman Beach Resort. It is all-inclusive without appearing to be so. The layout of the resort is extremely diver and any other guest friendly, dive shop & pier very close by, nice pool, fun bar with all the cocktails and good grub (plenty of it too, in the buffet). The island is too small for any guest with a wanderlust to disappear. And of course, the diving is great.

Have not been there myself, but from what the others say, Coco View Resort in Roatan might also fit your bill.

 

[tomfcrist]

Lynne, Many others have mentioned the obvious spots, But here's a doozie for you.

GRENEDA!!!!

Try these folks: Rates: Dive Package - True Blue Bay Resort, Grenada Hotel

The dive shop is Aquanaughts : Dive Grenada with the Scuba Diving Center Aquanauts Grenada - Home and is owned by a nice German couple. There are all sorts of diving possibilities here, from rec to tech.

I believe its a $80 per person/per day charge to make the trip AI, but if you are taking a decent size group and wish to do the double occupancy or even triple occupancy room sharing thing, you can get a great deal!

Hope this helps,
Tom

 

[Tigerman]

As Philipines has been one of the destinations, I take it that distance is not so much of an issue and then Id say the red sea is quite convenient...
If you want to stay in a hotel and have easy access to dive boats and nightlife - Sharm El Sheikh. Travel there might cost a bit, but the diving is relatively cheap
A more relaxed atmosphere, but imo also not quite as good diving, can be found in El Gouna...

 

[Bat-Fish]

LCBR does look pretty enticing, but the shore diving on Little Cayman is very limited. If any at all. Grand Cayman has great shore dives, but I can't locate All-Inclusive options. Although the restaurants there have been excellent. And some of the "local" establishments off the beaten path are fantastic, and a pretty good bargain. Due to weather, I wasn't able to dive the North or East sides, so for me, that's reason enough to want to go back.

 

[diversteve]

Sunset House and Cobalt Coast are more or less Ai's - you can add a meal plan at Cobalt Coast. Due to location - I would. Sunset House only bundles breakfast/room/diving but you can walk to downtown Georgetown from there. Cobalt Coast is on the north side so 15-20mins. from anything.

Divetech at CC is a more technically focused operation. Winter in GC can be hit or miss on the North Wall though which IMO is the better diving. They'll move boats south and shuttle you around as needed. Both Divetech locations also have a good shore dive with Turtle Reef right between them - an even better shore dive. Caymans are pricey though...

Many of the Bonaire resorts are almost AI - they bundle accommodations, truck rental, dive package and some include breakfast. The Plaza Resort there is a full-AI - the Invasion was there. The Divi Flamingo also can be done as an AI since they offer optional meal plans. Practically every place you can stay there has a dive package with someone though - most have an onsite operator and a better house reef. Not a lot else to do there though for non-divers if you have any. Buddy Dive is a very popular option here also - there's also Habitat next door - either could easily handle a group. Harbour Village is the most upscale resort there.

A little easier to get to might be Curacao. It's the same diving as Bonaire but on a bigger island. Sunscape is the AI but I don't recommend it for divers. Lions Dive can be done as an AI with a meal plan but there's 4-5 restaurants within walking distance also and many more 5mins. away (driving) downtown.

There's a couple other AI resorts on Roatan also, Reef House, Fantasy Island or with a smaller group - Barefoot Caye is very nice, Barefoot Divers is a valet dive operation. Any kind of larger group and you'd fill it though - there's only about 6-8 villas and several studio lofts.

All are on the south side so divable all year. Reef House is more basic than AKR or Cocoview and FIBR is ? - not sure what the current status is - it's been bought and sold a couple times recently. Someone posted the resort was remodeled last year but not the rooms?...My friends stayed there a few years ago and it was tired, no hot water, exposed electrical, poor A/C. As they were leaving new A/C units were being delivered.

Laguna Beach would be a good option for a group, they have a mix of accommodations, a couple shore dives, beach and a pool. One of our shops runs a trip there almost yearly. Deep Blue only has 10 rooms - 2 double beds each. No pool. Utopia Village is a little more upscale than either of the others. Pool and one of the better restaurants on Utila (there's not a lot of competition...lol) All 3 are a short boat ride from "downtown" Utila. If it looks like an option, go in mid-spring and snorkel with the Whale Sharks.

Any sort of group size you'd have to charter a plane (easily done thru Morgans or Worldwide Travel), flights into Utila are limited by the size of the grass strip. The biggest planes Sosa/CMS lands there are small overwing turboprops. Also there's no lights so you have to arrive mid-afternoon to clear customs b4 the 1/2 hr. flight over. Many people go thru Roatan, there's good connections from a couple of US hubs. A diver we met at Deep Blue was from your area (Portland), he had a very convoluted - and long - set of flights to get there.

 

[Hintermann]

I think the food in LCBR needs a special mention. Being from Europe, I often found the food in most Caribbean liveaboards and dive centres a bit too rich for my palate. But the buffet at LCBR got it just right and what's more, there is a lot of variety. On more than one meal round, several of us filled our plates with goodies along the 'main' buffet line only to find more delicious stuff around the corner where the curries and carveries were displayed. I often wished that I had a bigger stomach!

 

[RJP]

Bonaire would be my recommendation, assuming travel from PNW is not particularly onerous. Plaza - as Steve mentioned above - has AI option. Several other places offer add-on meal plans as well or, at minimum, have on-site restaurants so folks don't NEED to scatter for meals. (Whenever I'm on a group trip... I like to "scatter" every once in a while.)

Bonaire also gives you great flexibility for diving among a group. Plaza - and others - with several boats offers morning and afternoon boat dives as well as a nice house reef, and one of the few "sandy" beaches on Bonaire, in addition to a nice pool. Accordingly folks who want to do six dives a day can, and those who want to do two morning dives and then sit on the beach or by the pool will also be happy. You could even have a few people get a package with a truck and then anyone who wants to "dive and drive" can do that to.

 

[TSandM]

I'm really dubious about Bonaire. Not all of our guests like shore diving, but most of all, I've read just one too many stories about anything from flip-flops to car batteries being stolen at the dive sites. NOT up for being marooned somewhere because my rental truck is undriveable due to theft.

 

[RJP]

I'm really dubious about Bonaire. Not all of our guests like shore diving, but most of all, I've read just one too many stories about anything from flip-flops to car batteries being stolen at the dive sites. NOT up for being marooned somewhere because my rental truck is undriveable due to theft.

Easy enough to do five dives a day between boat dives and house reefs.

A little prudence and common sense goes a long way to avoiding any theft issues, though I've not heard about car batteries.

 

[drrich2]

Theft and other crime can occur most anywhere. It truck battery theft were common, we'd hear a lot more complaining about it on the forum. In Bonaire, the simple truth is, you don't take anything in the truck that you're not taking underwater, leave the doors unlocked & windows down, and the overwhelming majority of the time, you're just fine. Some restaurants would need advance notice to handle a large group.

For reasons that are entirely unclear to me, my husband has gotten into organizing and leading dive trips.

Hard to hit a target if you don't know where to aim. I'm not sure what he wants to do, or what customers he is wanting to offer it to. Some brainstorming questions, in case any of it jogs an idea that might help.

1.) You have to have a target demographic customer. We need to know what that is. Newbies, or veteran divers? Budget trips, or folks with more discretionary income? 7 Day trips, or can these people take 2 weeks off, no problem? What's the longest travel time you think they'll tolerate? By the time I get off a 4 hour flight to Bonaire, I'm wanting off bad! Will these mainly be people you guys know personally, or feature a lot of strangers? Does Peter plan to make money teaching classes to people on the trip?

2.) Will your target demographic be solely divers diving? Do you need stuff for non-diving spouses to do? Put another way, if you had to choose between Anthony Key Resort (which per the web site offers excursions) vs. CocoView, or Belize vs. Cozumel, the availability of cruise ship-like variety excursion options might matter. Anybody bringing kids?

3.) Type of destination. Mainstream offerings that appeal to (& are affordable by) many? Cozumel, Bonaire, Roatan, Grand or Little Cayman. More exotic places that offer something new to the somewhat seasoned diver? Raja Ampat, Philippines, somebody already mentioned Grenada, I haven't been to any of those, but are you out to offer trips to places most people have never been & wouldn't go alone?

4.) Have you been following any of the threads about Dominica (not Dominican Republic)? Sounds lush and beautiful topside, with real good diving, if I believe what I read, and is a place most people have not been.

5.) Are you only interested in warm water destinations? Would something like the Galapagos entice you to make an exception?

6.) Is this mainly a fun 'local club' thing, or a money maker? If the former and you've got a good network of friends, fine. If the later, what is there 'special' Peter is going to offer that others aren't? Why book with him? (I'm not being snarky; I enjoy both you guy's posts on the forum. This is a marketing question you guys need to answer if you want to make good money selling to strangers).

7.) Would Peter make an exception to his 'I don't sleep on boats' stance to dive the Socorros or the Galapagos? Destinations where you need a boat for the best experience?

8.) Are you mostly interested in recreational trips, or are you planning any degree of tech.? I hear people dive deep at Truk Lagoon, for example. Overhead cave diving is another options.

9.) Has it got to be an exotic trip? Hitting Jupiter, Fl, for the lemon shark migration or, for warmer water, the goliath grouper aggregation, ought to be easy to do. What about wreck diving with sand tiger sharks out of Morehead, NC? Long boat rides out & back on the latter. Check out Jupiter Dive Center and Olympus Dive Center. Key Largo offers lots of fine shallow reef diving, and some deep wreck diving - Rainbow Reef Dive Center ought to be able to accommodate your group (my trip report). Oh, here's my Jupiter trip report.

10.) From a quick range of choices:

When the range of choices are driving me mad, I like to pick one representative of each place, do a quick rough draft design of a trip, and quickly compare, including cost (airfare via Orbitz, and hotel prices while you're at it). If Peter had to pick from this selection:

1.) Buddy Dive (or the Plaza), Bonaire.

2.) 7 Days at CocoView (to dive hard & shore dive, too, or Anthony's Key for non-diving excursions), Roatan.

3.) Scuba Club, Cozumel (or, for affordable housing and big tanks, Aldora Villas with Aldora Divers).

4.) Your week in the Philippines (probably a 2 week trip due to travel time).

5.) 1 Week live-aboard in the Galapagos hitting Wolf and Darwin?

6.) 1 Week live-aboard in the Socorros?

7.) Goliath Grouper aggregation out of Jupiter (staying at Jupiter Waterfront Inn like I did)?

8.) 1 Week in Key Largo, staying at Courtyard Marriott, diving 2 2-tank trips/day with Rainbow Reef Dive Center? Non-divers can rent a car & head to Miami and elsewhere to do other things.

11.) Here's a wild idea. Instead of taking your local boys & girls off sight-seeing, how about enticing the rest of us to come to you? You love diving Puget Sound, right? Yeah, it's cold water I'd be drug into screaming, but what if you guys orchestrated a group dive trip to come stay there at a local hotel in a good location, and took people on guided boat dives yourselves in your 'own back yard,' so to speak?

Richard.