OK I'll work on breaking this down a little further:
What’s the little lady do on land? Is a sandy beach a big deal? Do you want to be near a city, or does rustic seclusion appeal? Is shire diving a big draw, or just boats? Is there an animal that’s important to see (e.g. sharks)?
Taking a non-diver complicates things. Is she cool with you being off diving a lot?
Richard.
She is quite happy to sit on a sandy beach with a book while I dive my face off all day and some nights. As long as I am there and enjoying myself, she is super easy going with it. Yes, non-divers definitely complicate things, but with her it's a complication that I can definitely live with. I will even skip the occasional dive to go do a little exploring depending on the location.
As for me I like boat diving, being the solo diver, boat diving usually throws you into a group so you have built in partners. As for the marine life, as long as it lives underwater I like it! I enjoy taking pictures of things underwater that other people care to look at, unlike my work photos.
COZ if you've not been yet!
I have contemplated this already, but really know very little about the diving/operations/resorts/etc there.
While waiting for some of that criteria, I will give you my .02 cents based strictly on what you have outlined as priorities so far.
In no particular order: Bonaire or Grand Cayman.
If Bonaire, we can give you a long laundry list of places to stay to get your fix.
If Grand Cayman, I think that list is considerably smaller and would be relegated (for me) to places that you can stay and shore dive from.
I took my wife some years back to Grand Cayman on her first ever dive trip and we logged 29 dives in 6 days. That would not have been "conveniently" possible if we were not staying somewhere that had on site and decent shore diving.
The same goes for Bonaire- you can easily dive day and night "24/7" - but for convenience, you'd want to stay somewhere that is waterfront and Bonaire has way more of those places than Grand Cayman does. And apart from the cost of getting there, Bonaire is way less expensive to do that much diving-- if cost is a factor?
Both of those have been on my list recently (along with Belize). For some reason the cost to fly to Bonaire is sometimes triple the cost to fly to grand Cayman from here! I really liked the convenience of AKR, just show up, put your gear in the locker and show up in the morning to start diving. No setting things up other than adding your name to your boats next dives and ordering meals off the menu!
Yeah, I'm being lazy. I just want to fly there, dive till my ears hurt then get on a plane after drinking my weeks worth in one night after the diving is done...
