Recommendations

My GF and I are thinking about trying to get away around Labor Day. She is a newbie who just finished here AOW up here in New Jersey and she wants to go somewhere to do some warm water diving. I keep teasing her that that is Foo Foo diving but I want to make her happy. Having never been to the Caribbean I am looking for recommendations. We are looking for a 5 or 6 day getaway, a hotel on the beach, and a great dive operator. The cost shouldn’t be outrageous but I’m not looking to slum it either.

Thanks
Ty

While Grand Cayman and Cozumel are great dive locations, I think Nassau offers the best combination of "adventure" diving with lots to do topside (casinos) and is easy to get to from the East Coast.

You can stay at any range of beach hotels west of Nassau (casino) on the beach. There are a range of hotels out on Paradise Island from the Atlantis (casino, waterpark) to the Holiday Day Inn.

My favorite is the British Colonial Hilton downtown next to the straw market. It has its on beach and is next to the water taxi to Paradise Island.

The best part is that all of the major dive operators will pick you up anywhere on the Island (including Paradise Island) so you can skip the rental car.

My personal experience with dive operators is with Stuart Cove's. They are a large and professionally run operation with several boats. They are located on the SW part of the Island away from downtown Nassau. The onsite hotel, the South Ocean Resort is fairly nice and is on its own beach, but it is a bus ride away from the nightlife and shopping.

While Stuart Cove's offers regular one and two tank reef dives, their specialty are the shark dives and DPV wall flying dives. Many of the sites where they visit are along the Tongue of the Ocean, a 6000 ft. trench where the visibility is tremendous and sharks can be encountered frequently.

This is also the James Bond tour also as several of the wrecks filmed in Bond movies (including Thunder Ball) are regular dive sites. Pretty cool.

I'd suggest either Grand Cayman where there's lots of nice hotels along the beaches, a vast diversity of Dive Operators and great diving. Try Dive Tech on the more popular West Side or Ocean Frontiers on the less populated East Side. Bonaire is also a good choice; I'd suggest Toucan as a DO. Both these locations have fairly easy diving. I'd not recommend Coz for newbies as some of the sites have rather strong currents.

If you want some great diving - Cozumel is going to be hard to beat. This is the place that convinced my wife to become a diver. Great visibility (100+ feet), warm water and a lot of very nice resorts and hotels. Aldora Divers can take you on dives that will blow you away with bottom times exceeding 60 minutes being common. They will provide dive computers for those that don't have them so they can achieve these great bottom times.

I always book my Mexico and Carribbean trips with Sharon at Heavenly Holiday - she seems to know a lot about the area and never disappoints me with her recommendations. Check her at http://www.heavenlyholiday.com/

Isn't Labor Day the start of Hurricane season? Check that out before you decide which destination - some are more protected from the open sea (that would include the Caymans.) We liked Bob Soto's Diving on Grand Cayman. They have an annual "Cayman Madness" special that may be worth looking into.

I agree with Bigberg50 about Bonaire. Your can't go wrong with Toucan diving. I stayed at the Plaza, where they are the dive op. It's beautiful, but a little pricey.

I would recommend that you don't go to the Jamaica, the diving stinks and you'll get approached for drugs. I would recommend that if you are going to the Bahamas you don't go to Freeport or Nassau, unless you like natives coming up to you and your friends and asking if you would like to party have drugs, women, or anything else you can think of - (a personal experience). Bonaire would be good, any Cayman Island, the Keys, the Virgin Islands, Cozumel , these places might be a bit more than you want to spend but it'll be worht it.


Dive Safe
Caymaniacut:

We did a 5 nt. trip with Riding Rock Inn, a great value.

The rooms were very comfortable, the food was excellent!!,
the staff was super. The dive boats, dm, and sites were awesome. Top of reefs start in 40-50 ft. then drop from there,
this is a wall divers mecca! The island itself is laid back and somewhat remote ( not much nightlife/ shopping ) but worth it.
From Miami to Nassau is 45-50 min., then another 45 min. on a 50 seat turbo-prop to San Sal. check their site at


www.ridingrockinn.com

Sorry
, the correct site is www.ridingrock.com






Have a great time wherever ya'll end up.


John

If you are looking for first class diving in a lovely setting, then Bonaire. There is not a lot of night life - bars, dancing and that kind of thing and their beaches are not very big or wide like some of the other Caribbean islands. If night life and wide beaches are important then look elsewhere. On the other hand if you want to eat/sleep/dive then it's the place. Great easy diving, good food and great people. Here is where we stay on Bonaire www.buddydive.com The dive and drive package is about as good a deal as I have found. There is another place that has some great rates, around $400pp and is a nice place but they are not on the beach...can't remember their name off the top of my head but can find it if you want..