1st Trip to Caribbean!

[Kedar]

Hi!

We were planning our first trip to the Carribean and are debating destinations:

Can the people who have been there help us with following?
(1) Where to stay? Which place offers good rates with kitchen?
(2) Diving locations and operators--Good v. Bad
(3) Is end of November good time?

Thanks,
Kedar

[jepuskar]

I would of chosen Bonaire (if it was on the list), but thats just because I LOVE that place.

Honestly you can't go wrong in the Caribbean, but you need to decide what kind of diving you prefer and then base your decision off of that.

Good luck deciding.


Jason

[RICHinNC]

I hav e been to both St. John and St. Thomas. At St. J i stayed at the Weston Resort. It wasnt the cheapest place on the island but it was very nice. The great thing about St. J is that it is a national park and 90% of the island is undeveloped....so if you want a real laid back time...that is the place. There are several beaches that in the time you are going will be practically empty. Plus, you can rent a car there and survive driving....

I stayed at the Rennaisance on St. T and it was very reasonable. I paid a whole $99 a night and it was as good as the Weston on St. J. Now i would never rent a car on St. T. that is a death wish waiting to happpen. But one island is only a 40 minute ferry ride away from each other.

On St. T I used Chris Sawyer dive ops and they were just great. Plus on St. T and about 200 yards from the hotel is a great shore dive too.

If you havent dove the carribean much or at all you will be very please i think. Personally, as long as i can get wet and not drown i am happy!!
good luck...let me know where you went and how it turned out

i head out to barbados in two weeks!!!!

[herman]

I have to agree with Jason. You need to look into Bonaire unless you want a lot of shopping and nightlife. As you can do tons of shore diving on Bonaire, the cost per dive makes it one of the better deals. Most all of the resorts on Bonaire have condos with full kitchens. A couple of places to look at are Buddy Dive www.buddydive.com , Lions Dive (don't remember their web address ) and Sanddollar http://www.sanddollarbonaire.com/

[Kedar]

RICHinNC once bubbled...
I hav e been to both St. John and St. Thomas. At St. J i stayed at the Weston Resort. It wasnt the cheapest place on the island but it was very nice. The great thing about St. J is that it is a national park and 90% of the island is undeveloped....so if you want a real laid back time...that is the place. There are several beaches that in the time you are going will be practically empty. Plus, you can rent a car there and survive driving....

I stayed at the Rennaisance on St. T and it was very reasonable. I paid a whole $99 a night and it was as good as the Weston on St. J. Now i would never rent a car on St. T. that is a death wish waiting to happpen. But one island is only a 40 minute ferry ride away from each other.

On St. T I used Chris Sawyer dive ops and they were just great. Plus on St. T and about 200 yards from the hotel is a great shore dive too.

If you havent dove the carribean much or at all you will be very please i think. Personally, as long as i can get wet and not drown i am happy!!
good luck...let me know where you went and how it turned out

i head out to barbados in two weeks!!!!

Rich....The only place in the Caribbean I've been to is Cozumel and needless to say diving there was amazing.

A couple of questions:
(1) How does the diving in St.T and St.J generally compare to say Cozumel (since that's the only reference I've got)?
(2) How many day/nights would you recommend for St. J and St. T? And how would you break them down?
(3) Which location (east/west/north/south) would you reco on both these islands?

Thanks in advance.

Kedar

[LPR]

GC is great because of the convenience of walk-in diving. While the boat diving is spectacular, walk-in dives are certainly more affordable. :$:

[Wreck Wench]

All your choices are great. With DEMA around the corner you might wish to base your decision on who has the best deals to offer. Afterall.....its just a matter of time before you dive them all right???? If that is the case....then cheaper is better!

P.S. I'm going to DEMA as I'm sure a number of people on this board are. If I can get you any information, let me know and I'll try.

[Tim Ingersoll]

Having dove all of your list except Curacao I can say without doubt that the Turks & Caicos is the best of the three.

[Damselfish]

I've been to all but St John. My favorite of these is Turks and Caicos, great diving and variety and more chance of seeing big stuff as a bonus.

Grand Cayman is great too if you get to the right places; Little Cayman is a place to go as well - if you have enough time splitting a trip between the 2 is an idea.

I've been to Curacao a number of times and like it alot, besides good diving it's an interesting island.

Bonaire was my first Carribean dive trip and I still think it makes a great first trip.

ALl depends on the type of diving you want, and what else you want to do.
And depending on experience, what conditions you are comfortable with. All easy places to dive, but Bonaire gets points for extra easy & calm.

[mojo]

As far as a nice place to stay in Cayman I have a beautiful bed and breakfast in a heritage home, private entrance, bath. Place to wash and store your dive gear. We are minutes from George Town, airport and beaches. On bus line. Computer availability, cable tv etc. Offered from Dec 1/03 to Mar 31/04.

[worlddiver]

I've done your list and the Grand Cayman Northwall gets the highest rating with also some the best shordiving that can be found. We stayed at Cobalt Coast villas (Northwall) and dove with on site operator DiveTech, both awesome operations. Just read a great trip report on www.scubadiving.com that will give all the deals of the Cayman's. November is there off seasons.

[mikef]

Like in real estate, location, location,location,

Cozumel, Cozumel, Cozumel!

100 foot plus viz!, Abundance of sea life, fantastic corals, excellent, excellent diving. IT's not one of the top 10 dive spots in the world for nothing. Did I mention drift diving? Way cool!

Great downtown for partying at night if that is what you want, or laid back lifestyle if that is what you want. $1 beers on the plaza.

Cheap!

Stay at all inclusive Alegro resort if you like that, cheap, cheap diving with multiple tank purchases in advance, with access to the best reefs just minutes off shore.

Swim with dolphins at CHakanuba park.

Rent a car or mopeds and explore the north side of the island, have it all to yourself, or discover some of the secluded beach bars over there.

Just came back from both Grand Cayman and Coz, Coz kicks ass!

[RoatanMan]

Like - where is the water the saltiest?

What I'm getting at here is that you have to do a bit of research on your own. The replies you got were all over the board in terms of expense and ease of travel, quality of diving etcetera.

As one responder admitted, they had only been to Cozumel, so that was the greatest place they had been. That's my point ,exactly.

You have to narrow down your choices by selecting certain criteria that are quite ascertainable by searching the archives here and in GOOGLE Groups. Once you have done so, specific questions should be posed about unanswered questions.

Tell me where you're travelling from, how much you have to spend ($ and time), what kind of diving you have experienced, what kind of dive related challenges you are prepared to accept, how much diving (vs topside activities) that you want, what you're looking for in terms of seclusion (vs access to "city" population life), etc.

November in the Mar Caribe is at the "end" of the hurricane season, as the rainy season may linger on. Were you worried about big storms, rain, or ???

[NJDiveGirl]

super easy and you can pretty much dive whenever you want!