Dive Vacations--Familiarity or Diversity????

In a recent thread, someone mentioned having gone to a well known island dive vacation spot more than 30 times. Go to the Cozumel forum on ScubaBoard, and you will see that some of the frequent posters there must put that number to shame.

I have been to Cozumel a fair number of times myself, and I can certainly see the allure of a familiar location. It has great diving, and I really do like the island's atmosphere. I like going to restaurants that have become favorites. I like seeing familiar faces working in familiar places. It feels like going home.

On the other hand, if you check my profile you will see that I like going to other locations as well. I like visiting new places and seeing different kinds of diving. I have experienced some great places and met some great people, all of which I would have missed had I become fixated on one location, no matter how wonderful it might be. I simply would not be able to go to the same place as many times as some people do--it would drive me crazy.

So I think I see both sides of the question I am about to ask. What about you? When you choose a vacation spot, do you prefer familiar places you know and love, or do you seek out new sites, even if it is only for the sake of seeing new sites?

I tend to favor familiarity over new. Probably a 2 to 1 ratio.

I tend toward the familiar for two reasons, both practical:

First, I travel alone, so I just feel better knowing what to expect in terms of the airport and ground transport experience. If I had a traveling companion with whom to share problem-solving in the event of the unexpected, I'd be much more comfortable going somewhere new.

Second, I've had oddly bad luck with trying other places. A couple of times it's been bad weather. One time it was an awful boat and a demoralized crew. One time it was a bizarre situation with a couple at the same small resort (CoCo View, actually) whose behavior made it a weird and disturbing week for all of the rest of us there at the time. There's been no theme to the reasons my forays out have been unsuccessful, and they haven't all been unsuccessful. Enough of them have been, however, that I've gradually learned to just keep going where it always seems to work. A disappointing vacation costs just as much as a great one financially, and my dive dollars are more reliably spent by sticking with what I know

A number of years ago I met a couple while diving in one of my new locations, a well known vacation destination. We dived together for several days and got to know one another. They had learned to dive in a cold water, not great visibility location, and had become pretty proficient at it there. They had gone to the vacation site where we were for the first time five years before. They saw that they had discovered a diving paradise, had returned every year since, and decided they would do every vacation there from then on for that reason.

When they heard about how many different places I had visited, they asked me if I thought any of them approached the quality of [this site.] I thought about how to answer for a minute, and then I said, as tactfully as possible, that if I were able to rank them from best to worst, [this site] would be near the bottom. Its reputation as a vacation spot was based on its above water activities--its diving was mediocre at best. They were shocked. I have since heard that they have continued their plan of diving there every year. Me? I would go back if I got a great deal on a vacation package, but that's what it would take.

I think it would depend on the destination. I just returned from a week's diving in Croatia. Now, I was on a course so the number of fun dives was limited. But, i would definitely return, and I would definitely dive. But, I would most likely choose different wrecks to dive, although I may dive the same wreck as I did my final dive and amend my gas choice and bottom time.
I'm not really a fan of reefs and fish, and much prefer wrecks. So places I have dived before in the Caribbean, I would never choose to go to on holiday. I'm hoping to go to Scapa next year. It would most likely be a trip that I would repeat as well.

To be sure, I wouldn't keep going back to the same place if the diving wasn't good, and if it didn't compare very favorably to other places within my reasonable reach. None of my alternate efforts has ever approached the diving quality of my old faithful, which is why it has become my old faithful.

Depends... Once a year, my mum and I take a "girls only" trip to "somewhere warm". WE have done this for the past 15 years. We have seen a lot of destinations, but only recently took up diving. Since she doesnt like to fly longer than 6 hrs, we tend to end up in Egypt. I love diving there, and dont mind to actually get a little bit familiar.

On the other hand, when I travel alone, I tend to chose different destinations. So far I have been to Sweden, Indonesia, Maldives and a lot of diving in Norway

Interesting topic. Mrs. Stoo and I tended to try new places for many years... perhaps same island/different hotel, but never the same place twice.

The problem with this though, is that after a while, you've hit all of the places that fall within your budget. Mrs. Stoo is an educator so is restricted in her travel time, so we always eliminated non-Caribbean locations... The Pacific simply was too far to go in a week or 10 days, and we have a place in Tobermory where we spend much of the summer.

So then we found Turneffe Island resort. We loved it. LOVED it. So we returned the following year. And we LOVED it again. So the next year, we debated going and the only reason for NOT going was that had been there twice already. This struck as a really dumb reason not to return. So we did. Three times in a row... loved it each time... A first for us.

The next year, we had befriended a young woman who worked with Mrs. Stoo. A friend of ours certified her, and she started to dive with us at home, and became hooked on diving. Go figure...

Then one day when she was at our place in Tobermory, we all decided that it would be fun if she came with us. We had already booked air, and were able to get her on the same flights. We still hadn't booked Turneffe again, but had made inquires. (Educators need to book air MONTHS ahead...).

It turned out the single supplement was really steep... So we looked elsewhere. I had made inquiries about Huracan Diving, out in the same area. The price was right, the supplement minimal... so we booked it. And LOVED it even more than Turneffe! So we did it again last year. And we just booked it for a third time this morning. Our friend isn't coming this time, (she bought a drysuit instead) but that didn't change our minds.

If this thread is still going next year, I'll update it and let you know if we book a forth time!

So I guess we subscribe to the school of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.". But then we've been to the Bahamas several times (worked there too), Bonaire, Curacao, all three Caymans (2 x to LC, worked in GC way back)), Cozumel (a few times, but not for decades), Roatan (3 locations), Utila, 3 x, 2 locations) and Grenada (got married there). We liked them all at the time, but we really love the Belizian atolls. We've worked in a few liveaboards along the way for good measure, and I usually get the Pacific NW every couple of years and do either a liveaboard or The Hideaway north of Vancouver Island. I'm heading up there again in 6 weeks, with a small group.

Who knows next time...

I should add that our "priorities" in destinations has changed somewhat over the years... Way back, "cheap" was good. We often took groups down, so Bahamian liveaboards and properties were affordable, as was Cozumel. Then we stopped taking groups, and had a few bucks, so went to pricier locations... Caymans, Grenada, Turneffe. Now that I am semi-retired/marginally employed, budget is more of a factor again, but we aren't willing to compromise on dive quality. Huracan fits the bill perfectly... amazing diving, reasonably priced, and a lot of fun. It's not for everyone, but it works for us... for now anyway.

I've returned numerous times to one place but also mix it up with new destinations. I've become attached to friends in the places that are repeats and find that I miss knowing what the dive service will be like. Sometimes just need a stressless vacation and that is best served by routine and familiarity. Somes want an adventure, so that's where new locations come in. Not all of my vacations are for diving. So far i haven't repeated any of those, not counting Singapore and Indonesia where I visit family.

And having said that, last year i took advantage of the family visits by topping up with LOB in Raja Ampat. I want a repeat!!

I did my Open Water (OW) book work in Chicago in the middle of winter; I then did my referral dives in Hawaii six years ago. I travel a great deal with work and have had the opportunity to dive a lot of places. When I want a nice vacation, I go to Jupiter, Florida and do the drift dives (at least a third of my total dives). Locally, New York now, I dive the wrecks off the coast. I really like diversity, so my next big dive vacation in November will be in Galapagos, Islands.
Safe Diving