Suggestions needed - Family trip with diving

[jejton]

I have 2 weeks off starting next week and would like to get away for a few days with the family. I am looking for advice/suggestions and the good people here on SB steered me right for my first trip so am back for more. The details:
Will be travelling with nondiving wife and 2 children under 6.
I would like nice sandy beaches to spend much of the days. Diving is not THE priority on this trip but I would like to squeeze in a few dives. This will be my second dive trip so nothing too challening. I will be renting equipment so need good full service shop, and prefer to hire a personal dive guide/buddy rather than pair up with a random stranger. Night life and dining are not at all important for us but I would like some activities to do with the family such as nature walks, or nice towns to stroll through. I'm looking at Carribean, Belize and possibly Cancun or Cozumel as destination options. I'm considering renting a condo or villa but am open to resorts or hotels as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Ambergris Caye, Belize has beautiful whitish sand, but the beaches aren't like Cancun or Playa. With the reef breaking off shore, there aren't many cleansing waves and so there's lots of turtle grass near shore. That said, there's so many things to do in Belize. Maybe you'd like to consider splitting the trip between an inland location, so are more near the zip lining, cave tubing, cave exploring, ruins viewing, etc. and then spend some time on the island for your dives. You can still do all the inland adventures from the island, but it is more pricey!

 

[mikeycanuk]

Barbados? Lots of non-diving things to do, easy shopping and villas can be had for cheap. Get a car with GPS and you'll have an easy time getting around. Diving is ok. Harrison's cave, buffet lunch at Atlantis, visit to the tip of the island, Catamaran trip, St Nicholas Abby plus lots of Green Monkeys!


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[gb_williams]

Have you ever heard of Bocas del Toro, Panama? It's on the Caribbean, near Costa Rica. The beaches are very nice, restaurants are inexpensive, and there are great places to hike. Bocas Town is small enough that you can easily walk everywhere. But, if you want to take a taxi, the rate anywhere in town is just $1 per person. (Panama uses U.S. currency, although they call dollars, "balboas.")

I highly recommend Bocas Water Sports. I have often dived with just the instructor/DM, but with never more than three others. All the gear is included in the $55 price for a two-tank dive, and it's well-maintained.

Diving is quite shallow -- 15' to 45'. While the viz is not that great, 20' - 40', the water temperature is very warm and the reefs have a great variety of coral, fish and critters. If you're there in early November, you may also have an opportunity to dive the barrier reef just outside the outer islands. The viz is much better and the reefs are much more dramatic with swim-throughs along the wall.

Check out www.bocas.com for info and lodging choices.

You can get to Bocas by flying to Panama City (PTY) and taking Air Panama to Bocas del Toro from the regional airport in Albrook. My wife and I usually over-night in Panama City or a spend a day or so in town before taking the 6:00 am flight to Bocas. (There are two flights per day.)

 

[dolesorchard]

My wife and I are big fans of Costa Rica, Guanacaste, the northern part of the Pacific coast has much less rain than the rest of the country and you can surely dive the Catalinas off Flamingo and probably the Bat Islands as well. There are a lot of cool places like Hacienda Guaichipelin in Rincon De La Vieja National Park with zip lines, a spa, white water tubing and horseback riding. Our favorite part of the country is the southern Pacific coast, but it is very rainy this time of year. I am hoping to get to Bocas Del Toro in February for the first time. You can also get to Bocas from the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

 

[diversteve]

From NY I'd look at Turks/Caicos - esp. Provo (Providenciales) Grace Bay is one of the nicest beaches in the world. Dive operators will pick you up, it's all boat diving so you should be able to find a guide/DM buddy. Best diving is 45mins. out at West Caicos or French Cay but there's also decent diving at NW Point nearby. There's three AI resorts, 2 of them have kids programs. The third, Verandas has villas for rent. There's also a lot of condos for rent on Grace Bay Beach. Provo is very nice, very picturesque and very pricey. IDK if there'd be enough there to keep the kids occupied unless they like beach activities, boat rides etc. Beautiful by Nature - Turks and Caicos Islands - Turks and Caicos Tourist Board

Or Grand Cayman - Seven Mile Beach is also extremely nice. There's quite a few non-dive things to do there as well - butterfly farm, gardens, etc. There's a lot of condos for rent along Seven Mile Beach - most are waterfront/oceanview. For the kids, there's recognizable food, Burger King, Subway, Dominos etc. on the island. It's equally pricey - maybe even more than T/C - the CI$ is fixed at .80 to the US$. When the cruise ships are in Georgetown (almost daily) it's a good time to be elsewhere. You can see them moored out in the harbor from south SMB. http://www.caymanislands.ky/default.aspx?homeredirect=true

Along SMB dive operators pick you up for free. Most are 6-8 divers max. per trip so you may not need your own DM. Boat dives are 2/$100 with anyone. One new dive there is the Kittiwake wreck, it's purposely sunk in 70' - you can penetrate the 1st three levels - it will be with a DM - mandatory there. One thing to note, first dives there are often deeper (100') down the wall. Sometimes there's a shallower option also. The Official Website for the Kittiwake Shipwreck - Home - besides describing the wreck dive, there's a pretty complete list of Cayman dive operators.

A third option might be Curacao. They have a lot of nice family beaches - most rent watertoys etc. Downtown has the famous shopping district and an open air mall. There's some historical monuments - an old fort (now a shopping center/restaurant) etc. There's the Ostrich Farm and Seaquarium for the kids - think small SeaWorld. There's also one of those fake submarine rides if they want to see what Daddy does. Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean

The Dive Bus will pick you up for escorted shore diving at any resort in town, do two dives and back by noon. Most of the resorts have an onsite dive operator so if you rent a condo nearby it's a short drive to one for boat diving. Most of the better beaches also have on-site dive operators and shore dives. At many you can rent a guide as needed. My friends wife used to be one there.

These 3 locations are shorter flights from NYC. With 2 kids under 6, that may be a consideration.

From Newark there's a United non-stop that's 3h45m to Provo. Return is 3h55m. LaGuardia (heard it's re-opened) is 6H out, 7H back - connect in MIA. JFK is about the same. All flights are in the $400-475 range.

American has 5-1/2-6hr flights to Grand Cayman from JFK or Laguardia. All connect thru MIA. All $450-500.

Curacao is 8-9 hrs. each way thru MIA. From any of the airports. But in the $650-700 range. You might make up some of the difference since everything else is cheaper.

I get all this flight info here: Matrix - ITA Software - it's the database all the airlines use. You can't book with them, do that direct.

You're kind of doing this last minute so I'd book with dives also when you know what your plans are. At least on Provo or Curacao - Cayman there's a lot of options.

 

[tadeotadeo]

You might want to take a look into San Andres Island, a couple really nice beaches, several condos throughout the island with many restaurants and shopping. Day trip to San Luis or rent a golf cart for the day and take a trip around the 8 mile long island. If your interested let me know and Ill give you more info and things to do. PS the diving is superb too.
Ciao
Tad

 

[Charles2]

My wife and I, along with another couple, went to Belize earlier this year. I was the only diver in our group. We stayed at Hamanasi Resort in Hopkins, Belize. I will have to say that my wife was really excited about the visit. Scuba diving and snorkeling is available as well as jungle excursions, hiking, and other adventures that your kids would like. The dive shop there has complete rigs for rent. You can dive with a group of four to six and one divemaster. There will probably be someone there who is in the same situation as you and will be willing to buddy up for each dive. As luck would have it when we were there, one of the other divers on my first trip out was a classmate of mine from college. We had such a great time there, we will probably go back except this time we will take one of our sons (who dives) and his family (wife and seven year old).

Hamanasi is a great place with a very laid back atmosphere. The food is fantastic and the folks that run the place are about as friendly as you will find anywhere. The beach is very well manicured and a great place for kids to play. There is very little night life (we didn't look for any). From what you describe, it sounds like you and your family will enjoy Hamanasi very much.