Planning an "exotic destination" dive trip

[ScubaJoy65]

My significant other and dive buddy have decided to start saving now for an "exotic destination" dive trip next year. During the "dive season" we frequently dive off the coast of the Carolinas and some in Florida.

We'll probably make this trip in the summer of 2009 for around three-four days, maybe more. We're talking about going to the Caribbean. There are so many wonderful places to dive, we'll certainly make this an annual event.

Any recommendations for our first adventure that involves a plane flight and incredible dive sites?

 

[spectrum]

Remember that your last day will be lost to off gassing so stay as long as you can!

Our first big trip was a week on Bonaire where we stayed at Buddy Dive and wanted for nothing.

Caradonna Travel did a nice job of rounding up options.

Pack light on clothing, gear is more important and even that is relatively light.

Have a blast!

Pete

 

[herman]

You should really consider extending the trip to at least a week. Air to the Caribbean is going to be a major cost of your trip, most times it runs around 1/2 of the total cost of my trips.
Where depends on how much you want to dive-2x per day, 4x per day or dive till you drop, what kind of diving you want to do (boat or shore- big fish, lots of fish or wrecks).
Bonaire, Cozumel, Curacao and Roatan or a liveaboard would all be good choices.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Good advise! I agree with no-fly times I would suggest a week! Checkout these dive locations! We always have newbies on our trips and it makes it more fun! Two Tanked Productions HD & SD Underwater Productions and video services

 

[ScubaJoy65]

Great advice so far. And love the Web site. Keep the thoughts and ideas coming...

 

[Doc]

...for an "exotic destination" dive trip...We're talking about going to the Caribbean....involves a plane flight and incredible dive sites?

Unless you are offloaded from a Cruise Ship, all diving in the Caribbean involves a plane flight.

Incredible is a matter of scale and reference to one's past dives. Some newer divers are happy identifying Squirrel Fish, Lobster, Big Crabs and schools of fish... and why not? Some folks with maybe even 50+ dives endeavor to engage in arranged Shark Dives or Dolphin Encounters. This kind of stuff is available in many Caribbean destinations- Roatan has both, Cayman has the Stingray City dive, which I highly recommend. It's not "natural", but it is quite an experience.

To some people, incredible might simply be interesting underwater formations and geography of reef formations- deep canyons, crack, crevices and swim throughs. This is also available in many Caribbean destinations.

What a seasoned diver might describe as "incredible" in the Caribbean would more likely be macro critters- the small stuff (which Roatan and Bonaire is my hands down favorites until Cuba opens up), as well as a few dive areas known for fast currents and high speed drift diving. Those places are for most, "advanced diving' because they have limited skills involving drift diving and the usage of very small boats- some without even ladders. Good starter area might be Cozumel, then stepping up in speed would be Tobago and then Los Roques.

Half the battle is getting there- the airflight cost and waste of two days. Stay the week if not more.

Don't know of your projected costs, and without that being a stated item, these threads are rather pointless, but you might want to look at a liveaboard, one of my favorites is any of the Nekton itineraries.

All depends on what you mean by exotic. My wife was a dancer.

Ballet, ye of dirty minds.

 

[ScubaJoy65]

All good points. Blue water with amazing fish and possibly some wrecks would suit me just fine. Lee is into the latter and finding treasures and fossils, too. All my dives have been in the Atlantic up to 100 feet. I'm open to a week of adventure. Guess my mindset has been three-four days - - up until now...

As far as costs go - - I'm frugal and quite a deal shopper. But I do want to be safe and have fun exploring the underwater world. Since this will be my first go round at this, I'm open to saving what needs to be saved for a great adventure. I guess if I was forced to put a ceiling on it, I would say $1500-2000 per person. (There will obviously be two of us going and we usually split costs 50/50.)

 

[scubamickey]

Exotic is not how I would describe the Caribbean islands. I've been to several of them and none strike me as "exotic". They are very Western places with modern resorts. Excellent diving, though.

Asia, and the Pacific islands and locales west of there are what I would describe as exotic. Not to mention expensive

 

[scubamickey]

All good points. Blue water with amazing fish and possibly some wrecks would suit me just fine. Lee is into the latter and finding treasures and fossils, too. All my dives have been in the Atlantic up to 100 feet. I'm open to a week of adventure. Guess my mindset has been three-four days - - up until now...

As far as costs go - - I'm frugal and quite a deal shopper. But I do want to be safe and have fun exploring the underwater world. Since this will be my first go round at this, I'm open to saving what needs to be saved for a great adventure. I guess if I was forced to put a ceiling on it, I would say $1500-2000 per person. (There will obviously be two of us going and we usually split costs 50/50.)

Bonaire is a cheap place that meets your price range. $800-$1000/person for a room, diving, and a car per week is the average. Airfare from Houston for next June is running about $600 so the airfare price is good too.

 

[robint]

#1... I wouldn't look at going anywhere for less than 5-6 days, like others have said, you need the last day of the trip to offgas, so no diving. I won't spend the money for airfare if I am only getting in a few days of diving. The shortest trip we ever did was a 4 dayer to Cozumel and it was very rushed. We got in 3 days of diving but were exhausted. I wouldn't do that again.

#2....if you are looking at summer in the Caribbean, I would think several options. Cozumel is always the least expensive place, lots of good deals out there. Other places you might want to check out are Belize (Ambergris Cay has lots of inexpensive hotels and diving), Utila, Roatan (all-inclusives are the way to go there), or even a liveaboard like the Nekton to Bahamas which leave from Ft. Lauderdale for a week.

#3....if you want a week of shore diving, go to Bonaire. Flights are more expensive than to the other places but the chance to dive 24/7 is worth the hassle if you can go for a full week.

#4....you want to see fish, buddy wants to find treasure? No taking of treasure/artifacts on any wrecks in Caribbean that I know of and if you do find something it will be confiscated at the airport. Not even a piece of dead coral from the beaches in Bonaire!

For a start you should look at websites:
Caradonna Dive Adventures - Dive Travel and Vacations
and
Caribbean Dive Island Vacations at Bay Adventures
and
The Bonaire WebCams - Welcome!
and
Nekton Cruises > Home
or check out my videos and trip reports.

robin