Picking a diving trip

[Tim6656]

I had to start a new account cause i lost my login info

My dad and I have been diving since 2010. We got certified in march in ft lauderdale fl. then our aow in 2011 in indiana. Weve got prob 30-40 dives in florida few small wrecks. Dove ft lauderdale both boat and shore dives. Done many both shore and boat dives in key largo. We dove the spiegal grove in 2012 but due some issues we called the dive before hitting the boat. We dove bonne terra lead mine lake mead and more then a few pits in indiana. Were originally from indiana so our go to spot was always the keys quick drive down.
Im aow with bout 65-70 dives. My dad is a dive master with 100 or so dives. Iv not got wet since may and it was a quick 25 foot dive to recover a newspaper vending machine i found in a lake

im getting some extra cash soon and the foot of snow out my door and a frozen lake ant doing it.

so im planning a diving trip. Plan is a week to 12 days on a warm beach and some good diving. I am torn on where to go

i love florida but we have done that alot. Plus the cost to drive to fl from colorado would nearly pay for plane tickets to a few places
Im thinking the following. Cozumel mexico as we have been wanting to go there and the cost wont be much more then if we went to the keys. Hawaii cause its hawaii but its gonna cost more then cozumel from what iv seen. Do able but likely cut the trip from 12 days to 7. were not looking for anything technical on this trip iv been out the water to long for that. Just fun relaxing diving were we can see alot of coral fish and maybe a small wreck would be nice. Prob stay above 70-80 feet

so what would u recommend
id also like good shore diving to
cozumel
florida keys
hawaii
a cruise
or u can recommend another spot that can be done for bout 1500 each

im open to alot places as long as its warm and ocean

---------- Post added December 20th, 2013 at 04:11 PM ----------

Ohh caymen is a thought too

 

[tracydr]

Bonaire can be a good value,depending on flight costs. Most places to stay have a package that includes unlimited tanks and a truck. Don't waste your money on boat diving there because the shore dives are outstanding.

 

[Tim6656]

What i found in five min sounds like Bonaire could be a good spot but i cant get anydite to give me a plane ticket. Wont find it

 

[diversteve]

Bonaire is the premiere shore diving location. You can also fly a regional carrier like Insel or Tiara Air between Curacao/Aruba and Bonaire affordably - the schedules mesh. Instead of direct flights to Bonaire like the Friday night red-eye thru Houston - although from CO it's an easy option. I helped someone trying to get to Bonaire the cheapest way possible recently, they found that it was fly to Aruba then puddle-jump over. Info Bonaire - The Bonaire Information Site

If you're not concerned about staying waterfront, Bonaire has affordable resort options. Lagoen Hills is one or Coco Palm Gardens. Most resorts/rental apts/condos on Bonaire offer a dive package deal also. For All Inclusive, Plaza Resort is the only one. The Divi Flamingo is another option as they sell optional meal plans - or you can walk to town for dinner etc. Buddy Dive is often recommended also, their package includes a truck provided on property and they pick you up at the airport. In that area all the dive resorts have at least one restaurant and are basically on the same reef area so price Habitat, Den Laman, Sand Dollar Condos, Hamlet Oasis or Eden Beach also. Non-waterfont Caribbean Club is slightly farther north and works with Buddy Dive.

Curacao is an option also. Curacao trades slightly longer drives between dives for easier entries and more to do while not diving. We found a place out west for $65/85/nt. for a one br. apt. And a 2BR condo near town cost us around $150/nt. total. Neither was waterfront but both were 5mins. away from a good shore dive. We like the Piscadera Bay area, it's away from downtown/cruis port yet a few minutes drive to downtown or the start of the western dive sites. Curacao Travel- Caribbean

Spme friends stayed at Villablanca Garden Hotel in Cozumel - they work with 3 nearby dive operators (at least two are on-site afaik) and offer some good package deals. It's about 2 miles to town from there. Scuba Club Cozumel is one option for shore diving.

Or St. Croix. You can dive the Frederickstad Pier to the south (shallow, easy dive) and shore dive the Cane Bay Wall to the north - surface swim out. From condo rentals in that area you can walk in off the beach - a friend does. St. Croix might be a pricier though. AA flies there direct from some US cities. No passports needed.

Grand Cayman is the most expensive place I've ever dove. Boat diving is about 2/$100 and there is shore diving but much of it has a resort onsite so you rent from them. There's not a lot of places on Cayman to rent tanks - Divers Direct or Eden Rock are the only two I know. Some shore dives are a long surface swim out - often through boat traffic. Food on Cayman is very expensive, either at restaurants or in the markets. Andy's is a good car rental option - Comfort Suites is a block off the water so more reasonable. And the suites have kitchens.

You might look at Maui also. There are affordable condos in the Kihei area - a lot of them - most across the street from the beach. vrbo.com lists them. Food is a little higher (it is Maui...) and Maui's not cheap either. There's about 2 dozen shore dives on the west coast of Maui - many in/near Kihei. Easy entries and almost all are fairly shallow. Boat dives are in the 2/$100-129 range but you can dive Molokini or Lanai in the morning with any # of operators then shore dive that afternoon.

The Big Island might be another reasonable option. A couple years ago we found many 2BR condos along the Kona Coast for around $800/wk in July. A car is needed for shore diving due to distance. Entries are a little more difficult since some are sharp lava to the waters edge. We did a package with Kona Diving Co. of 5 days of either 2-3 tank boat dives then shore dives for around $450pp. The Manta night dive is world famous and any level of diver can do it.

If you're not set on shore diving, Roatan is very reasonable. Diving is very good to excellent and the West End is very affordable. Flights tend to be a little more - in the $6-700 range but you won't need a car since cabs are cheap and a good idea due to liability. We walked around the West End all week and only needed a cab for trips to other areas - the shark and dolphin dives. Most operators in that area package 10 boat dives for $300 and offer add-on afternoon/night dives. I did about 18? dives there during the week and my total dive bill (not counting $125 for the Dolphin dive) was $440.

There's small 1-2 br. weekly apt rentals with kitchens. Two local food stores and bigger ones a cab ride away. Also street vendors sell fresh fish, produce etc. daily from their trucks. All sorts of lunch options for $5-10 pp. and dinners under $20 typically. Posada Arco Iris or Coconut Tree Cabins rents units starting around $50/nt.

I don't know what "anydite" is but start here for flight info for any of location then book thru the airlines direct. Matrix - ITA Software The same info is found on Google Flight since Google owns it.

For locations, somewhere on this list might be a good place to start. http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/index.htm

 

[Tim6656]

We did grand caymen in 2003. Shen i had my jetski business a guy flew us there for a week food lodging everything included even paid for us to go snorkling. And with left with 1000 bucks to fix two seadoos. It cost twice as much to repair them there and a month wait. We snorkeled an old ship at a beach it was part above water. That was mainly what finally pushed us to scuba.

The food was crazy 9 bucks for a meal at bk. but it was nice.

Id say it prob be cozumel Bonaire or hawaii. I was thinking bout maui already.

Ohh and thanks for all the info

 

[Blue Life]

Look into Tulum. If you are interested check us out www.bluelife.com. I can help you plan your vacation!


www.bluelife.com

 

[Tim6656]

What catches my eye was cave. Id like to do cavern ik my dad does. Idk if id want to not been diving in awhile though

Look into Tulum. If you are interested check us out www.bluelife.com. I can help you plan your vacation!


www.bluelife.com

 

[Midge907]

If your looking at going soon I would stick with going to the Caribbean side of things, as winter in Hawaii has water temps much lower then Cozumel-Roatan-Bonaire, etc. If your going in the summer, then the Big Island can surely be done for $3K between you and your dad, as you can completely skip the boats there also. Have you thought about Roatan, you can go to CoCo View resort for about that price, the front yard there you can shore dive over and over again and still love it, and they have a wreck right there sitting in 50 foot of water Personally I think Cozumel has better diving, and the value is about the same to CoCo View. Hawaii has my favorite diving, but i'll only go there during the summer. Hope my .02 helped.

 

[dmoore19]

From Denver a trip to Cozumel is going to be about the best bang for the buck. You could do it for $1500 pp but it would be tight. Might check around though, Apple vacations has a Sat to Sat flight, non-stop. Clearing customs when you are already home makes life easy. Cozumel is a great place to dive but then so is Roatan and Grand Cayman. If the 1500 pp is to include airfare those 2 places might be tough. Not saying it can't be done.

 

[Tim6656]

Im leaning to cozumel. Though i thought of turks and cacous. From what i can see it could be done. I should have said the 1500 i figured for flight hotel and food if i do inclusive. I figured the diving budget i was gonna leave open. I told my dad id cover his ticket hotel and such and he could cover his diving gonna be his xmas gift