I am taking the month of December off, and I want to dive - looking for advice

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jasonrandlett

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Messages
12
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Location
Carmel, IN
# of dives
200 - 499
I am taking the month of December off, and I would like to go somewhere that I can hang out for a month and dive. I have been to Utila and I love it, but my wife won't let me stay there for a month. I have been to Bonaire, and I can't stay there for a month. We have been to Thailand multiple times, and we love it, but I wanted to try something new. I am too cheap to do Yap and Palau, although that would be a dream trip. I was looking at Indonesia, or maybe the Philippines. We are also considering the Virgin Islands, or anywhere in the Caribbean. We are willing to travel, and I am trying to budget $5k to $10k for the whole trip, air, lodging, diving, etc. We love to chill out, so we do not need to be in a party scene. I love to book places on VRBO, I have never used AIRBNB, but willing to try. I love using local dive operations, I find recommendations for on scubaboard. Please throw me some ideas.

-Jason
 
Why not head for the Yucatan? You can base anywhere between Puerto Morelos and Tulum, and do great reef diving off the mainland. You can take some trips, or even spend a small part of your month on Cozumel for reefs . . . and if you want to combine great diving with skills development, you can dive the Cenotes and take a cavern class. The beaches are stunning and there are good restaurants. The weather is lovely, and the prices are reasonable. I've been going there since 2007 and have yet to get bored.
 
we are heading to Maldive LOB with Maldive princess, you may try google on it. damage for dives, food and LOB all in 1850USD per pax. Its excluding air ticket, they still have 6 spot left...if you are keen i can link you to them.
 
Flights to Manila are $1400pp in December. Plus all the better diving is another flight elsewhere. Not sure you could do that and stay within budget although I understand accommodations are very affordable.

I'd look at places where you have access to multiple islands reasonably in the Caribbean. Maybe the USVI's/BVI's. Since I gather your wife thought Utila too boring for a month, if you were willing to move around a little you could see a lot of different things.

An advantage to the USVI's/BVI's has to be the fast ferries. Makes getting to multiple islands reasonable. Plus for you, St. Thomas is a $500 r/t flight in December. (from Chicago)

From St. Thomas you can be on St. John in under 1/2 hr. - even bring the rental car - there's a car ferry between the two. Tortola is about an hour and St. Croix in (I believe) under two. There's a few shore dives on St. Thomas and boat diving both on the quieter East End or south of Charlotte Amalie. We stayed out on the East End near Red Hook for a few days, it's pretty "chill". Most condo rentals are either beach front or a short walk. From our courtyard we could clearly see the beach and the Cays out towards St. John. There's about 1/2 dozen good boat dive operators in that area.

Then there's St. John. Pricier so maybe just do some day trips from St. Thomas. There's more shore diving there but not a lot - I believe about 4-5 sites. And good boat diving in the marine reserve that covers part of the island. Low Key Watersports there also does trips out to the BVI's - mostly the Rhone. The early ferry from St. Thomas gets you there in time.

Then maybe on to St. Croix - there's a dozen shore dives there off either the Cane Bay wall area (north side) or the Frederickstad Pier area. Lots of condos on the north shore and even the Divi Carina Dive resort is an option - although might be more expensive.

Lastly head over to Tortola from St. Thomas. Mostly boat diving from there, you could access the Rhone, Jost Van Dyke, possibly Anegada plus all the really good diving in the smaller islands across the channel south - Salt, Cooper, Ginger Islands etc. The Rhone wreck is out there - Low Key Watersports also dives it from St. John weekly. If you catch the 1st ferry in the morning you can get there from St. Thomas in time for the departure - it's an all day excursion. We stayed on Virgin Gorda which was smaller, quieter and pricier. I've been to Tortola but only the Roadtown area. If you do wind up on Gorda, DiveBVI is one of the best dive operators I've used in the past 20 years.

Also look closely at the ferry schedule. Although we ran out of time, I had planned two day trips to smaller islands that would've returned the same day.

Some info:
Home | US Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Ferry Schedule
Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: USVI, St. Croix, Caribbean
BVI Scuba
 
Peninsula Malaysia and/or Thailand would meet your requirements.
You can choose to have as lively or quiet as you want.
Travel by train between locations is very cheap and easy.
Maybe spend a few days in Peneng followed by a week on Perhentian. Then move to Thailand possibly Ko Lanta or up to Crabi.
Loads of choice depending on what you are looking for.
 
I'm a huge fan of the Coral Triangle. You could do either land based excursions in Indonesia or the Philippines for the 10k budget including your flights. I love both.
In Indonesia you could check out Bali with loads of diving there, Nusa Penida, Tulamben, Menjangen, then for a cheap flight head to North Sulawesi for Lembeh/Bunaken. Then do some land based diving or maybe a budget liveaboard in the Komodo area. Or the Philippines is another good choice great diving and probably a bit cheaper than Indonesia.
Loads of places there too. I really think for long trips once you get there Indonesia and the Philippines have the best value for your money in the world.
 
Philippines is the place for you… especially in the visayas region. with the budget you can have a good accommodation, food and diving…drop me an email and i can give you more information about the area.
 
We went to Indonesia for a month last December ....the weather for our one week in Raja Ampat was wonderful. However the rest of the time....on the Gilis and Lembongan it rained and rained. The Philippines in December and January can be dicey too. Thailand should have the best weather at that time. By the way the resort's on the Perhenthians all close from October to March for the monsoon. Apparently Sipadan in Borneo is OK in December.

Have a wonderful time
 
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