Help me decide with this dilemma please!

[Hintermann]

As I have mentioned before, April 2016 will definitely be my last diving trip before I hang-up my fins for good. As things stand, I have booked a 2-week diving holiday in the Bay Islands of Honduras, first with Deep Blue in Utila and then Coco View with Roatan.

Yesterday my wife, who I thought retired from diving, said that she was going to do a refresher course and join me for that last diving trip. That is great but she prefers a different destination altogether and wants to go to the Philippines for a liveaboard trip of Tubbutaha followed by land based diving in and around Apo Island (Domaguete). I am not sure what to do.

Purely in terms of quality of diving (and ignoring the cost differences) how does a 2-week holiday in Utila & Roatan compare with Tubbutaha & Apo Island?

 

[TSandM]

I can't compare the two, but having just finished a week of diving in Dumaguete, I can tell you that it's fabulous. And if it's the Atlantis resort/Azores combination you're considering, you can't go wrong.

 

[Kharon]

Do all three. It's your last diving - make the most of it. You will regret not going way more than the money spent. I'd make it a total blow-out.

 

[victor]

I think your answer is in your post "Yesterday my wife, who I thought retired from diving, said that she was going to do a refresher course and join me for that last diving trip. That is great"

If she is happy to come out of diving retirement to dive in the Philippines then thats where you shoud be going.

Listen to the force.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Hintermann, I've about 150 dives at Roatan. I've not been to the Philippines. Regardless, I believe you should do the . Philippines trip. I don't have to have been to Philippines to know this.

Don't get me wrong, I love Roatan the island. It's pretty and quaint. The diving is good for that area of the Caribbean. None of it blows my mind. More like it is soothing.

Last trip for you and wife wants to join you. No brainer even if there was no difference.

 

[Woodiver]

Without a doubt, Philippines wins.

 

[Hintermann]

Thanks everyone.

I think your answer is in your post "Yesterday my wife, who I thought retired from diving, said that she was going to do a refresher course and join me for that last diving trip. That is great"

If she is happy to come out of diving retirement to dive in the Philippines then thats where you shoud be going.

Listen to the force.

Actually, there is a bit more to it. The reason I am quitting diving when still fit at 60 (which I will be by April 2016) is to allow my wife and I time and money to do several pending non-diving holidays while we can still afford it. With that in mind, I had mentioned to my wife about 18 months ago (when she told me that she had decided to quit diving herself) that I intended to give-up diving in April 2016. Semi-jokingly I had suggested that it would be nice if she could join me on that last trip and I guess that she remembered.

When we were diving together in the Philippines a few years ago (Borocay, Coron Bay & Apo Reef) we met a French-Canadian couple who would not stop talking about Tubbutaha. My wife was interacting with them more than I and that was the reason she prefers that we go there now rather than the Bay Islands.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I know some will disagree with a sweeping opinion like this, but nowhere in the Caribbean is the health of the coral and biodiversity likely to be as good as in the well-known dive destinations in the Indo-Pacific. I haven't been to the Philippines, but I imagine the quality to be much like Indonesia, and the little I've seen in Indonesia blows Roatan and Utila out of the water.

 

[KeithG]

Actually, there is a bit more to it. The reason I am quitting diving when still fit at 60 (which I will be by April 2016) is to allow my wife and I time and money to do several pending non-diving holidays while we can still afford it.

"quitting diving" sounds a bit extreme. and i am not sure there is an official way to do it?

why not just do fewer "diving only" trips and more "nondiving" trips or consider a "not as much diving" trip that has a larger focus on non diving.

it is real easy to link a 1 week diving trip together with a 1 week non diving trip in the same area. when we went to PNG we stayed a few extra days in Australia and toured the Hunter Valley wine region. lots of good wine, no diving. 2 trips in one.

you could also combine a bit of north island diving with a travel by train tour of the south island for a new zealand trip. gives a mix of both diving and non diving in the same trip. hawaii is another destination for a mixed trip.

i am unaware of the flight routing for you to get to the Philippines, but i am sure that you could work in a land based non diving itinerary on the way home. maybe a nice stay in northern italy? that sprends the flight costs across 2 destinations.

 

[WOODMAN]

Quitting diving?!? I intend to keep diving as long as I can still get my walker onto the dive boat.