Total Cost Mid-range Budget Florida & Caribbean Trips

[drrich2]

Hi:

I'm based in southwestern KY, fly out of Nashville, TN (BNA) and spend considerable time comparing prospective dive destinations for dive quality & frequency, topside attractions (if wife, toddler daughter & mother-in-law are along), airfare, a number of things. And cost. I prefer a comfortable trip (e.g.: in room bathroom, air conditioning, English-only speakers have no problems) but I don't need high end amenities (e.g.: no massage; I'm no gourmet and don't drink). I can usually get a week off at a time, and aim for maybe 2 trips/year, one solo to dive, one with family (already mentioned) where I dive and they mess around on land. I don't have time & money to go everywhere I'd like to.

Some of you may face similar issues, so I thought a discussion might be interesting. Where you live & fly out of has a big impact. I aim for warm water, at least good viz., ocean diving with calm conditions (drift diving is okay), guided (or easy done alone, as in Bonaire), no plane ride over 4 hours, and same day departure/arrival coming & going. So, no Philippines, Indonesia, etc... Since I didn't want to rough it too much, I didn't add up total trip costs for Blackbeards out of the Bahamas. In Bonaire, your off-shore budget options include Dive Hut (my old trip report).

I've spent 8 1-week trips in Bonaire (my last trip report); the 1st 4 with a dive group (Parrot Island Divers out of Nashville; good group), and I think it's good to start Bonaire with folks who know their way around & can show you the ropes. I did Key Largo (Rainbow Reef Dive Center; no added charge guides) with family; great trip, some of the cheapest boat diving I've done (trip report). U.S. health care available if our child gets sick. Not a sandy beach destination, but topside attractions within a couple of hours drive. Recently did my 1st live-aboard; the Sun Dancer 2 out of Belize (trip report). Thought I'd compare my total trip costs for these 3 trips.

These figures don't tell the whole story. Shore diving Bonaire, you change your tank every dive, load gear in the pick up truck bed, walk in & out over loose coral rubble and through iron shore under shallow water (not hard to turn an ankle), probably rinse your gear at night, and in my case night dives were done at the house reef because otherwise I was worn out. On the Sun Dancer 2, I set my gear up once; I just disconnected the 1st stage of the reg. after a dive so staff could refill the tank. They took my fins off before I exited via ladder & had a warm towel ready after I rinsed off. A daily varied menu of good food was right there. No driving around. It was more expensive, but it was so easy.

I only dove Cozumel one 2 tank trip on a cruise ship stop; really enjoyed diving the Living Underwater. But I've not priced out a Cozumel trip in detail, so I'll start with the 3 I've been to. If I were pricing there, I'd probably base my trip around staying at Scuba Club Cozumel (for a a reputable easily figured overall package deal price) or Hotel Cozumel & dive with Living Underwater or Aldora (I'm big, chubby & love me a 120 cf steel tank), since both locations offer a nearby shore dive.

Without much proof-reading, here are my comparison notes for Key Largo (Rainbow Reef Dive Center) vs. Bonaire (Buddy Dive Resort with automatic transmission truck) vs. Belize (mainly the Lighthouse Atoll region via the Sun Dancer 2 live-aboard).


Key Largo via Rainbow Reef Dive Center staying at Courtyard by Marriott, 1 person, (hypothetical trip for Sept. 12 - 19, 2015; not one I'm really planning).


Land View room - $784.00. (But custom package summary $882 per web page, so I’m guessing with taxes & such).
10 Dive Trips (20 dives) Package - $600.
Website gives total package price (hotel + diving + taxes) = $1,527.
Guides included free. Figure maybe $10/tank tip? $200.
Round trip airfare out of Nashville via Orbitz - $$410.00 (roughly).
Baggage round trip (2 bags) - $130.00.
Vehicle rental - Full size car - maybe around $250.00?
3 Meals/day (assume cheap lunch, but eating out for supper) - maybe $40/day? $280 for week?
2 Tanks of gas: $50?
Airport Parking: $72.
I think internet access was free.
Special Note: At least in the past, the 10 trip 20 dive package was Rainbow Reef’s best deal. But you could do one more 2 tank trip that last Friday morning. That single trip is $80. Figure $20 for tips & you get $100.
This is not nitrox diving, but you probably don’t need it.


$1,527.00.
$200.00.
$410.00.
$130.00.
$250.00.
$280.00.
$50.00.
$100.00.
$72.00.


Total: $3,019.00, for 22 dives, free guides, no nitrox, with the dive boat at the end of the hotel parking lot for convenience.


About $137/dive.


For this trip, you could save a lot of money on subsequent divers by packing more people into that single hotel room. You can also save some money by staying at a cheaper hotel off-site, if you’re willing to sacrifice convenience and drive. I liked running back to the room for a cold sandwich and chips during the 45 minutes to an hour between the morning trip return and the afternoon trip departure.


Most people would head to mainland Florida and do some land excursions such as Miami zoo, Jungle Island, Lion Country Safari or an Everglades air boat, or maybe a dolphin encounter in the Florida Keys.


Bonaire May 2014 - 28 dives (1 guided, 2 boat, 25 solo shore).

Buddy Dive Resort, solo, hotel room $1,413.83.
Upgrade to automatic truck ($35/day) $245.00.
Round Trip out of Nashville (used Insel for part of it) $930.00.
Cleaning lady tip $20.00.
2 Boat dives tip $10.00.
Airport Parking $72.00.
Baggage going (2 bags) $100.00.
Baggage coming home (2 bags) $100.00.
Eating out in Bonaire & Misc. (e.g.: Bandaids) $330.14.
Groceries in Bonaire $42.10.
I eat more than most, but no alcohol
Tank of gas $51.41.
Marine Park Fee $25.00.
Internet access was free.


Going ‘brand name’ on airfare, such as Delta, tends to run around $1,100 - 1,200. About $200.


So, $3,349.48, or around 3,550 with brand name airfare.


Had a special with up to $75 food credit at Buddy Dive & extra boat dives. Only did 2 of several boat dives I could’ve done; used the food credit. Didn’t have to pay for guided dive. 28 Dives in 6 1/2 days was work to get in; all night dives were done at Buddy Dive’s house reef. Shore diving Bonaire is a lot more work than a live-aboard. For me, with a trip including boat dives, the guided dive at no charge:


$3,350/28 = $120/dive. Accept a manual transmission truck, take a shore dive only package, and bring 1 or 2 buddies and split the net savings on room cost, and you can get that down.


Belize Sun Dancer 2 May 2015 - 26 dives (1 Blue Hole, or would’ve been 27).


Live-aboard cost $2,500.00.
Round trip
out of Nashville $752.44.
Tip (if you do 15%) $375.00.
End of trip costs (? nitrox & more) $272.50.
Airport Parking $ 72.00.
Baggage going (2 bags) $65.00.
Baggage coming home (2 bags) $66.56.
Ate @ the Radisson last Friday evening $10.09.
Internet access fee for 1 day (wireless mainland provider) $10.00.
plane.


So, $3,623.09 with brand name airfare. The only piece of that you’d save with a 2nd diver would be airport parking at your home airport ($72 for me).

$3,600 for 26 dives, so $139/dive.


So, brand name airfare difference of around $300/person in favor of Belize. But when you put 2 dives in a room, vs. the solo shore dive (even with some boat dives) package rate, you save several hundred. And the more you pack in, the cheaper it tends to get. As of 5-28-15 when I checked Buddy Dive’s website, for a hotel room accommodation, low season rates (April 11 - Dec. 18, 2015), solo vs. 2/room rates for unlimited shore diving + 6 boat dives/person:


Studio


1 Person - $1,852.00.
2 People - $1,074.25.


1 Bedroom


1 Person - $2,013.70.
2 People - $1,255.10.


But, if you do shore diving only, assuming the nitrox upgrade is still free:


Studio


1 Person - $1,712.00.
2 People - $1,034.25.


1 Bedroom


1 Person - $1,873.70.
2 People - $1,115.10.


And with no shore diving, save $20 by having no boat crew to tip. Plus a pair of divers save nearly $800 apiece on resort/dive package, but lose $300 in airfare, so you save $500/diver going in a pair.

Bottom Line: Live-aboard diving offers many dives in short order, very easy diving, fine food and a high level of service with little to distract you. It's some of the most economical high-volume diving you can get. If you're driven and dedicated, you can undercut that rate with select destinations such as Key Largo and Bonaire, with variable extra hassle and less bundled service. I suspect 'camping at sea' budget live-aboards (I'm mainly talking about Blackbeards, out of the Bahamas) would be almost unbeatable.

So, what do the rest of you think? Think there are better options out there I'm missing?

Richard.

---------- Post added May 31st, 2015 at 08:47 PM ----------

P.S.: my figures are for traveling solo. Take a buddy and cut your per person costs by sharing a room in Key Largo. Some savings in Bonaire but airfare is unchanged and a big part of cost.

 

[afdgf]

We are also trying to figure out the cheapest warm water diving that is nice enough but does not need to be too nice. We like Key Largo. We are also trying to figure out different places in Mexico. We fly out of LAX and Alaska Airlines goes direct to Puerto Vallarta and Loreto. They are warm in July-September. I will be very curious as this thread goes on to find out about other possibilities. Another option that you did not discuss is doing one of the Reef.org trips which is mostly tax deductible. That makes those places more affordable. Thanks for starting this thread.

 

[RJP]

I'm not exactly sure what your your question is but there are far better deals to be had on Bonaire.

If you're looking to minimize cost per dive, spending $1400/pp in Bonaire for a room you'll spend very little time in is simply crazy in my book. And don't get me started on $250 to upgrade the truck.

:d

My buddy (tajkd) and I stayed at Carribean Club Bonaire in a 1-Bedroom apt in December. We paid less in total for two of us than you did for one person. That difference is far more than just the single-occupancy difference and included truck, unlimited nitrox, and a great breakfast every day. The apartment was newly renovated and nicer than the 1br at Buddy Dive. We had a living room, kitchenette, bedroom, great bathroom and a huge covered patio with a dining table, club chairs, and two lounge chairs. I'll gladly pass on being on the water in exchange for saving $650 per person. Consider that the majority of your dives (like 29 out of 30 maybe) are going to be somewhere other than the resort you're staying at... there's really no benefit to paying a $650 premium for the proximity to a single dive site. The price difference on the room/dive package at CCB vs BD literally covered our airfare, airport parking, groceries, restaurants, drinks, etc, etc.

Our approach to dining on Bonaire is
- hotel breakfast
- brown-bagged sandwiches for lunch (often from breakfast buffet)
- stock room/fridge with chips/salsa, cheese/crackers, etc for snacks
- a case of beer and some wine for the week
- blow the savings from breakfast, lunch, snacks on a nice dinner every night

Our total cost per-person for the trip was probably under $1,300... all in. That's $43 per dive.

 

[They call me Tater]

First let me say I admire your approach. Thoughtful, thorough, detailed...now the first but.
What price do you put on dive experience or memories? $20/dive if you stick with a local quarry. I like all of your math, but in the end it comes to personal choice/taste since that is where the final value is determined.
Don't get me wrong, I am always looking for that great economical trip that has wonderful diving. Livaboards, islands, Great Lakes wrecks, my list is long...but I also know that there are dive experiences that can change the whole perception of a trip. One or two great dives can leave more impression than a handful of similar dives....so how do we judge that?
Food for thought.

 

[diversteve]

I'll play - while I don't normally track costs closely I have a pretty good idea of what I spent on Roatan a few years ago.

Flight was $685. $32 to leave but that's bundled now.

I rented an oceanfront house walking distance from town for $1500. Nice place, gourmet kitchen, lots of decks - including off all the bedrooms. I sold two of the rooms to my friends for $500 each. The house had it's own van driver and we made 5 trips all over the island. $10/ride. So my total cost was $600. You pretty much walk everywhere in the West End since it's maybe a mile long. There's also a water taxi to West Bay that costs a few $ - different restaurants/better beach.

Dives were 10/$300. All boat dives and we did 18. Would've been more but we burned 3 mornings doing the shark/dolphin/Mary's Place specialty dives with those operators. My total dive costs were right around $700 for all 22 dives.

I'd guess I spent about $400 on food. Everything from $25 steak dinners with drinks to $5 lunches at the Noodles Factory between dives. Rotisserie Chicken fed 4 of us once - for $22.

So it looks like about $110/dive. Could be a lot less if you stayed at a less expensive property in town - many of those - including 1br. apts. go for around $50/nt.

 

[chillyinCanada]

They call me Tater, I getcha! Every few years I'd a dive vacation that cost me more than my standard go-to's of Belize and Roatan. Without exception, those more expensive trips had significantly more impressive dives. Lately, the more exciting and/or expensive dive vacations have become more the norm with Belize being the wildcard trip.

The dollar value doesn't seem to matter when comparing apples to starfruit. Or is that Caribbean dives to Indonesian dives. But apples to apples, price definitely factors in for me, along with distance to travel, ease of access to chosen locale, etc.

Recently a new dive friend of mine who lives across an ocean and a sea from me, pointed out that the Red Sea lobs are much less expensive than the Maldives lobs and that I should definitely consider a Red Sea trip. Yes, well, the journey to the Red Sea is an expensive pain the butt for me (though I'll likely be joining her on an lob there next year), whereas the Maldives lob of my choice is a wonderful experience above and below and easy for me to get to because I'm already based in Singapore for other reasons at the times of my Maldives trips. So depending on how one looks at these things Maldives is a better deal for me. Or at least it seems so now, not having actually been to Red Sea yet.

 

[RJP]

What price do you put on dive experience or memories? $20/dive if you stick with a local quarry. I like all of your math, but in the end it comes to personal choice/taste since that is where the final value is determined.

I read Rich's post as prioritizing the diving experience/memories as being the primary objective... and then seeking to achieve a cost-efficient approach to achieving that.

 

[ronscuba]

Only thing missing is how you valuate the "other" stuff. Everyone is a little different in what they prefer and you cannot put a dollar value on some things.

For example:

- the ease of diving on a liveaboard
- the options for food-eating when land based
- the comforts of a real room and bathroom when land based
- the peace/quiet being away from civilization on a liveaboard
- non diving options when land based
- the work when shore diving and driving to sites
- diving quality, variety, Bonaire sites are very similar to me, Florida diving is not as good as liveaboard

 

[Doc]

I like your methodology Toatal $ divided by the # of dives algebra. Adding airfares can be problematic, but if I do, I get CocoView Roatan for $90 a dive overall.

The problem in your methodology becomes quickly apparent when you read most every trip report, even here on SB, the last bastion of people who want "dive vacations" (not just "vacations with some diving"). Most folks seem to be logging 10 dives during a week nowadays. It's not any badge of dishonor, but it's just not something that most folks bother to bring up.

I think your reference to "not needing nitrox", although quite accurate, will be viewed as heresy by most, likely those using Pelican cases as carry on.

 

[drrich2]

Thanks to everybody's who's participated. I aimed for discussion useful to the mid-range U.S.-based dive tourist going for a comfortable high-volume diving trip & trying to make sense of the options, and also to help newcomers to scuba get a sense of the costs involved in going on a trip.

Threads discussing the cheapest diving tend to bring up discussions of 'camping at sea' on Blackbeards (which many people speak quite well of!) and back packer types in a hostel on Utila. I'm thinking most dive tourists are aiming for a comfort level north of that, but not necessarily needing Cozumel Palace.

A newcomer to ScubaBoard & diving, reading threads till his eyes glazed over, might get the following impressions:

1.) The Caribbean is probably the best regional value trip.
2.) There are a LOT of places to dive in the Caribbean.
3.) For whatever reason, seems like Cozumel & Bonaire are the most popular. After that, a mix of places - Roatan, Key Largo, Belize Cayes or live-aboard, and Blackbeards and the AquaCat seem to come in 2nd place. Somewhere in the mix fall places people mainly dive if their cruise ship stops there; St. Thomas, St. Lucia, the Stuart Cove shark dive out of Nassau, etc... And somewhere after that, these other places spoken well of that don't seem to get as much 'love' (as many threads/trip reports) - Curacao, Saba, Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, St. Croix, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Aruba, etc...

That leaves a lot of reading & guesswork. And for the 1st timer, who may not've traveled outside the U.S. before, confusion as to the real cost of the trip. Folks have to budget.

Couple of other followups:

1.) I know of Caribbean Club in Bonaire. Nearest reef is Oil Slick Leap, which is a good one, a little drive down the road. Diving 4 dives/day (2 morning/ 2 afternoon) in Bonaire wore me out enough I wouldn't have done several night dives if the house reef weren't right there (Buddy Dive Resort). I'd have saved money, but dove less. I'm a chubby 46 year old white color worker who doesn't hit the gym; more energetic athletic folks might've gotten out for night dives elsewhere. Then again, I was solo, aiming to see how many dives I could bang out without anybody else holding me back (e.g.: no trips to the donkey sanctuary or park, no waiting for anybody to wake up from a nap or get over being sea sick), and pushing myself thinking 'When you get home, you'll wish you had done that dive...' So 28 dives was a lot in a week. For me.

2.) They Call Me Tater's points are well-taken. I think once you get a good sense of what a mid-range budget trip offers you & at what cost, you can then use that as a measuring stick to decide whether a more 'special' trip is worth it. For example, this year, I did a live-aboard out of Belize (Sun Dancer 2) & got my coral reef fix in. That frees me up to, Lord willing and providing, hopefully hit Morehead, ,NC in August. Pretty much all wreck diving, in the Atlantic instead of the sheltered Caribbean, deep diving not shallow reefs, you want a guide you pay for one, and 2 dives/day is the plan, not 4 or 5. But I want to get up close & personal with sand tiger sharks, & get snap shots of them. Haven't done it before.

Next year, Lord willing and providing, I'd like to do another warm water tropical scuba week solo some place nice. And later, well, I keep mulling over the possibility of a Channel Islands dive trip out of Santa Barbara. Only thing, is, wife, toddler & mother-in-law would be along, so if I did a 4 day live-aboard with Truth Aquatics, I'd need to leave them for that span. Yeah, it's much colder water, poorer viz. on average than some places I've been, pay for a guide or do without, and there's that ominous (if extremely remote) chance of a great white mistaking me for a sea lion & tearing my leg off or something, but I'd like to try California diving once. I'd like to dive with sea lions, see the kelp & the garibaldi's, be able to say I've been. Maybe see a giant sea bass?

Last year I did 10 dives out of Jupiter with Jupiter Dive Center to experience the goliath grouper aggregation. And now I'm hearing May would've been a good month to see the sharks. And there's the possibility of up close & personal shark action with Emerald Dive Charters; tempting, tempting...

My point is, I'm not always about the highest number of the cheapest dives possible maintaining a pleasant environment (e.g.: in room bathroom). But that's the yard stick I measure other places against. If their 'something special' entices me enough, I may skip that cheap reef tour & go visit.

Richard.