Where should I go?

[jasondcrawford]

I've been visiting these forums for the past seval months, but only recently signed up. Me, my wife, and my older brother are all new to Scuba (under 10 dives) and want to plan on huge 'just graduated from college and can no longer justify spending this kind of money on a trip' vacation for May of 2007. We're both in Phoenix, and just want the best Scuba experience we can possibly get with the time and experience constraints we have. I was just hoping someone could throw out the names of 5 or 6 places we should look into. We want to see some of everything (warm water) and will have about 1 week to do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated! (Basically... for those who have done dives around the world, which was your favorite that an inexperienced diver could do?) I know its not a very specific question, but humor me

 

[sasscuba]

Best for a new diver is by far Bonaire. Easy shore dives done at your own pace and some really great diving. Do a search here and you can read for days all about it.

Welcome to the board.

 

[jasondcrawford]

Yea, I'll check it out. Thanks for the suggestion

 

[EvaL]

Hi,
I guess it depends on your budget, when you want to travel, and contacting a good divetravel agent. Here are my favorites (I listed non-diving activities as well) and are beginner friendly:
Cozumel - one of the best, fastest to get to and cheapest in the carbbbean. Drift dives, small to mid-sized fish very plentiful. White sandy beaches on PDC (Playa Del Carmen), exploring Mayan ruins, also cavern diving/snorkeling in cenotes (I'm heading there next week!)
Belize - marine life can be as good as Cozumel, the Blue hole. Swim with dolphins at Anthony's Key.
Bahamas (New Providence) - fairly good diving in the southwestern reefs (including shark feeding), casino and park on Atlantis island.
Hawaii (Maui, Kawaii or Big island) - Manta Rays, cudas, some sharks. Jungle trekking, mountain climbing, see sunrise on Maui mountain-top, visit Volcano NP (on Big island)
Closer to home, you should also check out Baja California to see manta rays and whaleshark.

Now for the exotic (and more expensive):
Bali - Tulamben wreck, macro/muck diving in Ahmed, drift dive in Nusa Penida/Nusa Dua
Maldives - resort based or liveaboard. See species unique to the Red Sea and Indian oceans. Large Napoleon Wrasse, lionfish, moorish idol are my favorites.
My dive buddies have raved about Micronesia, Palau, Australia's Great barrier Reef and Fiji, but I haven't been to these places.

These are just my opinions. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Happy diving.

 

[Doc]

are all new to Scuba (under 10 dives) and want to plan on huge 'just graduated from college and can no longer justify spending this kind of money on a trip' vacation for May of 2007. (Basically... for those who have done dives around the world, which was your favorite that an inexperienced diver could do?)

Before you waste big money on a trip, go log another 70 or so dives under varying conditions. Better yet- log them under the same conditions that you will face on your intended trip.

While you are gaining experience in giant stride entries, back rolls, shore dives with current over iron shore, small boat recovery after drift diving... then learn to perfect your buoyancy so you can reall get some value out of the money that you are paying to go to exotic lands.

SCUBA is fun in the sun, but it aint skiing. In skiing, even the Green Circle type beginners can find a cat track that will take them safely down from the highest cable car that serves only Black Diamond expert runs. In SCUBA, there is no easy way out of a dive that you haven't yet gained the experience to survive, much less enjoy.

Every time we step off into the blue, we are confronted with different circumstances to face and overcome. You have had suggestions for Bonaire... how's your shore dive in surge skills? While walking on rocky (dead) coral rip rap. How's your skills for current and dealing with finding your return exit point? See, even a sun washed "must do" like Bonaire presents certain obstacles and challenges.

Cozumel? Drift dives, some quite swift, and almost legendary non-attention from the DM's.

Blue Hole in Belize? Ready to blip down to 140' to see.... nothing much? Really? Cenote (cave) diving? Sure.

And so on. Every time you strap in, you may be confronted with a new set of variables that you have never encountered before. Can you handle one at a time? How about 6 new things- all at once? Task loading can kill you.

Advanced Diving defined: Any dive that presents you with equipment (new gear or rqd for the specific dive) , strange boat configuration, shore, sea condition (temp/surge/viz/current/depth), entry/exit method (ladders of varying quality/RIB Zodiacs), dive staff/boat crew quality/interaction and surface recovery interval locations that are either new to the diver or are combined in sufficient concentration to cause task loading.

I like the suggestion of AKR (where they offer a dolphin dive) in Roatan. Simple, fall off the boat, easy. There are other easy breezy resorts there as well. Roughly like being in a warm saltwater pool.

Go, get some more experience before you do this. It's a big investment.

 

[ronrosa]

Wow RoatanMan. I always enjoy reading your posts. I frequently disagree with you, but it's always good to hear different opinions.

You can add this to the disagree list.

Waiting 70 dives before he goes on a dive trip ? That's a little extreme. Heck, I'm a vacation only diver, been diving for 5 years and only have 180 dives. If I never went on a dive trip, I wouldn't have any dives.

When I visited Curacao, some people boat dove in the morning and limited their shore diving to the house reef. It's basically impossible to get lost on the Habitat house reef. I think the Bonaire resort house reefs are similar.

Yeah, Cozumel has currents, but that shouldn't scare away beginner divers. There are a lot of good operators and dive masters in Cozumel and as long as you are honest with them about your abilities, Cozumel is a safe dive destination for beginners.

 

[jasondcrawford]

Most of the suggestions seem to be in the Carribean... Not having much personal experience, I always imagined the greatest spots to be in Thailand and Australia's GBR. Any reason these aren't on anyone's top lists other than the expense?

Also, as far as the Caribbean destinations go, do some of those places have cooler 'big stuff' to look at than others, or is it all pretty comparable? I'd like to see sharks, or at least some big fish, maybe an octopus or two...

The only place I HAVE been is off the Big-Island of Hawaii (Kona), and in Maui (Molokini) and liked those a lot, but the coral wasn't as colorful as I had hoped and the fish, although plentiful, weren't as large as I had hoped. (BUT, it was freakin awsome anyways !)

 

[Doc]

Maybe I misunderstood, sorry.

Try this: http://www.usdivetravel.com/V-PALAU-Palau_Aggress.html

That ought to do it.

 

[ChrisA]

which was your favorite that an inexperienced diver could do?

Catalina Island in So Cal. Easy to get to (you can drive to the boat) and inexpensive and yes, they take American money.

This may not be exactly what you were looking for but it's an easy trip you can do before the big one in may and you will gain loads of experiance in the ocean.

 

[Hank49]

Most of the suggestions seem to be in the Carribean... Not having much personal experience, I always imagined the greatest spots to be in Thailand and Australia's GBR. Any reason these aren't on anyone's top lists other than the expense?

!)

Actually, diving, food and lodging is cheaper in the Philippines than it is in the Caribbean....once you get there. You'll get more Caribbean recommendations here though probably because most of the people are Americans and it's in their backyard.
If I have a choice, I'd rather dive the Indo Pacific. Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines...unreal diversity in marine life. Just pick up any book on reef fishes of the world. 80% of the species (estimate) will be from there. The Caribbean has as many fish but not near as many species. But, for now, I'm stuck here.