Island recommendations late Feb or late march?

[Cohoona]

Hey everyone,


I'm hoping I can get some help here. I am trying to put together a trip for myself the two friends for late feb or late march which we try and do every year. I have some criteria and I hope that will help narrow my island selection...

Caribbean and warm water are preferred

Of course diving is a huge priority and some decent reef dives are apart of that. We are all advanced divers as well.

we are looking to do a shark dive and some night diving as well.

We are all in our mid 20s and are hoping to have some night life and others our own age... ( I accidentally booked a cruise over valentines day last year and needless to say the crowd was not what we hoped hahaha)

hoping to do some non diving activities while we are there as well. Adventuring around and whatever.

Any specific hotels, bungalows, or resorts would be GREATLY appreciated. Also having a decent way to fly in and out would be nice... We aren't necessarily trying to nickel and dime a trip but Fiji got bumped because it's a $2000 flight from Boston.

Now, we have done a handful of trips, and we aren't wanting to do Cozumel as we've been there before and I've been 3 times.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[mselenaous]

I loved Curacao this past February. Had a great time staying in Westpunt at All West Apts and diving with Go West.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/le...aous-netdoc-do-curacao-go-west-trip-blog.html

 

[Doc]

Caribbean should likely afford you pleasant enough weather in that time frame.

Maybe you could narrow this down, just a wee bit?

You are going to have to figure your own air fare costs, nobody knows your gateway city issues as well as you do. But... aside from the "nickel and dime" reference,

- just how much did you want to spend, in total, for your trip? (excluding airfare)

- how many dives per day did you really want? - How many night dives?

- Sharks? Canned Rodeo or likely wild encounters?

- What kind of "non diving/adventuring around" were you looking for? (Sailboards, ATVs, Canopy Tour, golf, casinos, what?)

Your replies, when taken as a whole, will give a fairly easy answer.

 

[Cohoona]

Thanks Mselenaous looks like a great trip!

Doc,

I may be way off but I figured around 600 per person for 7 days lodging (nothing real fancy, we don't hang around the room too much) if there is something cheaper but still decent I'm always on board, as I can blow my money elsewhere. I hate paying big $$$ for somewhere that I just crash for the night.


. We will have some non diving days and have some 3 tank days. So I would figure 8-10 dives including 2 night dives.

As far as sharks go we wanted to do a planned shark dive, but would also love to see some during normal outings.

For the adventuring around I'm pretty open but things like kite boarding, surfing, mountain bikes, atvs, things of that nature.

I don't really have a limit on what I want to spend, once the rooms and diving is accounted for, I just kind of go with the flow.

 

[vincent54]

I am an advocate of Cayman Brac. Rent a house for about 1200 USD for the week, shore dive from any location on the island for 8 dollars a tank and find some of the prettiest walls in the world. Cook your own meals, or go the one of the restaurants. Sharks galore on the Southeast walls. No need to do a shark dive, they will find you. AOW, the rocky entries shouldn't bother. Time the swells and go.

Afternoons, rock climb the Bluff. There are permanent titanium pins permanently fixed in some of the spots. If you time it right, there are organized ocean swims.(but I believe they are towards summer). Relax. hunt for Conch or Lobster, and enjoy the dry winds. There are also plenty of roads to bike on that have little to no traffic. Hike to Little Cayman Brac, climb to top and do some cliff diving. A 40 foot jump into the bluest water in the world. Cool

I know a few people that didn't care for Brac, and they now vacation in Cancun. It's their idea of Paradise. They like the Cenotes and Whale sharks plus the Resort atmosphere. The Sharks are seasonable and the caves you drive to. Looks pretty, but I will stick with Brac.. Cheers

 

[Cohoona]

Vince... That sounds so awesome! And flights are cheap from boston. Are there any decent bars or anything after dark? Or does everything kind of shut down after the sun goes down?

i have a theory in life and vacation... Cram as much fun into each hour as humanly possible. Everything else is just wasted time.

I am an advocate of Cayman Brac. Rent a house for about 1200 USD for the week, shore dive from any location on the island for 8 dollars a tank and find some of the prettiest walls in the world. Cook your own meals, or go the one of the restaurants. Sharks galore on the Southeast walls. No need to do a shark dive, they will find you. AOW, the rocky entries shouldn't bother. Time the swells and go.

Afternoons, rock climb the Bluff. There are permanent titanium pins permanently fixed in some of the spots. If you time it right, there are organized ocean swims.(but I believe they are towards summer). Relax. hunt for Conch or Lobster, and enjoy the dry winds. There are also plenty of roads to bike on that have little to no traffic. Hike to Little Cayman Brac, climb to top and do some cliff diving. A 40 foot jump into the bluest water in the world. Cool

I know a few people that didn't care for Brac, and they now vacation in Cancun. It's their idea of Paradise. They like the Cenotes and Whale sharks plus the Resort atmosphere. The Sharks are seasonable and the caves you drive to. Looks pretty, but I will stick with Brac.. Cheers

 

[diversteve]

Vincent missed this:

We are all in our mid 20s and are hoping to have some night life and others our own age

Nightlife on Brac is the few bars at the resorts. Little Cayman is similar. Caymans are pricey also. Everything - dives, food, lodging. Esp. during high season when you're going. Cayman Brac | Cayman Islands Vacation | Cayman Islands With 3 of you Grand Cayman is also an expensive option. Rent a condo, cook, minimize the 2/$100 boat dives (there's about a dozen shore dives) and there's real nightclubs along SMB like you'd find in Miami - just less of them. Nice beaches but not a lot of "adventuring" options. Another way to save since food is expensive is there's U.S. chains - Subway, BK, Dominos, KFC etc. And some local options. Google Cayman Good Taste and follow the links - some restaurants show menus/prices.

Other options to consider. I've been to all these except Belize if you have questions. We planned a trip to Belize but it fell thru.

Nassau - feed dive plus wild sharks. Lots of nightlife at the Atlantis mega-resort/casino/waterpark/dolphin park/marina or Downtown/Cable Beach. Check out Stuart Cove's or Bahama Divers.
Freeport - (Grand Bahama)ditto plus captive dolphins. Not as much nightlife but there's a few clubs in Port Lucaya. UNEXSO is one option for diving. Another option is the Tiger Beach trips that Cove's runs from Old Bahama Bay. It's too isolated to stay there but an easy 45? min. drive. That's one of the better non-captive shark dives on the planet - 20' Tigers "bump" you and sometimes "borrow" your camera. Lemon's also.
Belize - lots of sharks - price something on Ambergris then move onshore for a few days to "adventure" - cave tubing, ziplines, river tours etc.
Curacao - no sharks but good nightlife. Lots of affordable shore dives. Beach clubs, casinos, etc. $150/nt. puts you in a 2br condo with kitchen.
Roatan's West End - but no sharks except one feed dive. You can stay/dive/bar hop in the West End very reasonably. Lot's of foreign coeds on the pub crawl nights. I'm not sure it's possible to spend much more than $100/nt. for accommodations. Some friends rented a 2BR cottage with full kitchen for $80. Walking distance to two markets and over a dozen dive shops. Boat dives there are 10/$350 and since the reef is so close 4 per day is doable - I did it twice. Roatan is likely a more expensive flight.

None of these are as cheap as Cozumel though. For the Bahamas price it direct and also connecting thru FLL or MIA - even West Palm Beach. I've seen cheap flights to FLL on Southwest then BahamasAir is an option for the final flight. Or Airtran/Jet Blue.

 

[vincent54]

Vincent missed this:

Nightlife on Brac is the few bars at the resorts. Little Cayman is similar. Caymans are pricey also. Everything - dives, food, lodging. Esp. during high season when you're going. Cayman Brac | Cayman Islands Vacation | Cayman Islands With 3 of you Grand Cayman is also an expensive option. Rent a condo, cook, minimize the 2/$100 boat dives (there's about a dozen shore dives) and there's real nightclubs along SMB like you'd find in Miami - just less of them. Nice beaches but not a lot of "adventuring" options. Another way to save since food is expensive is there's U.S. chains - Subway, BK, Dominos, KFC etc. And some local options. Google Cayman Good Taste and follow the links - some restaurants show menus/prices.

Other options to consider. I've been to all these except Belize if you have questions. We planned a trip to Belize but it fell thru.

Nassau - feed dive plus wild sharks. Lots of nightlife at the Atlantis mega-resort/casino/waterpark/dolphin park/marina or Downtown/Cable Beach. Check out Stuart Cove's or Bahama Divers.
Freeport - (Grand Bahama)ditto plus captive dolphins. Not as much nightlife but there's a few clubs in Port Lucaya. UNEXSO is one option for diving. Another option is the Tiger Beach trips that Cove's runs from Old Bahama Bay. It's too isolated to stay there but an easy 45? min. drive. That's one of the better non-captive shark dives on the planet - 20' Tigers "bump" you and sometimes "borrow" your camera. Lemon's also.
Belize - lots of sharks - price something on Ambergris then move onshore for a few days to "adventure" - cave tubing, ziplines, river tours etc.
Curacao - no sharks but good nightlife. Lots of affordable shore dives. Beach clubs, casinos, etc. $150/nt. puts you in a 2br condo with kitchen.
Roatan's West End - but no sharks except one feed dive. You can stay/dive/bar hop in the West End very reasonably. Lot's of foreign coeds on the pub crawl nights. I'm not sure it's possible to spend much more than $100/nt. for accommodations. Some friends rented a 2BR cottage with full kitchen for $80. Walking distance to two markets and over a dozen dive shops. Boat dives there are 10/$350 and since the reef is so close 4 per day is doable - I did it twice. Roatan is likely a more expensive flight.

None of these are as cheap as Cozumel though. For the Bahamas price it direct and also connecting thru FLL or MIA - even West Palm Beach. I've seen cheap flights to FLL on Southwest then BahamasAir is an option for the final flight. Or Airtran/Jet Blue.

I just assumed everyone goes to bed when it gets dark. There is night life. Night diving and exploration of the tide pools, all the Morays and Octopus come out. The bars are quite and other than the Reef Resort, there isn't much "nightlife". Personally, I pour a huge Martini and watch the stars. Cheers and enjoy your trip wherever you go, your only young once.

 

[robint]

Good diving in Caribbean - Feb or March. Yes, most places will have that. IMHO best reefs and fishlife are going to be Cozumel (you said you don't want to go there again), Bonaire, Roatan.

If you are looking for a canned shark dive, like Doc suggested, you can do that in Roatan. They line everyone up along the bottom and feed sharks in front of you.

Nightlife seems to be an interest for you, so you might have a bit more of a problem finding that without going to an All-inclusive resort. Roatan has some non-AI options on the West End that might work.

Grand Cayman is an option for you, but it is pricier than Cozumel. I think Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are going to be to quiet as far as nightlife as there is no one there but divers, who tend to be in bed by 9-10pm every night.

Utila is also an option, fly into Roatan and take a hop over to that island. Haven't been there but I understand the population is much younger than most destinations.

A good website to check out deals and information is Island Dreams Travel scuba diving vacations, cozumel scuba diving, dive travel, dive resorts, diving trips. We have used them a couple of times with good results.

The more I think about your needs.... the more Roatan west end seems to meet every need. Roatan has diving, a shark dive, topside activities like ziplines etc, and also nightlife down on the WestEnd. From what I hear, there are also more people your age there than at other places on the island.
look at Bananarama, WestEnd divers, CoconutTree divers, and NativeSons divers.

 

[rick00001967]

take a look at st maarten. the dutch side. tons of nightlife. lots of food options from cheap cheap to uuber expensive. great beaches. decent diving. close to saba if you want to jump over and do some more advanced dives. we love it there. you could rent a 2 bdrm condo online. there are tons of those too. plenty of room. kitchen to make brkfst. fridge for cold beer etc. and easy access for flights.