Awarded a travel grant! Looking for recommendations.

[Footprints and Bubbles]

Hi all! I'm a longtime lurker finally taking the plunge and making my first post! I've been awarded a travel grant (!) through work and am trying to figure out where to go. Only stipulations for travel are that it be international (from the US) and during the coming summer. After taxes, I'll have about $6000 for both me and my husband. We'd be willing to throw a bit of our own money into the mix for the right trip, but don't want to go too crazy.

We're open to both land-based and liveaboards. The trip would need to happen sometime between the second half of July and the first half of August. We are flexible in terms of length of stay.

Places we've been diving in order of preference: Komodo (liveaboard), Belize (Lighthouse Reef), Bonaire, Hawaii, Cozumel, Iceland (Silfra), and Aruba.

Trips we already have planned: Hawaii (June 2019) and Raja Ampat (December 2019 on the Samambaia).

Certs: AOW, Nitrox, and drysuit. I'm at 136 dives, he's at a little over 100.

We're in our early to mid-30's, active, and have the "sleep when we're dead" mentality when it comes to travel. We live on the East Coast and would likely be flying out of NYC or Boston. After just booking or flights to Sorong, I'd prefer a slightly easier flight itinerary - at least for this trip! I teach environmental science, so any trips that include a citizen science component would be especially welcome, but not required.

Where should we go?!

 

[flyboy08]

The Galapagos.

 

[Footprints and Bubbles]

The Galapagos.

My bank account was worried that this might be a suggestion.

 

[scubadada]

So many places, a week on the east end of Grand Cayman, a week on Little Cayman, a couple weeks in Bonaiire, a week of liveaboard on the Red Sea... How much time do you have, what kind of diving do you want to do? Galapagos and Cocos are pretty expensive. Sure, you could go to Cozumel, maybe a couple of weeks

 

[runsongas]

you can stretch your budget with egypt and do two weeks liveaboard

 

[scubadada]

you can stretch your budget with egypt and do two weeks liveaboard

Probably not so cheap to fly to from the US. I flew direct from Zurich to Hurghada when I lived in Switzerland, inexpensive.

 

[Footprints and Bubbles]

We just got back from Cozumel at the beginning of January. It was good, but after diving Komodo last summer, it felt a little underwhelming. Hoping we haven't completely spoiled Caribbean diving for ourselves. Going to Raja next winter probably isn't going to help.

I was strongly considering the Red Sea. Looks like I could get a flight from NYC to Cairo for about $1000, then transfer to a domestic carrier for the final leg. Which isn't too bad. Is July / August a good time of year for the Red Sea?

We both like healthy corals and abundant fish. Pelagics are always awesome, and we are still on the quest for our first whale shark. I also loved the macro life we encountered in Bali and Komodo, especially nudis. Not particularly interested in wrecks or technical diving. I dabble in photography, so that is also one of my considerations.

Galapagos is definitely on the bucket list. I'm just not sure that we can pull it off financially at this time.

We're both teachers, so we are not short on time in the summer.

 

[runsongas]

Maybe consider the Philippines if the travel time isn't a problem.

 

[Footprints and Bubbles]

Maybe consider the Philippines if the travel time isn't a problem.

Do you have a specific recommendation for the Philippines? We'd be outside of the season for Tubbahata. Anilao piques my interest, but it looks like July and August are not ideal due to monsoons.

 

[runsongas]

Puerto galera for that time frame