Planning an affordable diving holiday

[Grazzum]

Hi all

I'm new to this site, so apologies if I'm posting in the wrong forum.

I'm want to plan a trip somewhere! Situation is that I'm an AOW diver, though not been for a while. I've joined a local club and am getting back into the swing of diving again, and love it! My daughter (age 12) is doing the OW course, she's a complete natural underwater and an extremely competent swimmer. We both go snorkelling in the sea when the sun comes out.

I have been diagnosed with cancer, so I'm a bit keen to do a dive trip with my daughter before I can't any more. Our key issue is budget - money is very tight at the moment due to reduced work hours. What I'm asking all you wise people for is advice on affordable venues.

First up, travelling is not an issue. In fact, if it has an element of adventure, all the better. It suits our lifestyle! Political climate is not a concern, nor is challenging travel. What I am looking for are recommendations for somewhere for a week's diving at a dive centre that can provide the gear and boats. Considerations price wise are:

• gear hire and dive cost
• accommodation
• living costs (food etc)

I have previously spent a week diving on Koh Tao which fits the bill very well. Are there any more suitable places that you think might work well for us?

Many thanks in advance, and I look forward to your suggestions.

cheers
Graham

 

[Saniflush]

Graham,
Welcome to the board. I am sure there will be others along shortly with many wonderful suggestions so just hang on. If you want to poke around some on your own I would suggest looking further down the main board topics to the Regional Forums. Many people post trip reports of area when they go and I have found them to be a wonderful tool in looking at destinations.
The type of diving you like to do is going to have a big impact on your choices. There are always deals to be had most everywhere but personally from a monetary standpoint I find a liveaboard gives me the most bang for the buck. Opinions will vary greatly on this though as you would expect.
Hope you find what you are looking for and KICK CANCER's ASS!

 

[UFOrb]

Hi Graham,

Firstly, welcome to ScubaBoard!

Without knowing your budget it's going to be tricky to answer your questions fully but you've said you're considering Koh Tao so I guess you have a reasonable amount to spend. Also, I'm guessing you'll need to go in the school holidays, so August?

With that in mind I'll make some suggestions based on my experiences.

I haven't dived Koh Tao before but we are heading there in August this year (school hols). I did a fair amount of research and chose what seems to be the quieter eastern side. There is also supposed to be some reasonable snorkelling from the beaches. Whilst we realise the diving's not the best the world, or Thailand, has on offer, the dive sites are generally close (important for us with young kids) and it's fairly cheap.

Other SE Asian destinations we've dived and worth a look, and that would be suitable in August weather-wise, are:

Peninsula Malaysia, eg Perhentian islands. A bit of a trek to get to but wonderful and the diving prices are reasonable. Check out Bubbles resort (where we did our OW).

Bali. A bit further to travel but world class diving! Check out Tulamben (eg Liberty Dive Resort), Amed or Padang Bai.
You could also add Gili Islands, Lombok onto a trip to Bali.

North Sulawesi (eg Bunaken & Bangka island). Again, a bit further afield but world class diving & snorkelling. Accomodation tends to be a little more expensive there but resorts usually do packages that include food & diving.

Or how about the Red Sea? We're off to Marsa Allam / Port Ghalib for easter. Tui and Thomas Cook do package deals, although if your planning on going in August it may be too hot.

Have you also thought about a liveaboard? That may be more economical if you're up for that sort of thing.

Feel free to PM me if want any more info!

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Neilwood]

I would tend to suggest the Red Sea as a destination and a liveaboard in particular. Great diving (3- 4 dives a day if you want to do them all), not too much work to dive (get up, gear up and fall off the boat), great food and not too far to travel. Because your are on the boat, it is a very relaxed way to dive as you can go to your cabin for a rest or chill out in the various areas of the boat (sun deck, lounge etc) between dives if needed. With the water being as warm, you need minimal wetsuit thickness (a 3mm will probably be more than sufficient with a lot of people diving in shorts/rash vest).

I have gone with Blue O Two and Scubatravel and found both of them to be great trips. There are a number of itineraries depending on what you prefer to see such as wrecks, reefs, sharks etc. Depending on when you can travel you can find some great deals from the various companies that run the trips. Gear can be rented as well however I can't comment on the gear as I took my own.

12m is not particularly deep but extending your daughter's qualification to Junior AOW can extend her depth to 21M which will be good enough for a lot of the stuff in the Red Sea (she might not get to the bottom but the water is that clear it probably doesn't matter as she will still see everything). Most of the stuff I did there was around 20m (even if the wrecks are deeper you can still get a great dive around them from higher up).

Oh and as Saniflush says KICK CANCER'S ASS!!!

 

[ontdiver]

From the UK, the Red Sea is definitely a good option - even if you can not manage a live-aboard on your budget. There is a range of accommodation options ( $ $$ $$$) and good shore based operators that can meet your needs. Finding an operator co-located with the hotel is a plus. As suggested, have a look at some trip reports and don't hesitate to ask more questions.

 

[diversteve]

One issue you might bprepare for is the medically fit to dive question on the Medical Waiver. I think a note from your oncologist will work but some shops may not be willing or able to take the risk due to their insurance.

 

[diversteve]

I've run into British tourists in Florida at times. I don't know if there's a direct flight to MIA or somewhere. Probably not the cheapest flight but the diving is affordable and in the Keys a lot of it is shallow for the 12yr old. Including some wrecks she can dive safely.And a whole lot of shallow reef.

Some of the current/former Crown colonies also still have direct BA flights to the Caribbean. Unfortunately the two I know, the Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos are also the most expensive places I've dove.
just a thought.

 

[saxman242]

A not too expensive option would be club med Columbus isle in the Bahamas. There's a direct flight to the island from Paris once a week, food and everything is included, and the diving is fantastic. It's a family friendly resort and compared to a lot of options I've looked at, very reasonably priced.

 

[KathyV]

Hi all

I'm new to this site, so apologies if I'm posting in the wrong forum.

I'm want to plan a trip somewhere! Situation is that I'm an AOW diver, though not been for a while. I've joined a local club and am getting back into the swing of diving again, and love it! My daughter (age 12) is doing the OW course, she's a complete natural underwater and an extremely competent swimmer. We both go snorkelling in the sea when the sun comes out.

I have been diagnosed with cancer, so I'm a bit keen to do a dive trip with my daughter before I can't any more. Our key issue is budget - money is very tight at the moment due to reduced work hours. What I'm asking all you wise people for is advice on affordable venues.

First up, travelling is not an issue. In fact, if it has an element of adventure, all the better. It suits our lifestyle! Political climate is not a concern, nor is challenging travel. What I am looking for are recommendations for somewhere for a week's diving at a dive centre that can provide the gear and boats. Considerations price wise are:

• gear hire and dive cost
• accommodation
• living costs (food etc)

I have previously spent a week diving on Koh Tao which fits the bill very well. Are there any more suitable places that you think might work well for us?

Many thanks in advance, and I look forward to your suggestions.

cheers
Graham

My first thought was also of the Red Sea, it's not far away from the UK and there are some very nice dive trips available including liveaboards - and the diving is great.

I also have another suggestion which may sound odd because it is normally a rather expensive destination, but there are some good sales going on right now that extend over the summer holidays and it would be an easy trip to plan and enjoy.

The Caymans Islands are British and so it should be pretty easy to get there from the UK. Cayman Airways is currently offering special low prices on direct flights to GCM from NYC and Miami, so if you can find a good deal on flights from the UK to one of those cities, that might work for you.
https://www.caymanairways.com/

The Cobalt Coast resort on GC is offering the Carefree Cayman package for $1,320 USD per person and that includes accommodations, diving, meals, transfers, taxes and gratuities (basically everything is covered except air travel and dive shop tips).

That's a good price and you get 3 meals a day and 12 boat dives during the week as well as unlimited shore dives on their house reef, so you could do a lot of diving. And there are other fun, family things to do on GC, too.
https://www.cobaltcoast.com/grand-cayman-dive-packages/carefree-cayman/

Good luck to you wherever you decide to go!

 

[KenGordon]

Malta, Gozo, the Canaries or Marsa Alam. Marsa Alam, particularly Red Sea Safari. Offers the easiest diving, fallout of bed, put on swimsuit, walk 100yds max, kit up, walk into sea. Also your 12 year old gets to see a proper coral reef while the still exist.