Trip of a lifetime

[Gaspé Cured Cod]

Hello Fellow divers,

Very fist post ever.
I am planning the diving trip of a lifetime, soon. After a good divorce (Yes, ripping the genitals through the wallet), I need a good getaway, between two jobs. Anywhere from 3 to 6 months.
On paper, I am a beginner, but I have logged more than 60-70 dives, all of them in the cold Gulf of St-Lawrence.

Please, I am looking for advice as to where I should go for a good mental clean-up, quality diving, great outdoors activity and overall the "Best Bang for the Bucks" ? Tight on budget.
I don't want to stay on continental North-America, as I need a real getaway.

Thanks for the reply, and come dive the Gaspé Shore.

 

[robint]

I am confused about what you are asking....
first you say 3-6 months, then you say you are on a tight budget. Which is it? I don't consider a trip that long to be a vacation, I consider that living at another destination for a short period.

If you really want some exciting diving and for several weeks, then I would look at doing liveaboard/land package to Palau/Truk/Yap, a week at each. You will see about every fish in the Pacific ocean, plus WWII wrecks. It would not be a cheap trip but 3-4 very unforgetable weeks underwater! That would take care of a month of your "recovery".

If you really are talking about going somewhere to live for several months, and are on a budget - check out Belize (tons of topside activities in addition to diving)
Belize Vacations, Tours, Resorts, News, Hotels, Travels, Flights, Weather, Maps, Real Estate
Maya Archaeological Sites of Belize, Belize History
Actun Tunichil Muknal - ATM Cave in Belize

and
Bonaire (shore diving capital of world, some topside activities).
Info Bonaire - The Bonaire Information Site - The Most Current and Up-To-Date Information
Bonaire WebCams - The Works - All the WebCams and Weather and UW Temperature on One Page!

or

Utila, Honduras is also a place I have heard people can live very cheaply and dive alot. Plus it is easy to get to the mainland for activities or over to Roatan for different type of diving.


I could easily live for 3-6 months at any of those 3 locations as there is so much to do, either diving or topside activities, and the cost of living would be reasonable.

robin

 

[RJP]

I recently did a six-week "Dive Trip of A Lifetime" as follows:

• First Class air from Newark-Tokyo/Tokyo-Guam/Guam-Truk; International First Class is the perfect/only way to start any trip off on the right foot! Especially when it takes 37hrs travel time to get where you're going. I must have drank two bottles of champagne on the Newark-Tokyo leg, then another in the Air France club in Tokyo! No wonder I was able to sleep the entire 7hr layover in Guam!
• Land-based diving from the Blue Lagoon Resort in Truk for a few days. (You can find my trip report on that location here on ScubaBoard's Pacific Islands board)
• Back to back weeks on the Truk Odyssey liveaboard; which will ruin you for liveaboard and/or wreck diving anywhere else in the world!
• Another two days of just hanging out at the Blue Lagoon on the back end of the Odyssey trip
• First Class air from Truk-Guam/Guam-Honolulu/Honolulu-Newark; More great food and champagne for 27 hours!
• Did a load of laundry, picked up my wife, and headed back to the airport
• Boarded a flight from JFK to Cairo (Air Egypt First Class is nothing to write home about compared to that on the Continental 777 to Tokyo.)
• Spent a week doing land-tours of the pyramids, sphinx, temples, from Cairo all the way down to Abu Simbel, etc
• Spent the next few days on a Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor seeing even more amazing things
• My wife went back to Cairo and then home, as I traveled to Hurgada to board the Emperor Fleet's Infinity liveaboard for a week of Red Sea "Wrecks and Reefs" diving along with wonderful service and accommodations
• After a week on the Red Sea spent another day in Hurgada, before returning to visit Old Cairo churches, mosques and synagogues
• Traveled to Alexandria to dive the Mediterranean including Cleopatra's sunken palace and other spots in and around Alexandria Harbor
• Spent a few days taking in all the other sights of Alexandria - the Library, Pompeii's Pillar, etc
• Returned to Cairo, and then back home

Six weeks and 90 dives later, it was truly a "trip of a lifetime" that I can heartily recommend to anyone!

 

[Henryville]

Sounds like you might want to consider the Philippines or Thailand.

 

[Doc]

After a good divorce (Yes, ripping the genitals through the wallet),

I am confused about what you are asking....
first you say 3-6 months, then you say you are on a tight budget. Which is it?

Robin, we don't know if the poster now has those extra "genitals" in their own wallet, or if they had to give them up. :shocked2: We don't even know what kind they were. (See Henryville's post, as below...)

I need a good getaway, between two jobs. .....

Possibly, Robin, another marriage or a similar investment in time is scheduled for the future.

the "Best Bang for the Bucks" ?

Sounds like you might want to consider the Philippines or Thailand.

With those, you could go either way. Not that I would know, it's just what I hear.

 

[Kilili]

Suggest Indonesia, both Bali and the Manado area. Can find very good pricing, e.g., look for Two Fish Divers in the Bunaken Park next to Manado, plus their Lembeh location.

Bali is also nice place to loosen up, have fun, be glad you aren't married anymore. This will be my fifth year of going to Indonesia, last one was 4 months. I know Phillipines also good, but I haven't gotten there yet.will

Stick with land-based, as liveaboards are hard on the bank account.

Forget any thoughts of Caribbean and such. The diving opportunities are sparce in comparison.

 

[Louie]

On a budget, want to get away, do something different...

South East Asia is my suggestion. Maybe: land in Thailand, do some nice diving (possibly a liveaboard in the Similans or Burma Banks), get to Vietnam for the unspoilt diving, Indonesia, Bali or Sipadan. And/or do a professional certification and see where that takes you.

Have a good one whatever you decide.

 

[Polar_diver]

Utila! 3-6 months there is what I would do. Surtout pendant l'hiver ici! Oublie la pelle, le char qui part pas à -30°, les narines qui collent au frette...

 

[Scared Silly]

3-6 months budget - Central America, Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, Panama, Mexico.

 

[Tigerman]

Hello Fellow divers,

Very fist post ever.
I am planning the diving trip of a lifetime, soon. After a good divorce (Yes, ripping the genitals through the wallet), I need a good getaway, between two jobs. Anywhere from 3 to 6 months.
On paper, I am a beginner, but I have logged more than 60-70 dives, all of them in the cold Gulf of St-Lawrence.

Please, I am looking for advice as to where I should go for a good mental clean-up, quality diving, great outdoors activity and overall the "Best Bang for the Bucks" ? Tight on budget.
I don't want to stay on continental North-America, as I need a real getaway.

Thanks for the reply, and come dive the Gaspé Shore.

If I had 3-6months to spend anywhere Id like and money where not an issue, Id spend a month maybe two in Australia and New Zealand. Both to dive and see the topside. Then off to thailand, galapagos, caribbean and Hawaii. Then again, Im far away from Hawaii, so it might be more "exotic" to me than yourself.
If I wherent actually LIVING in Norway id try getting in a trip to some norwegian sites as well, atleast Saltstraume which is the worlds strongest tidal current which means excellent life and a good drift dive. They dont dive when its on the strongest though as its VERY strong at that time