Bear with me here... Just another "which island should we choose" thread

[rydog]

There is just so much information on Scubaboard to go through that probably have what I am looking for, its just too hard to find that specific thread though. Thank you all in advance for the help!

The specifics:
2 couples (39-45)
Everyone has 60+ dives and rescue or above certification
Traveling in January or February 2013
Prefer shore diving or at least affordable since we want to dive a lot
Prefer villa/house rental with kitchen
Night life - not so important
Departing Charlotte, NC airport
We have been to Bonaire, Cozumel and Grenada and would prefer somewhere new
Interested in any type of diving, nothing specific that we need to see (ie. corals, wrecks, big fish, etc...)

The places I have identified as possibles are Saba, Dominica, Caymans, Turks Caicos, Bermuda, Roatan but please if I am missing a spot bring it to my attention. Hell, anywhere including Central America would be considered. After Bonaire we are really spoiled on the ability to do so much shore diving on our own schedule. I know its the top for shore diving but where else might come close?

We really appreciate input from those that have been to other places. Especially if those trips were within the last year or so. Money is of course a consideration but not the biggest factor.

A liveaboard might still be a consideration as well.
Again, thank you for the input!!!

 

[Allen Herron]

You won't find much about it on line but we had a great trip to Anguilla! I was worried about the diving because none of the online boards had anything but we had 6 great dives. There are several small wrecks in 60 to 80 feet with great vis. Beautiful reefs with overhangs and swim throughs. I don't know about shore dives but our non-diving friends enjoyed the snorkeling and shelling. We know someone who rents a beautiful house on a bluff overlooking ocean with 2 master bedrooms, full kitchen and Weber BBQ! We used Doug Carty, and independant DM with his own small boat. Great service!

 

[1erCRU]

From your possibles list, Provo T & C, is the obvious choice. Non-stop flight 3hour flights from CLT. (wish I could do that!) Most of the accomodations are high-end condos on the beach. Grace beach is one of the world's nicest beaches. No shore diving that I am aware of, but lots of good dive ops to pick from. Also no regulations to prevent you from diving on your own, like Dominica or Saba (or Anguilla), if you can find the opportunity. It's easy to add Grand Turk to a week trip as well. Nice mix of diving, much superior to the typical Carib islands, with deep blue ocean canyons just off shore.

 

[DeputyDan]

Give Coco View on Roatan a try. Shore diving and boat diving.
Of the locations you listed only Grand Cayman will have any significant shore diving.

 

[diversteve]

Roatan is really limited for shore diving. Besides Cocoview/Fantasy Island, realistically the only other places are Reef House Resort and a meh dive off Anthony's Key Resort - there's also shallow muck diving in the channel between the mainland and the Key at AKR. All the options: Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Honduras, Roatan, Caribbean - the first three are Cocoview/Fantasy Island, #'s 4-5 are private property now (Bay Islands Beach Resort closed) and Front Porch is AKR's house dive. We stayed at a house near Sea Grape, it looked to be a good dive but it required a long drift around to get out at Half Moon Bay.

One option for boat diving is staying in the West End. In January weather might be an issue there, that side of the island gets blown out occasionally. Some of the bigger operators will move their boats to the south side and shuttle you over. There are accommodations nearby in all price ranges, condos with pools, houses, cheap rooms, etc. look on vrbo.com for some options. I rented a 3br house, full kitchen, big decks, no pool - on Half Moon Bay point for $1500/wk total. Five minute walk to the West End for groceries, restaurants, at least a dozen dive operators. We used Coconut Tree Divers, 3-4 dives/day were $30/dive.

Grand Cayman is a good choice on your list but if part of the reason for shorediving is to save money, it's not going to happen staying there. Accommodations are very pricey, food is extremely pricey (although some of the U.S. fast food chains are there) and boat dives are 2/$100 thru just about anyone. The CI$ is fixed at 80% of the U.S.$ so you're 20% negative on every transaction. Maybe look for something in the NW Point area - there's 3-4 shore dives there - including two condo complexes that have private access to either Hepps Wall or Bonnie's Arch - both are great dives. Also Turtle Reef is the best shallow dive on Cayman IMO. There is about 15-20 shore dive options.

Most of the known shore dives have an onsite operator for tank rentals, there's a few that don't but only two places on the island to rent tanks (Divers Supply or Eden Rock) - the on-site operators won't let you remove their tanks. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Cayman Islands, Caribbean

Three not on your list:

Curacao - same diving as Bonaire but more spread out. Including the distance between dive sites so we only managed to do 4 unique dives/day twice. Doubling on a site made that more possible. At some each way is a different dive. The difference between there and Bonaire is that most sites have some sort of beach operator - many have tank rentals also. Usually a snack shop or small restaurant as well. Plus just about all of them are sandy beach entries, the few that are over ironshore there's a dive dock.
Curacao Travel- Caribbean, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean

Personally I think Playa Kalki is one of the best dives we did off either island. It's in Westpunt, 45mins. from town (and quiet) Since you're not big on nightlife, you might try to find a place there. The only place I know that does have a full kitchen in that area is the bigger villas at Lodge Kura Hulanda but they're bigger than you need - also fairly expensive. With a car you could access about a dozen nearby shore dives in under 1/2 hr.

There's also options closer to town, we rented duplex condos at Piscadera Bay Resort - 2br/1 or 2ba for $125/nt. Full kitchens, outdoor decks, ocean view (not oceanfront - up the hill) and every one had a private yard. Just across the street from the beach and several large resorts. Also moderately priced restaurant options nearby - everything from beachside dining at the Marriott to a beach bar 5mins. walk away to Denny's. There's also a good sized market within 2 miles. PBay is a 10min. drive to downtown and quiet at night.

The north side of St. Croix has about 1/2 dozen shore dives off the wall there. Also you can dive the Fredrikstad Pier. Never been there: Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: USVI, St. Croix, Caribbean

Or Aruba - but there's significantly less shore diving than Bonaire or Curacao - I've never been there. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Aruba, ABC Islands

No shore diving from Saba. I don't think Dominica either. Provo (Turks/Caicos) has no shore diving, the reef at NW Point is too far out. I think you can get to the wall off Grand Turk for shorediving - which might be an option since it's quieter - except it's also the cruise port for T/C. If you do pick Provo, go with Caicos Adventures or one of the other operators that go farther out, West Caicos and French Cay are among the best - both about 45mins. by boat. French Cay is probably the best diving I've done in the last 5 years - lots of sharks, rays, turtles, cuda, big grouper, macro.

Actually T/C would be a good liveaboard option, we did the Explorer there two years ago. There's also an Aggressor but the Explorer has one more deck and cabins with beds not bunks. They dove the same sites we did, often from the next mooring over. But they might be doing Whale watching trips off the Silver Banks in Jan-Feb. it's a non-diving trip.

 

[rydog]

Some good info guys. Thanks! Still trying to dissect everything with looking at flight+rental+diving=apples to apples for us. Curacao wasn't on our list since we had been through there and Aruba, way too many people for us... I'd prefer something along the lines of Bonaire but since we already go every year i'd like to explore somewhere new. Saba and Dominica may have to be removed from the list for no shore diving but I thought that you could on T&C. No? We aren't opposed to doing a liveaboard but its looking way expensive compared to everything else. If I am wrong there let me know. I know that Blackbeards can do the trip within our budget but it looks like the aggressor is pretty expensive.

 

[diversteve]

Since you're looking for less expensive shore diving...

West Curacao makes Bonaire look like a metropolis. Sure downtown is lots of people, cruise ships etc. but most of the better shore dive sites we did on the west side we were the only ones there. Except Porto Mari and Varsenbaai - both are also popular locals beaches. Actually I felt it's a little too remote, finding food was a problem, there's a few restaurants in Westpunt, several along the road back to town and one small market. That's all we found - and we looked. We actually drove back to town twice for dinner.

Most people who stay out there stop at Centrum Market just south of the airport first for supplies - it's a 45min. drive out so they sell cheap disposable styro boxes and ice. I didn't mention it in my prior post but we rented apts. for a few days in Lagun - literally had the complex to ourselves (6 of us) Waterfront but a 60' vertical drop to the water (there's a ladder - not steps) if you want to get wet. Nice, relatively new building, 8 units total - all one bedroom Completely fenced/gated with a bbq deck overlooking the water. Not optimal for cooking, the kitchen was fully furnished but the cooking facilities were a two-burner plate and a microwave. Nice people own it - no hassle at all. $85/nt. ocean view, $65/nt. mt. view - price hasn't changed in 4 years. My Dream Apartments I would guess All West Apts. in Westpunt is similarly quiet - we thought it was closed the day we stopped by.

Playa Lagun is 5mins. away, nice beach, great dive. Playa Jeremi is 5mins. the other way, it's one of few dive sites with no facilities in that area.

I don't think there's any shore diving off Provo. We dove NW Point - the main dive area - from the Explorer. Although we could clearly see land and occasionally people, it's too far to swim. Even the local resorts use boats to get there. As I mentioned above, you can swim out to the wall off Grand Turk, but it's a pretty small island. And their brand new cruise port is there. You're talking some serious money to rent a villa/house there also - most are in the $400 and up range. http://www.vrbo.com/search/keywords:turks & caicos/arrival:2012-08-25/departure:2012-10-20

I've found the Explorer boats are generally cheaper than Aggressor. Often they offer a discount - usually after the 1st of the year they send an e-mail with all their specials. Sign up for their mail list. Also Call them and ask for Mary - she's current on any deals they have. Sometimes if you can go on short notice you can get a better deal. Be sure to factor in the fuel surcharge, park fees, port fees and crew tip. The first three were $185 more pp. for us. Also nitrox is more, I believe on the Aggressor it's included. Maybe that's some of the price difference?

The discount is usually $4-500 pp. on select trips. We paid $1895 plus fees but our cabin was on the main deck. They have 3-4 cabins one deck down that are $200 cheaper - primary difference is bunks instead of beds and a porthole instead of windows. Both are still en-suite - do you really want to share two outhouses (literally) with the rest of your Blackbeard's crewmates? We're big fans of liveaboards, we did 27 dives on that trip.

A slightly less expensive liveaboard option might be the other Blackbeard's boat - Cat Ppalu. It's a smaller cat that's often booked by a dive group. Sometimes they have extra cabins available at around $1600 plus fees. Lost Island Voyages is their competition - they dive basically the same area. Both out of Nassau.
Bahamas Sailboat Charter - Caribbean Catamaran Charter - Cat Charter - Yacht Charter - Sailing Vacation - Boat Charter - Nassau - Cat Ppalu
Bahamas Scuba Diving | Liveaboard Diving | aboard Lost Island Voyages

The trade-off with a liveaboard is that your on-board costs are basically zero all week. No car rentals, no restaurant charges, no tank rental fees at shore dive sites etc. Except for the trip cost we paid $20 each way to get to the boat and $10 to go to Grace Bay for dinner Friday night - the boat doesn't serve that night. Most of us went to a recommended reasonable bar/grill in one of the shopping complexes. Dinner with drinks was about $30.

 

[pugdiver]

I my mind it's got to be Turks but then again I want to retire there.

If you have questions let me know feel free to contact me off post if you have any.

 

[rydog]

Thanks DiverSteve. It sounds like we need to check out Curacao more in the future. This just isn't that trip though. Like Pugdiver my wife and I are looking for a location to retire. Not soon but we are starting our search at this point. The ABC's although great for vacation we would rather have less of a desert landscape. I did check out the other Blackbeard boats yesterday and did see the one you are talking about. It would be great to get the whole boat but we do not have that many people. We can see about joining a half full boat though. I would like to get some land "intel" while vacationing though.

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

Try get in touch with Mark at the "the Dive Bus" in Caracao, he is a first class instructor. Used to work with him years back in Nassau. You will have a great time with him. Here is his website. The Dive Bus - WELCOME

There are very few destinations in the caribbean for good shore diving. Best shore diving I have ever come accross is Dahab in the Sinai.

Bryan
www.divedestinationdeals.com