ppina
Contributor
Hi all
What are the best island do diving ?
I know Nassau and grand cayman.
What are the best island do diving ?
I know Nassau and grand cayman.
Best of Caribbean for diving .
- Thread starter ppina
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drrich2
Contributor
Depends on what you want. I'll mention a few places without going into a great depth as yet.
1.) Bonaire - the west coast has coral reef very close to shore, and you can drive a truck up & down the coast, walking in here & there and diving. Great viz., minimal current, warm, good weather most all year, typical dive package includes unlimited nitrox at some places. Buddy Dive Resort is what I'd call the mainstream standard, and a good one to measure others against. Airfare to Bonaire is often expensive, but resorts & dive packages with truck rental rather cheap, and you can get in 20 something dives for a week, so overall, a decent value trip option.
2.) Cozumel - mainly boat dives (unless you stay at Scuba Club Cozumel, for example), mostly drift diving, great viz., some big animals, a range of reef topography, warm weather and great viz. If you want an op. to research, Aldora Divers would be a good one and they have a housing option (Aldora villas). There are a range of places to stay and eat. For scuba trips, Cozumel offers good budget diving.
3.) Bahamas - water gets cold in winter. It's my understanding the best diving is via Live-aboard here, and the AquaCat is a much-loved one (there are others) to look into. Shark diving is a draw to this area. For land-based trips, Stuart's Cove is the one often discussed.
4.) If you want land-based in Grand Cayman, look at Sunset House and Cobalt Coast for package deals. I got 2 dives in G.C. - great viz., warm, quite nice. G.C. has a rep. for being expensive.
5.) If you want 'the best of the Caribbean,' a place people sometimes try to honor with that designation is Little Cayman - check out Little Cayman Beach Resort, and the famous Bloody Bay Wall dive site. Cayman Brac is also popular. A trip to LCBR can be expensive.
6.) If you come at the right time of year when temp.s and sea conditions are right, there's a lot to be said for diving the Florida Keys out of Key Largo (lots of shallow reef diving, and some deep wreck action). If you like bigger stuff, West Palm Beach and Jupiter offer drift diving and more big stuff. A Key Largo trip with boats going out twice per day can let you do 4 dives per day, and overall be a good value budget trip.
7.) Saba is reputedly very lush, rustic, beautiful, and offers all boat diving, with underwater pinnacles a draw. If I recall what I've been told correctly, diving can be fairly deep, and with some current at times.
8.) People speak well of a couple of live-aboards hitting Turks & Caicos. It's said T&C is expensive. I don't know about the live-aboards.
9.) Belize I am told is best dove by live-aboard, but the mainland has non-diving attractions, like rain forest hiking and Mayan ruins.
10.) Roatan - offers varied diving at different sites, and you don't sample all of it in a week. CocoView offers shore diving and seems to be the highly lauded 'dive yourself silly' resort of choice on Roatan, but often booked up heavily, and nearby Reef House Resort is also liked and tends to be a bit cheaper. Sand fleas can be an issue in Roatan, so bug repellent is important. Seasonal weather can be an issue here, so check out when the rainy season is.
So, are you after boat or shore diving, an all diving trip or a variety trip with some diving, and how important is keeping costs down to you? What time of year do you plan to come?
Richard.
P.S. There are other places with good diving. I tried to lay out what I consider 'A-list' destinations for people mainly interested in diving. But if you really want to say you did the best, I suspect LCBR may be it based on others' reports. I have not been there, though.
1.) Bonaire - the west coast has coral reef very close to shore, and you can drive a truck up & down the coast, walking in here & there and diving. Great viz., minimal current, warm, good weather most all year, typical dive package includes unlimited nitrox at some places. Buddy Dive Resort is what I'd call the mainstream standard, and a good one to measure others against. Airfare to Bonaire is often expensive, but resorts & dive packages with truck rental rather cheap, and you can get in 20 something dives for a week, so overall, a decent value trip option.
2.) Cozumel - mainly boat dives (unless you stay at Scuba Club Cozumel, for example), mostly drift diving, great viz., some big animals, a range of reef topography, warm weather and great viz. If you want an op. to research, Aldora Divers would be a good one and they have a housing option (Aldora villas). There are a range of places to stay and eat. For scuba trips, Cozumel offers good budget diving.
3.) Bahamas - water gets cold in winter. It's my understanding the best diving is via Live-aboard here, and the AquaCat is a much-loved one (there are others) to look into. Shark diving is a draw to this area. For land-based trips, Stuart's Cove is the one often discussed.
4.) If you want land-based in Grand Cayman, look at Sunset House and Cobalt Coast for package deals. I got 2 dives in G.C. - great viz., warm, quite nice. G.C. has a rep. for being expensive.
5.) If you want 'the best of the Caribbean,' a place people sometimes try to honor with that designation is Little Cayman - check out Little Cayman Beach Resort, and the famous Bloody Bay Wall dive site. Cayman Brac is also popular. A trip to LCBR can be expensive.
6.) If you come at the right time of year when temp.s and sea conditions are right, there's a lot to be said for diving the Florida Keys out of Key Largo (lots of shallow reef diving, and some deep wreck action). If you like bigger stuff, West Palm Beach and Jupiter offer drift diving and more big stuff. A Key Largo trip with boats going out twice per day can let you do 4 dives per day, and overall be a good value budget trip.
7.) Saba is reputedly very lush, rustic, beautiful, and offers all boat diving, with underwater pinnacles a draw. If I recall what I've been told correctly, diving can be fairly deep, and with some current at times.
8.) People speak well of a couple of live-aboards hitting Turks & Caicos. It's said T&C is expensive. I don't know about the live-aboards.
9.) Belize I am told is best dove by live-aboard, but the mainland has non-diving attractions, like rain forest hiking and Mayan ruins.
10.) Roatan - offers varied diving at different sites, and you don't sample all of it in a week. CocoView offers shore diving and seems to be the highly lauded 'dive yourself silly' resort of choice on Roatan, but often booked up heavily, and nearby Reef House Resort is also liked and tends to be a bit cheaper. Sand fleas can be an issue in Roatan, so bug repellent is important. Seasonal weather can be an issue here, so check out when the rainy season is.
So, are you after boat or shore diving, an all diving trip or a variety trip with some diving, and how important is keeping costs down to you? What time of year do you plan to come?
Richard.
P.S. There are other places with good diving. I tried to lay out what I consider 'A-list' destinations for people mainly interested in diving. But if you really want to say you did the best, I suspect LCBR may be it based on others' reports. I have not been there, though.
OP
ppina
Contributor
Thanks.
Good summary drrich. I have been on the Turk and Caicos explorer and highly recommend this live aboard. I am partial to turks for vacations and diving but if you are looking for shore diving Bonaire or the Caymans may be a better choice.
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