Caribbean in June - help me choose

[dberry]

I just found out I have to exchange a timeshare week before it expires June 30.

There are few choices where I'd get a kitchen and wouldn't have to pay an all-inclusive fee, so the biggest additional expenses will come down to airfare, maybe car rental, and diving. I guess the diving will be good to great diving most places. Everything will be new to me, and I not looking to dive deeper than 30m or using anything other than single tanks of air. Best dive experiences and costs are probably the most important things.

Grand Bahama (Freeport area, all the rooms are near Taino Beach )

New Providence Island Bahamas (rooms near Cable beach)

St. Maarten (lots of condos on the all around Dutch side. Is Simpsons Bay too close to the airport?)

Virgin Islands (Charlotte Amalie). Bluebeards Castle Hilltop (up on mountain, PITA?)

Port of Spain, Tabago (longer flight, airfare not very different.)

There were a few others, but the airfares were out of my budget (Margarita Island, Venuzuela and Guadeloupe.) Anything not listed above would have an all-inclusive fee that would break the bank on this trip, or weren't available in June (Aruba, Cayman, Bonaire).

Still too many choices!! Any of the following places less than optimal? Any of your favorites listed here? Does the cost of boat dives vary much from place to place? (By then I should only need to rent tanks and weights.)

Depending on the week, the airfares aren't massively different, so how do I choose? Flip a coin?

Thanks.
-Don

Edit:
turns out theres an option for a hotel on Cozumel (no kitchen, higher airfares), and a few places in Playa del Carmen on the mainland across from Coz. Should I add them into the mix? Also, I've read that Tobago has very strong currents - too much for an inexperienced diver?

 

[cbm32]

The only places on your list I have dove are Aruba and St Thomas. I wouldnt recommend the diving at either.

 

[KathyV]

I haven't been there for awhile but I have done several dive trips to the Bahamas over the years including both Grand Bahama (Freeport) and New Providence (Nassau) and I thought that the Nassau diving was very good, and better than Freeport. You should be able to get good airfares to Nassau and I remember Cable Beach as a very nice area.

The Bahamas are expensive; perhaps someone that has been there recently will be able to advise you about the costs of diving. I've been diving around Freeport on a few trips and the diving is nice, I am sure you would have a good time, but I like Nassau diving better.

I've been to St. Maarten and it was a beautiful and fun place to visit but it doesn't have a great reputation for diving.

 

[diversteve]

It's all boat diving on either of the Bahamas locations. Operators by Island are found here: Bahamas Government Portal - BDA Members This isn't all of them, for ex. Grand Bahama Scuba isn't listed yet Fred has been there about 25years. He'd be high on my list based on reputation only.

One good thing about Taino Beach is it's across a channel east from Port Lucaya - that's an area with other resorts, restaurants, a casino etc. Bell Channel Inn is probably walking distance from Taino Beach - they're a smaller dive operator. In Port Lucaya itself is UNEXSO - they do both shark and dolphin dives - as well as some of the wrecks just south of there - many are less than 50'. Wreck Dives | The Official Site of The Bahamas lists a lot of options but many listed for New Providence are actually the Cove's wrecks, some were movies sets in the 80's so are in less than stellar condition now.

On Nassau there's 2 dive operators. Stuart Cove's on the south side, famous for the shark dives among others. They have a shuttle daily, from Cable Beach that's probably 35? minutes each way. If you check their dive site map, IIRC it lists depths/features. Bahama Divers is 10mins. the other direction - the shop is on the Nassau side of the Paradise Island bridge. They also have a shuttle that picks up in Cable Beach. That could be the one place I'd maybe try without a car first - there's a trolley that runs around Cable Beach->Downtown->Paradise Island daily till around 9PM. The big draw on P.I. of course being the Atlantis Megaresort.

I could make a case for St. Thomas. In fact I've stayed at Bluebeards - just not in the timeshare part. Nice views, older but decent pool and there's a little grill there. Their other restaurant is one of fanciest on St. Thomas - great views out to the harbor from their decks.

Or you can walk down the hill to Charlotte Amalie. It's not the best area - you'll notice the resort is gated/fenced. Diving off Charlotte Amalie is south of the harbor, there's shallow dives and wrecks. Blue Island Divers has an interactive map with depths. Admiralty Dive is another often recommended op, they pick up at the cruise port with a van so maybe they'd pick you up also. St. Thomas has a couple shore dives. Coki Beach is one option, Coki Dive is on-site. It's in the East End though - maybe 20-30 mins. drive. Hull Bay is the other site with a shop on-site - it's all the way on the north side - IDK how far. This is downtown Charlotte Amalie from Bluebeards:



There's also decent shallow diving off the East End in the Cays - shops out there include St. Thomas Dive Club at Bolongo Bay or Red Hook Diving in Red Hook. I like them because the entire staff are instructors. We dove Congo/Grass Cay and didn't break 50' - there's also a shallow drift dive along one side of Grass Cay if the currents are right. We saw a few sharks, rays, it's very much soft corals and fans so maybe more "greener" than the reef off the Bahamas.

From the East End you can drive (30 min. by car ferry) over to St. John and dive with those operators also, Cruz Bay Watersports or Low Key Diving. Low Key does an all-day trip to the BVI's on demand to dive the RMS Rhone, the signature wreck in the area. It's a massive wreck - about 250' long and split in two. The front is where they filmed "The Deep" the back has a massive prop/drive shaft. I have heard of shore diving off St. John also - maybe check with Low Key.

 

[Allen Herron]

If you have never been to Cozumel its an easy answer! Great diving, great island. Many very reasonably priced eateries!

 

[Damselfish]

For diving quality Cozumel seems your best option among those choices. I think you will find much lower boat dive rates in Coz than the other places you have available, which can make up for higher airfare. Coz is also noted for good inexpensive food (especially if you're near town, may be different if you're far from town at a big resort.) Playa might be a good option too, and flying into Cancun is probably cheaper.

Many of the other places have diving but aren't necessarily noted for great and sometimes not even good diving - though since you're a newish diver you'd probably enjoy most of them at this point. While I haven't been to Tobago, my sense is it isn't a good place to start.

Is this RCI?

 

[dberry]

It is indeed RCI. Had a week for 13 years, always used in exchange. Wish we didn't still have it, but might as well use it as best I can.

RCI shows 10 places available on Coz in June, but 9 have mandatory AI. AI might be okay, except I'll probably be traveling alone this trip, and most require 2 adults (twice the AI cost.) Two places don't specifically say double occupancy REQUIRED, so I'll look into those more closely. Here are the places in the running:

Coral Princess Club (hotel, no AI required.)

Royal Holiday Park (mandatory AI, but doesn't mention 2-Adults minimum)

Club Melia (mandatory AI, but doesn't mention 2-Adults minimum)

Anyone know these places, or have advice on using RCI exchanges and not getting shafted?

 

[cbm32]

Personally, I would jump on the Coral Princess and then dive with Tres Pelicanos. I didnt say anything about Coz in my earlier post because you had not listed it in your original post.

As far as advice on using RCI exchanges, I do them all the time but by depositing my Wyndham points into RCI. There is certainly no reason to be shafted when exchanging but it would be hard to give you advice without knowing your specific circumstances. If you want to PM me we can have a dialogue about your circumstances and how best to exchange....or, depending on just what timeshare you own I may be able to point you to where you can get rid of it if you no longer want it (and no I would not ask for money up front and scam you LOL)

 

[Damselfish]

Bet a lot of people would like to hear that dialogue! (We don't own one personally, but are stuck dealing with one for a relative.

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

South of Nassau is really nice. Walls, wrecks, sharks. Stuart Coves does free pick ups from Cable Beach. Good sites include
1) Wreck of Willaurie
2) Bahama Mama
3) Sea Viking
Wall is amazing.