Good places to go for easy, shallow diving with newbie Junior Open Water divers?

[sunshower]

Another recommendation for the Keys. I took both of my kids there for their Jr OW certs; we used Conch Republic both trips and enjoyed those guys very much. The kids love the easy diving and laid back style of the Keys and would keep going back if I wasn't into broadening their diving horizons. They're a can't miss.

 

[UFOrb]

+1 for the Red Sea. Easy and relatively cheap from UK. Dahab, Egypt has some nice easy shore diving for your boys, and some more challenging sites for you if you wish, all within easy reach of the town. Most of the sites are good for snorkelling too, including the reef drop off in town north of the lighthouse. As previously mentioned you'd have to be happy with the security situation. We were there in 2012 and had no worries in that regard, but not sure what the current advice is.

We dived Malta/Gozo too which has some interesting underwater landforms / caves and wrecks - overall we found it nice but a bit underwhelming to be honest, very little marine life. I'm not sure there would much worthwhile at Jr OW depths but could be wrong as we didn't dive extensively there.

Only other places we've dived so far are Thailand and Malaysian peninsula.

I've been reading the Canary Islands have some decent diving and compare favourably to the Med. May consider a trip in the October half-term.

 

[maj2]

For the last few years, my LDS has been organizing trips during school spring break. This is due to the number of families they have with Jr Divers. We went with them to Bonaire last year and will be leaving for Cozumel with them on March 11. Most of the diving on these trips is planned recognizing that there are a bunch of Jr divers in the group.

Otherwise, we have taken my (now) 13 year old daughter diving in Grand Bahama, Grenada, Los Cabos. These trips were taken in the summer months (July and August). In Grenada and Los Cabos, we were the only divers using the operator that week, so we got private dives catered to my daughter's depth restrictions at the time.

We have had great dive experiences on each trip!

 

[themilnes]

Thanks people! I'm busy working through all your suggestions - they're really very helpful. We're probably now leaning towards the Keys this year as that's fairly easy to get to for us and there's a good choice of flights, meaning that we should hopefully be able to pick up some that don't cost too much. Obviously a lot of you have great things to say about the diving there

 

[scubadada]

Thanks people! I'm busy working through all your suggestions - they're really very helpful. We're probably now leaning towards the Keys this year as that's fairly easy to get to for us and there's a good choice of flights, meaning that we should hopefully be able to pick up some that don't cost too much. Obviously a lot of you have great things to say about the diving there

Please let us know what you decide and how it works out.

Have a great trip with your kids

 

[Scuba Steve NY]

I dive the keys every year and there shallow dives are excellent. I recommend Key West specifically for shallow reefs with a ton of fish, sting rays, nurse sharks etc. The dive shop Captains Corner is a great shop to use who are very professional and run an excellent operation. I just got back a week ago from diving with them on shallow reefs all the way to The Vandenberg and have absolutely no complaints. Hope this helps!

 

[arew+4]

+1 on Bonaire, and the Keys.
Our kids (13, 13, 15) got certified in Bonaire this past December, lots to see while staying above 60, and we are headed to the Keys in June.

Andy

 

[bula2]

St. Croix (USVI) has some great shallow diving...both our boys cut their teeth as new divers there, then we went to Bonaire which is equally good with amazing sea life! Good luck and enjoy the time togehther wherever you go!

 

[Bison]

Already a lot of great posts about the Keys. The Florida Keys is an excellent choice. Nice reefs and diving in their limits.