Dive trip to get PADI AOW certification

[Bloemeke]

I got my PADI open water certification about a year ago and did some dives after certification. Because I feel my skills need quite some improvement, I'm looking to take a trip to get my PADI advanced open water certification and do 4 to 6 additional guided dives. Therefore, I'm looking for a location where diving is good in September or October. The location should be easily reached from Amsterdam; preferably a direct flight of a few hours and not too much post-flight travel. Because I don't drive, remote places are not really an option, and I prefer to stay somewhere where I can walk to the dive shop as well as to restaurants and the supermarket.

So far I've looked into Malta and the Canary Islands and for now Malta has my preference because it's most easy to reach and the flight times are very convenient. For this option, I find it hard to choose between going to Gozo (Marsalforn) or staying in the St Julian / Sliema. For the Canary Islands I spent some time looking into diving from Gran Canaria and there the interesting options are diving from Las Palmas or going to a shop near El Cabron.

I hope to get some suggestions on where to go, also for any places that I didn't mention. Any suggestions for dive shops are also welcome. TLDR; I'm looking for a dive location for 4-5 days of diving in September/October that is easy to reach from Amsterdam.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Go to the Red Sea , not sure if there are flights from the Netherlands to Sharm , but there should be some to Hurgada. If you could stretch to a liveaboard this will give you loads of experience, the diving is absolutely wonderful in Egypt throughout the year. You won’t need to drive if you do Egypt. We learned to dive with Ocean Colege in Sharm. Dahab is also a wonderful spot , recommend Poseidon.

 

[diversteve]

This is a little outside your parameters for travel time but have you considered Curacao? It's a 10 hour Direct flight both ways on KLM from Schiphol. www.curacao.com

There are several dive resorts with dive shops on-site and restaurants plus other food/entertainment nearby.

In addition they have the Dive Bus which will pick you up for escorted shore dives anywhere in town.

One option could be Lion's Dive Resort. Ocean Encounters main shop is 50 yds. away, they're located in the Sea Aquarium area so there's other food choices within an easy walk and they offer a free shuttle to downtown Willemstad which is under 10 mins. away. Mambo Beach is a shops/restaurants complex you can walk to from there.

Another option could be the Sunscape All-Inclusive resort, OE also keeps a shop/boat there. The SB Surges have gone there in the past.

Both OE and the Dive Bus are PADI.

I believe Goby Divers is still located at the Veneto Resort also. It's in Piscadera Bay just north of downtown but definitely a quieter area and you'd ikely need a cab to dowtown or the restaurants like Pirates Bay which is a couple miles farther west (it seems north) Goby also offers pickups within about a 5mi area. IDK the resort at all but we eat breakfast at the Denny's in their parking lot.

To get around, Curacao is big enough to have regular bus service all over the island plus there are shuttles running around downtown. We saw people waiting for the bus as far west as Lagun once - also a good dive site. One expense might be the taxi from the airport - to the LD area might be $30-40? My friend was quoted $60 to Lagun from the airport which would be much farther. Or maybe they have an airport shuttle?

Downtown is very walkable along the waterfront as well, the famous swinging bridge connects both sides of downtown, it's foot traffic only. On the west side is the Rif Fort/Renaissance Mall complex - all shops/food as well.

Diving is always good, warm, low current, lots of nice reef but not a lot of larger stuff. Like Bonaire it's more of a smaller animals destination. We found seahorses, all sorts of invertebrates, stingrays and quite a few eels in a week of dives. One shark all week.

Curacao also has nightlife, there's clubs, a few casinos, beach bars etc.

Frankly it was best with a car but could be done without one also with a little planning.

 

[Bloemeke]

Go to the Red Sea , not sure if there are flights from the Netherlands to Sharm , but there should be some to Hurgada. If you could stretch to a liveaboard this will give you loads of experience, the diving is absolutely wonderful in Egypt throughout the year. You won’t need to drive if you do Egypt. We learned to dive with Ocean Colege in Sharm. Dahab is also a wonderful spot , recommend Poseidon.

Thanks! Sounds interesting but unfortunately the travel time (airport to airport) is 9 hours! I guess the only quick way to get there is to book some kind of package vacation with a charter flight . It may be worth the effort for a longer trip.

This is a little outside your parameters for travel time but have you considered Curacao? It's a 10 hour Direct flight both ways on KLM from Schiphol.

Curacao, and the rest of the Dutch Antilles, is on my to do list but I don't like traveling this long and having a jet leg for only a short trip. Thanks for the detailed recommendations! I'll consider them when I go there.

 

[DuTemplar]

September and October will slightly limit you. It's cooling off in the northern hemisphere.

Cyprus may still be good. Larnaca and Ayia Napa should still be good seasons. Dive Stop Protaras is a good place, good equipment and good people. Water might be a little chilly (same as Malta), and leading up to diving the Zenobia.

Egypt is still in a good season. A bit farther, but worth considering would be Zanzibar. Spanish Dancer Divers up in Nungwi would be a good pick, and helps with package deals too.

 

[hilljo88]

+1 on Curacao. It sounds like a long flight, but your shorter trips arent necessarily going to get you in the water any sooner when you factor in getting to and from airports, checking in, etc. Also weather is pretty much guaranteed.
You don't need a car if you stay at Lion's DIve. It's on the beachfront. DIve op on site. You can walk in to excellent shore dives. Lots of restaurants short walk along the beach front.

 

[ChuckP]

This is a little outside your parameters for travel time but have you considered Curacao? It's a 10 hour Direct flight both ways on KLM from Schiphol. www.curacao.com

There are several dive resorts with dive shops on-site and restaurants plus other food/entertainment nearby.

In addition they have the Dive Bus which will pick you up for escorted shore dives anywhere in town.

One option could be Lion's Dive Resort. Ocean Encounters main shop is 50 yds. away, they're located in the Sea Aquarium area so there's other food choices within an easy walk and they offer a free shuttle to downtown Willemstad which is under 10 mins. away. Mambo Beach is a shops/restaurants complex you can walk to from there.

Another option could be the Sunscape All-Inclusive resort, OE also keeps a shop/boat there. The SB Surges have gone there in the past.

Both OE and the Dive Bus are PADI.

I believe Goby Divers is still located at the Veneto Resort also. It's in Piscadera Bay just north of downtown but definitely a quieter area and you'd ikely need a cab to dowtown or the restaurants like Pirates Bay which is a couple miles farther west (it seems north) Goby also offers pickups within about a 5mi area. IDK the resort at all but we eat breakfast at the Denny's in their parking lot.

To get around, Curacao is big enough to have regular bus service all over the island plus there are shuttles running around downtown. We saw people waiting for the bus as far west as Lagun once - also a good dive site. One expense might be the taxi from the airport - to the LD area might be $30-40? My friend was quoted $60 to Lagun from the airport which would be much farther. Or maybe they have an airport shuttle?

Downtown is very walkable along the waterfront as well, the famous swinging bridge connects both sides of downtown, it's foot traffic only. On the west side is the Rif Fort/Renaissance Mall complex - all shops/food as well.

Diving is always good, warm, low current, lots of nice reef but not a lot of larger stuff. Like Bonaire it's more of a smaller animals destination. We found seahorses, all sorts of invertebrates, stingrays and quite a few eels in a week of dives. One shark all week.

Curacao also has nightlife, there's clubs, a few casinos, beach bars etc.

Frankly it was best with a car but could be done without one also with a little planning.

I'd agree to that area but for the instructional part maybe one island over at Bonaire and a place like Buddy Dive Resort - we did Curacao and it seemed to me that most of the diving was on our own, maybe wrong though.

 

[Damselfish]

I'd agree to that area but for the instructional part maybe one island over at Bonaire and a place like Buddy Dive Resort - we did Curacao and it seemed to me that most of the diving was on our own, maybe wrong though.

Just like Bonaire, diving on Curacao is only on your own if you want it to be. (Usually people look at these the other way and say that Bonaire is on your own, which isn't true either.) There are plenty of dive shops to do a course with on Curacao, do guided dives with, or whatever.

 

[Bloemeke]

@ChuckP @diversteve @hilljo88 @DuTemplar thanks for the suggestions!

Even though the travel time to Curacao or Bonaire may be ok, having a 6 hour jetlag for a 1 week trip is not worth it for me.

After some research I'm warming up to Egypt. Temperatures seem to be quite ok in September and October, no jetlag and there are quite some small scale accommodations (forgot to mention that I don't like massive tourist resorts). Flights are still a bit tricky, but there are some decently prices package trips.

 

[Edward3c]

I'm looking at Alonissos island in Greece for this September. The challenge for me is travelling from Glasgow.