Caribbean Shallow, Accessible and Abundant Sea Life

[hroark2112]

Bonaire is my favorite. However I prefer not to have anyone tell me when, where, or how to dive. Most diving there is independent unless you either hire a guide or do boat dives.

Little Cayman is AMAZING diving. I’ve been twice and would go back in a heartbeat. Little Cayman Beach Resort is fantastic, the folks ay Reef Divers are some of the best dive guides I’ve been with and the diving is exactly what you’re asking for. It’s an all-inclusive resort and for what you get it is very reasonably priced.

 

[Charred]

Dominican Republic is a great place to consider. Read about Bayahibe diving with Scuba Fun.

Sand bottom, not deep. Lots of fish and smaller stuff like sea horses. There is a sunken pirate ship all gone but the anchors and cannons in 30 feet. No current.

Scuba Fun dives super small groups on top of the line boats. Most dives were two of us and the DM. They are without a doubt best op I have dived with.

Bonaire is an option but no DMs, more current, the dives are walls and the shallows are better in DR. Hawaii, Maui, is great diving also shallow and no current. But you are gonna get killed on price. You can take two Caribbean trips for one Hawaii trip.

 

[diversteve]

Maui is shallow shore diving off sandy beaches. Lanai can be a rougher ride over and sometimes rough on the surface. Molokini is a protected submerged crater so inside the crater there are a lot of fish, small sharks, the occasional Manta, The boats are smaller so they leave early to dive b4 the tradewinds pick up. They also do a lot of short ride, shallow dives off the West Maui coast. I believe a DM is required on every boat - often we had two - one leading, one following.
There's also operations like Shaka Divers, Maui Dreams Dive Co. or Tiny Bubbles - all they do is escorted shore dives.

Kauai seemed rougher although south around Poipu is pretty benign also. Mostly boat diving. Niihau is a rough ride over all year - in fact it shuts down from around Oct-Apr as it's too rough. Kauai is by itself to takes the brunt of the winter weather first - Kona shelters dive operations on it's west side and Maui diving is slightly sheltered by Molokai.

The above poster is right - Maui in high season can be shockingly expensive. But if you've been to Grand Cayman - it's worse.

Curacao IMO is better diving than Bonaire, certainly easier entries off a sandy beach vs scrambling over the ironshore you find at the waters edge at most Bonaire shore sites. It's wet, sharp, slippery and if your wife goes down, she'll get all skinned up. Plus there's holes in the ironshore just off the beach you can't see at some sites and urchins like to live in them.

Some of the shore dives we did on Curacao there was a boat moored on the ball - taking advantage of the same site just w/o the surface swim out. A signature dive is the Tugboat, it's 17' deep 50 yds off the beach. The nearby pier is another good site. We had to go looking for drift dives there. For shore dives, that's all the Dive Bus does. Plus they handle the gear, pick you up at resorts in town and often dive the same site twice so you can get familiar on the first dive. Most of the beaches are shore dives and with some notice the on-site operators can provide a guide. There's also semi-private guides like Bas Harts Diving - I believe they pickup also.

The BVI's are another choice - many of the sites are 60' or less and very benign - many of the anchorages are in protected coves. It can be a little windy there - and sometimes choppy between the isalnds but if you dive from Tortola or Virgin Gorda there's a lot of sites nearby. Check the status of the hurricane recovery efforts - some are still rebuilding. DiveBVI is a very low stress experience and the very essence of valet diving. All boat dives and some stunning isolated beaches - some with no road access - the resorts drop you/lunch there by boat. You fly into St Thomas and take the fast ferries over.

 

[KathyV]

...The above poster is right - Maui in high season can be shockingly expensive. But if you've been to Grand Cayman - it's worse....

I agree that they are both expensive destinations but I'm not sure that you are correct in stating that GC is worse than Maui in regards to costs.

I did an online search for 2-tank guided boat dives on both islands and Maui runs from $149 to $155 USD, while Grand Cayman ranges from $120 to $129 USD. Of course, on both islands you can find cheaper packages if you book multiple days of diving, etc.

And I travel from the Midwestern United States (like @Suppresst) and I can usually get cheaper and easier flights to Cayman than to Hawaii.

But Hawaii is very beautiful and we enjoyed the diving very much. We have only been there twice and I'd love to get back there.

 

[Fishyhead]

Ambergris Key, Belize. Short boat ride to the reef. Shallow, reef dives are available, fairly inexpensive. I'd stay to the north of the island near the "truck stop" restaurants for a quieter experience.

 

[BRT]

The coral heads off the beach in front of the radio tower in Puerto Morelos. (Ojo de Agua) We spend hours there every year.

 

[diversteve]

I agree that they are both expensive destinations but I'm not sure that yo1u are correct in stating that GC is worse than Maui in regards to costs.

I did an online search for 2-tank guided boat dives on both islands and Maui runs from $149 to $155 USD, while Grand Cayman ranges from $120 to $129 USD. Of course, on both islands you can find cheaper packages if you book multiple days of diving, etc.

And I travel from the Midwestern US (like @Suppresst) and I can usually get cheaper and easier flights to Cayman than to Hawaii.

But Hawaii is very beautiful and we enjoyed the diving very much, i'd love to get back there.

If you only compare DIVE costs you are correct. But what about food and lodging?

We typically do a week of boat/shore dives and GC was a lot more expensive for us although IIRC our flight was surprisingly reasonable - maybe even less than connections thru Oahu. Up until a few years ago when they merged with AA - we could get good deals on America West/USAir as they competed non-stop out of Phoenix with Hawaiian and Aloha. But those flights are gone now.

When we go to Maui, food prices (even in the markets) are a big budget item but on GC we only did minimal shopping and our bill was easily over $200. And it was not enough food for the week if we'd wanted to do all our own meals - which we don't - it's vacation.

YMMV

 

[edwants2dive]

As for the DR that is also a good option like @Charred mentioned. I spent a week in Bayahibe,DR last November and went diving with Coral Point Diving. I got a 10 dive package with private DM and Nitrox for $500 (price was with 5% discount for online pre book and 5% for having my own gear). The dive sites are nice especially the Atlantic Princess which is a wreck at a depth of less than 60'. it was my first trip down there and I had a blast. Luca and the gang are the best people. I can't speak about the other shops in the area so I won't disparage any of them but the nice thing about coral point is they are the only ones with a shop right on the water. I am posting you a link to my Tripadvisor review and to their website. They run a couple of smaller boats so it is not like being in a heard of cattle I highly recommend them for both professionalism and price.

Coral Point Diving forget the rest they are the best - Review of Coral Point Diving, Bayahibe, Dominican Republic - TripAdvisor

Coral Point Diving – PADI IDC Career Development Center - Bayahibe

 

[mi000ke]

As @Doc pointed out, your issue is not location, it's that your wife is experiencing stress while diving and that is the root cause of the swallowing air and heartburn. So you need to address the root cause.

You received a lot of dive location recommendations, but the fact is there are tons of locations that provide essentially the same diving experience as that which you experienced on Grand Cayman. Just going to another location that provides the same diving experience won't solve the problem. And for what it's worth, I've dived around the Caribbean, and I've not experienced more helpful and accommodating dive masters than on GC (well, most of them, anyway).

Stress is pretty common, and it takes time and a lot of (positive) diving experience to overcome it. Getting buoyancy dialed in is one thing that might help (I hired a private instructor for an hour to work on my buoyancy and trim when I was first starting to dive, and it worked wonders for my confidence and reducing stress.) The other thing I've done with some friends and relatives who were novice divers was to sign them up for "refresher" dives with a couple of ops here on GC. These are usually for people who have not dived in over a year, but they do very easy, shallow dives (no deeper than 40') with no more than 4 divers per dive master. The DM watches you closely, helps with maintaining your buoyancy and trim during the dive, and literally will hold your hand if needed (I had two friends doing a discovery dive - same as a refresher dive - who needed this). After a couple of those dives, she may get comfortable enough to do a couple of "normal" shallow reef dives (there are some ops on GC that will do a 2-tank/2 shallow reef dive trip). And even if you were to do a deep wall dive, you can always hang out together at the top of the reef and turn it into a shallow dive.

But just going to Bonaire, or Hawaii, or Little Cayman, or wherever does not seem like it will make a difference regarding the actual issue of stress. Best of luck getting her comfortable!

 

[Dogbowl]

As a person who is easily stressed out (embarassed to admit it but yes I am), I have noticed that certain things cause stress for me:

1. Rushed boat diving - honestly, I've never been on a Caribbean day boat dive that I didn't feel was rushed; others will argue with me and have in the past about this, but I felt rushed because all boat dives operate on a schedule, and this adds to stress;
2. Beginners feel stress due to unfamiliarity with diving, equipment and new dive environments - this is natural and will pass but it will take a lot of diving and experiencing a lot of new environments to ease this; luckily for me, "beginner stress" doesn't bother me anymore;
3. Strong current or rough seas are stressful;
4. Wall dives are stressful for me - if I can't see the bottom, I'm a little scared; I'm still most relaxed on dives with a solid bottom; I prefer to dive cenotes over a wall dive because it has a solid bottom (go figure!);
5. Night dives are scary at first.

Everyone has different triggers, so it would be good to ask your wife specifically what causes her stress, although she may not know herself as she is still so new. If you asked me during my first 20 dives why I'm unknowingly filling my lungs with air and can't descend, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. Now I know it was because I was nervous and a bit stressed out.

Of the common destinations people have suggested, I think Curacao with an outfit like Dive Bus will be the most stress-free. You're not driving around looking for places to dive, so less stress from the unknown. You're shore diving with a guide, so there's someone there to assist, who knows the ins and outs of the sites, there's a solid bottom for the dives, and it's not too deep. My understanding is that Curacao's shore entries are much easier than Bonaire and currents are minimal.