Choosing our perfect diving destination

[Trailboss123]

We've been browsing through the book "Best dives of the Carribean" by Joyce Huber and asked ourselves if it's a good idea to spend a week on Guadeloupe and then fly to Yucatan for the remainder of the vacation. Isn't the diving better in Guadeloupe than Cozumel? Any opinions on this?

Personally, I have not been there and I don't know that I have ever seen a trip report on Scubaboard for Guadeloupe. Most likely because of the difficulty in travel logistics to get there for most of us in N. America. Check into flights, as getting from there to the Yucatan is probably not that straightforward. Getting around the Caribbean is not straightforward at all.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I think he means this island of Guadeloupe: Diving in The Guadeloupe Islands | PADI Travel

Ah, thanks!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Be that as it may, my suggestion would be OP to stick with Cozumel.

I'm only going by what I've read because haven't been to Guadeloupe. I gather there are some wicked currents there. I have dove Speyside at Trinidad & Tobago, Bequia and Grenada. My experience has been serious to scary currents at Tobago, Bequia was fine for the most part and Grenada gets some currents but unless out on the Hilma Hooker, I didn't find them problematic.

So, that included with the pain of getting to Guadeloupe and back, it's off my list, even if not off of the OP's.

 

[myshadeofred]

You could also look at the Phillipines - a bit of juggling around routes cuts the fly time down and the diving is cheap as chips as good. Also far warmer than Germany

I agree with the Philippines, I did Malapascua and you can do packages and choose your duration and dives during your stay. We did Thresher Shark Divers. They will coordinate everything for you. And then you can go back to Cebu and do some canyoning or hiking or site seeing. Definitely affordable. Great thing, is you meet people from all over the world in a beautiful get away.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Or consider Isla Mujeres for your diving and beaching. There's a beautiful beach there, beach bars and a stroll with restaurants and clubs but to my mind, it wasn't a typical party place. I haven't been diving there and believe it not to be as good as Cozumel. But it would still fit with an easy transfer back to mainland for your Mayan Riviera, and ruins adventures.

 

[drrich2]

The bad news is, I know of only 1 Guadeloupe report on Scuba Board offhand; the good news it was pretty through, and fairly recent (2018). Here you go.

Richard.

 

[Chris Ra]

Thank you for the link!

 

[Chris Ra]

After doing a lot of research, we ended up comparing Curacao to Cozumel+Yucatan for a 16-day-vacation and ended up choosing the mexican combo. It was a close decision, so thank you for all your input!

 

[Trailboss123]

After doing a lot of research, we ended up comparing Curacao to Cozumel+Yucatan for a 16-day-vacation and ended up choosing the mexican combo. It was a close decision, so thank you for all your input!

Awesome! Be sure to do a trip report and let us know how it went.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

One of my favorite dive trip combos is Cozumel and Tulum for the cenotes. Although now with this ugly rumor that they are closing down Palancar and the other southern reefs on Coz, not sure how my January trip is going to play out.

Isla doesn't have as dramatic reefs as Cozumel but at least they'll be accessible and Pilus, Manchones and some of the wrecks are pretty good on their own. Tulum isn't that much farther than from Coz, anyways. Thank the stars for the collectivos.

I think I'm just trying to convince myself at this point.