The link below is for an excellent thread, started by drich2, comparing the cost per dive (including travel, food, and lodging) for various locations.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ge...dget-florida-caribbean-trips.html#post7422494
We have found that if you want to do a lot of excellent dives then liveaboards are usually your most economical option - even though they may seem expensive at first glance - because you get to do 4 or 5 dives per day, often in pristine locations, and most of your other expenses are covered - but that might not be the best option for a youngster that wants to snorkel and isn't sure about diving.
Other ways to hold down the costs are to rent an apartment or condo away from the touristy areas, prepare many of your meals, and negotiate a dive package deal with a local operator. Another option is to find a small, all-inclusive diver-dedicated resort that includes food, lodging, and diving. We avoid the big all-inclusives because diving isn't usually a priority; we learned that one the hard way at Club Med.
A lot depends on how much diving you want to do, more dives usually means a cheaper cost per dive for the trip. But if you only want to do a few dives a la carte that changes the focus of the trip.
One factor that is important to me, but rarely seems to be considered in the costs/value of a dive location, are the risks and expense of avoiding infectious diseases while on vacation. But that could be an important factor when bringing a child into the tropics. We love Mexico, and Belize, and Roatan and have visited them all multiple times, but we take extra precautions against infection when we visit third world countries and that is an important consideration that also adds to the expense.
Before we go to Belize or Honduras we visit the Travel Medicine clinic and get boosters for all our vaccines including Hepatitis A and Typhoid and we pick up prescriptions for anti-malarial medications to take before, during, and after the trip - and those medical expenses are not entirely covered by insurance and increase the cost of our vacation. And there are no preventions against Dengue or Chikungunya except to avoid getting bites, which is hard to do when you are on the Mosquito Coast.
And the costs and inconvenience of drinking only bottled water is also a factor to consider. There are folks that probably feel that I am over-reacting (and they may be correct) but I am occupationally-inclined to believe in tropical infections, and if the CDC recommends precautions then I tend to pay attention. These risks don't stop us from traveling to the tropics, but they are important items for consideration IMO, but they seldom seem to be factored into decisions about taking (or not taking) a dive trip.
Of course, there are no guarantees wherever you are located. I could get bitten by a mosquito and contract West Nile Virus right in my own back yard. But IMO the higher risks of infection impact the value of a tropical vacation and also add to the actual costs.
What I am saying is that some places may seem really cheap but there are other issues to also be considered. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Just my opinion.
