A month of scuba sometime in Carib 'tween late Oct and early Dec? Where should I go?

[ThisHat]

I'm a newcomer, thanks for reading.

I hope to spend a relaxing month in one spot scuba diving and whatnot. A little nightlife (a few bars will suffice) and some dry land activities (hikes, etc) would be nice. A fast, reliable internet is essential - I have to spend an hour or more each day checking email. I do not have to scuba each day. I'll rent an apartment ($800 - $1000/mo) and buy my own groceries to save money.

I've narrowed it down to the following dilemmas, can you help?

1. Weather is dryer and less hurricane-prone in these locales: Roatan, Utila, Curacao or Bonaire. Which do I choose? (note I've read the excellent posts from others describing Curacao and Bonaire, both sound awesome, thanks!)

2. Do I leave earlier, say Oct 20 - Nov 20. Or later, Say Nov 15 - Dec 15?

Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

Later on Roatan/Utila. Contrary to what you've read, October is the wettest month there.

I've been to all four - for reliable fast internet I'd go with Curacao or Bonaire. Maybe Roatan's West End - Utila certainly was the slowest of the four - I expect it still is there's not a lot of infrastructure there outside of supporting the dive training operations in town. Many of the private house rentals east/west of town have generators and boat only access so internet connectivity is probably a stretch in those areas except via cellular.

Price flights - I think you'll find Curacao cheapest, maybe Roatan/Bonaire tied. Utila definitely more since it's $150ish to puddle jump there from Roatan or the mainland. The latter being the murder capital of the world so if you're tempted by the San Pedro Sula prices - work it out so you can get out of there the same day - preferably not leaving the airport. Worldwide Travel has a Facebook page with flight options to Utila from either. Alice posts weekly deals and can help with arrangements. All day flights to Utila - the airport has no lights (or terminal, paved runway etc...lol) As unsafe as SPS/mainland is the Bay Islands are very secure - the Honduran gov't. knows where the tourist revenue comes from.

Look for something around the Piscadera Bay area in Wilemstad (Curacao) It's a few miles from the fuss/tourists/cruise port downtown yet close to everything. Lots of condos to rent. Also we had good connections there everywhere - a couple times we hung out at the Marriott bar - buy a drink and ask for the wi-fi pw. Our condo nearby didn't have connectivity but we knew that. Another possibility might be just south of town around the Sea Aquarium - lots nearby including dive ops, restaurants, nightlife (Mambo Beach) etc. Neither Willemstad or Kralendijk have good diving near downtown.

Bonaire is also pretty wired for a smaller place. NetTech NV has been there since about 2000 - they host the Bonaire portals on their servers. And a lot of the dive resorts offer wi-fi. We stayed in a condo south of town and had fast access around 2004. Around that time some friends were summering there and we used Skype to the states.

Cost wise, Curacao might be your best option. Some flights to Bonaire (Insel Air) stop there first. With a month you could actually dive both - weekday flights are around $60 or less - I'm sure I've seen r/t for $79 certain times of the year. Food is pricey on Bonaire so factor that in - it all comes from Curacao. We shopped in both places and were only shocked at Bonaire prices - 3 years earlier. On Curacao prices were like Safeway vs. Walmart here.

Trade-off is you'd need a car to get around either B/C islands. On the West End it's all walking - your only ride cost is $25 from the airport. Utila town is only about a mile long so that's all walking also.

For diving, it's kind of mixed. There's no shore diving on Roatan unless you stay at an AI resort - each have a dive. In the West End there's one possibility but tank rentals are impossible - nobody does it so the shops don't rent tanks. Boat dives are cheap at 10/$350 either place.

Obviously on Bonaire/Curacao it's all about shore diving. A place like Relaxed Guided Dives on Curacao - convenient - on the main road west - sells a fill card - 25 fills/$80.

If you were going to do that much diving you might price buying a tank and leaving it when you go - about the best I've seen on a daily rate is $25 tank/weights/1 fill. There's at least one retail dive shop in Willemstad that I'm aware of - can't recall the name. A couple of the dive operators also have stores but more t-shirts than tanks. You might try Ocean Encounters main location also.

Same thing on Bonaire except many of the diveops have retail operations so check around. Try Dive Friends, Buddy Dive and Toucan Dive even if you don't dive/stay with them. Or Bruce at Carib Inn - he might even cut you a deal on a monthly rate.