Best Place For New/er divers.

[CAPT HOOK]

Stay in the U.S. until you are more experienced; go to the Keys and SE Florida!

 

[deepblueme]

On the list

Nassau
Reef is better than Cancun & less currents (normaly)
Sharks
Blue hole
Wrecks

Night life, shopping,casino, good food

That said I would tell you do the Keys first so you wont be thinking wow this isnt really that good after you have been to Bonaire or Honduras.

 

[johnny_bravo]

I voted Cancun in your poll but Bonaire is a much better choice for beginner divers.

Cheers.

-J.-

 

[diveborg]

I have to think that the OP is going on a cruise. He has only the 4 stops to choose from. Recommending Bonaire, however good it might be, isn't going to help.

Additionally, I think many of you are underestimating the quality of the diving in St. Thomas.

 

[del_mo]

What a choice!

Key Largo by far. Shallow to deeper reefs. Great wrecks from shallow to deep. Short boat rides. Plenty of great dive operations to choose from. Plenty of good food, shopping, and decent places to stay. And maybe most important, especially if you can drive, "low" anxiety.

Miami is just an hour or so away. Key West is an hour an a half away. I think I just talked myself into another Key Largo trip!

 

[BurBunny]

Of the options listed, I'd vote for St. Thomas, Nassau, Cancun in that order and totally recommend NOT Dominican Republic, especially if you're trying to do it from a cruise.

 

[spectrum]

None of the above. Stay in the USA; go to S. Florida. Get more experience then travel out of the US.

On that note...

Since you are committed to diving locally as much as possibly I would travel at another time. In early August you will be hitting your most comfortable local water and it should be very nice until sometime in October.

If you take a trip latter, like around Thanksgiving then you will have a greater body of experience to work with and the trip will extend your season.

Just a thought,
pete

 

[scubaotter]

Here is yet another vote for Bonaire.

Bonaire offers some of the easiest diving you will find. You can choose to shore dive or boat dive alone or with a guide. You can go shore diving anytime you please so if you don't feel up to getting on that dive boat at 8am you don't have to.

Bonaire can be a bit expensive to get to at times but, if you can find a sale on air you can find some really nice resorts/hotels to stay at that won't kill your budget.

 

[highlandfarmwv]

Bonaire is great for new divers. It doesn't get any easier. I have only done St Thomas out of your list, so can't answer to the rest. I was certified in St Thomas, so, of course it has some easy dives!

 

[Mountain Dog]

What a choice!

Key Largo by far. Shallow to deeper reefs. Great wrecks from shallow to deep. Short boat rides. Plenty of great dive operations to choose from. Plenty of good food, shopping, and decent places to stay. And maybe most important, especially if you can drive, "low" anxiety.

Miami is just an hour or so away. Key West is an hour an a half away. I think I just talked myself into another Key Largo trip!

I'm with Del Mo. Tons of dive ops, wrecks, reefs, shallow, deep, you name it. Of course, I have to wait until September for my Bonaire trip, so my opinion is likely to be different come October.

Mountain Dog