Destination recommendation for family

[flyboy08]

Ditto CR and there soooooo much more to do in that beautiful country!

Hot springs
Butterfly sanctuary
Zip lines
Fishing
Arial kite surfing
Volcano tour
Monteverdi coffee fields
It’s Endless!

 

[outofofficebrb]

Ditto CR and there soooooo much more to do in that beautiful country!

Hot springs
Butterfly sanctuary
Zip lines
Fishing
Arial kite surfing
Volcano tour
Monteverdi coffee fields
It’s Endless!

Rainforest/nature tours with hanging bridges. Hiking. Surfing. Horseback riding.Tabacon hot springs was amazing! It is incredibly family friendly and food/water safety, even the tap, was easy and good. Language barrier is slim to none. Everyone is very friendly and we felt safe the entire time we were there.

It truly is endless.

 

[KathyV]

We are a family of 6 (5 adults and 1 child non-diver). We are what I would consider vacation divers. We have all been certified about 2 years and enjoy diving over our Christmas vacation to see sea animals and even a few small wrecks. 3 of the adults are older teenagers. For the past 2 years we have gone to and enjoyed the Cozumel Palace. We like the Palace for several reasons---All-Inclusive, small personal resort, close distance from pool to room to water, etc., kids camp for our 7 year old.

With all of that in mind we are looking to go somewhere else this year for our trip. We looked at Curacao and Bonaire but I feel like those might be too dive intensive for us. My kids want to dive 3 days and then spend the other days relaxing or other activities.

Any suggestions for places that meet the similar style as Cozumel and has diving that teenagers will find interesting?

Thanks so much!
Kristin

How old is the youngest child and is he/she interested in watersports? I'm asking because DiveTech on Grand Cayman offers several programs for kids, including the SASY program for young children, see the link below:
https://www.divetech.com/kids

But I don't know if their kids program is offered year-round or if it is seasonal.

DiveTech offers various accommodation and dive packages at different locations but none of them are all-inclusive and you would need to rent a car.

Cayman is a great, safe place for family vacations and dive vacations but not for the all-inclusive resorts that you prefer.

 

[caydiver]

Frankly if you are not looking for a dive centric holiday and want the convenience of an AI, Cayman is not going to be the best fit. We came here to dive for several years when the kids were little. We stayed at The Hyatt for the Kids Club. My kids loved it, but the costs the diving and the kids club added up, not to mention the Room Service bills for lunches, snacks and drinks at hotel prices while they were in camp. There are several wonderful condos where you can stock kitchens with everyone’s favorites. Many smaller dive ops will do private charters that can include snorkeling and may be cost effective for a family. However as much as I love Cayman and diving, I also understand that you want your family vacation to be wonderful for the whole family and sometimes (Heaven forbid!!!), they don’t all want water based activities all day.

 

[scubadada]

I'm not sure why, but I always forget about Costa Rica. My wife, daughter and I had a wonderful vacation there. The stay was about half diving and half other activities. The diving at Bat Islands, the Catalinas, and local, in the Gulf de Papagayo, was very good. Bull Sharks, Mantas, Devil Rays, and all kind of Pacific sea life. The land excursions were fantastic with animal life and scenery. I went to Tabacon hot springs and Arenal before a trip to Cocos, it was a great day trip.

 

[KathyV]

St. Croix is a nice destination for combining both family and diving activities, see the excellent info below from @drrich2

St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017

It looks like St. Croix got lucky and didn't sustain much damage from Hurricane Dorian:

Dorian Just Grazes St. Croix | St. Croix Source

The Divi Carina resort on St. Croix is an all-inclusive and they have a kids club. They are closed right now for remodeling and I don't see a reopening date, but maybe they will be done in time for the high season in winter and spring. And if not this year then perhaps for a future trip:

US Virgin Islands All Inclusive - Divi Carina Bay Beach Resort & Casino

Divi Carina is in a remote location so you would probably need a car for at least part of the trip, but I think a car is a good idea on St. Croix in general. The 2 main towns of Fredricksted and Christiansted are on opposite sides of the island. Shore diving the Fredricksted Pier is amazing and inexpensive.

 

[Kristin Heagarty]

Yes we love Costa Rica but went there for 2 years prior to our Cozumel years. However, that was before scuba certification so maybe I need to relook at it!! Thank-you everyone for all the great suggestions and knowledge!

 

[diversteve]

I'd rethink Curacao although I agree Bonaire is too dive intensive.

Sunscape is the AI in town. Several SB Surges have gone there - it's an ex-Beaches but not as big as the one on Provo. It's a decent resort for the price.

Out on the West End Lofge Kura Hulanda is almost AI due to distance from anything - it's 45mins drive back to town. They are on one of the best shore dives and their boats (GoWest Diving) dive Watamula farther west - arguably one of the better boat dives. Some of their larger accommodations would suit 6, have nice kitchens and maid service.

At times during the year it's remarkably affordable for being one of the Leading Small Hotels of the World.

Lions Dive in town is positioned well also. A little south of town and they have a shuttle. The north side of the harbor has the expanded Megaport so can be congested. You won't even notice them at Lion's Dive. The resort is adjacent to the Sea Aquarium and there's shops/dining at Mambo Beach Blvd, within walking distance. I believe they offer meal plans also.

Rent a car both for easy entry shore dives all along the west side - off beaches - and to do other things. There's shopping downtown, good restaurants, casinos for the adults, the Ostrich farm, the Sea Aquarium some forts,some historical sites, shuttle tours downtown and lots of nice beaches. Christoffel Park has hikes of various difficulties.

You can do a week there for probably 1/2 of what Cayman costs - is that a factor with 5 adults?

Or if only some want to dive, besides the boat dive operation at Sunscape (Ocean Encounters satellite shop) there's also Bas Harts diving or the Dive Bus for escorted shore dives. At a couple we saw a boat on the ball at a site we were shore diving so don't book any of those dives.

With 5 divers, you may want to do more shore dives as boat dives seemed to be around 2/$100. We did 20+ dives but only two off a boat. The Tugboat is a signature site east of town, the boat is 17' deep, the pier nearby around 40' and go around the point to the east and it drops fairly quickly to a field of white eels.
Superior Producer is the other signature wreck but usually only dove at night since it's in the cruise port area. Also pretty deep.

Most beaches have facilities including a dive op, some food option and lockers/showers/bathroom.

www.curacao.com lists most things.

 

[diversteve]

I personally think the (adult)kids would be bored on St. Croix for a week. The USVI's/BVI's as a whole also. Not a lot to do there except dive, beach, sail or eat.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I would look at Bayahibe. It is a small fishing village on the south Caribbean sea coast of the Dominican Republic. Since it is on the south coast, you don't have to worry about seaweed. There is reef diving, wall diving, wreck diving and even a cave dive if you are so certified. Most of the dive sites are about a 10 to 20 min boat ride away and most are less than 80 ft deep. I always dive with John from ScubaFun | Dive Center Bayahibe They are a small local dive shop in Bayahibe, John is at the shop every morning, most of his staff are long term employee's, they will pick you up and drop you back at the resort, they will store your dive gear for you,etc. There is a Dreams Dominicus ( Dreams has an excellent kids club & program) , Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus, and Catalonia Gran Dominicus.