economical, warm water, advanced course destination??

[cbm32]

Looking for the ideal situation...as if there is on

I am open water certified. I plan on going some place for 6 to 8 weeks starting some time in October.

I would like to take several advanced courses such as advanced open water, nitrox, underwater navigation, and perhaps some more while on this trip.

I am looking for suggestions as to destinations and/or dive shops/instructors that would be the best combination of good training along with good diving while keeping an eye on the expenses.

I have a ton of time share points and so most places lodging wont be of real concern.

If it matters, I would be departing from the LA area.

I had planned on returning to Kauai but the diver operators there are far from economical and so I thought I would see if there might be a better alternative out there.

So, what say you???

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Mike

 

[Straegen]

A tour of the Caribbean might be a great option. Curacao would be on my list since it has great diving, shore diving to keep the costs down and something to do in between dives. For that length of time hitting some of the more exotic locals such as Thailand. You can get advanced training pretty much anywhere there is good diving.

 

[Doc]

I have a ton of time share points and so most places lodging wont be of real concern.

What islands within your travel reach have time shares that you could access?

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Thailand or The Phillippines offer affordable diving and accomodation for those making longer trips.

 

[cbm32]

Roatanman....I have Wyndham/Fairfield Timeshare points and with them I get an RCI membership. So, one way or the other, if there is any kind of significant timeshare presence I have access to it. The other option is that I can use my points for flights (although conversion is not great and the points are worth more in lodging than on flights) and simply pay for the lodging out of pocket.

From LA the Pacific coast of Mexico (including Baja California-Yucatan peninsula and the Bay of California) and the would be a very economical flight. Not sure about flights to Costa Rica or that area.

 

[Doc]

Looking at this list: http://www.rci.com/RCI/RCIW/RCIW_index

Does the property have to display the "RCIpoints" logo?

If so.... The DIVI Flamingo Bonaire would be my best choice. I actually kind-of like that place. It does make it very easy to go diving, but then again, 99% of Bonaire diving is shore diving... unless you are doing classes.

The most of the rest of their vacation resorts listed seemed ti be just that- not really dive resorts or dive oriented in particular. They likely subcontract out to a local dive op for services, and that's not a deal breaker- it just makes things a little more hectic.

Most of them shown were at the standard Caribbean cruise ship destination islands- no longer known for good diving, but if all you wanted was to pound through some of the AOW cert quals, one place is as gooder than any other.

 

[cbm32]

Any RCI resort is fine. It does not have to be a points resort. My points are with Wyndham so for RCI use I trade some points for an RCI week. No need for it to be a points only resort that way.

Also, we nearly always end up with a two or three bedroom condo and it is just me and the wife. So, plenty of extra room if anyone wants to take advantage of it when we go

The Wife does not dive

 

[robint]

Shopping for a dive trip by time share locations is like going to the grocery store to buy shoes.... yeah, you might find something, but your choices are limited and probably not the best quality.

just my 2 cents.
robin

 

[cbm32]

Robint......two cents is just not worth what it once was with inflation and all. Just sayin

 

[diversteve]

While I agree with RoatanMan, I think your wife would go stir-crazy after "6-8" weeks on Bonaire. The whole island is geared to divers - it's some of the best diving in the Caribbean but besides that the other major attraction is windsurfing. Not even a lot of good beaches - the west coast is mostly ironshore to the waters edge. The rest of the island (except for Lac Bay) is somewhat inaccessible.

There's about 15K people that live there, shopping downtown is one morning's (non-cruise ship day) adventure other than that there's some nature hikes, ATC's, mangrove swamp kayaking, a few small caves etc.

An option is to split your time between Bonaire, Aruba and Curacao. Curacao has the same good diving but 10x the people so there's nightlife, dining options, about a dozen casinos and due to the way the shoreline runs, they have nice sandy beaches. And about 50-60 shore dives all along the coast. Bonaire gets all the comments, but I thought the Curacao diving was as good in most places. There's no natural run-off on Bonaire and the stress of more people, a deepwater port, and a refinery makes Curacao not as outstanding.

The west end diving is still pristine though - one of my best all-time dives was Playa Kalki in Westpunt. They also have the Dive Bus for escorted shore diving. Across from Breezes, a timeshare on the RCI list.

Aruba I understand is similar - never been there. There are several regional airlines that fly between the islands affordably - Divi Air, Insel Air, and several others. http://www.infobonaire.com/airlineinfo.html for details.

Another option is the Virgin Islands. I noticed there's RCI locations on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Tortola(BVI's) There's good diving off all 4 islands and good dive operators as well. There are a lot of condo complexes on St. Thomas's East End so some must be timeshare. There's good diving in that area and a lot of wrecks south of Charlotte Amalie. From Tortola you can morning trip to the Rhone, the BVI's signature wreck. (remember the Deep - it was partly filmed there)

The big advantage is that there are daily fast ferries between the islands so you could fly into St. Thomas and move around as desired. google BVI ferry schedule for details.

St. Thomas to St. John is a 1/2 or less - there's even a car ferry. To Tortola is about 60-90 mins. and St. Croix is accessible the same morning afaik. St. Croix also has shorediving - and the Divi Carina Bay resort - probably also a timeshare.

Most USVI/BVI diving is boat diving though.

hth,