Good spot for family dives with beginner divers?

[Dirty-Dog]

Different people & circumstances differ, I suppose. I love Bonaire; I've had 7 1-week trips there. But flying out of Nashville, TN on Delta (I'm less trusting of some of the cheaper airlines, like Insel) tends to run around $1,000 - $1,100. Then there's the cost of the stay + diving + a tank of gas for the rental truck, and you either drive manual, or come up with another $150 (and arrange in advance) for an automatic transmission truck.

But Bonaire tends to have warm water & good weather all year. Dive Hut is a good budget option, but you don't have a house reef. A good house reef like at Buddy Dive can encourage you to get in more dives.

When I spent a week in Key Largo in late September this year, trip costs were around:

1.) $400 apiece + baggage charges, round trip, Nashville to Ft. Lauderdale.

2.) Rental SUV via Budget Car Rental - I don't recall what that cost. And there was a gadget we rented that collected the toll road fees so we didn't need to stop for them.

3.) $800 & some for a Courtyard Marriot room for me, wife, baby daughter & mother-in-law.

4.) $600 + tax and tips for a 10 boat trip package with Rainbow Reef Dive Center, that let me get 20 dives in 5 days for $640 something plus tips.

Overall, the Key Largo trip was cheaper than my Bonaire trips, for what we got, though traveling with 2 adults & a baby who weren't diving gave me a different situation than some would be in.

Cozumel is much loved for fairly cheap dive trips, but the depths are deeper than you may want.

Richard.


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Location has a lot to do with it. Getting to Bonaire from Colorado is a huge PITA. And it's pricey too.
On the other hand, I have a trip booked to Cancun in May. 4 star AI resort, non-stop Denver to Cancun, $2200 for Sue and I. Diving will cost $72 for a two-tank.
On the other other hand, last May we went to Oahu. $3400 for flight and resort (the resort was billed as a 3-star, but really ought to be 2). Diving was $99 for a two-tank. Neither the diving nor the resort was as good as Cancun. Mexico can be shockingly cheap as a vacation destination.
Cancun dive sites have hard bottom at 60' or less. I'd have recommended it, except that one of the divers on the trip has a 40' limit.

 

[diversteve]

Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break? That's a great idea...not.

Curacao is Bonaire diving with easier sandy beach entries vs. over the ironshore/coral rubble that you'll find at most Bonaire sites other than the resorts. Same low-current diving - most of the week we were there it was flat calm. 3rd week of April. More to do on the surface also. Some of the signature Curacao dives are shallow also - the Tugboat is 15' deep, we found seahorses at 40' at Varsenbaai and turtles feeding in 6' off the beach. We rarely broke 60' all week and the reef starts to go deep around 40' so just stay on top.

Another option might be Grand Cayman. While most 1st dives there are deep down the wall, many operators offer shallower options - esp. in the afternoons. Since many of the boats limit divers to 6-8 max. as 3 you have a higher chance of being on one. They do 2 tank afternoon dives also. Some pair it with Stingray City - the most fun you can have diving in 15' of water. For your husband, the North Wall dives start at 60' or so, typically dives are around 100' with a 6000' drop-off. Some of the best in that area are Babylon, Ghost Mountain, Hammerhead Hill - near NW Point deep sites are: Big Tunnel, Orange Canyon, Trinity Caves etc.

The best shore dive IMO - Turtle Reef - bottoms out at 50' to the south - 70' to the north. The famous school of Tarpon is shallower and Turtles up to the surface. Lots of things live on the wall from about 15' down. Lighthouse Point or Cobalt Coast are also really shallow shore dives leading out to the wall. (long swim)

In Georgetown Eden Rock hardly exceeds 40' - it becomes sandy past that so nothing to see anyway. It's a better dive when the cruise ships are gone. A lot of it within 15' of the surface. The Devils Grotto next door has swim-thrus in less than 40' - most open on both ends with light above many of them. It also doesn't exceed about 40-50' There's a couple dead ends so ask at Eden Rock - I believe they had a map on the counter. Sunset House nearby is another shallower dive. The reef off the Salt Water Pool starts about 10'. The Mermaid is 55' at the base. At certain times the Atlantis Sub cruises by - your daughter might like seeing it.

And she can dive the top levels of the Kittiwake (non-penetrating) - there will be a DM assigned to each group going to a different level - it's a CITA requirement. If you husband is AOW he can dive the bottom in a separate group. For boat dives, the Aquarium dive site is all about 40' deep. Look for fish hovering over the coral heads, those are banded coral shrimp cleaning stations. If she slowly holds out her hand, they'll climb on and trim her cuticles. Pricey to stay/dive on Cayman though. Boat dives are 2/$100 and food is expensive.

Another option is the Virgin Islands. St. Thomas probably will have a lot of spring breakers downtown but on the East side - most dives are very shallow. We dove off Grass Cay and never broke 40' - most 30' or less. Several dives in that area. Coki Beach is a shore dive - no deeper than 40' off the beach until you head towards Coral World. A lot so shallow that SNUBA is popular there.

Across to St. John by car ferry (1/2 hr.), there's shallow dives off Trunk Bay and other shore accessible locations. Any dive operators in that area dive between the islands and cays nearby. We liked Dive In at Sapphire Beach resort - smaller boat, they'll go with 4 and provide a DM. Cow and Calf Rocks is a signature dive - no part of it is deeper than 40' IIRC.

Or transfer over to the BVI's via fast ferry - 1-2 hrs. max. We did about 25 dives in a week there - all boat diving. Many were 40'. The only dive a little deep is the Rhone, both halves are in the 50-70' range. The back is totally open to the surface with some interesting things to see. Some like Thumb Rock or the Dog Pinnacles almost break the surface. Seal Dog Rock does. I filmed big schools of silversides there in 20'. There must be 15-20 dives that never exceed 50' - many are good at 20'. Your husband might not find as big a challenge - the Chikuzen is a great wreck if conditions permit getting out there. And there's the front of the Rhone - a long swim-thru. The Deep was filmed there. DiveBVI lists depths on their dive sites pages: Dive Sites | Dive BVI

Excellent snorkeling also. At Mango Bay, the reef is so shallow boats can't get in there. And the Baths is a world famous snorkel/beach area.

Excellent restaurants also. If you go, the Leverick Bay Beach BBQ on Friday is worth the drive. Rock Cafe is one of the better restaurants. Not the cheapest place to stay but very low-key. Our villa didn't even have a front door lock. There's only about 3000 people on the whole island.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

#1 has to be the upper Keys, especially Key Largo in the marine park. Maui is a good place too, for most but not all dives. Tell the operators and they will take you to appropriate sites, like Mala Pier or Olawalu, or Shark Pit, all good for new divers. Just say no to Ft Lauderdale (sorry, but I've never liked it). Bonaire is a maybe, but a lot of the diving can be deep. Lots of good places, that's just my personal input.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Diver0001]

If you're in Europe, you're looking at other possibilities.

From Europe I would certainly recommend Marsa Shagra (50km south of Marsa Alam). Fabulous unlimited diving, easy house reef, affordable and the staff are competent. I try to get down that way about once a year. I missed it this year because of the problems in Egypt but I'll be going again in January.

R..

 

[kjp99]

Thanks for all of your suggestions. We live in Georgia so the Caribbean and US suggestions are probably best. Our Spring Break is the 3rd week of March. I think we'll pass on Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break though.

 

[diverjen]

You have gotten some really good suggestions. I will weigh in as a former extensive snorkeler and a newbie diver. Snorkeled Akumal & Riveria Maya- extensively, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Grand Cayman, Curacao, St. John. Dove Bonaire and BVI (same trip as St. John).

I know this is not a thread about snorkeling, but you can weigh my response better if I run on about it a little.... The snorkeling in Curacao was IMHO underwhelming compared to St. John and Belize which were excellent, and Roatan, Grand Cayman, and Akumal which I consider very good. I am not a huge fan of snorkeling Cozumel, because I like very shallow reef - but the life can be really cool (nurse sharks, Eagle rays).

Diving in Bonaire as a newbie was really great because the reef is very shallow with good conditions. There were a couple of grandparents (50s) with their 11 year old grandson. They had been coming to Bonaire over the years (along with many other destinations) and were just waiting for him to get certified and then they brought him there first. They hired a divemaster for him for the boat dives so that they could dive deeper. Then they took turns on the house reef or dove as a trio for shore dives. There is definitely a lot of stuff in Bonaire at 40 feet and especially between 40-60 ft. I was not really looking for snorkeling there, but there are definitely some great areas off of Klein. I think back in the day the snorkeling used to be amazing but a couple of storms have knocked out a lot of the reef at 20 feet or less in most areas. The life is still abundant at really shallow depths though. Diving St. John area and immediate BVI area (boat from St. John) was incredibly underwhelming and I would not go to St. John for diving or a snorkeling/diving combo - if you are snorkelers only though this place is heaven.

While I have not dove Curacao, I believe you would have easier entries, but you do have farther surface swims out to the reef. Sometimes airfare there can be much much cheaper than Bonaire and I believe Apple and Cheap caribbean have really good deals to stay at the family oriented resort there which I think is called Breezes or at least used to be.

I also have only snorkeled Grand Cayman, but we had tons of divers right under us. I really like GC but with the prices there and quality of reef we still lean more towards a Curacao or Bonaire trip.

There are so many great places to dive - I hope I get to check some more places off the list soon, but we are excited to return to Bonaire again for 2 weeks in May and really hoping to finally dive Coz next winter. All of the posts about the Keys have me intrigued, but we are so spoiled with good airfare prices to Riveria Maya/Coz from Denver that it might have to wait awhile. Off to youtube....

Happy Diving and please let us know where you go and how you liked it when you get back!

 

[drrich2]

I used to wonder why it seemed Bonaire was spoken of much more often than Curacao, and seemed a much more popular dive destination. After all, if it's 'just as good,' plus easier sandy beach entries, and some dive sites have facilities to use, and there are more other things to do, plus cheaper airfare to get there, seems like ol'Curacao ought to blow poor old Bonaire out of the water.

That doesn't seem to be the case. I've been to Bonaire 7 times; have yet to hit Curacao. I've asked about it, read over threads about it, and you may want to do a search for some threads where there's good discussion about the difference. Points I recall are:

1.) Bonaire's west coast has a shore-line hugging highway that takes you right along near the ocean, with yellow rocks marking dive sites. Easy to find sites, and quick to go place-to-place.

2.) Curacao isn't like that. There's a road along the coast, but it's inland, and you take a turn off & drive down a side road to get to some sites. This takes longer, and some of those roads aren't marked. You might have to ask locals for directions (if you're a people person that might not bother you).

3.) Some of the sites have facilities, but also charge a fee to use the site. I've seen people try to downplay that, or give the impression that the facilities are worth the small cost. But in Bonaire, I'm used to pulling into a dive site and diving FREE.

4.) It is more practical to get a large number of dives in at a variety of named sites in Bonaire in a given time frame than it is in Curacao.

5.) When I have asked about a 'turn key' operation like Buddy Dive on Bonaire (they pick you up & return you to the airport, and you rent your truck onsite), I've been told Curacao doesn't have exactly the same thing. There is an outfit called the Dive Bus in Curacao that's often mentioned fondly.

It's been suggested that Curacao's economy is larger, with a more diverse economy that's less dependent on dive tourism, but I'm not convinced that makes the difference.

I'm not knocking Curacao, and a number of forum members have had great experiences there. I'm just suggesting that if you compare it to Bonaire, you'd better research the difference, because some points don't always come out readily.

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[diverjen]

I used to wonder why it seemed Bonaire was spoken of much more often than Curacao, and seemed a much more popular dive destination. After all, if it's 'just as good,' plus easier sandy beach entries, and some dive sites have facilities to use, and there are more other things to do, plus cheaper airfare to get there, seems like ol'Curacao ought to blow poor old Bonaire out of the water.

That doesn't seem to be the case. I've been to Bonaire 7 times; have yet to hit Curacao. I've asked about it, read over threads about it, and you may want to do a search for some threads where there's good discussion about the difference. Points I recall are:

1.) Bonaire's west coast has a shore-line hugging highway that takes you right along near the ocean, with yellow rocks marking dive sites. Easy to find sites, and quick to go place-to-place.

2.) Curacao isn't like that. There's a road along the coast, but it's inland, and you take a turn off & drive down a side road to get to some sites. This takes longer, and some of those roads aren't marked. You might have to ask locals for directions (if you're a people person that might not bother you).

3.) Some of the sites have facilities, but also charge a fee to use the site. I've seen people try to downplay that, or give the impression that the facilities are worth the small cost. But in Bonaire, I'm used to pulling into a dive site and diving FREE.

4.) It is more practical to get a large number of dives in at a variety of named sites in Bonaire in a given time frame than it is in Curacao.

5.) When I have asked about a 'turn key' operation like Buddy Dive on Bonaire (they pick you up & return you to the airport, and you rent your truck onsite), I've been told Curacao doesn't have exactly the same thing. There is an outfit called the Dive Bus in Curacao that's often mentioned fondly.

It's been suggested that Curacao's economy is larger, with a more diverse economy that's less dependent on dive tourism, but I'm not convinced that makes the difference.

I'm not knocking Curacao, and a number of forum members have had great experiences there. I'm just suggesting that if you compare it to Bonaire, you'd better research the difference, because some points don't always come out readily.

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I think the point drrich is making is a really good one - they are not exactly the same diving vacation, but sometimes Curacao would make more sense.

I agree with most of the above points although I have not dove Curacao yet only done 3 days snorkeling en route to Bonaire. We rented a car and drove around a lot. I don't think 1&2 are that big of a deal when you think about surface intervals and just planning ahead. But, because of the other above points we have decided to return to Bonaire again next year. However, the airfare for us has been really similar between both destinations since I have been watching it this past year. The cheapest we have seen for DEN - BON is about $675, usually more like $750+. Last time when we went to Bonaire the flights to Curacao were $425. When you start talking about 2,3,4 or more people that can really make an impact. Island hopping also cuts down on dive days. IF the airfare were the same I would probably do Bonaire, but if you can get much cheaper, non red eye flights, and you are hauling a bunch of folks (including kiddos) around, Curacao starts looking pretty good. Plus I hear Watamula, Mushroom Forest, and the Kittiwake are pretty great. Also, Curacao is simply stunning and if you are going with non-divers/non-snorkelers they are going to be a lot happier.

 

[Karle01]

Roatan!
During that time of the year the weather conditions are great, but the island is out of the busiest season. West End with its shops, restaurants and multiple dive shops offer something for almost everyone.
Dive prices are low, accommodation and food is cheap too.
Roatan Divers www.roatandiver.com offer some of the most affordable dive and accommodation packages in the Caribbean, check with them for family discounts!

 

[Instructor_Tom]

Thanks for all of your suggestions. We live in Georgia so the Caribbean and US suggestions are probably best. Our Spring Break is the 3rd week of March. I think we'll pass on Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break though.

Coming from Georgia, i would recommend the central florida springs. Devils den, blue grotto, Ginnie springs all controlled environments with fairly shallow training areas 15-20ft. Yet they have areas of interest for more advanced divers.

Not to mention that the cost would be between $30-50 per diver per day verse $100 for boat dives.



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