List of dive destinations to not go to...

[phoenix31tt]

I think we're still waiting to hear which of these places you have ACTUALLY dove...

Way to judge a location from in front ur keyboard

Sent from my Nokia Lumia using Tapatalk

 

[ronscuba]

Funny you list belize little cayman galapagos as places to avoid. Those are some of my favorites from personal experience.

 

[mathauck0814]

I like the tier system more too. Here is a list of dive destinations of the world with approximate/ball parks costs involved to travel to these places and dive them. These costs include air travel (from DC area where I am based) and dive and stay packages.

NFL and Labrador 700 air + 1700 =2400
Iceland 700 air + 2500 (Westfjord), 3621 (Highlight), 1168 (Silfra+Strytan) = from 2000 to 4300
Alaska 700 air + 2700 = 3400
Gods Pocket (Browning Pass) 700 air + 2000 = 2700
Socorro (Nautilus Explorer) 2750 + 500 air = 3250
Cocos 4935 liveaboard + 600 = 5535
Komodo 2700 (Liveaboard)+ 1800 air = 4500
Raja Ampat 3000 (Liveaboard) 1950 air = 4950
Fiji 3000 (Liveaboard) + 1800 air = 4800
Palau (Liveaboard) 2630 + 2000 = 4630
PNG (Liveaboard) 3000 + 9430 = 12430
Galapagos (Liveaboard) 5395 + 687 = 6082
Bonaire 700 air + 1000 = 1700
Belize 707 + 2400 = 3107
Cayman 730 + 2000 = 2730
Puerto Rico 350 + 1500 = 1850
Playa Del Carmen + Cozumel Flight = 700 + 7 nights 1200 + 300 = 2200 including meals
Little Cayman = 565 + 2814 = 3379
Turks and Caicos = 500 + 900 (5 days) = 1400
Blackbeard Bahamas = 1000 + 400 = 1400
Bonne Terre mine: 450 Car and Flight + 480 diving and hotel = 930
Tobermory 80/ dive 160 + hotel 3 nights = 330 = 490 (wont need airfare)
Catalina LA 400 air + 3 day liveaboard 750 = 1150
Dry Tortugas = 1000 + 400 flights = 1400
Croatia 600 (6 night 10 dives) + 1300 airfare = 1900
South Africa = 1200 + 407 (6 night 10 dives) = 1607

As you can see some destinations are really high on the overall cost but relatively low on quality. Example Belize and Little Cayman. Granted there are a lot of people who have gone there and had fun but just scroll up and look at the places that they could have gone with that kind of money. Once you put marketing aside and look at the numbers in comparison to everything else available, Belize and Little Cayman are actually places to avoid (if you want your money's worth diving wise).

There are many other tourist traps up there on that list. Yes PNG is great diving but is it worth over 12000???

Similarly there are some great dive destinations that offer more value for the money but are less known. Croatia for example is one place that is insanely cheap! 6 days of diving plus hotel accommodation and some meals for 598 USD. This is Adriatic sea and is considered world class diving.

You're just flatly missing the point. Is PNG worth two trips to the Galapagos? Maybe, if you've already done the Galapagos twice. There are so many variables that add value to a trip that you're leaving out. For instance: not being surrounded by nickel rockets on vacation?

 

[drrich2]

I was under the impression from the forum that Turks & Caicos was a more expensive destination for total trip cost than some other options (maybe more expensive than Cozumel, in a league with Grand Cayman perhaps?).

Anyone else got input on that?

Richard.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I was under the impression from the forum that Turks & Caicos was a more expensive destination for total trip cost than some other options (maybe more expensive than Cozumel, in a league with Grand Cayman perhaps?).

Anyone else got input on that?

Richard.

I also thought the same. Here are some rates:

DiveProvo | Dive Packages

 

[luckydiver]

What's a nickel rocket? I might like them of I knew what they were...

 

[drrich2]

By the way, with a tiered system, most people would go to 1'rst tier places first, for mainstream budget diving with short travel times.

Then, over time, as they get more seasoned, capable of handing a wider array of conditions (e.g.: currents in Komodo), get bored with 'same old reef' diving & want more exotic encounters (e.g.: mantas in Hawaii, tiger sharks at Tiger Beach, great whites off Guadalupe) or more lush reefs (e.g.: Fiji, Indonesia), and maybe get a little older with more disposable income (or just more scuba focused & willing to sacrifice other things to pursue it), they get willing & able to take 2 or 3 weeks vacation & spend 2 or 3 times the amount to go somewhere extra special.

Now, me, I'm a 'Wal-mart Diver.' I've been to Bonaire 7 times, did a 2 tank dive in Cozumel, also in Grand Cayman, also in Puerto Rico & Costa Maya and 2 of them in St. Thomas (the 2 tank trips on cruise vacations). To me, $2,500 per person total trip cost for a 1 week trip is the rough ceiling on the travel budget, and I like tropical aquarium conditions. So to me, cold water with currents in the Galapagos, or $12 grand to hit PNG and a lot of travel time, is not going to happen.

But just like with food, wine, art & other things, we have people who've 'done Wal-mart' so to speak, and have the time, means and discriminating palate to make those upscale trips worthwhile.

I look at their pictures sometimes.

Richard.

 

[pocky21]

Where does a single $60,000 dive on the Titanic rate?

 

[koozemani]

I was under the impression from the forum that Turks & Caicos was a more expensive destination for total trip cost than some other options (maybe more expensive than Cozumel, in a league with Grand Cayman perhaps?).

Anyone else got input on that?

Richard.

Food is very expensive since its all shipped in. Lodging and diving weren't horribly expensive, it was the price of food that we weren't prepared for.

 

[TSandM]

I have to confess, I measure the value of dive travel in "Mexico trip equivalents". It costs roughly $2500 to fly me and my husband to the Yucatan for a week of condo rental, car rental and cave diving. So when a trip across northern Vancouver Island ended up being 3 Mexico trip equivalents, it got the thumbs down . . .