Hello all! Taking my 16 year old twins to the Bahamas in July. I had them do an intro dive through Padi in Hawaii a few years ago and the've both expressed interest in diving more on this vacation. Wife and I want to island hop a little too. So here is my question: Any suggestions on a destination / resort / LDS for us? Turks and Caicos may be a god option, Id love to do Cuba but concerned about the legality. I'd look to either certify the kids or do "intro dives" with them, and probably stay a few days? I'm an experienced diver but the Mrs has no interest in it so a live aboard is out. Ready GO! and thanks in advance.
It sounds like you are trying to pack a lot into one family vacation, including island-hopping to multiple countries and dive training/certification, and making sure that your wife will have opportunities to enjoy herself topside while others are training and diving.
How many days have you planned for your trip? And before you schedule any island-hopping flights, keep in mind that the "wait to fly rule" after diving may apply.
What island are you visiting in the Bahamas? There are many opportunities for dive training in the Bahamas as well as chances to visit other Bahamian islands if you wish. There can be quite a few cultural differences and "personality quirks" between the various Bahamian islands in my experience. And interisland travel is usually a lot easier than going through immigration and customs multiple times.
If they have time before you leave, your twins might want to complete much of the training for certification close to home and then do their checkout dives on vacation. That will save vacation time.
Provo in the Turks and Caicos is lovely but there are likely to be long boat rides to the better dive sites and that will eat up a lot of vacation time, while your wife waits for the family to return.
Grand Cayman offers many dive training opportunities, and lots of topside activities for your wife, and you can connect to Cuba quite easily from Cayman, but again, that's an awful lot of stuff to pack into a single vacation that started in the Bahamas, IMO. And you probably don't want to spend a lot of your precious vacation time packing and unpacking and hanging around airports and standing in customs and immigration and security lines, correct?
I am actually a fan of multi-island vacations, but we are both divers so that makes it easier, and we plan at least 2 weeks and try to keep it simple, like Grand Cayman and Little Cayman, or Oahu and the Big Island, or St. Martin and Saba.
Cuba, T&C, and other exotic locations will still be there for future trips and they will be so much fun after your kids are certified! My advice is to focus on the Bahamas and teaching your twins to dive and making sure that the entire family has a great and relaxing trip - that sounds like plenty for one vacation - but that's just my opinion, have a wonderful time!
