Most beautiful dive site : difficulty ratio

[halocline]

In terms of Caribbean destinations, the best value from the US is almost certainly Cozumel. Airfare is reasonable and there are many budget hotels and reasonably priced dive ops. The diving is spectacular but definitely not the 'easiest' when compared to other Caribbean destinations. There is some current and the dives tend to be fairly deep. There are some fantastic shallow sites with no current.

Bonaire is probably the easiest diving conditions I've seen in the Caribbean, except for the fact that you are not usually diving with a guide. Navigation is very easy, though, and you can spend an entire week at 30 ft or less if you want. The great thing about Bonaire is the freedom to dive when and where you want.

Roatan is a good choice for a combination of value and easy conditions.It's very inexpensive to stay and dive in the West End, and the diving is very good; not as good as Cozumel or Bonaire in my opinion, but still very good. The only rub is that airfare can be pretty high from the U.S.. If you can find a good fare, Roatan can be a really excellent value.

Cayman, especially Little, is terrific diving but much more expensive.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
Don't get too hung up on most beautiful and best right at the beginning. Sure you want to look for good diving with appropriate conditions for your skills, but many places with nice enough diving will look good to you in the beginning. Sometimes it can be good to hit some of the good but not best places before you get spoiled.

Good point. My motivation for getting certified was an upcoming trip to Australia. So my first dive after OW certification was the Great Barrier Reef. The next however-many dive trips after that were totally anti-climactic.

A newly certified friend of mine recently did his first post-cert dives in the Bahamas and had the time of his life. Everything is amazing the first time you see one.

 

[Charred]

I am new and just visited Cozumel and Bonaire in that order.

I personally believe Cozumel is almost ideal for a new diver because they are boat drift dives. You jump in as a group with a DM and when you run hit 800 psi you surface and the boat picks you up. In essence, you simply need to follow the group and you don't need to worry about finding your way back. If you are pleasant and ask questions, most of the DMs will give you great tips. You could also hire a private DM early in the trip and basically have a mentor as you dive. The "con" is the current but you are floating in it not swimming against it. I think this con is overstated. Again you just float with the current. I was in Coz for 5 days and did 19 dives. Basically 4 dives per day but none on Friday afternoon.

Bonaire is a whole different style assuming you are shore diving and not boat diving. For shore diving, you need to drive a truck to site, gear up, enter (this can be easy or very hard depending on the site), swim out, manage your air and the landscape in order to get back to the place where you entered. There are currents here too and depending on the wind the swim back to shore can be challenging if you are not a strong swimmer. It is best if you can navigate with a compass as it will save you swimming and allow you to stay off the surface if there are waves and wind. I did 28 dives in 6 days again with Friday afternoon off. I also did Rescue class while I was there. I am sitting at 52 dives total 11 months after my certification.

Successfully diving at Bonaire will push your ability and confidence through the roof. IMO this place was the perfect second trip after Cozumel as it added tasks to diving in a very logical order. At Coz you simply need to mange your buoyancy, air and getting in/out boat. At Bonaire, you need to also be able dive with literally just you and your buddy, enter/exit the ocean via rocky shore, swim against currents and be able to navigate yourself home. I'm pretty sure my wife would not have dove in Bonaire except on boats had we gone to Bonaire before Cozumel. She really wanted the mental safety net of a DM around to help her feel comfortable. There is no way I would recommend Bonaire to someone with a fresh OW cert unless they were traveling with experienced people who would be their guides. Don't forget you are driving around a manual truck in a (friendly) foreign country, strapping tanks on and walking into the ocean. No way I was ready for that at OW. However, after Coz and with the number of dives my wife and I did at both places, we really feel like competent tropical divers now.

I'll add the caveat that both my wife and I are comfortable swimming, in the ocean and being on boats.

 

[ls1dreams]

I was definitely spoiled - my first 2 dive experiences were Thailand and the Great Barrier Reef. It's why I'm a bit hesitant to spend money heading to the florida keys, for example. Youtube videos of those reefs looked pretty underwhelming to me.

I agree with the above about shore diving though - I'm horrible with navigation so that's what concerns me around Bonaire and similar. Leaning towards Cozumel and Roatan for my next trip I think. Would love to do Grand Cayman but need to research pricing.

 

[PatW]

For most new divers, you want shallow, no current, calm waters, decent visibility and stuff to look at.

Shallow means you are close to the surface. Your air lasts longer. And you get less nitrogen load.

No current means you will probably be able to get back to the boat or to your shore entry.

Visibility means it will be easier to navigate. You will see your buddy and dive group easily. And you have less chance of being disoriented.

Calm waters makes exit and entry safer and easier. Many divers have problems in shore dives if there is any significant chop. Also boat entries can be tough if you do not know how to deal with a ladder that is bouncing around.

Your own skill set determines what is easy. I have an extensive swimming background. I am pretty comfortable in fast currents and heavy surf. Bouncing ladders are no problem. So what would be easy for me on dive 1 would be dangerous for a much more experienced diver. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses and those of your buddy also.

I know of places that tick all of these boxes. Little Cayman is very good especially in the summer. Key Largo in the summer is very good. Cozumel is
deep and has currents but otherwise ok.

The Turks and Cacos are good as are Roatan, Utila, Belize and the Virgin Islands.

A way to help yourself is to get training. Picking up good buoyancy skills will really improve your diving. In PADI, I think it is called peak performance buoyancy.

Another thing is pick up Rescue after you get a few dives. I have. In order to have a good chance of handling a difficult rescue, I think it would take weeks of drills. But it does teach you how to recognize bad situations. The idea is that you know what stupid risks are and hopefully you will not take them.

 

[ls1dreams]

For most new divers, you want shallow, no current, calm waters, decent visibility and stuff to look at.

Shallow means you are close to the surface. Your air lasts longer. And you get less nitrogen load.

No current means you will probably be able to get back to the boat or to your shore entry.

Visibility means it will be easier to navigate. You will see your buddy and dive group easily. And you have less chance of being disoriented.

Calm waters makes exit and entry safer and easier. Many divers have problems in shore dives if there is any significant chop. Also boat entries can be tough if you do not know how to deal with a ladder that is bouncing around.

Your own skill set determines what is easy. I have an extensive swimming background. I am pretty comfortable in fast currents and heavy surf. Bouncing ladders are no problem. So what would be easy for me on dive 1 would be dangerous for a much more experienced diver. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses and those of your buddy also.

I know of places that tick all of these boxes. Little Cayman is very good especially in the summer. Key Largo in the summer is very good. Cozumel is
deep and has currents but otherwise ok.

The Turks and Cacos are good as are Roatan, Utila, Belize and the Virgin Islands.

A way to help yourself is to get training. Picking up good buoyancy skills will really improve your diving. In PADI, I think it is called peak performance buoyancy.

Another thing is pick up Rescue after you get a few dives. I have. In order to have a good chance of handling a difficult rescue, I think it would take weeks of drills. But it does teach you how to recognize bad situations. The idea is that you know what stupid risks are and hopefully you will not take them.

Agreed. Right now I'm at 17 dives or so with an AOW. My buoyancy has improved tremendously from my OW cert on that last trip, but I'm still not that strong. I am considering doing the UTD scuba makeover course nearby me to help work on trim and buoyancy, esp in shallow pools where it is the most difficult.

Depth doesn't concern me so much, but strong currents and navigation do. (I've always had abysmal navigation skills, even while driving)

 

[Damselfish]

I agree with the above about shore diving though - I'm horrible with navigation so that's what concerns me around Bonaire and similar. Leaning towards Cozumel and Roatan for my next trip I think.

Navigation in Bonaire is really easy so in some ways it's a good place to practice and build up your confidence in that. It's mostly a sloping reef parallel to the shore or similar - rather than having various spurs and grooves pointing different directions, heading across plains of sand or coral, or whatever. (Which is actually what I don't like about Bonaire, as I prefer interesting structure and there is a lot of sameness to the sites in Bonaire.) So it's usually head out to the reef, turn left or right and swim along, turn around when it's time and come back at shallower depths. Mostly you need to look back at the beginning and make mental notes of what your entry/exit spot looks like, maybe spot a unique sponge at a certain depth or whatever, and pay some attention to how long you've been swimming (vaguely accounting for changes in swimming speed or any current that crops up.) And once you're up in the shallows towards the end of your dive and not sure you're in the right place, slowly surfacing for a peek is not a big deal. Dive resorts there generally have a rope from the dock out and down so it's really easy to find your way back at those places.

Someplace like Roatan, the reef structure will be more varied. So while you can always stick to the divemaster like glue, if you do get separated from the group it may be harder to navigate back. Either way, you should always be paying enough attention that you can do a passable job of it on your own. Take a navigation class and maybe you'll discover you're not as bad at it as you thought. I don't find underwater navigation that much like on land.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I was definitely spoiled - my first 2 dive experiences were Thailand and the Great Barrier Reef. It's why I'm a bit hesitant to spend money heading to the florida keys, for example. Youtube videos of those reefs looked pretty underwhelming to me.

Ah, seeing now where you have already been, I have to agree with you.

I agree with the above about shore diving though - I'm horrible with navigation so that's what concerns me around Bonaire and similar. Leaning towards Cozumel and Roatan for my next trip I think. Would love to do Grand Cayman but need to research pricing.

Those are all great choices. Unfortunately, you may be underwhelmed almost anywhere in the Caribbean. But it's hard to beat the convenience for us North Americans, so that's where we mostly go, and you will too.

Bonaire "navigation" is easier than it sounds. You can read over the many threads in the Bonaire forum on the subject of navigation, but basically you swim out from shore, either on the surface or following a compass heading, and you follow the downslope until the depth reaches whatever your target is--say 60 feet--and then you simply turn left or right and follow alongside the slope, maintaining your depth. To put it another way, most Bonaire dive sites have a slope--like the side of a mountain--and you can use that to orient yourself. As I said in a post above, I was intimidated by the idea of having to navigate, but after a few dives you realize Bonaire "navigation" is pretty simple.

 

[Rhone Man]

Ah, seeing now where you have already been, I have to agree with you.



Those are all great choices. Unfortunately, you may be underwhelmed almost anywhere in the Caribbean. But it's hard to beat the convenience for us North Americans, so that's where we mostly go, and you will too.

Bonaire "navigation" is easier than it sounds. You can read over the many threads in the Bonaire forum on the subject of navigation, but basically you swim out from shore, either on the surface or following a compass heading, and you follow the downslope until the depth reaches whatever your target is--say 60 feet--and then you simply turn left or right and follow alongside the slope, maintaining your depth. To put it another way, most Bonaire dive sites have a slope--like the side of a mountain--and you can use that to orient yourself. As I said in a post above, I was intimidated by the idea of having to navigate, but after a few dives you realize Bonaire "navigation" is pretty simple.

We used to say the same in Cayman. The dive markers were (mostly) on the top of the wall. So you go down, and you either go one way or you go the other. Then you turn around and come back. Not even a nutless monkey could manage to get lost.

 

[DoubleAA]

Curaçao is also great for new divers. Just got back from there and the diving with Ocean Encounters is pretty benign for what you get to see. The shore dives at Sunscape are easy too. Follow rope to buoy. Go one way or the other along the wall depending on whether there is a current, turn around, go shallower as you go until you are at the top of the wall/reef. Head back in when you see the sign, its a road sign sized sign.