New to Board looking for advice on planning upcoming trip with 80 year old father

[eatsleepgodiving]

Hi,

I first took up diving while living in Dubai and had the opportunity to do some great liveaboards in the Red Sea and Pacific with many weekend trips to Oman (250+ dives). I'm now living in Canada and have made just two dive trips to the Caribbean (Roatan and Cozumel). For my Dad's 80th birthday I want to take him diving for the first time. He is very fit (still a ski instructor). I'd love to do a liveaboard but that may be too much diving for the first time but it would be easy diving versus the hassles of resort diving (long boat rides for two tanks dives). The advantage of staying on the beach would allow us to do other activities if the diving is too much for him everyday. I've been thinking about Bonaire and Belize but am open to other suggestions. I've concluded from the posts I've read that we would not be doing the Blue Hole do to the depth required to see anything. If we go to Belize, I'm thinking we might fly into Cancun and take a shuttle to Belize. Turneffe Flats sounds like it's closest to the diving but not much else to do except fish. Placencia seems like it may be a good all around option. Have not done much research on Bonaire but the shore diving seems like it offers a lot of flexibility as long as hauling gear doesn't become to much for my father and it's known for a good place for beginners. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jim

 

[diversteve]

On Bonaire you have options to minimize the gear hauling. One is don't dive 1000Steps...lol (actually 64 down) Also many of the resorts are on named dive sites so at some you can drive up, drop the gear and go park. At many of the better southern sites you can literally park within about 20-30' of the water, gear up (truck bed is handy for this) and dive.

If you want to stay on a real beach, the options are mostly limited to Eden Beach, Harbour Village, (great beach, average dive), the Plaza Resort or the Divi in town which has a small strip of beach usually. Some of the other resorts "make" a beach but there's usually ironshore between it and the water - Buddy's for instance has steps/ladders to get you over the ironshore to the water from their little strip of sand.

Most of the shore dives are north and south of town so there's no facilities at any of them. And really no beach except for Pink Beach. Most of the entries are rougher - usually requiring crossing over ironshore/coral rubble just before or in the surf line - I'm sure you've seen the posts about good treaded boots being required - they are. At 80 that's not something I'd want to deal with on my first dive trip. None of the boat dives from the Bonaire resorts are longer than about 1/2hr. unless you dive up in the Slagbaai Park.

Compare/contrast the entries off Bonaire with Curacao here: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

Curacao is the same diving as Bonaire but there's much more to do on the surface. Also probably easier to get to, slightly more affordable, and a lot more crowded in town. One advantage from a dive perspective is most dives are either off the beach (usually you park right in front of it) or they have dive operators who've upgraded facilities, installed dive docks etc. The west side of Curacao is a lot like most of Bonaire, quieter etc. It's also a lot more spread out so plan to drive more between sites than on Bonaire.

All the dives from Placencia are an hour plus by boat - there's no shore diving there. It is however very quiet and laid back. My buddies are just back from there, they booked a package thru Splash Divers and were very satisfied. If you stay on Turneffe, your other activities will be very limited. I think they only run their shuttle once or twice a week. Something around Hopkins might be a compromise - being land based you'll still have the longer boat rides but all the ruins/jungle preserve/eco tour activities are easier if you decide to do more of that instead.

 

[Ocean One]

I'm just going to say "Welcome to the ScubaBoard!"

 

[Karel]

You could visit us at Kokomo beach at Vaersenbaai. Easy entrance and exit, lots to see. We are located on the beach itself and i herby offer to bring your fathers gear to the sea.
Kind regards

 

[roydude]

I don't know the area at all, but having taken in 100's of first time divers my 2 cents worth is this: (aside from safety) make comfort a much bigger priority than seeing the very most fish / coral / wotnot.
Whatever dive you do, if he's comfortable and the viz is even 'okay' then he's going to love the dive, even if you or I would think it's a bit of a boring one (we sometimes forget how amazing it felt the first time we were just breathing weightlessly underwater)!
So don't sacrifice a 'low effort' dive for a slightly harder one with more to see in it - he'll be blown away whatever the dive is.

 

[TSandM]

I think the easiest diving there is is diving off a boat where you can doff your gear in the water and reboard without it. As a looking forward toward geriatric diver myself, entries and exits are the hardest things, and surf is scary. Of course, managing rough water on and off a boat can be a challenge, too.

I asked my husband this question, and his answer was Maui. He has a point. The water is rarely very rough there, and the boats are big and stable. The water is warm enough for light exposure protection and thus minimal weight. Currents are mild, when there are any. And Maui as a destination is quite accustomed to older people.

 

[Wreck Wench]

Welcome! That is awesome your dad is getting certified at 80! Sounds like you have several options...both Belize and Bonaire are great choices for new divers. Roatan is actually a great choice as you may recall as is Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. (Cayman Brac has a valet service where they put a diver's gear on for them and help take it off so the diver never carries heavy gear across the boat.) All of these are "fall off the boat" easy diving. I second the suggestion to do boat diving...if there is ever a problem the crew is ALWAYS happy to help him and/or his gear get back on the boat.

Many places have great deals right now...I just found a number of them at the CO Dive Show so will pm them to you!


Hope to see you diving some day! Kamala

 

[Kilili]

If he's interested. it sounds like a great thing to do, and Bonaire diving is pretty mellow. Quite often it seems like there is no current at all.
From Calgary, you might want to think about heading for the western Pacific instead. Much better diving in Fiji, Philippines, Indonesia, and many prices are quite good.

I think you are fortunate to have an 80 year old father with such spirit. Maybe next year you can take him to the Yucatan for some cave diving. It's pretty mellow.