Newbie Recommendations

[Mark Merrill]

I got my Open Water in Roatan 5 years ago. Since then I have not dove anywhere. My fiancée and I will be getting married this month and are planning our honeymoon in the Caribbean this Spring. She will be completing her pool cert in January, so we are looking for a good dive schools on a beautiful island with really nice accommodations. We were thinking Aruba, Bonaire or Cayman Islands. Any recommendations?

 

[rsingler]

Bonaire makes for beautiful and relatively easy diving. Krajendijk is a lovely Dutch town with some nice restaurants. You can tour the nature preserve at the west end of the island.
Don't know about dive schools per se, but the island is heavily dependent upon scuba tourism, and they are very protective of their reefs. You should get some good recommendations from others here on the Board.

Bonaire would make a great starting place.

 

[drrich2]

How long do you plan to be at the destination, and what do you want to do besides dive?

There are 3 Cayman Islands; Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Staying on Grand Cayman, which is much larger and has more civilization and the amenities and hassles that go with that, will be much different than staying on either of the other 2 islands.

As an example, if classic beautiful sandy beaches were a big deal, you'd probably skip Bonaire (lots of iron shore shoreline), although Curacao might be a somewhat similar (albeit larger) option with sandy beaches, on Grand Cayman you'd consider the west coast (Seven Mile Beach) region (which is also has more civilization; Georgetown) rather than the east coast, and Aruba is known for nice beaches.

I love Bonaire, but 'beautiful' is in the eye of the beholder. The north is hilly, some modest mountains, some dramatic rock structure, lots of cacti (more thorns on display than I knew there were in the world), and the south is practically pancake flat. Arid island, lots of cacti and 'shrubby' type vegetation. Rather hot, but with a pervasive breeze.

Anything in particular you did or didn't like about your Roatan stay? Where on Roatan did you stay?

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

Since you will be newlyweds I wanted to mention that if you plan on conceiving a child soon then you need to be careful about exposure to mosquitos that may be carrying the Zika virus. As far as I know, the only Caribbean destination that has been taken off the CDC's Zika warning List are the Cayman Islands - so that may help you in making a decision.

 

[drrich2]

Sometimes it helps to 'just pick one' popular option at each of 2 potential destinations and combine scuba trip reports (here, and if you're a paid subscriber Undercurrent.org) and (for topside, hotel, etc...) TripAdvisor.com reviews to get a sense of how they stack up. I'll propose some...

1.) Bonaire - Buddy Dive Resort. It's a 'resort' in the scuba diver's sense, not a '5 Star luxury hotel,' or large-scale all-inclusive resort sort of thing. But decent-sized accommodations, an air conditioning unit in the bedroom, transfers to & from the airport, rent your (manual, unless you pay more & arrange well in advance) pickup truck onsite, not in town but not real far, nice shore dive with easy entry/exit via 2 piers/ladders, that was my experience a few years back. Not a sandy beach place; for limited sandy beach that doesn't extend into the water, Eden Beach Resort. Harbor Village is the upscale place said to have sand; I wouldn't know. Diver Vince used to post on there and offered rental of Vinibu, Bellevue #9 & that shows sandy beach.

Bonaire trips tend to kill you on airfare, housing & (shore) diving pretty cheap, food rather expensive, that tank of gas to refill the truck late week will get you.

2.) Grand Cayman - Either Sunshine Suites or Comfort Suites are the 2 'budget' but well-regarded Seven Mile Beach locale hotels I keep reading about, & you get a # of dive op. options. Airfare to G.C. tend to be quite good, people tell me car rentals surprisingly reasonable, but other things tend to be expensive. The most compelling budget option away from Seven Mile Beach I've seen repeatedly recommended was Turtle Nest Inn.

3.) Little Cayman - Little Cayman Beach Resort.

4.) Cayman Brac - Brac Beach Resort.

Pull up Orbitz or similar & get a package deal price for airfare & resort stay, see if diving's extra & what that'll run, and see how long flights to/from are (you're coming from Minnesota? Travel hassles alone might decide this issue).

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

Just a comment, Cayman was lucky in that they were not directly hit by a hurricane this year but a couple of tropical storms came very close and the beach in front of the Comfort Suites on Grand Cayman (and the Marriott next door and other resorts and rental properties on that part of Seven Mile Beach) was seriously eroded. They say that it has happened before and the sands will return when the direction of the wind shifts in the Spring- but if you want a beach experience, be sure and check the status of the beach before you book.

The Westin Hotel still has a nice, wide beach, and Sunshine Suites is their affiliated property across the street, with access to the Westin Resort and beach.

A new Margaritaville Resort recently had a "soft opening" on Grand Cayman. They may be offering some good prices around the time you are getting married in order to build up a new customer base. I'm not sure about their beach access. Just a thought, see the link below:

Margaritaville Beach Resort Grand Cayman Hotel

OP, you didn't mention budget; that would help us to give you more specific suggestions. Where are you located, have you also considered Hawaii for your honeymoon and dive vacation?