Planning our next trip ...

[TexasTaxi]

Our first real dives were in Playa del Carmen. We stayed in a resort (our timeshare) and taxied to a local dive shop.
It was a vacation, with dives.

Our second dives were in Cabo. Same thing ... stayed in timeshare, taxied to marina ... a vacation with dives.

Our third dives were at Anthony's Key, in Roatan. A real DIVE trip.
At first, my wife wasn't too excited about ONLY diving, but by the second day, she was already talking about booking it again for our next trip, BUT since there is so much to see in this world, we try not to go to the same place twice, if we can help it.

So, what budget friendly DIVE resorts have you been to, that you'd recommend?
We liked the all inclusive, but that's not a deal breaker.
What the wife LOVED was only toting your gear 100 feet from your locker to the boat and being able to leave it on the boat all day.

I know you guys have seen every corner of the dive-able ocean ... I'm eager to hear your favorites!

 

[runsongas]

have you considered a liveaboard? the caribbean explorer or one of the bahamas boats can be under 2k for the week.

 

[KeithG]

LOB is first choice for us lazy divers that hate hauling gear.

Bonaire dock diving is my second choice.

There are also a number of full service dive ops which carry your gear all week.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Any number of valet dive shops in Cozumel will provide you with excellent service that the only time you touch your gear is when you drop it off, pick it up, or putting it on. You can do all inclusive typical resorts on the South end or stay in a hotel/condo/apartment/house in town and enjoy all the great food available at dozens of incredible restaurants. The diving is world class.

We stay at Casa Mexicana in town for around 70 a night which includes a great breakfast, and we dive with Aldora.

A quick search on the Cozumel forum will give you all the reading you can stand for several days.

Jay

 

[Trailboss123]

I was going to basically say the same thing that @Jayfarmlaw said regarding Cozumel. Casa Mexicana and its sister hotel Hotel Suites Colonial ($45-50 a night)are both great places to stay. Cozumel is dive destination that I would highly recommend.

Also agree with @giffenk regarding a live aboard. A really great option. Other land based places I would consider are any of the Cayman Islands (Grand, Little or Cayman Brac) and I would also recommend Bonaire.

What time of year are you considering? That might make a little bit of a difference.

 

[diversteve]

The Divi Flamingo on Bonaire has the dive lockers on the dock. So the carry is more like twenty feet.

Not a full AI but they do sell a meal plan but most of the better restaurants downtown are within 1/2 mile walk or less.

Buddy Dive has the lockers in a room off the dive dock also - that carry is about 50' to either the boats or the steps to their shore dive. They also bundle diving, truck rental and room in a package - just not food.

Habitat next door is similar - carry your gear once down the ramp to the dive lockers and leave it there all week. It's fronted by the dive dock and the boat dock is 25' away

Sunscape is the full AI resort on Curacao. Ocean Encounters has a shop/boats there plus there's a house reef. The Scubaboard Surges go there.
I don't know their dive steup.

If you plan to go back to Roatan, Barefoot Caye has an even better setup than AKR - also pricier. The shop, lockers and boat dock are shoreside, the villas 100' away by their water taxi. No shore dive though. The pool/spa/restaurant are on the cay also. It's as nice as it looks and offers a valet dive experience with 2 smaller boats It's also 5mins from French Harbor for something to do once or twice.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Are you restricting this solicitation to the Caribbean?

The best diving (quality) while keeping in mind the per tank or all inclusive basis is in the Philippines or Red Sea (Egypt).

I’d suggest Puerto Galera in the Philippines based on what you’ve told me about your wife. Concierge diving at its best. I showed up for every dive with computer and mask and the rest was done for me. I stepped off the boat and deck hands were waiting to analyze nitrox; I only needed to sign and watch. My gear and tank was on the boat for every dive, including my camera, just as I like it. I walked off with the same gear I went on with. Next dive, they lay my wetsuit and boots, socks or for me to put on. I ordered my meal before departing for the dive and it would be almost ready by my return. They rinsed my gear and dried it before departure. The only thing I carried all week was my mask and computer. They take care of everything else. #spoiled

A full week with nitrox, 4 dives a day on a boat with a DM or instructor, ocean view room, private round trip transfers, all meals....$1200 at Asia Divers/El Galleon which some people will tell you is a “premium” aka on the expensive side. I happily pay it for the dock and it was so worth it to me. It’s a top notch op. it was like a liveaboard.

Should you want to a la carte it, you can get nitrox dives for $25-30 a tank on a boat with a DM, possibly with equipment rental as well.

Another one you should look at is the Red Sea out of Egypt. Land based diving and liveaboards are very affordable. 3 tanks on a boat with a DM with lunch for $50, easily. You could probably package a dive arrangement quite cheaply. To give you an idea, including taxes per night at the Marriott in Hurghada, we are paying $120 a night for 2 adults in an ocean view room which includes breakfast and dinner. (We opted out of lunch since we would be diving). You can opt be on a luxury dive yacht liveaboard for about $1200-1300 a week with free nitrox. Lots of options.

The flight to Egypt is more expensive than the flight to the Philippines for us but I know there are always deals to Asia from Texas. It’s obviously more time but it’s often same price to fly to Caribbean or out to Asia so the decision is always easy for me, given the quality of the diving. The only thing is it’s a larger time commitment but your landing costs (eating/diving/lodging) are substantially lower than the Caribbean.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Does it have to be an all-inclusive? I've got an idea that I think may please you and it's darn handy from Texas (Houston)

 

[TexasTaxi]

I'm not sure if she's quite ready for a LOB yet ... she really enjoyed the afternoon hammock naps!

jayfarmlaw, Cozumel is surely high on the list, but places like you mention don't usually come up when you Google "Cozumel dive trip". This is the kind of stuff I like, and putting a trip like this together would be a blast ... definitely a top contender.

trailboss, I'll check out your place as well.

diversteve, I did see quite a few Bonaire shirts in Roatan. I'll check those out as well.

outofofficebrb, I have a good friend that's been to the Red Sea, but always assumed that it's be WAY more expensive than that. I'm guessing the flight will be the big cost on that trip?

chillyincanada, no, it doesn't have to be all inclusive.

 

[ljwillia]

My husband and I were certified about 7 years ago. We have very different styles when it comes to diving vacations. I want to do as many dives as I can. He prefers 2 - 3 dives with afternoons off. He would go stir crazy on a LOB so we stick to land based lodging

We've been to St. Lucia, Cozumel (5 times), Roatan and Utila. Roatan and Utila were both diving vacations. Cozumel and St. Lucia were vacations with heavy diving. It was a fair compromise for both of us. We're going to Bonaire for the first time in October. In terms of cost it won't be much more expensive than Cozumel. Air fair and lodging is costly but diving is included so it will balance out. I'm sure food will be more expensive than Coz but we're prepared for that.

Here's my input

1. Cozumel

• Cheap and pretty quick to get there from the east coast. We've been 5 times so far but decided to explore some other destinations this year.
• Drift diving with incredible clarity and beautiful reef systems. Lots of turtles, and larger pelagics (the only time I get to use that word ). Sometimes hard to explore the reefs due to the current but one of my favorite places to dive. Absolutely beautiful!
• We've done both condos and all inclusive. We prefer condos. The last time we got a condo in town so we could walk to restaurants, bars and the ferry pier. Previously we had stayed in the southern hotel zone and rented a car.
• Lodging is pretty inexpensive
• Great restaurants - also pretty inexpensive
• Our DM is a valet dive operation - he picks up our gear from the condo when we arrive and takes care of it all week. It's set up and waiting for us each morning.
• Generally the least expensive of our destinations but the higher cost of diving tends to balance out the air fair/food and lodging.

2. Roatan - CocoView

• Expensive air fair
• All inclusive "Dive Camp". Lodging is not cheap but all the diving you could possibly want is included.
• Diving is very different than Cozumel. Not a lot of the larger fish but you can hover in one place and watch the reef reveal itself. They also have a beautiful house reef you can dive to your hearts content.
• Not as much for the hubby to do in the afternoon. This was the trip he discovered he wants to do more than dive on a vacation. I was in heaven.
• Overall, this was our most expensive trip. I would love to go back. My husband, not so much.

3. Utila - Laguna Beach (no longer in business)

• LOVED Utila. Great, walkable town. Very friendly and welcoming
• Air fair is expensive and the island requires a separate flight or ferry from either the mainland or Roatan.
• Diving is similar to Roatan. Some will argue it's better, I'm not sure that's true. We went for the possibility of whale sharks. One of those bucket list items. Unfortunately, no luck.
• Cost was on par with CCV. I want to go back and stay at Utopia Village but we have to build up the finances for that. The resort is beautiful but definitely not a budget destination.

4. St. Lucia - our first vacation after we got certified.

• We stayed in a private villa outside of Soufriere and dove with Scuba St.Lucia.
• Since it was our first blue water experience it seemed incredible at the time. However, looking back on it I realize now the visibility was not not great but that's because we were there in the rainy season.
• Travel time is an issue from the east cost and it was expensive
• I loved the diving, was not impressed with the Island. We were there in the rainy season so a lot of things were closed. Soufriere itself was not my favorite place.