St. Thomas or Dominican Republic - Where to dive?

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cruzbound

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Hi,
We are going to take a long weekend on Labor Day weekend and head to St. Thomas or Dominican Republic to get a few dives in. My question is, which destination should we go to and why? In looking at airfare, both spots are similar - about $500 RT. Any other island suggestions within our flight price range would be appreciated - we are from Michigan. Thought about the Bahamas but a little worried about hurricane season there.

Hope to hear the thoughts out there.

Thanks, cruzbound
 
Have a look at turks&caicos provo
awesome dives!!!!
no hurricanes !!!!!
 
What airport do you have to fly to? Do they have an airport or do we have to fly to another island and then ferry to T & C?
 
We are planning to fly in on a Wednesday and leave on a Monday - thus leaving four days on the island. We would probably want to dive three of the days, and maybe all four days (depending on what time our flight will be on Monday). I was looking at a couple of all-inclusives in Dominican Republic so I think it would be nice to relax at the beach or pool too. We are active and like to zip line but we don't necessarily have to do other things. Being a little on the new side to diving (only three years) - 46 dives (last trip was diving in Hawaii) - we like to dive as much as we can. We did one cave in Hawaii but I don't think I can convince my hubby to do that again. He did like the wreck dive we did in the Keys. We also like wall dives (Roatan was amazing). We have done drift diving in Cozumel, live drop offs and pick ups in Hawaii, etc. - I think we have experienced many different types of diving within only three years. So we are open to suggestions.

Another destination spot I was just looking at was Cancun - any thoughts about that destination?

Thanks
 
What airport do you have to fly to? Do they have an airport or do we have to fly to another island and then ferry to T & C?
Most people fly into Providenciales - Provo. Airport code PLS. It's a smaller, older airport (4 gates IIRC) USAirways (among others) flies there from Charlotte. If you go through Chicago, American does also. (although now isn't that the same airline...lol) I think there's limited international flights to Grand Turk also. The cruise port is there so I've heard the beaches can be crowded.

Travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands by Air Turks and Caicos Tourist Board

It's significantly better diving than St. Thomas. Some dives at the more remote islands are better than Grand Cayman. Dayboats go to them (French Cay, West Caicos) from Provo but it's about a 45min. boat ride. There's no shore diving off Provo but there is a little off Grand Turk - there's a wall that's accesible from certain entry points.

Grace Bay Beach on Provo is one of the nicest beaches in the world - rated that by many travel publications. It's also expensive to stay on the beach because of it. The AI's are Beaches (kid-focused) or the Verandah. There's also Club Med Turkoise.

All three locations (St. Thomas, DR, T&C) are in the hurricane belt. Anything that impacts the Bahamas could impact T&C since they're nearby.

You might look at Curacao or Aruba - or Aruba then a local flight to Curacao. Flights/connections are better and they both have nice beaches. I don't know Aruba but on Curacao most of them are also dive sites so have a dive shop on-site. Both are below the hurricane belt so infrequently affected. Flights might be too long from MI for a few day trip though. Really excellent shore diving on Curacao - in some areas I thought it better than Bonaire - it's certainly more diverse.

South of St. Thomas there's dozens of wreck dives. http://www.blueislanddivers.com/02_sites/divesites.html Also on an all day trip you can dive the signature wreck in the BVI's - the RMS Rhone - with Cruz Bay Watersports. http://www.divestjohn.com/scuba-diving

Nice beaches on the East End of St. Thomas and it's quieter out there also. Charlotte Amalie has the cruise port and judging by the number of gated/patrolled resorts we saw crime must be an issue on the island. In fact the counter person when we checked in for our flight warned us about that. We went thru St. Thomas (stayed over a couple of days) to the BVI's so it wasn't an issue for us.
 
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If it is DR vs St Thomas go to St Croix. More laid back and way better diving!!!!!
 
Okay - T & C is out, just checked airfare and it is $875 per person. A little too much for the budget for a 5 day trip. I am hoping to keep the flight to about $500. To confirm - if we did St Criox we would fly into St Thomas and ferry over, right?
 
If you go to the DR stay on the south coast (La Romana area). The diving there is actually pretty good. I recommend ScubaFun...they have great boats and the owner is a great guy.
 
Depending on who you fly with. You can fly into San Juan and switch to another plane and off to St Croix. You an fly into StT and fly into St Croix. I Live in PR and fly to St Croix or St Thomas or take my Boat to either island. Not sure about a ferry. You can ferry to BVI or St Johns.... Not sure of one to St Croix....
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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