Turning 40 underwater please! November 12th to the 19th

[WaterDance]

I am turning 40 on November 17th and I really want to spend most of my birthday week underwater with my husband. We are looking to spend less than $6,000 (including airfare) for great diving and good accommodations. Flying out of NYC. I have November 12th to the 19th off from work, so that is our time frame (but I maybe able to extend the trip a few days if it fits in the budget!)

Places we have already stayed.

Roatan - stayed at Sea Grape and enjoyed the private cabins. We loved the diving with the great swim thrus and the fantastic coral formations. Little low on critters but maybe it was just the season we went. However, my husband and I are foodies, and I can say that the culinary experience was lacking.

Curacao - stayed at Habitat Curacao, dove with Easy Divers - We loved the private house reef, the laid back atmosphere and the food was excellent. The diving was not remarkable, but we enjoyed doing fun things on our own.

Bonaire - personally I didn't like it, stayed at the wrong place (inland and they were in the process of putting bars on the windows when we were there) and I hated hiding my shore clothes every time we dove. The diving in the south was fantastic with the double reef system and the do it yourself approach. The Hilma Hooker was an amazing dive, but Red Slave was my personal favorite.

Isla Mujures - stayed at Villa La Bella, Dove with Enrique. Amazing swim thrus, wrecks, and critters! Admittedly, it was our honeymoon, so it am biased. It was fantastic! Enrique is probably is the most personable dive master we have done business with.

Grenada - stayed with True Blue Resorts, Dove with Aquanauts. Best dive shop we have attended. Took Nitrox and Wreck diving certifications with Aquanauts. Would love to go back, but not sure if it is a caliber of "turning 40." Wrecks were awesome, reefs were underwhelming, and the food throughout the island was surprisingly bland.

Ben (my husband) is saying less than $8K, but it has to be amazing so to spend that much!

We have 82,000 miles on American Airlines, about 80,000 miles on Delta Airlines.

Thoughts - we love deep diving, wrecks, night dives, and all kinds of critters. I find coral boring and I have never seen a whale shark (though Ben has seen a few
At the end of the day I want two things. I want to be pampered, and I want to be blown away.

We are both advanced open water divers and have certifications in wreck and nitrox. We don't mind diving Non Padi.

We do not like kids, no offense intended. So, a location that is adults only would definitely be a plus, but not a deal breaker. IE, family friendly locations might be an issue.

Please, please help!

 

[diversteve]

At the end of the day I want two things. I want to be pampered, and I want to be blown away.

some options:
ANSE CHASTANET RESORT St Lucia, Caribbean's most romantic resort
(don't even look at Jade Mountain unless husband was just kidding about the 8K)
Caribbean Luxury Resorts, Hotels & Villas | Rosewood Little Dix Bay | British Virgin Islands - foodies might struggle on VG - Rock Cafe was nice. Little Dix has a DiveBVI shop on-site.
There's also Biras Creek on the other side of the island. It's mostly couples (single bed villas) but IDK about the diving from there.
Utopia Dive Village :: All Inclusive Resort, Scuba Diving, Fishing and Spa on Utila, Bay Islands Honduras - might be more isolated than you want. It probably is the gourmet restaurant on Utila also. They're seeing whalesharks monthly on Utila for about the last couple of years now. Optimum season is the spring though.

Really you should look at Grand Cayman also. The diving is excellent, there's some wrecks, lots of bigger stuff (coral also - you don't get one w/o the other) - a 15min. boat ride puts you out over a 6000' wall. Many really nice restaurants - some by chefs you may have heard of. IDK if November might be kind of late for the North Wall - ask a diveop. More places than I can suggest - maybe start with the Ritz or the Marriott Grand? http://www.caymanislands.ky/

My last option would be Turks/Caicos. The Grace Bay area in Provo (Providenciales) is nice, some excellent restaurants and the diving rivals even Cayman IMO. It's also pricey and a fairly long boat ride to the best diving (French Cay) There's also good diving just off Provo's NW Point. I don't have any recommendations as we did a liveaboard so only spent about 2 days on-shore.

 

[DeputyDan]

For my 50th my wife gave me a week on a liveaboard in the Caymans.

It was beyond awesome.

I recommend that you look at a liveaboard in the T&C or the Caymans for your week.

 

[jdcpa]

My first vote would be an oceanfront room at Lodge Kura Hulanda. You mention you have been to Curacao, but not that far out. It is a different world out there.

Otherwise I would vote for Little Cayman. I would assume you will be less likely to run into kids the week you mention. Schools are in session then. I would also think that Southern Cross or Pirates Point would be less likely to have kids that LCBR.

Curacao is more likely to have warmer water and less likely to catch the northeasters then, but ealy November is not prime time for them yet in the Caymans.

I think that LC diving is much better than GC, except for some stuff on the East End, but that gets more iffy the later in the year. Plus East End of GC feels more remote to me than LC. It just seems you have to drive farther to get anywhere there and on LC nothing is far away.

 

[caymaniac]

I agree with the T&C recommendation as well as the Cayman idea. You cannot go wrong in Cayman, in T&C you will be a bit more alone as not everyone dives like in Bonaire. Caicos Aventures is one of the better ops in T & C.
On Grand Cayman there are so many ops and many great places to dive, but for the best diving and more personable experience go for the Little Cayman Beach Resort or others on LC. LC has the best diving in the Caribbean, the walls are exquisite and the the sea life excellent. Of course if you want the best diving in the world then Indonesia or PNG comes to mind.
Of little Cayman photos:
elephant ear sponge

Schooling Jacks

the walls

 

[WaterDance]

some options:
ANSE CHASTANET RESORT St Lucia, Caribbean's most romantic resort
(don't even look at Jade Mountain unless husband was just kidding about the 8K)

Anse Chastanet looks absolutely gorgeous! The Coral Kaleidoscope package is rather pricey, but we do get that one day discount if we book in advance. I would have a hard time spending that much money for Jade Mountain, even if it is my 40th!

Caribbean Luxury Resorts, Hotels & Villas | Rosewood Little Dix Bay | British Virgin Islands - foodies might struggle on VG - Rock Cafe was nice. Little Dix has a DiveBVI shop on-site.

For some reason the website of Little Dix Bay doesn't feel very diver like. Am I missing something?

Utopia Dive Village :: All Inclusive Resort, Scuba Diving, Fishing and Spa on Utila, Bay Islands Honduras - might be more isolated than you want. It probably is the gourmet restaurant on Utila also. They're seeing whalesharks monthly on Utila for about the last couple of years now. Optimum season is the spring though.

The resort looks perfect, but I am slightly concerned about going so close to the rainy season. If they close for the entire month of October, November might be tricky. We did Honduras last in January and had wonderful weather. Maybe we should reserve this one for another trip?

For my 50th my wife gave me a week on a liveaboard in the Caymans.

It was beyond awesome.

I recommend that you look at a liveaboard in the T&C or the Caymans for your week.

What time of year did you go? Not sure if a liveaboard would be considered "romantic" though. Looking at flights in order to make a Saturday to Saturday Aggressor boat we would end up on Continental or United.

My first vote would be an oceanfront room at Lodge Kura Hulanda. You mention you have been to Curacao, but not that far out. It is a different world out there.

Looks like a great place, but I don't feel like the emphasis is scuba diving?

Otherwise I would vote for Little Cayman. I would assume you will be less likely to run into kids the week you mention. Schools are in session then. I would also think that Southern Cross or Pirates Point would be less likely to have kids that LCBR.

We went to Beneath the Sea yesterday and LCBR was recommended. However, we didn't mention our dislike of children.

Curacao is more likely to have warmer water and less likely to catch the northeasters then, but early November is not prime time for them yet in the Caymans.

Ben likes to dive in shorts (ie no wetsuit) and I prefer my 3 mil for protection. Curacao and the Caymans both seem doable for me...

I agree with the T&C recommendation as well as the Cayman idea. You cannot go wrong in Cayman, in T&C you will be a bit more alone as not everyone dives like in Bonaire. Caicos Aventures is one of the better ops in T & C.
On Grand Cayman there are so many ops and many great places to dive, but for the best diving and more personable experience go for the Little Cayman Beach Resort or others on LC. LC has the best diving in the Caribbean, the walls are exquisite and the the sea life excellent. Of course if you want the best diving in the world then Indonesia or PNG comes to mind.
s

Thanks! I will check into T&C and Little Cayman. I don't believe Indonesia or PNG are in our budget?

 

[WaterDance]

What about Belize? Any thoughts?

 

[diversteve]

For some reason the website of Little Dix Bay doesn't feel very diver like. Am I missing something?

That's probably a good assessment. It's a resort with diving. They've got the pampering part down perfect. The reason I know about it - besides going there for drinks one afternoon - is that we went in there almost daily with the DiveBVI boat from their main location to pick people up. Outstanding snorkeling off the beach but too shallow to dive. [user]VGdiver[/user] is Jeff, DiveBVI's general manager. His wife Casey works with him. They're excellent people. IIRC at one time DiveBVI had staff on-site.

I will check into T&C and Little Cayman.

Check into the foodie options (or lack thereof) on Little Cayman. It really is Little...

What about Belize? Any thoughts?

No personal experience. More accessible diving is from the atolls but they'll all be AI's - places like Turneffe Island Resort or Blackbird Caye. And most are the only thing on their particular island so dining options are limited to the resort.

Around the Hopkins/Placencia area there's some nicer AI resorts - I have no knowledge of what else is nearby. Hamanasi, Turtle Inn (the Coppola place), Inn at Roberts Grove are a few. It's a puddle jumper from Belize City. One of the regional airlines has baggage limits that are pretty severe (small planes) - my divebag (softsided but large) is too big.

We looked at them last winter but most seemed equally eco-tour than dive focused. Most only do 2-3 dives/day max and limited night diving. It's because they have a longer boat ride out to the barrier reef. Also notice that the good dives - Lighthouse, Elbow, the Blue Hole, etc. are often extra charge add-ons and only done once or twice per week - it's due to the travel distance. Afaik there's no shore diving there - there isn't in Placencia slightly further south.

 

[DeputyDan]

Romance is what you make it.

We had a couple on their honeymoon during that liveaboard week.

The would dive in the mornings and skip one of the afternoon dives for a little R&R is you get my meaning!

 

[Straegen]

Saba maybe? With St Martin right there you get all the French/Dutch cuisine without suffering too much on the diving as Saba is still a really nice spot (St Martin was a let down diving wise but the on shore/Saba experience was wonderful). The diving is on the recreational deep end in Saba but nothing outside your experience.

I hear Pirates Point in the Caymans is one of THE high end places for diving and eating in the Caribbean. Great but expensive so every time I look at booking I end up somewhere else for less.

Hawaii has some impressive dark water dives I have been told. Great if you like nature as well but the plan ride knocks almost two days off your trip for travel.

Roatan as you already listed but I would recommend Barefoot Caye as it has upscale lodgings and food at least by Roatan standards.

We are doing Cozumel for my 40th in May, but I am cheap and you probably won't see anything there you haven't seen before. We ended up staying at the Aura and doing personal diving with Scuba with Alison. I ended up here because the diving is easy and fun, getting to it is easy and I would rather spend my money on massages and chilling out with the wife. We don't expect fine dining despite its "5 star" rating though.