WaterDance
Contributor
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!
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!