Where to get cert'ed? Long weekend-DCA to...? Not CZM, GCM, LC, BON

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For a long weekend certification = anyone suggesting a destination with connecting flights or an all inclusive should be totally Ignored as all they are doing is telling you their favorites.

Of the previous suggestions - ones to rule OUT.

Abything in entral America including the Bay Islands. Ambergris is a beyond flight/ferry and Placencia takes 2 days to realistically get to.

So do the Cayman Sister Islands - my dive buddy owns on Brac so is very familiar with the route.

I do not believe the BVI's have recovered yet but if you want an honest assessment, contact Casey(f) at DiveBVI one of the owners. It also has the same problem as you fly into St Thomas then take the fast ferry over. I only mention it b/c my friends left at 8am for their noon flight home and had time to stop for lunch - the ferry port and the airport are near each other. There's also a lot of direct flights to STT as it's a major cruise embarkation point. There;s also a lot of shallow boat dives in the VI's so good for newer divers. not really any shore dives though.

Bonaire is going to be an all day ordeal - probably thru ATL. Insel Air shut down earlier this year so their flights from CLT or MIA are gone to you.

Maybe St Thomas's East End. Lots of condo rentlas, 3-4 resorts have an onsite operator or there's operations like Red Hook or St Thomas Diving Club (at Bolongo Bay resort) that caters to newer divers. The drive out isn't terrible - about 45 mins shared van or rental car. We actually thought about doing a dive since we were at our condo by about 2pm. Coki Beach/Dive has a shallow dive there - the cruise excursions go there.

I'd look at Aruba. Dive with Clive (Dive Aruba) has a good rep. Aruba is also a non-stop flight from DCA - and you get there mid-afternoon.

Curacao could work too. It's easy, shallow shore diving - they have 2/3's the dive sites of Bonaire.
Several Resorts like the Hilton, Sunscape or Lions Dive have a shore dive and an operator on site. Many of the western beaces do also - 15-45 mins drive from town. Your non-diver won't be bored either and the 3 resorts I mentioned have a free shuttle. If your non-diver likes the beach - there's a lot of them, they have faclities on site and many are named dive sites.

Use a site like Google Flights or Matrix/ITA (google owns both) and specify no stops. Some of those have to have good diving also

I'd have suggested Nassau also due to proximity but there's only 2 shops there and Cove's has a 45-60 min shutttle ride daily.Both they and Bahama Divers do pick up in the resort areas, Stuart Cove's also has the cruise dive contracts so tends to be easier dives.

Maybe see if you can get to Greand Bahma also - several shops are based around Port Lucaya and a couple others at the south side resorts. Probably a connection thru FLL for DCA though,
 
I like the FL ideas in the post above mine also. Jet Blue and Spirit fly to some of those destinations (I think Jupier is one) direct from NYC so probably do from DCA also. Factor in the MIA traffic (and the driving distance) for any of the Keys though.
Lots of boat dive operations in Key Largo around MM100 - which I believe is also the driving distance from MIA- FLL being another hour. I have east coast friends that work 1/2 day then fly down and dive the 8am boat the next day. It's a lot of very shallow diving
 
If it was me I'd go to Key Largo. Fly into MIA or FLL and drive down. We drive to the keys from FLL often (are going there in about 10 days) and it's like 90 minutes or so from FLL to Key Largo. There are tons of shops down there that have good reps, and while I've never dove there, John Pennekamp is awesome to snorkel so I'm assuming the diving around there would be good too.

I fly out of BWI but could do DCA or IAD as well as we live like equidistant to all of them. I just do BWI because I have a ton of SW points and they are a hub and just have better options. You can find RT direct flights down there for like $200 - $300 just depending on the timing.

And with all the operators down there, the prices of diving is pretty fair.
 
Ok, thanks for all the great advice and insights. Am strongly considering Key Largo, but am also looking at GCM (I know, I said not GCM, give me a minute to explain), Eleuthera, or Bayahibe (as recommended in an earlier post).

Re GCM: offers a lot to do for non-diver; if go, where and what operation? Am aware of and have dived with Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers (they are strong candidate).

Re Eluethera: what do people think? Where to stay, who to choose as op??

Re Bayahibe: where to stay? Am holding rez at Dreams La Dominicus La Romana, but not nuts in general about AI.

Thanks.
 
Ok, thanks for all the great advice and insights. Am strongly considering Key Largo, but am also looking at GCM (I know, I said not GCM, give me a minute to explain), Eleuthera, or Bayahibe (as recommended in an earlier post).

Re GCM: offers a lot to do for non-diver; if go, where and what operation? Am aware of and have dived with Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers (they are strong candidate).

Re Eluethera: what do people think? Where to stay, who to choose as op??

Re Bayahibe: where to stay? Am holding rez at Dreams La Dominicus La Romana, but not nuts in general about AI.

Thanks.

GC is generally easy to get to and does offer attractions for the whole family - and good diving, too.

Compass Point and Ocean Frontiers are great and very good diving; but if you are concerned about a quick and easy trip and activities available to the non-diver - then Seven Mile Beach and West Bay are better options - especially 7MB if you are not planning to rent a car during the long weekend?

There are many fine dive ops on GC, they wouldn't be able to compete and stay in business if they weren't good. Everyone has their favorites but if you are looking for a small op to give personalized service to the new divers then we have had good experiences with Cayman University Divers at https://www.cudivers.com/
 
I just completed my OW and AOW in Grand Cayman and we used Diver's Down. They were fantastic and are located right down in Georgetown. We stayed on SMB across from the Westin and it is like 7 minutes from there. I would highly recommend them to anyone doing training dives there.

All things equal, if money (and maybe time) weren't a factor, I personally would go to GC over any of the others. I just love it there and have been there 4x in the past 2 years, 3x since last September.

The thing about GC though is you can't really get flights at all times of the day and I don't think there are any direct flights from the DC area. I think all of them arrive in the afternoon or evening. The first time we went direct on United from IAD however I don't think they fly that route anymore.

When we flew to GC last month we left BWI at 6:05 but didn't get to GC until around 1pm (and they are an hour behind). We had a 3 hour layover in FLL. We're taking that same flight to FLL next week and we'll be down in the Keys by noon.
 
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