Damselfish
Contributor
A regular travel agent is not of much use to suggest dive travel. All they know about it is what the marketing stuff tells them, which is rarely accurate or useful. They will recommend Curacao over Bonaire because Curacao has a few more mass market places that are sold more often by travel agents, and is marketed to the mainstream more than Bonaire is.
Curacao and Bonaire are both great places to dive and the diving and sealife is similar in many ways, different in others. Both have lots of shore diving. It is quicker to drive to a lot of the Bonaire sites because there's a road along the coast close to many sites. On Curacao drives are longer and it can be trickier to find stuff, because the main road is inland much of the way with spokes out to the various beaches and coves. Many of the beaches on Curacao have small fees because they often have facilities like snack bars, bathrooms, lounges, and sometimes dive shops - unlike Bonaire where there's generally nothing. Curacao boat rides are usually pretty tame, but on average will probably be a bit rougher and longer than Bonaire. Both places have dive resorts where you can gear up at your hotel dock and jump in right there too, but more of those in Bonaire. Topside Bonaire is all pretty quiet and laid back. Curacao is much more populated and busy near the city, away from the city it's a lot like Bonaire. Bonaire is usually a little harder to get to but if you can get there without too much trouble I think it's one of the best choices for a first dive trip, especially if you get seasick. You can do lots of easy dives and get to immerse yourself in a dive culture.
The Florida Keys are a good starter destination but it's boat diving and the boat rides can be rough. My husband gets seasick and he can't deal without the patch there, something like Dramamine or Bonine was not enough for him. Calm is relative, I would speculate that what was called a calm day in NJ was still rougher than pretty much any day on Bonaire and probably many days in the Keys. I haven't been to Roatan but from what I know that might also work for you.
So you know you get seasick in certain conditions. Even if you go someplace that has lots of shore diving, it would be good to try some boat dives someplace calmer and shorter, in combination with whatever remedies you're willing to try, to start to get an idea of what you can deal with and what works for you. If you don't want to use any of the seasickness medications, there are a few other remedies people recommend such as (real) ginger and the wristbands. Lots of threads here on the subject. If you can't find a way to deal with seasickness it will limit your diving options a lot. You may get to the point where you want to dive some other places badly enough that you will start to be open to trying seasickness medications. Another thing is, you say you haven't flown? If you have problems on a boat, you may also have problems on a plane, and it could be a loonngg flight. Once you are sick, you might suddently be willing to try medication, trouble is you need to take them before you have a problem, well before you get on a boat or plane, doesn't work so well once you're already sick. So think about that too.
As a general rule all-inclusives and diving don't go together well so don't try too hard for that. There will be some places where you can get room/dive/meal packages if you want. And on a place like Little Cayman (which I wouldn't suggest for you this trip) most of the places are AI since there's no place much else to go. There's a couple in Roatan like Cocoview. There's some in Cozumel but you say you don't want to go to Mexico. But most of the classic AIs people usually think of (like Sandals or Beaches) aren't in the best diving places (there are none in Bonaire, one in Curacao.) And while they may say they include diving, usually it is very limited. Some places they don't take you to the better spots, they may limit your dive times a lot. It's often suggested that people staying at an AI like Sandals or Beaches look for an off-site operator anyway and not waste too much time with the "included" diving.
Curacao and Bonaire are both great places to dive and the diving and sealife is similar in many ways, different in others. Both have lots of shore diving. It is quicker to drive to a lot of the Bonaire sites because there's a road along the coast close to many sites. On Curacao drives are longer and it can be trickier to find stuff, because the main road is inland much of the way with spokes out to the various beaches and coves. Many of the beaches on Curacao have small fees because they often have facilities like snack bars, bathrooms, lounges, and sometimes dive shops - unlike Bonaire where there's generally nothing. Curacao boat rides are usually pretty tame, but on average will probably be a bit rougher and longer than Bonaire. Both places have dive resorts where you can gear up at your hotel dock and jump in right there too, but more of those in Bonaire. Topside Bonaire is all pretty quiet and laid back. Curacao is much more populated and busy near the city, away from the city it's a lot like Bonaire. Bonaire is usually a little harder to get to but if you can get there without too much trouble I think it's one of the best choices for a first dive trip, especially if you get seasick. You can do lots of easy dives and get to immerse yourself in a dive culture.
The Florida Keys are a good starter destination but it's boat diving and the boat rides can be rough. My husband gets seasick and he can't deal without the patch there, something like Dramamine or Bonine was not enough for him. Calm is relative, I would speculate that what was called a calm day in NJ was still rougher than pretty much any day on Bonaire and probably many days in the Keys. I haven't been to Roatan but from what I know that might also work for you.
So you know you get seasick in certain conditions. Even if you go someplace that has lots of shore diving, it would be good to try some boat dives someplace calmer and shorter, in combination with whatever remedies you're willing to try, to start to get an idea of what you can deal with and what works for you. If you don't want to use any of the seasickness medications, there are a few other remedies people recommend such as (real) ginger and the wristbands. Lots of threads here on the subject. If you can't find a way to deal with seasickness it will limit your diving options a lot. You may get to the point where you want to dive some other places badly enough that you will start to be open to trying seasickness medications. Another thing is, you say you haven't flown? If you have problems on a boat, you may also have problems on a plane, and it could be a loonngg flight. Once you are sick, you might suddently be willing to try medication, trouble is you need to take them before you have a problem, well before you get on a boat or plane, doesn't work so well once you're already sick. So think about that too.
As a general rule all-inclusives and diving don't go together well so don't try too hard for that. There will be some places where you can get room/dive/meal packages if you want. And on a place like Little Cayman (which I wouldn't suggest for you this trip) most of the places are AI since there's no place much else to go. There's a couple in Roatan like Cocoview. There's some in Cozumel but you say you don't want to go to Mexico. But most of the classic AIs people usually think of (like Sandals or Beaches) aren't in the best diving places (there are none in Bonaire, one in Curacao.) And while they may say they include diving, usually it is very limited. Some places they don't take you to the better spots, they may limit your dive times a lot. It's often suggested that people staying at an AI like Sandals or Beaches look for an off-site operator anyway and not waste too much time with the "included" diving.
