Where to go for quiet, no night life, experienced divers and Nitrox?

[WanderingGal]

Have you thought about Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos? I live and work here and can attest to the fact that it is very quiet and relaxing. The diving always gets rave reviews and is consistently rated as one of the best in the Caribbean, if not the world. Lots of types of fish, and quite a few turtles, stingrays, and sharks here. One group even saw a hammerhead last week. There's some beautiful diving here, swim-throughs, the 7000' wall, lots of corals, etc. It's very quiet here - which makes for a nice, relaxing get-away. There's only one main road right along the beach that houses the few small hotels/guest houses and dive shops. From what I hear, we're less expensive than Provo since we don't really do the mega-resort thing here. You can easily walk from most accommodations to most of the dive shops.
I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have, please feel free to PM me.

 

[Sue Sue]

Bonaire-The Deep Blue View Resort A small intimate resort, not on the waterfront with a dedicated dive shop/air/nitrox . Shore and Boat. Rent the truck, Drive, Dive & Dive !!

Cozumel- Villa Escondida - 4 room B & B- in town/walking distance to dive pier, restaurants. Actually very quiet even though in the center of town. I use Blue XT Sea Diving, however, of course there are many wonderful dive ops to choose from.

Diving May/June would be wonderful either place.

 

[robint]

CoCoView Resort, Roatan CoCo View Resort Roatan

or

a liveaboard.


robin

 

[filickojm]

San Salvador Bahamas, Riding Rock.
Small Hope Bay Lodge, Andros Bahamas.

I second San Salvador. Great wall diving and the only people who go to Riding Rock are people serious about diving because that's about all there is to do. haha

 

[scubadada]

We are planning our 20th anniversary and are looking for a nice, quiet, small no frills spot for diving. We were certified in the 1980s and have over 1000+ dives. We loved Saba but cant swing the air costs right now so are looking for that feel but not as hard to get to.

Best

Carol

Diving is for May/June

Hi Carol,

Grand Cayman is quick and easy and not terribly expensive to fly to. I fly direct from Philadelphia, bet you can from BWI. Two possible suggestions, Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers in East end or Cobalt Coast/DiveTech in the NW.

Compass Point is condos, we stock up on the way from the airport and make all breakfasts, lunches, and some dinners. There are adequate restaurants within a short drive. Ocean Frontiers is excellent. I've done only boat dives though I hear there is shore diving with some effort and drive.

Cobalt Coast includes breakfast and has a very good restaurant for ala carte or an AI option if you don't want to drive into West Bay/SMB for meals. DiveTech is also very good and they have two very good shore diving sites at the resort and at Lighthouse Point included in the package. They have a great DPV dive from Cobalt Coast to Lighthouse Point over some rarely dived areas.

Both operators put a DM in the water but staying with them is entirely your choice. Ocean Frontiers allows you to dive gas limits, DiveTech has hour boat dives. Former takes care of all your gear and has it on the boat before each dive, latter you take care of your own gear. I've been to both of these resorts/operators twice and each has its own flavor. Both are very relaxing and allow you to get in a lot of diving. Cayman East end and North wall are two of my favorite Caribbean dive locations.

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary, we spent our 32nd at Compass Point. Feel free to message me if you have questions.

Best of luck and good diving, Craig

 

[sladerer]

East end of Grand Cayman - stay at Compass Pointe and dive with Ocean Frontiers. Great diving, great operator, you have to drive 45 minutes to get to night life.

Provo, Turks and Caicos - a little night life but easy to avoid, especially if you rent a place on VRBO and aren't in a big resort. Lots of dive ops, but you'll want one that goes to West Caicos regularly. Longer boat rides but great wall diving.

You shot down Saba - flying to St Maarten and ferrying over would be less than flying.

Liveaboard, almost anywhere.

 

[scubadada]

East end of Grand Cayman - stay at Compass Pointe and dive with Ocean Frontiers. Great diving, great operator, you have to drive 45 minutes to get to night life.

Provo, Turks and Caicos - a little night life but easy to avoid, especially if you rent a place on VRBO and aren't in a big resort. Lots of dive ops, but you'll want one that goes to West Caicos regularly. Longer boat rides but great wall diving.

You shot down Saba - flying to St Maarten and ferrying over would be less than flying.

Liveaboard, almost anywhere.

My son and I used Caicos Adventures in Provo. Very nice, stable, fast boat, the Caicos Cat. Did all of our dives off West Caicos and French Cay. Put a DM in the water but your choice to use or not. Nitrox readily available, on board. They take care of your gear. Great 3 tanker on Thursdays. Lots of Caribbean Reef Sharks.

Grace Bay is a beautiful beach, much like SMB on Grand Cayman. We spent most of our time diving but rode around on bikes a couple of times. We had a great time, if I returned, might choose to use one of the liveaboards to cut out the travel time and increase the number of dives

Good diving, Craig