Ideas for a good dive trip?
 

I recently returned from a couple of weeks in Thailand which included some time on a little island in the Gulf of Thailand. The place was spectacular, with incredibly friendly ex-pats and tourists from everywhere diving and partying and enjoying the beach culture. The diving was great, compared to what I'm used to, but sea life has declined a lot due to over-fishing.

So I'm looking ahead for a dedicated dive trip, flying somewhere with the express intent to do nothing but dive. And hang out on the beach, playing beer pong in beachside bars with tourists from Israel and Austria and Amsterdam and wherever. And maybe do some local sight-seeing.

Requirements (Desirements?), in no particular order:
1 - Spectacular diving. I'd love to see whale sharks, but I've seen precious little, so virtually any cool sea life would be better than what I've seen. I guess as long as the water's warm and the visibility is decent, it'll probably be "good enough," though I'd rather go someplace that's genuinely awesome.
2 - Region and timing: I'd like to find someplace in Mexico or the Caribbean, on the grounds that flights are generally cheaper than, say, flights to Mozambique, and I could justify a "long weekend" type dive trip rather than saying "I'm flying 7000 miles, I need to stay at least 10 days to justify the transit time."
3 - Worthwhile activities for the "surface interval." I'm not generally much for staying out late and partying, but I found that the overwhelming supply of attractive young ladies on Koh Tao was suitable enticement to alter my normal behavior. Failing that, local sites of cultural or historical significance are fun to visit while I'm getting rid of excess nitrogen.
4 - Total trip cost: Some places are cheap to get to. Others are cheap to stay at. Some places are both cheap to get to AND cheap to stay at. I don't mind flying 7000 miles for a dive trip, especially if dives are only 15USD and a good dinner is only 5USD. I'm unlikely to go to someplace that'll cost me $3K for the trip and $500 a night for the hotel.

Thoughts? Where have your best dive trips been?

Cayman Islands has some good diving, not so much for whale sharks maybe, but stingray city is cool, and a number of good areas around the island.

Generic open water stuff in Bahamas. Snorkeling in the keys. Lobstering off West Palm Beach.

Bahamas or Keys are superior to the reefs of WPB, etc.

My favorite dives? Local springs, either goign down a spring river (snorkeling would do fine) or the cave systems. Then again, I am cave certified...


Unfortunately haven't been under pressure in 25 years. Ears are all screwed up, can't self-equalize when surfacing... no more diving for me. :(

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HTZhK_cGVlQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I've done some diving in Florida -- a couple of boat dives off Palm Beach, and Ginnie Springs for the Halloween thing they do. Fun dives, but awful pricey, and not really that spectacular.


Caymans have been on the "to do" list for a while, I've heard others had some great experiences there. Anyplace in particular you'd recommend there?

I've really enjoyed Cozumel. We did an all-inclusive at Hotel Cozumel diving with Dive Paradise that cost less than $1K per. That was 19 dives over the week, 3 a day from a boat, and some night dives from the shore, as well as the lodging. No whale sharks, but of course in season (Summer) you can get an excursion to Isla Mujeres or Cancun and do the whale shark thing. Water is crystal clear, and there are a great variety of sites to visit. If you have your advanced open water you can do the Devil's Throat which ends up at about 140 ft.
just a suggestion... We also liked Roatan and Belize, but was on a cruise ship, so only did a couple of dives at each place.

Ginnie is a 15 minute drive from my house :)

For diving, it is great IF you are cave certified. The top water folk get kinda crazy, all sorts of nudity, drunken shennanigans, etc.

Just up river is Blue Springs (recently for sale - $10 mil for 400+- acres, the big spring, spring run, etc...) which is great for a family day out doors. Snorkeling OK, scuba no-no.

A little further up river and across the other side is Rum Island. The teeth:tattoo ratio gets interesting there, but it is free, and great for an after work quick trip for a refreshing swim. Still further up river, is Poe Springs. Great family place, no alcohol allowed, no diving (no place to dive anyway) but they have a nice short spring run.

I am not a diver, but on my second cruise we pulled into the Maldives Archipelago for a week.

We stayed on a small island in the chain and I got the opportunity to snorkel off the reef faces, etc. I had snorkeled a lot before the Maldives.

I couldn't believe it: The clarity of the water and life below the surface was unlike anything I had previously experienced.

My OinC on the Detachment was a diver and brought his equipment on cruise. He said it was the best diving experience of his life.

That was in 1987. Things have no doubt changed but there it is.

http://www.padi.com/scuba-vacations/maldives

Enjoy!

I just attended a lecture by a professor from Sri Lanka. He claimed that one of the world's top three dive locations was located on the northeast part of the island. The island is surrounded by a huge coral reef, which creates a natural harbor. I don't know anything about diving, but he showed us pictures that were very impressive.

http://www.padi.com/scuba-vacations/sri-lanka

I'd highly recommend Fiji, and some time aboard Naia. It a live aboard boat that has been operating in Fiji for decades. They have built relationships with villages in the areas where they cruise. So real local interaction happens during the trips.
But it's the diving that is the big draw.
Water temp is cool to me. marine life is spectacular, colorful soft corals, brilliant tropical fish.
Giant clams keeping a lookout for intrusion into there local. And snapping closed.

Many top pro photogs have been aboard, so there are great videos and pics to check out.

May not fit the budget range you mention, but the diving is top notch.
Life aboard is great, excellent food, friendly mostly Fijian crew.

Time in Fiji will be memorable!

https://www.scubadiveasia.com/scuba-diving-vacations/fiji/liveaboards/naia/?gclid=COjvvs-d5c8CFQ9xfgodQeYOZw

Cheers Richard

Grand Cayman- We stayed in a dive resort with 4 tanks each day including night dives. Excellent spot for all sorts of different dive experiences. Expensive.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147364-d2371840-Reviews-Sunset_Divers-Cayman_Islands.html

Belize- We did a liveaboard and spent 7 days out in pretty amazing cays and reefs. Moderate price, 5 tanks/day including night dives, great food and accommodations.

Cozumel- Stayed in a dive resort, 4 tanks/day w/night dives. 100' viz every day and epic wall or drift diving. We also took a side trip to dive the cenotes and tour Chichen itza. Very low cost.

Maui- Stayed in Kihei and caught dive boats in the AM, cocktails and pupus in the PM. Not as intense diving experience but lots of sharks, whales, mantas, large predatory fish, octos, sea snakes, turtles the size of Volkswagens. Reasonable

Haha, yeah, the cave folk at Ginnie were the serious ones. The rest of us (me included) were mostly left out of the great diving there, which meant a significantly higher rate of drunken shenanigans. Good times.

I had a friend who honeymooned there a couple of years ago. I guess they didn't do either diving or snorkeling, but it sounded like a pretty spectacular trip anyways. I also understand that the Maldives is insanely crowded; remember seeing a news article pointing out that the population density on the main island is higher than anywhere else in the world, or something.

Ok, just throwing together some quick numbers from Kayak for an arbitrary week 5 or 6 months in the future...

Cost Flight time
Maldives 1718 26
Fiji 1079 19
Bali 828 22
Cayman 864 13
Belize 1461 33
Aruba 579 16
Cozumel 527 6

Cozumel is looking like a clear standout right now. I'd love to do Fiji, Bali, or the Maldives, but Cozumel is friggin' cheap. And close. Come to think of it, I think I had a friend honeymoon there, as well. He described the Chichen Itza trip as being somewhat skeezy, with some complicated 3rd world system of tickets and "Sure, I take you there (wink wink nod nod)."

Pago Pago, American Samoa. Lots of WW II ship wrecks.

Chichen Itza is cool. Ive been there twice, both times booked through the hotel. No issues what so ever.

I will 2nd cozumel. Done over a dozen dive trips throughout the Caribbean and cozumel was by far my favorite. All inclusive trip including the dives is the way to go. Wake up, eat breakfast wait at the pier for the dive boat, deep dive, snack on some.deserted beach, shallow dive, back to resort for lunch, get drunk by pool, hit the town eat dinner, pass out, lather, rinse repeat.

Did the throat of the devil but wasn't that impressed. Best was the drift diving. Dive down, set your buoyancy, then just float over the reefs. Very cool.

And way cheaper than any other places we went.

I'll second the fun of drift diving, have done it in passes of atolls.
It's so fun soaring along so effortlessly. Assume the superman pose and fly along the reef. Gotta have faith in the boat driver.

Cheers Richard

Truk/Carolines if you have the time to get there. I have a relative on Truk I could connect with for some local info if you want.

Cuba's a legal option now, had some friends planning to go there before by a rather circuitous route.

I was just looking at a map (always a mistake), and realized that a lot of the places that I read about are basically in the Indian Ocean. I have a friend in Malawi that I've been meaning to go visit, and it occurs to me that the Epic Dive Trip of a Lifetime would be to start in Malawi, then spend a couple of months diving everything from Mozambique to Madagascar through the Maldives to Sri Lanka and parts of Polynesia.

But Cozumel is WAY more realistic for the next dive trip. :) And, frankly, it sounds pretty much like what I'm looking for -- do some diving, do some relaxing by the beach to meet new friends over drinks, do it again the next day.

Hotel Cozumel and Dive Paradise is the only recommendation by name. Anybody else have any particularly good experiences with resorts or dive operators?

Dive bang for the buck, Cozumel is hard to beat. Some of the most excellent diving anywhere at less than 1/2 the cost of most other places. It has been 10 years since we were there so I don't recall resort specifics but it was all-inclusive and the night diving right off the beach was pretty great.