SCUBA in the Caribbean

I've been to All those places and more. I've got over 500 dives. Padi: Advanced, Night, Deep, Search & recovery certified

I'd recommend a dive outfitted yacht. You can easily get in 5 dives a day. Then arrive a few days early and leave a few days late for sight seeing.

A few thoughts: Belize is dangerous, but a deck hand with a gun patrolled the deck at night.

San Juan is a good place to meet your boat, then "leave". Go to St Croix, Frederiksted pier.

Grand Cayman is typical...wonderful and fun. Little Cayman is more "private".

Bonaire had great diving off the beach inbetween boat dives.

Once you've done a few hundred dives,,,,all the fish in the caribbean are the same. Then you won"t mind the long flights. :0)

http://www.explorerventures.com/

At first we dove with a dive shop, then found the same trip, if we booked it on our own for less....and no crowds.

http://www.uwcscuba.com/travel/fiji

Awesome! Belize, I wouldn't be averse to one of the Caye Resorts which looks pretty much like private islands? and not subject to the problems of the continent? But I still like the idea of Puerto Rico.

Belize is no different than any other city or diving(it looks the same).....so why expose yourself to the danger? We were asked NOT to step outside the airport without an escort. We went to the zoo there which was established by Harrison Ford after a movie he made there. Went to the ruins. Went to Half Moon Caye. Still not recommending it.

http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/parkhalfmooncaye.html

Aw. Too bad not even landing there, but boating away is enough. I'd like to see the Belize Barrier Reef (and the Great Barrier, and... and... )

Been to Australia TWICE! That I would Recommend! Now your talkin'!!! Loved this place....!!!!

http://www.wakatobi.com/home.php

;)

We dove The Great Blue Hole In Belize....forgot about THAT...:0)

http://www.belize.com/belize-blue-hole

I've been to Belize twice. The first time, we had all kinds of warnings about potential violence. That was 2006. More recent, late 2011, there was no mention of bad things and I saw very few armed agents.
One of the good things about Belize is that they used to be called British Honduras, thus English is widely understood. Not so in other places like Costa Rica or Guatemala.

I've always enjoyed nicole's beautiful diving pictures!

I don't have any suggestions, I just wanted to say that I'm green with envy! :) I just love to snorkel though, no desire to scuba. Hope you have a fun and safe trip!

I know many people who have been to Belize over the last 5 years. My company sends a few hundred people there every year for an ongoing project for school kids we sponsor. I've heard nada about problems. Maybe off in the jungles or remote beaches is where caution is needed?

English is widely spoken in Costa Rica, and most everyhere else in the world where locals expect to interact with tourists. Or, for a novel approach, travelers going to Central America could always learn some Spanish.

Thanks Glenda.

I wouldn't express opinions unless I had personal knowledge....OK. ...we came back without incident....see...it can happen. :0) Traveling in a group you should be fine. I hope you return safely wherever you go....

A couple was surrounded and beat to a bloody pulp the week before we were there. Cornered outside a seaside restaurant by locals. They were suing the dive operation for not making the couple return to the boat with an escort.

My DD and DSIL did a snorkeling trip in Belize when they were on a cruise. They hated the cruise but love Belize.

Wherever you go, check out the shark reports.

This was some time ago, but the best diving spot for me was Bonaire. We did our diving through Divi Dive Bonaire, both boat and shore dives. After diving in South America where the boat operators were a bit casual about everything, we loved the precision of Divi. The 8 AM dive boat actually left at 8 AM, not 8:15, not 8:30, not 8:05. It left exactly on time.

It was the first time I did a shore dive - so much simpler than getting on a boat. And the scenery was amazing. The water is so crystal clear.

We went to Palau for a radio contest and met a lot of divers and snorkelers that said it's the best.

I'm not worried about sharks; I grew up in great white territory (red triangle). Shark attacks are really unusual. It's why they are always making headlines. Belize isn't in the top ten places of shark attacks. Caribbean reef sharks are actually in decline right now, headed to "near threatened". Then there are the mid range in aggression black tip and lemon sharks, which I might worry a "little" about. They do also have nurse sharks and whale sharks (really cool!), but they're fairly docile, docile enough tour guides have been in the practice of catching nurse sharks to show off; a practice now discouraged. Not like, say, a bull shark (known to eat each other in utero like tiger sharks!).

Barracudas, lion fish, fire coral, stone fish, toadfish and cone shells are another story. They also have manta and eagle spotted rays, but those are pretty easy to spot. There are also a lot of "jungle creatures", but I don't intend to forage through their flora.

I will leave you with this one diving with sharks thought, "the proximity of the person spotting the shark determines how cool it is". The farther away you are, the cooler it becomes.

I've been to 3 shark feedings, in the coral sea, it's part of the "experience". When there's LOTS of blood in the water everything changes. I was only "startled" ....OK...a little freaked out by sharks on "1" dive in Turks & Caicos. The sharks @ this site had learned they could hunt by a divers flashlight at night......so they bumped me...literally rammed me trying to get me to use my flashlight to hunt/find more sleeping fish for them to eat. Guess I wasn't moving around much and they wanted me to go faster. :0)

Did I mention I'm afraid of the dark anyway....sharks ramming me was intense....but now....it's just a dive story as I sit in my livingroom miles away....

lol Nicole I am in my living room far away and that still scared me! OMG I am not that brave! I would not get in the water deeper than my waist because there have been several shark "incidences" around the Texas beaches recently. I prefer to sit back and relax and just watch these days.
I loved diving years ago but have not done any in a long long time. Last was in the Bahamas and it was beautiful where they took us.

In 2011 I was on a month-long cruise around the Caribbean and snorkeled in three different locations: The Bahamas (twice), Costa Rica and Belize. Of these three Belize was by far the best. We took a boat from Belize City to Caye Caulker for the trip and simply loved the little island, and wanted to change our plans to stay the night, but had reservations for a trip to the ruins early the next morning. Also although in several of the stops we were given extensive safety briefings, for Belize there was no mention of any particular danger there.

We go to Belize every year, have never felt like we were in danger. I remember the first time we went, we were the only ones on the plane that weren't missionary workers. Times have surely changed!

How does Big Island of Hawaii's marine life compare with that in the Caribbean? I know there's a night dive Kona-side with giant mantas.

Chisue....That's called manta madness. I missed that due to weather conditions when I dove there. :0(

The Bad: Hawaii is cold below 10 feet, I wore a 1/4" wet suit. The coral heads are small, the volcanic shore lines can be dangerous if you wash up on it. I had to make myself get in the water at night, there's an initial shock of "cold" when you dive in....bbbrrrrrrrrrrr......

The good: The turtle cleaning station was amazing! They lined up for fish to clean them! I collect nudibranch photos/sightings...there were tons! Mostly fried egg nudi's and spanish dancers, but some were gorgeous! Whales & whale song! Underwater volcanic flows....wow!

chi, from diving sites I've seen it's like comparing apples to oranges when you talk about the Caribbean and Hawai'i. They say the ocean itself at Hawai'i is more like a desert and Nicole is hinting at it with small coral, volcanic shoreline. I was really turned off by that. What I kept seeing was, Hawai'i is fantastic place, but as a dive destination, not so much. And, since I lived there, I'm not inclined to head there for awhile. I'll wait until I've explored more areas.

I did have the bright idea last night to take my son another place I've lived and I am dying to explore the ocean, Monterey. Sea otters, kelp forests... ah! But I had visions of full body neoprene suits and immediately changed my mind. Really cold water! I immediately shut that idea down.

_______________edited to add what I saw. Made sense. Wasn't the first time, but it said it the best.

"Be aware that although you may have the opportunity to see some of the larger animals, diving in Hawaii is very different than diving in the Caribbean. It's apples and oranges. The Caribbean is like a lush, tropical rain forest and everywhere you look is covered in soft corals, sponges, sea fans, hard corals, and is teaming with marine life. In stark contrast, Hawaii is more like the desert. There aren't many soft corals, few sea sponges, and it's basically a hardscape growing on lava rock.

There's plenty of sea life, but sometimes you have to look for it. On our recent trip, we saw Manta Rays, Spotted Eagle Rays, sharks, turtles, and whales (on the surface), but frankly, the highlight of our trip was finding leaf scorpionfish, green lionfish, commerson's frogfish, many types of cleaner shrimp, mantis shrimp, and nudibranchs.

I'd say to anyone wanting to go somewhere 'mainly looking for larger life' that there are better places to go than Hawaii."

I've not gone diving but the snorkeling around Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Akumal, and the Riveria Maya in general is pretty good. The reef is closer to the beach south of Cancun (Hotel Zone has zero snorkeling) and is the upper portion of the reef that extends to Belize (and beyond). I've heard from people who have gone on dives in Cozumel that it's pretty amazing.

Belize is on my bucket list.

I was checking out the Mayan Riviera yesterday! There were plenty of places that you could dive and snorkel. Which I like because it made seeing the underwater life more available. It's still close enough to the Belize Barrier system too.

I've not been there is many years but have enjoyed staying in the Akumal area. Playa Del Carmen has some nice places as well. The whole area has been built up tremendously and is a popular destination for European tourists (lots of Italians!). We don't go there any more because there are just too many people....and you can't really "explore" the local towns.

Some of the older properties have the best beaches and snorkel access. Some of the newer properties were built on less desirable beach front. There is an older property that I would recommend because of the beach but at the same time NOT recommend because it's poorly managed. I think it's changed names so I'd have to look it up. Most all properties are AI, which is good and bad....

The Mayan Riviera is a general term , reinventing the old.... Cancun. I've been several times....there's NO coral, but lots of fish and it's a nice 3 day trip. Chichen itza is a "must see"! Xel ha is cool! Tulum ruins!

Cozumel is fantastic for diving! The diving is mostly wall diving or current diving....there's a submerged plane right off the beach that makes a good night dive site. A statue of Jesus with his hands outspread is an underwater diving attraction. An underwater sand-fall. Lots of good restaurants and shopping downtown.

rob333....I'm "not" planning on diving Hawaii again...you are correct in your evaluation. I believe they have over 250 varieties of butterfly fish....but I'll pass...

Cancun hotel zone is a man-made area that's not far from "downtown" Cancun but it's more like Miami than Mexico. This is where most of the "main" hotels were built and a lot of college kids head for spring break. The beaches are really nice but far from the reef; no snorkeling to speak of. The further south you go, the closer to the reef you get. Xel-ha is supposed to be really cool as is Sian Ka'an biosphere (south of Tulum). Akumal has Yal-kul lagoon and there are many cenotes in the general area. We used to stay just south of Playa Akumal and take the collectivos (white vans) up and down 307 from Playa Del Carmen to Tulum for 10 pesos/pp.

We now go to the Pacific coast and stay in a little town for our annual vacation. While there's some snorkeling (and diving) here, we just eat instead! :)

We've been to a few of the newer hotels....Cabo San Lucas for instance.....see...they offer specials where the almost completed hotel is FREE to get people in, start "word-of-mouth" and for a 3 day-2 night $300 flight and hotel room....in a never seen brand new hotel.....YAH....I'm going....my bags are packed! The chef can practice on me, get feedback... Stayed at one on the southern tip with several hanging pools off the cliffs....so gorgeous! I swear the fish had never seen people before! :0) lol

Note: I was a travel agent for Cheap Tickets for 4 years and their top sellers got 2 free airline tickets every quarter(the tickets weren't good for Europe, unless you were in the top 3 & I never held that position for the whole quarter. :0( ). Of course all good things must come to an end...they sold us to Cendant travel and closed our office.

Thanks for the comparison. Big Island has the best sea life; gets less good as you go north in the chain. I didn't think it compared to the Caribbean, which has that sugar white sand and turquoise ocean -- and is *warm*. LOL

What *can't* be found by just asking on the KT!

Ok, Nicole. Just how do you find deals like that??

sjerin....we used to go get the local Sunday newspaper and they listed them in the travel section through a travel agency. They always sounded too-good-to-be-true....and they panned out.

Or....at the last minute an airline wants to fill the plane....Quantas is good for that....usually 3 days notice before you leave....just watch their online site.

Right now we're traveling locally, USA. We found off season is the way to get a killer hotel deal! Next week we're staying in a posh ski slope lodge that touts the thread count of their sheets in the brochure(our 2nd time there) for a wild flower festival.

You must be very savvy, Nicole. :) I'm not a very good bargainer; do you wait until a few days before you want to leave, then find the off-season deals? Sorry if I'm pestering you, but I find this subject very interesting, of course!

Sjerin....the travel agencies are offered deals. The newspaper put us in touch with which agency to contact, it varied. I never bargained or offered less...I paid what was asked.

Motels are cheaper off season if they specialize. ie: a ski slope hotel in the summer. Moab in a snow storm gives 75% off a regular price on a room. Only have 10 guests in the middle of winter at a posh Bryce Canyon Hotel?..up grade everyone you can to a suite and a 50% discount!