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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / February 2005Caribbean vs Elsewhere
So it seems that most of the talk has been about the caribbean - Aruba/Curacao/Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, Puerto Rico... Where are some of the other decent spots? Not looking to drop a second mortgage on a trip. I'd love to find a place where I can see some nice stuff and be able to do something regularly. It sounds like if I wanted to do something like this, i'd be better off just sticking to the Keys, right? I went to Aruba, but that was a fluke because my sister in law had a timeshare. The flights alone almost killed me (1200$ for two people) :) Is Aruba a lot more expensive than a lot of the other caribbean places? Where's that lottery ticket? M@ > So it seems that most of the talk has been about the caribbean - > Aruba/Curacao/Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, Puerto Rico... [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > M@ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Cozumel!! Matt Cushing <matt@cushingonline.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :So it seems that most of the talk has been about the caribbean - :Aruba/Curacao/Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, Puerto Rico... : :Where are some of the other decent spots? You can read my opinions of the places I have dove in the past few years at http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/Trips/. In addition to those locations, I have been to Saba, St Kitts, Santiago de Cuba, Palau, Truk, and Kona. All were very nice in their own way. I have also been to Juan Dolio in the Dominican Republic - it was ok. My favourite place in the Caribbean is Cozumel - been there six times. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. Airfare depends on where you're starting from... Cozumel, Belize and Honduras can be relatively cheap, but $600 per person for international airfare could be high, depending on the time of year. Cozumel has a relatively big airport and inexpensive flights if you plan in advance. > So it seems that most of the talk has been about the caribbean - > Aruba/Curacao/Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, Puerto Rico... [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > M@ Akumal due west south of Cancun is pretty nice and it used to be fairly cheap. The people are friendly. No night life but the beach is kewl, food at the Lol Ha isn't bad and there are lots of ruinas to explore. > Airfare depends on where you're starting from... > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] >> >> M@ > Where are some of the other decent spots? Not looking to drop a second > mortgage on a trip. I'd love to find a place where I can see some nice [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Where's that lottery ticket? They Keys are nice. So are sites further up the Florida coast. They're not, however, as nice as any of the Caribbean or Bahamas locations we've visited. How much things cost depends a lot on where you start. Cozumel is relatively inexpensive, or was when I was there, but it's expensive for me to get there from S. Florida. Grand Cayman is easy for me to get to, but expensive to visit. The Bahamas, almost any place except Nassau, are both easy to get to and inexpensive for me to visit, but not so easy for people that don't live in Florida. I live in Florida, making it the cheapest of all for me. Give us something more to work with and maybe we'll be able to help more. Lee. >>Where are some of the other decent spots? Not looking to drop a second >>mortgage on a trip. I'd love to find a place where I can see some nice [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Give us something more to work with and maybe we'll be able to help more. I live in NJ, so anywhere I go is going to involve major airfare. We've got a trip planned for next Feb to Puerto Rico, so I'll check out how that works. I was looking at another thread, thanks for all of the info! M@ > > Give us something more to work with and maybe we'll be able to help more. > > I live in NJ, so anywhere I go is going to involve major airfare. Same here. We've occasionally driven all the way to Philly if there's a notably better cost and schedule to be had...one of the hotels down there offers a "stay one night, park for free" deal which can help both cost-wise as well as to catch an early morning flight out. However, for the most part, I assume that its going to run at least $500/pp for airfare. If they're running really high to someplace warm, we've sometimes shifted paradigms and taken a non-diving vacation in a different direction. Another alternative is to "plan ahead" and wait for a good last minute discount special from travelocity.com and/or site59.com For example, for a 2-9 March (yes, that's Wednesday-Wednesday) trip to Cozumel, airfare's currently $499/pp and for $684/pp they'll provide a room at the Hotel Flamingo (Calle 6 Norte 81?Cozumel), or for $149 more, at the Casa Mexicana Cozumel?(Av. Rafael E. Melgar # 457 Sur?Cozumel). Since these flight+room packages are based on double occupancy, the more expensive of these two comes to $1666 for two for a week's stay. FWIW, don't overlook the "flight + car" options. For example, you can get EWR-MIA with a rental car for 3-8 March (thurs-tues) for $342/pp and then find a room on your own in the Keys. The catches: - This Cozumel package ends up being cheaper because it has midweek flights both ways, so you'll burn 6 days off from work (wed, thurs, fri, mon, tues, wed) instead of the normal 5 days (mon-fri) as you would on a more typical vacation. - You'll need to research the hotels that are being offered within the package, to understand where they're located, etc. - what's listed will be hit-or-miss on a weekly basis. To use this approach, you'll have to be willing to sit on the sidelines for an otherwise available weekend, if the prices aren't right for you. FWIW, some of these tools are more oriented towards weekend travel, so you might not even get a full week. The MIA w/car example is an example. Finally, for less WWW destinations, some of the local clubs will organize local dive weekends. The one I have at work has organized van pools up to Cape Ann, MA, as well as down to NC. You're jammed into a van for several hours (and the "accommodations" may be camping!), but can end up being very cheap. -hh >> > Give us something more to work with and maybe we'll be able to help >> > more. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > there offers a "stay one night, park for free" deal which can help both > cost-wise as well as to catch an early morning flight out. <snip> This is all valuable information. But airfare doesn't have to break your bank. If you're flexible with what time of day you travel, why not just use Priceline? I met a couple in Anguilla who flew EWR-SXM for $200 each. I've paid $400 pp for r/t PDX-SJU. That ought to put a dent in airfare. There are some catches, but I've never once had a bad experience. > So it seems that most of the talk has been about the caribbean - > Aruba/Curacao/Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, Puerto Rico... [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Where's that lottery ticket? I don't know where you are coming from, so I can't help you with your airfare calculations. If you live in Florida, then yes, I guess sticking with the Keys is probably your best bet. However, if you have to incur airfare in any event, you should look at West End, Roatan, Honduras. I found it to be the least expensive place that I have been other than SE Asia. Dives were at least 1/2 the price of any of the other places in your list including the Keys. My acco though certainly not posh, had aircon, sat TV, kitchenette, hot water, and a nice hammock out on the veranda and it was also only 1/4 the price of what I usually pay for a slightly nicer place with the same amenities in Belize. There are many other places for 1/4 that again, if you are willing to go without AC, TV and go to a shared kitchen. That's cheap, cheap, cheap . . . You shouldn't need a lottery ticket. > So it seems that most of the talk has been about the caribbean - > Aruba/Curacao/Bonaire, Belize, Honduras, Puerto Rico... The "big three" are Cozumel, Cayman and Bonaire in terms of overall popularity. And because people vote for where they've been, that's a good chunk of the reason why they "win" in the typical dive magazine best destination types of polls/surveys. > Where are some of the other decent spots? Not looking to drop a second > mortgage on a trip. I'd love to find a place where I can see some nice > stuff and be able to do something regularly. It sounds like if I wanted > to do something like this, i'd be better off just sticking to the Keys, > right? Getting beyond the mainstream destinations within the Caribbean will generally cost more because of transportation logistics, but can sometimes be offset by lower costs once you get there. As Chilly stated, the airline ticket cost is going to vary some based on where you're coming from. And while I've not been there yet, it does seem that the Honduras/Belize area of Central America is reportedly quite inexpensive once you've gotten there...although Swan Island, Honduras is probably a notable exception. The general tricks for finding lower airfares are: 1. Off-season (including "shoulder" seasons) 2. Off-peak (ie, midweek departures for vacation trips) 3. last minute excess space discounters (www.site59.com) 4. Patience (and 'fare watcher' tools) > I went to Aruba, but that was a fluke because my sister in law > had a timeshare. The flights alone almost killed me (1200$ for two > people) :) Is Aruba a lot more expensive than a lot of the other > caribbean places? The ABC islands are at the far southern edge of the Caribbean, so the flights are physically further, so fuel will account for some of their higher costs. However, it does seem that certain destinations never really ever go on "Sale", either. > Where's that lottery ticket? You'll also need to balance cost versus time available. For example, the cost of an airline ticket is functionally amortized over the duration of a trip: a $600 ticket is $100/day for a 6 day trip, but its only $50/day for a 12 day trip. -hh |
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