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#217
Any good Dive Resorts?
DiveGirl - 3/30/2009 2:07 PM
Category: Travel
Replies: 19



Last year went to http://www.oceanfrontiers.com/ in Grand Cayman and loved it. Walk steps from condo out to the boat with close dive sites and they took care of all our gear. No dragging wet gear back to the room to dry.


Looking to see if there is anything out there that is similar. That was such a relaxing vacaction wondering if I can find anything similar in the Carribean? Any suggestions would be great!


Thanks!


Kristy
#1920
ArchimedesPrinciple - 3/30/2009 2:17 PM


Have you considered a live a board. I was on the Cayman Aggressor last summer and that’s diving at it’s easiest
#4347
Bob01 - 3/30/2009 3:08 PM
The CoCoview in Roatan maybe? You’re out of the boat and the gear lockers are right there on the dock and fantastic shore diving off the front porch.
#51828
Greg - 3/30/2009 4:07 PM
You should check out Sunset House in Grand Cayman.
#63
Minky - 3/30/2009 8:16 PM
One of my favorites is the Little Cayman Beach Resort. They are very safety conscious, very nice resort, plus you get to dive the Bloody Bay wall!I am going there in June, was there Dec 08& June 08 Love, love love it! It has everything big stuff, and macros, saw a caribbean sea spider there.
#1576
georoc01 - 3/31/2009 3:32 PM
Cocoview in Roatan certainly has unlimited shore diving as did our resort in Bonaire, Divi Flamingo.
#635
BiancaC - 4/02/2009 10:15 AM


Hello Kristy,


try http://www.truebluebay.com in Grenada. Beautiful Resort, great island.


Good "stimulus packages" available this year.


Best regards, Peter (Aquanauts Grenada)
#73
Michaelis - 4/05/2009 5:46 AM
Depending on how far you are prepaared to travel, there are some great live aboard trips out of Cairns Australia, with some fantastic Great Barrier Reef sites, and if you travel in August, the "Minke Whales" visit the reef, and they love to swim with the divers. The boats have safe anchorage inside the reef, and the night dives are some thing else 
#1135
Triggerfish - 4/05/2009 7:54 AM
When where you there we were just there in feb and last year in july? awsome spot not crouded like the other end of the island
#10632
m_grieco - 4/08/2009 8:22 AM
I have been to Anthony’s Key in Roatan, Bunaken Cha Cha in North Sulawesi, Indonesia and recently came back from Oonas Dive Club in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt and each of them did a wonderful job. My wife and I loved Bunaken Cha Cha, it is an all inclusive accomodation and it’s a very intimate setting to dive. We were there for 12 days and never dove with more than 5 people on a dive. Their staff was great, set up you gear for every dive, rinsed your gear, hung your gear for you afterwards, bought it out to the boat...really top notch. At Oonas Dive Club the diving was great especially the Straits of Tiran, but had much larger dive groups (like 12-15 per dive) and you need to drive to one of three different marinas to dive (but this is for ALL accomodations in Sharm el Sheikh). The accomodation is basic, nice view of Naama Bay and the surrounding Sinai Mountains but you need to be a bit more in control of your gear (set-up, rinsing, etc.). All gear gets left on the dive boat (you’re assigned a bin at the beginning of the week) and it comes off on your last day of diving. Only includes breakfast but there are tons of places to eat within walking distance of the hotel. Anthony’s Key was also great, wonderful staff, great food (more than one option for every meal) and the location is beautiful. Much larger scale operation, three dive boats go out each morning with a boat full of divers (12-15 divers per boat) but they run an efficient, safe operation as well. I’d say if money allows, check out some diving outside of the Caribbean, there are so many beautiful places out there.
#6072
scubaclay - 4/08/2009 12:44 PM
If you love great diving from shore, and peace and quied consider Capt Dons Habitat on Bonaire. I was there loas year and had a great time.

Scubaclay
#870
TexasDiver - 4/09/2009 3:44 PM


here is another idea for you / added bonus air fare is very cheap to Coz right now


http://www.aldora.com/index.html


 


let us know where you decide to go
#46
PeacemakerDiver - 4/09/2009 6:00 PM


I recommend Bonaire (80 east of Aruba) and part of the Netherland Antilles and it’s also a Dutch colony so they will have a restuarants and night life/party atmosphere and bars and casinos also, and they have several repetible dive shops (I know the guys at Wannadive and Buddy’s Dive Shop personally) and would go back in heartbeat to their outfits anytime. There are 60-62 dives sites off the main island (from beginners to advance) and most are accessible from shore by driving (most people rent a small Suzuki SUV type vehicle or pickup), and of course you can also reach the dive sites by boat with the diving/dive shop operators but at $40-50 per a two tank dive depending on the distance we had to travel (I did 6-8 boat dives mostly because I didn’t know anyone and was single when I first arrived, until I met a couple from New York to hang out in the water with), but diving at your pace and desire is the way to go on Bonaire. (at that time, it was unlimited air for the week for $110, although I think I got a punch card that allowed 20 punches and when I used that up, I simply asked for a new card with no questions asked). There is also a small island (Kleine Bonaire) that is only accessible by boat off the Main Island with another 26 dives sites, it’s more than a few miles directly west from the capital, that has some intermediate to advance diving due to the winds and strong currents, but the ocean life is immense there in Bonaire (being a a total regulated diving and ocean/marine environmentally protected habitat (boats can only be moored at the dive sites- no anchoring anywhere else, and divers are not allow to the take anything in their goody bag (so leave that home unless you planned to take with to the casinos or the bars at night), and preferably not to hand walk or touch the reefe either, so they prefer you have good buoyancy skills and your not even allowed for your fins to touch/scrape the reef, plants or sponges - wearing gloves could be construed that is you have intentions to touch and acquire things, so my DM told me to leave those in my equip bag, bc if you get caught you might lose your diving license and privileges to dive in Bonaire - a tag that is affixed to your BC for the time you are there. There a few deep wreck dives (100-120 feet), but I prefer longer bottom times over deeper footage - most times 100-150 visibility and the water is very warm in the summer, 84-86 degrees F, I never ever got cold even once doing all the diving I was doing being submerged for long times with just a swim suit on over the week I was there. Check out below web site.


http://www.bonairedivingpro.com/about_bonaire.html


P.S the only thing that I would do different is instead of flying in San Juan, Puerto Rico from the US, I’d fly to Aruba, and take a shuttle/prop plane to Bonaire - there was, at that time and probably still exists, only one flight to Bonaire from San Juan, unfortunately it does not leave until 5pm or so, so I spent most of first day of vacation hanging out the airport for 7-8 hours, okay place if you want to sleep and stock up booze from the duty free shops, but there is not much to see, and definitely no marine life around anywhere, so if you want sleep or read a nice novel that you want to catch up one, go to San Juan. There is a shuttle to Bonaire just about every hour from Aruba.
#217
Subscribed
DiveGirl - 4/13/2009 1:05 PM
DiverChick - Ocean Frontiers had unlimited shore dives. We never took advatage of it while we were there.
#217
Subscribed
DiveGirl - 4/13/2009 1:09 PM
ArchimedesPrinciple  - Thought about a liveaboard for a while since it seems like you can go to some really great dive sites. I couldn’t sell the idea to my hubby. He’s in the military and the idea of being stuck on a boat doesn’t appeal to him.
#217
Subscribed
DiveGirl - 4/13/2009 1:13 PM
Triggerfish - Was there in August. Loved it there! Did you do any night diving? The blood worms were so creepy! Spent half the dive with my light on the coral so it could feast on the blood worms.