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#20281
Best Dive Trip for the Money ?
Smithsgold - 1/21/2009 7:51 PM
Category: Travel
Replies: 5



Whats the Best Dive destination for the money?


Best dive sites, Hotels and, Dive boats....


Thanks,


Jeff
#347
ScubaHawk - 1/21/2009 8:46 PM


I have not dived with very many good dive operators as I am not a dive travel expert. But...


1) Laguna Beach Resort on Utilla, Bay Islands, Honduras. The people are nice, the customer comes first, excellant diving, good food, fun people, fun staff, and a stable government. Continental flys 737s to Roatan which is 20 minutes by air from Utilla.


2) Pensacola is a Blast. Google search Viking Diving. Morrison Springs and Vortex springs are fun. Lots of wrecks to dive including Oriskany. USN air museum and IMAX theaters are cool. Good restaraunts too.


3) Kailua-Kona, Da Big Island, Hawaii. Kona Honu divers and Big Island divers are A#1. I like staying at the Keahou Beach Resort. Fly Hawaiian Airlines. Puako has great reefs.


4) Moorea, French Polynesia, is not world class for SCUBA diving. If it wasn’t for the Laissez-faire attitude of the French, Moorea, Tahiti, and Roratanga would be WORLD CLASS! It is a 5 hour non-stop hop from LAX on late model planes (French made planes, but they work fine).


5) Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico. This place could be world class; but it isn’t! It is a beautiful place, but not for SCUBA divers.


6) Channel Islands, SoCal, USA. If you don’t mind cold water in the winter and luke warm water in the summer, the southern California basin is full of fun diving spot and many different ways to enjoy diving there.


7) East Coast, Florida, USA. Lots of great places to dive.


Places I want to dive but I am worried about the quality of the dive operations:


1) Puerto Rico’s, Paragaura Wall (sp). I worry about the quality of the dive operators and accomodations.


2) Guam, Saipan, and Tinian.


That’s all I have.


markm
#5471
DiveBuddyChgo - 1/22/2009 8:01 PM
Anthony Key Resort Roatan, Honduras Look for the buy one and get the second person 1/2 price.. Blackbeards is the cheapest but I feel that for the extra money spent AKR is far more a better choice for comfort, dining and diving.. Mike B
#20281
Subscribed
Smithsgold - 1/26/2009 10:44 PM


Thanks guys for the Ideas I’ve dove the Channel Islands and it was a blast !!!


I’ll be looking into the other areas too you can never have to many places to Dive !!!!


Jeff
#46
Subscribed
diverdave2 - 2/06/2009 10:18 AM


As a tour guide for my shop, you can’t beat Bonaire. We always stay at the Divi Flamingo. Well equiped dive boats and great service.


Been there over 30 times and keep going back.
#1425
GoAtlantis - 3/09/2009 3:15 PM


I sell dive travel, and the location with the best bang for the buck changes all the time. But, I was in Philippines last November and it was super and not alot of $$ for what you got. Nice resort, great rooms, fabulous dive operation with 4 dives a day, plus shore diving at the house reef, air transfers from Manila and an 5-star chef with amazing, fresh meals. - all for around $1600 for a week?!?! Oh, and bonus points for the beautiful, full service onsite spa - $35 for an hour massage (I got hooked on the foot massage!)


Air is not too cheap, but if you plan out far enough, there are some good buys or you can fly with miles. (The best thing I ever did was get a mileage credit card - we upgrade or fly for booking fees only now. Anyway, it’s a superb value.) You can see some of my PH pics on my profile.


We stayed an extra day in Manillla to sightsee and the resort arranged for a driver for the day -we paid $100 for 12 hours of him taking us all over the city shopping, eating & sightseeing. Another great value! He stayed with the van and guarded all our gear so we were free to roam around. He picked us up and dropped us off where we wanted, then took us to the airport at the end. (And you do not want to try and drive on your own in the Philippines - traffic is crazy.)