common/cheap tropical dives

[diverjack]

I've done that myself. Actually showed up in Coz rightbefore a hurican back around 99. hurreican never hit, hoel was empty and port closed. Had a hell of a time at the bar. Once the port opened the dives were great. no under water traffic.lol. But the last hurrican a couple years ago did a fair amount of damage. island recove fine, but reefs had a lot of setiment. Ended up goin got Curacao the following year. great diving very cheap. got unlimite tanks and did about 25 shore dives over the course of the week. amazing walls and valley's.

 

[cjsparky]

From what I understand about Bonaire, its an incredible drift dive... I have seen some of the clubs around town also advertising planned trips there on the cheap, relatively...

CJ

 

[mojo]

Cjsparky;454015 wrote: From what I understand about Bonaire, its an incredible drift dive... I have seen some of the clubs around town also advertising planned trips there on the cheap, relatively...

CJ

Hmm. There's really no currents to speak of around Bonaire... so not much drift diving. But don't let that stop you from going! Relatively good diving and direct flight from Atlanta!

 

[cjsparky]

Also...I have found (this may be VERY unpopular here) that I have seen more, had more fun, and was able to do it more often, snorkeling in the Carribean, instead of diving. In fact, the last 2 days we were there, we skipped our dives and went straight to snorkeling. I find now that one or 2 dives is all I need in an area where the snorkeling is great.

C

 

[cjsparky]

mojo;454017 wrote: Hmm. There's really no currents to speak of around Bonaire... so not much drift diving. But don't let that stop you from going! Relatively good diving and direct flight from Atlanta!

Ugh, I have been misinformed...was told there were drift dives basically right off the beaches...

 

[wmboots]

CHEAP reef diving go to Roatan fantastic reefs you can stay at coco view for around $1,100 all inclusive and dive to your hearts content on a portion of the second largest barrier reef system in the world

 

[wmboots]

bonaire would be my second choice and if you get a chance to dive the east side it is even better but for the better part of the year the east side is way to windy and wild to be able to dive

 

[wmboots]

Cjsparky;454019 wrote: Ugh, I have been misinformed...was told there were drift dives basically right off the beaches...

bonaire isn't known for drift diving go to West Palm or Cozumel for that and West Palm is much closer and has world classs diving too

 

[mojo]

wmboots;454088 wrote: West Palm is much closer and has world classs diving too

:confused2: I'm not sure about "world class"! That's pretty much limited to the coral triangle in the south Pacific...

 

[wmboots]

Corigan;305119 wrote: I've dove the turnafee atoll in belize and been to anthony's key restort in roatan as well. Both places are amazing. Roatan is so full of micro critters you can spend all day just hovering over one spot having a great time.

Matt

roatan is just a great place to dive period can't wait to make another trip back to coco view

 

[wmboots]

mojo;305382 wrote: I did a couple years ago for a week. I wouldn't go back. Decent coral, cool terrain, but almost no fish. It was like diving in a desert. There are much better places to spend your money...

mojo where were you diving that you saw no fish, roatan is loaded with sea life and there are coral reefs you can just hover over for an hour and just be mesmorized by the colors some of the healthiest reefs I have dove are in roatan

 

[mojo]

wmboots;454190 wrote: mojo where were you diving that you saw no fish, roatan is loaded with sea life and there are coral reefs you can just hover over for an hour and just be mesmorized by the colors some of the healthiest reefs I have dove are in roatan

It's in the rest of the thread..

Roatan was "OK", but I wouldn't go back. I was certainly never "mesmerized" by the reef there (or anywhere in the Caribbean, for that matter) - we're spoiled by our tanks.

 

[wbrown]

no mention of Trinidad and Tobago? Isla de Margarita? North up to and around Grenada is cool. Trini is into eco-tourism and prices are going up, however not too far west and controlled by Venezula is Margarita Island. Kind of obscure and a bit more work to find information on, but for using USD, you will be hard pressed to beat it.
There are a handful of American and British ex-pats there running dives and stuff with B&B type places that will blow your mind.
Couple grand in 1's, 5's and 10's will set you up like a monarch for a month.

 

[wmboots]

wbrown;454434 wrote: no mention of Trinidad and Tobago? Isla de Margarita? North up to and around Grenada is cool. Trini is into eco-tourism and prices are going up, however not too far west and controlled by Venezula is Margarita Island. Kind of obscure and a bit more work to find information on, but for using USD, you will be hard pressed to beat it.
There are a handful of American and British ex-pats there running dives and stuff with B&B type places that will blow your mind.
Couple grand in 1's, 5's and 10's will set you up like a monarch for a month.

what is the best way to get to margarita? pontoon plane, puddle hopper or boat? I have heard of the island but never investigated it

 

[wmboots]

mojo;454272 wrote: It's in the rest of the thread..

Roatan was "OK", but I wouldn't go back. I was certainly never "mesmerized" by the reef there (or anywhere in the Caribbean, for that matter) - we're spoiled by our tanks.

if your diving the west side or west end that is understandable move over to the east side of the island, hit chimneys, mary's place, half moon bay and a few others and you will find coral beds that incredible especially minagerhea's reef

 

[wbrown]

wmboots;454783 wrote: what is the best way to get to margarita? pontoon plane, puddle hopper or boat? I have heard of the island but never investigated it

Island hoppers, they do have an airport. You have to go through mainland Venezuela, or a larger island like Trinidad.
I've been a few times, and the place is great. It's worth a googling, there is not a great deal of info out there in English tho, but you can translate several of the spanish sites and get a lot more info.

 

[wmboots]

thanks for the info and I do love the translation button in the google tool bar

 

[corigan]

wmboots;454787 wrote: if your diving the west side or west end that is understandable move over to the east side of the island, hit chimneys, mary's place, half moon bay and a few others and you will find coral beds that incredible especially minagerhea's reef

The North Side/North East rocks if you can get to it. The waves/currents and surge sometimes blow it out, but if you can get in there it is amazing. I was in the worst surge I've ever been in though on some reefs on the northeast side.

 

[wmboots]

Corigan;455415 wrote: The North Side/North East rocks if you can get to it. The waves/currents and surge sometimes blow it out, but if you can get in there it is amazing. I was in the worst surge I've ever been in though on some reefs on the northeast side.

whats amazing is they consider bad viz when it's under 125'

 

[redstang]

Anyone else have experience in the Turks and Caicos? The family and I stayed at the Beaches resort last summer and thought the diving was fantastic. Trying to load video up now for everyone if I can link to it. Plentiful fish and corals. A little better in our opinion than what we saw off Kauai but we only did a single two-tank dive there. Far better than either Negril or Ocho Rios in Jamaica.