Looking for New Place To Go

My wife and I regularly dive Bonaire, Grand Cayman and Little Cayman and love all three.

Now we'd like to try something new.

Some facts:

Live in middle of the US

Prefer warm clear water

Caribbean destinations

I shoot still (macro and WA) and video

Drift diving not our favorite

Time of year flexible

Prefer not to go during somebody's rainy season

Out of the way OK

Prefer to take only one travel day; two might be OK

Travel midweek OK

We've got one trip on the calendar in September, but I can't wait that long. Can somebody help us?

My favourite Caribbean destination is Coco View Resort in Roatan. The diving is "standard" Caribbean diving (i.e. there is some coral but it is not as plentiful as the South Pacific, there are no large animals), but the resort is geared to diving as much as you want, and it's relatively inexpensive. You can catch a direct ~3 hour flight to Roatan from Houston or (I believe) Atlanta.

About $1100 will get you airport transfers, a room for a week, 3 meals a day plus unlimited coffee, water, and lemonade, up to 4 boat dives a day, plus all the shore diving you can do 24/7. Guests get a dedicated dive locker area steps away from the boat, and the gentle sloping beach for shore entries is less than a minute walk away. Oh, there are two walls and a 60 foot wreck on that shore dive. CoCo View has great camera rinse tanks both on the boats and at the dive lockers, plus an on-site camera pro and dive shop should you need them.

Finally, the resort can hold about 50 or so divers, and does not allow children, so you tend to get more serious divers and few people that come just to party.

Where ever you decide to go, have fun!

-Gina

My favourite Caribbean destination is Coco View Resort in Roatan. The diving is "standard" Caribbean diving (i.e. there is some coral but it is not as plentiful as the South Pacific, there are no large animals), but the resort is geared to diving as much as you want, and it's relatively inexpensive. You can catch a direct ~3 hour flight to Roatan from Houston or (I believe) Atlanta.

 

About $1100 will get you airport transfers, a room for a week, 3 meals a day plus unlimited coffee, water, and lemonade, up to 4 boat dives a day, plus all the shore diving you can do 24/7. Guests get a dedicated dive locker area steps away from the boat, and the gentle sloping beach for shore entries is less than a minute walk away. Oh, there are two walls and a 60 foot wreck on that shore dive. CoCo View has great camera rinse tanks both on the boats and at the dive lockers, plus an on-site camera pro and dive shop should you need them.

 

Finally, the resort can hold about 50 or so divers, and does not allow children, so you tend to get more serious divers and few people that come just to party.

 

Where ever you decide to go, have fun!

 

-Gina

I probably should have mentioned where we've been. Coco View was one, and it wasn't a great trip. It rained all week (the resort told us otherwise), and we were the only two people who did not belong to one of two large dive clubs there at the time, neither of which was particularly friendly to outsiders. It probably deserves another try when the weather is better and there are not so many groups.

We've been to Belize--nice and inexpensive--but I don't find it easy (yet?) to mix drift diving and photography. I did OK, but it was a chore.

St. Thomas: OK. A few dives in St. Barts and St. Kitts: OK. None of these places is pulling me back.

I also forgot to mention we're not interested in a live aboard. Don't need big stuff if the little stuff is interesting.

Thanks Gina for (another) encouraging report on Coco View.

St. Vincent or Dominica

St Croix. Much better diving than St Thomas.

"Dive St Vincent" with Bill Twes

Little Cayman is the spot.

I probably should have mentioned where we've been. Coco View was one, and it wasn't a great trip. It rained all week (the resort told us otherwise), and we were the only two people who did not belong to one of two large dive clubs there at the time, neither of which was particularly friendly to outsiders. It probably deserves another try when the weather is better and there are not so many groups.

We've been 4-5 times now. Our trips in May-June-July have all had gorgeous, sunny weather, but our October trip was almost a week of rain. From what I've heard Oct-Nov tend to be the rainiest times, and June-July seems to be the windiest time. There has usually been a least one group there when we've been there, so I guess that part is hit and miss. We'll be back there the week spanning the end of May-beginning of June, just in case you decide to go back.

-Gina

We've been 4-5 times now. Our trips in May-June-July have all had gorgeous, sunny weather, but our October trip was almost a week of rain. From what I've heard Oct-Nov tend to be the rainiest times, and June-July seems to be the windiest time. There has usually been a least one group there when we've been there, so I guess that part is hit and miss. We'll be back there the week spanning the end of May-beginning of June, just in case you decide to go back.

 

-Gina

Yup; we were there in November and it poured. Visibility was affected because of the runoff from the hillsides. Anyway, thanks for that useful information. Like I said, we probably owe it another chance.

Rich

Little Cayman is the spot.

I really like that place. We know the owner and employees of Pirates Point. I can't find words to say how happy we are there and have gone there for years. We're just looking for something new and different, even though we plan returns to PP in the future.

Rich