bruce-r

[bcurran2003]

seems like you know your way around the caribbean pretty good. we are doing the freedom next july so we are not taking an april cruise next year and are considering do an all inclusive resort next april. any suggestions for an ai (family resort) that has a good dive shop? and has access to shallow reefs 60 foot or less for the junior ow's in the family.

 

tks

[BullinOhio]

Hmmm... this is an interesting question. An AI (family AI) that has good diving for a beginner.

 

Sandals Bahamas is out because of no family. Bonaire has no AI's that I am aware of (but great shore diving). The Yucatan might be good (maybe Iberostar Cozumel). Cozumel diving is some of the best, but not ideal for a youth beginning diver (my opinion ONLY). How luxurious are you looking for? There are many less luxurious AI dive resorts, but they frequently only cater to divers.

 

Though I am not Bruce, Breezes Curacao comes to mind as a possibility. Curacao has some good shallow shore diving and seems like a nice resort (I have not stayed there).

 

Couldn't resist giving my two cents. Bruce-R, what do you come up with?

 

 

Edit: Should add Beaches Turks and Caicos as another possibility.

[bruce-r]

Cozumel, with out a doubt, Cozumel.

 

I went there in December with my non-diving family. We stayed at the Fiesta Americana and did their AI plan. I thought that staying there was a good value for what we got. Very good resort for families. Their on-site dive operator, Dive House, is OK for the new or casual diver. Experience divers might prefer a bit more freedom on their dives. That isn't a problem as most all of the other 70+ dive operators in Cozumel will pick up at the resort dock. If you want a more personal dive experience, I would recommend contacting Christi at her operation, http://www.bluextseadiving.com She runs a fast small boat and provides excellent customer service. http://www.scubawithalison.com would also be worth considering. I haven't gone out diving with her, but she gets good reviews. Fiesta Americana doesn't have a sandy beach that extends out into the water which means that the shore diving is worth the $6 for a tank rental. A person would be hard pressed to dive deeper than 25-30 from shore there.

 

There are a couple of other AI's I would consider, depending on your budget. A small step up from Fiesta Americana would be the Occidental Allegro and a bit larger step up would be the Occidental Grand. Both of these resorts have nice sandy beaches and therefore very poor shore diving. The on-site operators here are middle of the road, but any operator will pick up from either. As a diver I would avoid Iberostar. Their on-site operator gets poor reviews and the resort management makes it hard for off site operator to pick up customers from their dock.

 

If you have been to Cozumel before on a cruise, a week there is even better. You get the chance to eat in town at night if you want, which is recommended as there are many excellent restaurants. You can rent a car for the around island exploration drive and take as long as you want without missing the ship. Finally, you can just hang out at the resort, an all included frozen drink in hand, and not feel rushed to do anything. If I had to choose between a cruise and a week in Cozumel, the cruise would be a distant second choice.

 

My other choice would be http://sunsetwaters.com/ in Curacao. They have a good house reef for anytime diving. Not very deep and an easy swim from the beach. A guided shore dive there is only $30 and should last more than an hour if it is a shallow dive. The diving in Curacao is definitely good too, way better than Aruba. There is also a Breezes in Curacao, but I don't know enough about it to recommend or not.

 

Beaches in Turks and Caicos might also be worth a look as the diving there is quite good, but if you are an advanced diver, you might chafe under the restrictions of the dive operation as they dive to the lowest common denominator of diver skills. Might not be a problem with a Jr. diver. I have the impression that Beaches is a bit expensive, but you might find out different.

 

Since we live on the West coast, Cozumel is the "easiest" for us to get to, but with you on the other coast have an easier time getting to the rest of the islands.

 

BullinOhio had some good ideas, with the exception of staying at Iberostar if you are a diver. I have heard good things about the resort itself.

 

If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.

[bcurran2003]

my son has dove cozumel three times so he is use to the currents there, will check out your suggestions. turks is fairly easy to get to from here and have heard good things about beaches there. cayman airways now nonstop from boston so that is a possisbility also. my wife agreed to a diving vacation only if she does not have to cook so that is why i was looking at a.i.

 

bullin have you dove turks? i have not so i dont have any experience there but i do hear good things and know people that went to beaches and loved it

 

bruce at fiesta american do they have any kids activities. by next year my non diver will be 10 and loves the adventure ocean on royal caribbean and would immerse himself in a kids program. i like the fact we can do a shore dive there.

 

dont mind a bit diving shallow and looking at fish and coral so i dont need to be challanged so an operators restrictions wont bother me

 

tks for the leads guys i will let you know what i come up with

[bruce-r]

bruce at fiesta american do they have any kids activities. by next year my non diver will be 10 and loves the adventure ocean on royal caribbean and would immerse himself in a kids program. i like the fact we can do a shore dive there.

Here are some photos I took at FA to kind of show some of the stuff they had that would interest kids. I didn't take a photo of the tennis court, but they have one. My son enjoyed playing tennis. You can check out rackets, but don't loose the balls because they charge $20pesos per ball if you don't return them. It looked like there were enough kids around during the day that at least my daughter could find someone to play in the pool. She really likes being in the water whereas he is indifferent. Son preferred the company of his parents. In summary, not much of a kids program for a 10 y/o especially compared to what a cruise offers, but my kids had a very good time anyway.

 

The Allegro might have a more structured kids program. The Grand is probably worth at least a look online. I'd stay they if I could get a good deal.

 

I didn't mention the El Presidente Intercontinental link to reviews because it isn't an all inclusive, but it is probably the nicest property on the island. It has decent shore diving and a bit of a sandy beach out into the water. The resort is close enough to town so the taxi ride is $6 one way, much less than from the Grand or Allegro. The on-site dive op, Scuba-du, gets decent marks. Lots of adults that go to Cozumel shun the AI because they do prefer to eat in town, especially dinner. For me, traveling with a family, I think the AI is the way to go, especially for the convenience before the morning dive, and the included drinks in the evening.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com and http://www.travelnotes.cc are 2 places to look for hotel reviews.

 

Grand Cayman does have good diving, but it is a bit more expensive. There are only a couple of AI resorts there as well. Lots of people do the condo thing there to save money on meals, something that probably won't appeal to DW.

[BullinOhio]

Unfortunately, Turks and Caicos is still on the "To-Do" list. I have two friends that spent a week there, albeit on a liveaboard instead of an AI, and they rave about it. I have not tried an AI yet, but everyone that I have spoke to that has done a Sandals resort loved it, and Beaches is the same company as Sandals (but with children's programs) so I thought that might be worth consideration. It is my understanding that the walls there start around 40 feet.

 

I misunderstood the need for 60' max dives and the junior OW thing. I was thinking it would be for your child's OW check-out and subsequent dives. My bad. Heck, you can't go wrong with Cozumel and the sheer number of AI resorts in that area would insure you could find one to your liking. I would still consider Curacao due to the availability of AI's there and the easy, shallow, shore diving. Even with easy flights, I would not consider Grand Cayman. It is still a mess and they really don't have much in the way of AI's (especially with activities for children).

 

Thanks for the scoop on Iberostar for divers Bruce. It actually came to mind because Tuesday I was talking to a friend (non-diver) that had just returned from there and absolutely loved it. I really want to spend a whole week in Cozumel and was considering the Iberostar after the great review my friend had. I will look elsewhere (leaning back towards the El Presidente after your Iberostar comments). We dove right offshore from the El Presidente last month on the Paradiso reef and it was a very nice 35' dive.

 

Let us know what you decide and, even thought this is a cruise board, I would love to hear your review.

[bcurran2003]

will let you know where we end up, i am leaning to cozumel right now

tks for all the tips :)

[Latitude 20]

Just a couple other bits of information:

 

Alison Dennis (http://www.scubawithalison.com) began her Cozumel career as an instructor with Dive Palancar at the Allegro so if you decide to dive with her, she can probably give you good recent information on the property (we've heard good and bad about them recently). She's very willing to make recommendations or even help with reservations.

 

I wouldn't recommend a land-based vacation in Grand Cayman yet. We were there in Feb. and there was still a ton of hurricane damage.

 

Kathi & Leo

[Sailfish]

Bonaire is great for newly certified divers - tons of shallow dive sites - I could think of maybe two or three sites that would be more challenging - all others are very easy. There's little current and the visibility is excellent.

 

There are several AI resorts (do a search) or go to www.bonairetalk.com . It can get a little pricey, and getting to Bonaire is kind of pain (through San Juan it is anyway). You can dive from shore or do a boat package. We met several newly certified people in Bonaire, who all said they could not have asked for a better place to hone their skills. We booked our package through www.bonairepros.com .

[Sailfish]

Okay...I know I am going to be in the minority on this one, but I personally would not recommend Cozumel to a newly certified diver. Cozumel is a great place to vacation with non-diving family members and several AI's on the island are great - I have been to several. But diving in current can be tricky for newbies; Cozumel is not the best place to practice your buoyancy control and air consumption. Given that dive conditions are seldom perfect, a newly certified diver could be talked into doing something he or she is not quite ready for - like diving through the swim-throughs at Palancar caves (one of my favorite dive sites). I have watched newbies have issues under water, and it can be very frustrating to the rest of the group.

 

There are very few shallow dive sites in Cozumel; I can't think of one I would want to go to! I was once a novice, and did dive in Cozumel before I had 25 dives to my name. I did fine, but I can remember how tricky it was for me to descend and remain with the group the first time I dove in current; how scary it was to swim out of a down current or to swim through caves and overhangs. Heck, I was diving at 100+ feet depth every day! I'm not saying all newly certified divers will have problems - I didn't. But since then, I have watched many newbies in Cozumel abort dives and do stupid things while diving, inconveniencing the rest of the group and putting themselves and others in danger. On our last trip to Cozumel, as I and others waitied for the DM at 90 feet along a wall, I watched a newly certified (kid) diver followed by the DM (obviously trying to stop him) swim past us - we later learned from the DM, that he caught up to the guy at 130 feet!

 

I think Cozumel is a great place to vacation - just maybe not the most ideal place to take a newly certified diver.

[bcurran2003]

tks for your thoughts - we have dove coz several times on the shallow reefs and not concerned about the diving there. i am very good at giving the dm our experience and our expected dive profile. we have done dives in coz so far and really enjoy it

 

bonaire i look at bonairetalk constantly and would do that in a heartbeat except my concern of activities for non divers. you look up and down bonairetalk and it really never addresses a family vacation with divers and non divers alike. my lds is running trip to bonaire in nov for 1295 includes air (boston) accomodations at plaza and something like 15 boat dives and unlimited shore dives. when my son is out of high school going to have to put a trip like that on the agenda

[Sailfish]

tks for your thoughts - we have dove coz several times on the shallow reefs and not concerned about the diving there. i am very good at giving the dm our experience and our expected dive profile. we have done dives in coz so far and really enjoy it

 

bonaire i look at bonairetalk constantly and would do that in a heartbeat except my concern of activities for non divers. you look up and down bonairetalk and it really never addresses a family vacation with divers and non divers alike. my lds is running trip to bonaire in nov for 1295 includes air (boston) accomodations at plaza and something like 15 boat dives and unlimited shore dives. when my son is out of high school going to have to put a trip like that on the agenda

 

Non-divers will not have much to do in Bonaire, unless they are die hard snorkelers. We met up with people who had non-divers tagging along - sorry to say, all non-divers we spoke with would NOT return to Bonaire. Even a car didn't help. There is definitely more to see and do in Cozumel, I suppose.

 

One other thought might be to go across the channel to Playa Del Carman or futher south to what that call the Riviera Maya. We had an awesome time doing cavern and cenote dives and Xcaret, Tulum and Xelha are close by that non-divers will have tons to see and do. Most resorts up and down the coast are AI as well. No, the diving wasn't like Cozumel. More advanced people might want to head south to the Chinchorro Banks - we did a live-aboard out here a few years ago, but there are dive ops near by who will take you out - 3 hour boat ride, though.

[Skinsfan1311]

Cozumel, with out a doubt, Cozumel.

 

I went there in December with my non-diving family. We stayed at the Fiesta Americana and did their AI plan. I thought that staying there was a good value for what we got. Very good resort for families. Their on-site dive operator, Dive House, is OK for the new or casual diver. Experience divers might prefer a bit more freedom on their dives. That isn't a problem as most all of the other 70+ dive operators in Cozumel will pick up at the resort dock. If you want a more personal dive experience, I would recommend contacting Christi at her operation, www.bluextseadiving.com She runs a fast small boat and provides excellent customer service. www.scubawithalison.com would also be worth considering. I haven't gone out diving with her, but she gets good reviews. Fiesta Americana doesn't have a sandy beach that extends out into the water which means that the shore diving is worth the $6 for a tank rental. A person would be hard pressed to dive deeper than 25-30 from shore there.

 

There are a couple of other AI's I would consider, depending on your budget. A small step up from Fiesta Americana would be the Occidental Allegro and a bit larger step up would be the Occidental Grand. Both of these resorts have nice sandy beaches and therefore very poor shore diving. The on-site operators here are middle of the road, but any operator will pick up from either. As a diver I would avoid Iberostar. Their on-site operator gets poor reviews and the resort management makes it hard for off site operator to pick up customers from their dock.

 

If you have been to Cozumel before on a cruise, a week there is even better. You get the chance to eat in town at night if you want, which is recommended as there are many excellent restaurants. You can rent a car for the around island exploration drive and take as long as you want without missing the ship. Finally, you can just hang out at the resort, an all included frozen drink in hand, and not feel rushed to do anything. If I had to choose between a cruise and a week in Cozumel, the cruise would be a distant second choice.

 

My other choice would be http://sunsetwaters.com/ in Curacao. They have a good house reef for anytime diving. Not very deep and an easy swim from the beach. A guided shore dive there is only $30 and should last more than an hour if it is a shallow dive. The diving in Curacao is definitely good too, way better than Aruba. There is also a Breezes in Curacao, but I don't know enough about it to recommend or not.

 

Beaches in Turks and Caicos might also be worth a look as the diving there is quite good, but if you are an advanced diver, you might chafe under the restrictions of the dive operation as they dive to the lowest common denominator of diver skills. Might not be a problem with a Jr. diver. I have the impression that Beaches is a bit expensive, but you might find out different.

 

Since we live on the West coast, Cozumel is the "easiest" for us to get to, but with you on the other coast have an easier time getting to the rest of the islands.

 

BullinOhio had some good ideas, with the exception of staying at Iberostar if you are a diver. I have heard good things about the resort itself.

 

If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.

We visited the property, where Breezes Curacao now resides. (it used to be the Princess Beach Resort & Casino, before being purchased by Breezes). It looks like a wonderful dive-site, especially for beginning divers. Dive shop, on-site, on the dock, with wide wooden steps into the water. Though we snorkeled it at the time, (got certified later), I can tell you that the reef is very pretty, abundant sea-life, and very beautiful water. The property is gorgeous. My TA told me that a few of her clients stayed at the Breezes and were happy with it...not overwhelmed, but satisfied. Hope this helps!