Bummed after cruise... need to go diving!

[nrh322]

Okay...after tons and tons of planning for our 8/11 - 8/18 cruise on Liberty of the Seas, we're home and I'm bummed. I made the mistake of listening to too much goobledegook of advice and got myself all worried about horrible things happening if we didn't book our excursions with the cruise ship and/or left our teenage sons on the ship to fend for themselves for a few hours while we went diving.

 

So, we ended up listening to the voices, booking cattle car snorkeling excursions so the kiddos could come too, and generally having a bummer of a time. It was particularly hard for me because I'd been DIVING in Coz and GC many, many, many times and I KNOW what I was missing. At least my family was blissfully unaware! :rolleyes:

 

But now I NEED a dive trip. I'm thinking Utila in the spring for the mantas, but the airfare is ridiculous and we just blew a ton of money on this cruise. I wouldn't mind doing another cruise, but I really want to DIVE and it just doesn't seem to be geared to doing it... the port stops are too short (and liveaboards are too expensive!! :eek: ). Does anybody have any suggestions? We're flying out of Houston. I'm sick of the usual suspects... I want to go somewhere new and affordable... I'm open to the idea of cruising again if there is a cruise line that's more geared towards divers.

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Bassethound]

Bonaire is really convenient from Houston.

[nrh322]

Bonaire is really convenient from Houston.

 

 

Yeah... but the airfare for our dates is $1250/pp/coach :eek: ... at least we can get to Roatan for about $500.

 

Any other ideas? :confused:

[Snorkel2Much]

Yeah... but the airfare for our dates is $1250/pp/coach :eek: ... at least we can get to Roatan for about $500.

 

Any other ideas? :confused:

I'd be very hard pressed to find a way to be bored with a week of diving in Roatan. ;)

http://www.bibr.com/divingroatan.htm

[wolfie2012]

If you find traveling out of the country is too expensive, try south florida... plenty of great diving all up and down the coasts...key largo, pompano area, hollywood beach (shore diving), venice beach (shark tooth diving!), etc, etc.....

 

The 3 tier reef system makes it easy for shore diving (though not so much in the keys). Some excellent dive ops out there, my favorite being Parrot Island Scuba in Pompano... but you've got plenty of others as well.

[diverearl]

If diving is your prime objective why not book Cozumel. There are plenty of reefs to keep any level diver busy and the shore still provides better dives than most places offer by boat. A week from Houston on funjet with air / hotel & transfers is still around $650.00. Hard for a diver to go wrong on this island.

[bruce-r]

Cozumel from Houston would be a no-brainer for me, but if you really want to dive, I'd recommend looking at one of the Caribbean liveaboards.

 

http://www.explorerventures.com/ for the Turks and Caicos

 

http://www.nektoncruises.com for Belize from Houston should be a decent deal or the Bahamas from Ft. Lauderdale

 

http://www.aggressor.com for Belize

[Capt_BJ]

two recommends....

 

a) Cayman Brac for a week will usually get u a trip to Little Cayman in the package...but it is traditional 'resort' 2 tank boat in the morning plus....

 

or

 

b) Bonaire and rent a car (that's a joke... but you'll understand after u do it) ... then you have your own schedule. Bonaire is all about shore diving. You can buy a boat package, but you will go to the same places you can drive to.

 

Airfare.....well, Cayman is closer....

[nrh322]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'd love to make it over to Bonaire, but the idea of spending more dough on airfare than I do on room, board, and diving kills me.

 

I've been to the Caymans, Belize, Roatan, and especially Cozumel more times than I can count. I'm not knocking them... they all feel like second homes sometimes... I just want to do something NEW (without spending a fortune!).

 

So.... after about a zillion phone calls putting a group together, my original plan is staying in play... Utila in the Spring with the Whale Sharks. I've heard good things about Deep Blue. Taca airlines has nonstops out of Houston to Roatan for less than $500 and we can catch a private ferry to Utila for about $25. It will take longer than a puddle jumper, but we'll save another few hundred and still get to the island in time to do a late afternoon shore dive.

 

Sound good? It does to me! Heck... I'm even looking forward to the mossies and the sand fleas! :)

 

In the meantime... a couple more trips out to the Flower Gardens and Stetson Bank should hold me over...

[Jacqueline]

Wish I was going ! Let me know when you find a cruiseline that makes it easy for us to dive...

Thanks for the tip on Utila.

[Capt_BJ]

Did Cayman means you did the Brac and Little Cayman too? Very different diving there.....Bloody Bay Wall starts at 25 feet vice the 70 feet for the wall at the big island.....

 

Never been to the Keys????? Don't knock it 'til ya tried it

 

On the other had .... I've hundred of dives right from Sunset House .... don't really need to find a new reef every dive...... Need to find a place and sit and let critters find you....... I find something new everytime...... especially on nite dives.

[nrh322]

Did Cayman means you did the Brac and Little Cayman too? Very different diving there.....Bloody Bay Wall starts at 25 feet vice the 70 feet for the wall at the big island.....

 

Never been to the Keys????? Don't knock it 'til ya tried it

 

On the other had .... I've hundred of dives right from Sunset House .... don't really need to find a new reef every dive...... Need to find a place and sit and let critters find you....... I find something new everytime...... especially on nite dives.

 

Brac and Little Cayman too... although not as many trips as to G.C.

 

I'm a retired PADI instructor. I used to work in Boca at Force E and for a while in Coral Springs at the now defunct Coral Reef Scuba. We ran a lot of trips to the Keys and the Bahamas. When I taught in Texas, I ran group trips to Coz, Belize, and the Caymans... as well as regular trips out to the Gulf oil rigs and the Flower Gardens. Not bad work if you can get it! ;)

 

I love all of those places. Heck... I can hang on a rig watching blennies for a whole weekend and I'm the happiest girl on earth... BUT, if I have the chance to go somewhere that I've NEVER been... WHY NOT? Isn't that what traveling is all about? :D

[bruce-r]

Brac and Little Cayman too... although not as many trips as to G.C.

 

I'm a retired PADI instructor. I used to work in Boca at Force E and for a while in Coral Springs at the now defunct Coral Reef Scuba. We ran a lot of trips to the Keys and the Bahamas. When I taught in Texas, I ran group trips to Coz, Belize, and the Caymans... as well as regular trips out to the Gulf oil rigs and the Flower Gardens. Not bad work if you can get it! ;)

 

I love all of those places. Heck... I can hang on a rig watching blennies for a whole weekend and I'm the happiest girl on earth... BUT, if I have the chance to go somewhere that I've NEVER been... WHY NOT? Isn't that what traveling is all about? :D

Now that you have giving some more details about yourself, better recommendations can be made.

 

You really need to look at going to a place in Indonesia. I really like the look of http://www.wakatobi.com/homepage.html

[Carl2860]

We just spent one week in July diving the Dominican Republic and had the best time. If interested get my email from my profile and I can provide the info and underwater video's as well.

 

I believe it was with SeaPro divers and we staryed at the Coral Cona resort.

[Bassethound]

Agree with Wakatobi, it is an outstanding place. But, gettting to and from is not for the normal traveller and the cost can be pretty steep.

 

Next year I am going to Tawali in PNG, while not quite Wakatobi it is still a great place.

[nrh322]

Now that you have giving some more details about yourself, better recommendations can be made.

 

You really need to look at going to a place in Indonesia. I really like the look of http://www.wakatobi.com/homepage.html

 

 

Ooooh! Oooooh! Ooooooh! Pick me! Pick me! :D

 

I hate to imagine what the airfare would be though...:eek:

 

I checked on Continental... depending on flight times, airfare would be anywhere from $2800 to $9300... with a really long layover in Guam. The cool thing is that I haven't been to Guam since I was 15. It might be fun to stay for a few extra days. It would bump up the airfare even more though. I think I need to start playing the lottery!

 

On the other hand, I wonder if I could get enough people together to get group pricing. Trip leaders usually stay and dive for FREE! If not this trip... someday...

[bruce-r]

You could go as part of This Group

 

$4595 including airfare from IAH or DFW

 

I'd go except I wouldn't be allowed to be gone over labor day weekend. DW likes to have me around at the start of school. She's a teacher.

[nrh322]

I looked at that and almost cried, because it left yesterday! I was thinking, "Aw, man, Bruce... why are you torturing me with the impossible dream?!!??" THEN... I realized it was yesterday... in 2008!!

 

Tell your DW to play hooky from school and come diving... that's what all the cool kids do anyway. It's the first week of school... she won't miss much! :) I'll grab my DH and a couple other couples that would kill or die to come along. We're off to Wakatobi! Sold!