Best Intenerary to Maximize dive opportunities.

[dkh]

If you don't mind flying to San Juan, the Destiny has NO sea days. My husband and son are divers and we love waking up in a new place every day. I just tag along and snorkel or beach it. We are not fans of sea days. Don't enjoy fighting over seats by the pool and ending up in the casino out of boredom. In my opinion the hassle of flying to PR is worth the ports. The itinerary includes St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, Antiqua, St. Kitts & St. Maarten. We are flying in a day early and I am trying to locate a night dive for them. If anyone knows of a good operator for a night dive in San Juan, I would appreciate the advice.

 

Dee

[travelingirl70]

The Legend out of Tampa has an irresistable itinerary for divers and non-divers alike. We were on the Miracle last year (same itinerary - except Costa Maya instead of Roatan) and DH went diving on GC, Coz and Belize. He had a blast. We liked it so much we will be going again in 2008. We're disappointed we can't go to Costa Maya, but I am glad he will get to dive Roatan.

[scubadiver888]

If you don't mind flying to San Juan, the Destiny has NO sea days. My husband and son are divers and we love waking up in a new place every day. I just tag along and snorkel or beach it. We are not fans of sea days. Don't enjoy fighting over seats by the pool and ending up in the casino out of boredom. In my opinion the hassle of flying to PR is worth the ports. The itinerary includes St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, Antiqua, St. Kitts & St. Maarten. We are flying in a day early and I am trying to locate a night dive for them. If anyone knows of a good operator for a night dive in San Juan, I would appreciate the advice.

 

Dee

 

Dee,

 

I've cruised twice and both times they departed from San Juan. For the second cruise I looked into a dive in San Juan. Asking around to local scuba shops, dive boards and searching the Internet I found there is no good diving in San Juan. All the diving in Puerto Rico is either a few hours east of San Juan or on the completely opposite side of the island.

 

If you use Google, search for Puerto Rico Scuba Diving and you'll find some links. Read a few of them and you learn that some San Juan dive operators will claim they have great diving, but many mroe claim it is not very good. I also read a review from Frommer's saying the viz is only 10 feet in San Juan.

[2tofly]

Rudebob,

Another idea for a cruise: Check out Star Clippers Cruise Line, smaller sailing ships, currently 3, (approximately 170 passengers). They cruise in the Caribbean, Grenadines and Windward Islands and other places as well. The particular cruise I went on they provided snorkeling (included in the cost), I think about 3 times on the 7 day cruise. They also provided scuba diving, which I believe the ship charged a nominal fee. I think only a couple of people dove on our cruise so they received special attention. We went to the snorkeling sights in their smaller dingy boats, probably 10 min boat ride at the most. The divers went on their own to the diving sights with one of the cruise guides. I can't speak to the diving whether it was fair to excellent because I didn't dive. You might go to the Star Clipper boards and ask the question. The particular cruise I was on, Star Clipper, had a sports team of 3 young swedish individuals competent in all water sports including diving. At the island of Jost Van Dyke the cruise provided a beach picnic. Some other excursions were ATV's, a sailing snorkeling excursion and climbing the mast. I've been on several larger cruises, chartered catamaran (3 couples) in the BVI's (great fun), and the smaller cruise Star Clipper. I really enjoyed the Star Clipper. There wasn't a lot of night life, food was good and the service was excellent. Captain provided daily talks and he was very approchable as well as the crew. They ate with the passengers. It may not be the best cruise for your son but check it out. Under the Star Clipper Cruise line (http://www.starclippers.com) go to ships and click on sun,sea,and sky.

Good luck.