Dive vacation suggestions

[MaineBelle]

My DH and I would like to go on a trip in the spring, this is sort of our last hurrah before we settle down and start thinking about kids.

Here are our conditions:

We would like to go somewhere exotic, but we only have 10 days max. We like adventure travel - hiking, scuba diving, etc. As a matter fact, it has to involve diving for my DH. Any suggestions - we were thinking along the lines of the Galapagos, or Costa Rica. Has anybody been to these places before?

[emmjay]

I've been to Costa Rica but I don't dive so I don't know how it is there. I can recommend Belize though - just off the coast is the Great Mayan Reef, and there is tons of excellent diving there. If you go in May to Placencia in the south, you can dive with whale sharks (one of the only places to do that). The other Central American location I know of for diving is the Bay Islands group (Roatan and Utila are the main ones) off of Honduras.

The Galapagos would be amazing though! I would love to go there.

[PeanutButter]

I was going to *highly* recommend Belize. We did 8 days there this spring and loved it. We split our time between two places:

4 days at Hidden Valley Inn (www.hiddenvalleyinn.com): it is inland, so no diving, but it is such a beautiful place, and GREAT for more adventurous types. It's on a nature reserve, with tons of trails for hiking, biking, etc. It's very isolated, and suprisingly INexpensive.

then we did 4 days at Victoria House on Ambergris Caye (http://www.victoria-house.com). Very beautiful. Great dive shop and beachfront access. There are lots of other resorts that are less expensive in Ambergris, or you could head to Placencia, as emmjay mentioned.

The thing I loved about this trip was that we got a combination of a more rustic/adventurous vacation AND a more luxurious beachfront trip.

Belize is known for having some of the best diving in the world and (I am assuming you are in Maine), it's not that long of a trip.

As far as I know, Galapagos requires that you go with a tour group, because of restrictions in visiting the islands...

[PG-rated]

We went to the Galapagos for our honeymoon and LOVED it. I would definitely recommend it for an adventure-type vacation. You do need to be on a guided tour to visit most of the islands, but not to stay on Santa Cruz (the inhabited island). We did a land-based tour, where you stay in a hotel on Santa Cruz and take day trips out to the islands to hike and snorkel. But the best dive trips will generally be on cruises; these aren't big commercial cruises, but smaller yachts that sleep 16-20. We booked our trip through Intrepid Travel (http://www.intrepidtravel.com), but I think you should take a look at the options at Discover Galapagos (http://www.discovergalapagos.com); we wanted to book through them, but they were full on the dates we wanted. Check out Page 11 of my journal for pics. :)

[MaineBelle]

Thanks for everyones response. Belize is a great suggestion! PeanutButter, your trip sounds great - i'd be happy doing the exact same itinerary. PG-rated, that is so neat that you went to the Galapagos for your honeymoon. Your pictures were great. Now I have to go look at flight/prices/availability and start making some plans.

[TracieB]

Some other ideas: Palau (touted as being the best place in the WORLD to dive...), Guam (we have a ton of divers here), Australia, any of the other small islands on the Northern Marianas chain.

If you need any info, let me know! Or visit magnificentmicronesia.com

[wander_woman]

You might also consider Egypt. The diving in the Red Sea is phenomenal. We stayed in Dahab, a small town on the Red Sea, and absolutely loved it.

I've been to Costa Rica and highly recommend it but I didn't dive there.

[AmyE]

DH and I did the same thing the year before we started on DS. ;) We went to Palau - fabulous diving, really interesting hiking, sea kayaking, etc. We spent 7 days there at the Caroline Resort; add in travel time, and it worked out to be about 9 days. If you have the time, I would go to Palau or Truk (also in the Pacific), just 'cause it's really far away and kind of pricey. We figured we wouldn't be heading off that far into the Pacific once kids arrived, so for us it was a once-in-a-LONG-time trip. Maybe we'll go back when the kidlets are in college...I haven't been to the Galapagos, but from what you and others have said, that would be my second recommendation.

Belize is great, as is the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras (same reef structure as in Belize). I think Roatan and the Bay Islands have better diving than Belize, certainly better shore diving, but you can't go wrong with either place. The only thing with going there is that it's theoretically a trip you could take when the kids are off at grandma's one week in, say 5 years. Again, go far away -when will you get the chance next?

Australia (IMO) has the best diving, but the reefs up north are too far away for other adventures, unless you do 3-4 days on a liveaboard and then 3-4 days in Queensland. Egypt has good diving, but I was more impressed with Belize, Aus, and Palau, frankly. And I don't think Egypt has the kind of adventure travel you're looking for, if by that you mean hiking and other outdoors stuff. Costa Rica's diving is not nearly as good as it's northern neighbors HOnduras and Belize, but there is plenty of other stuff, so it depends on what you want to emphasize.

[Jazz]

There are so many great places! We've done two one week live-aboards, in the Caymans, and on the Kona coast of the Big Island. Both were great, the Cayman has more color (but we went in 2001, and at least two hurricanes have passed over since).

The big one on my dream list is the Galapagos (there's a live aboard available that includes afternoon trips on land). If you want any info about live aboards, let me know and I'll pm you. The big plus is convenience (just eating, sleeping, and diving is great), the biggest minus is cost.

[ManteoChik]

I too have done dive trips on a live-aboard dive boat and it was *wonderful*. The company my family dives with is Nekton Diving Criuses (www.nektoncruises.com). The reason I loved going with them is because it's small and intimate....they only have about 32 passengers and 12 crew on the boat which was fabulous because when my family goes we take up most of the boat...lol. They leave out of different places, but I've only done their trips that depart out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL and dive through the Bahamas.

Some of their desitnations are:
-Northwestern Bahamas
-Cay Sal Banks Bahamas
-Cay Lobos Bahamas
-Southern Bahamas
-Central Belize
-South Belize
-Mona Island
-Whales of Silver Bank

The reason I love it is because it's like being away from home and everyone really gets to know each other (even those that weren't there with my family were like family by the time we left). You wake up in the morning to a huge family style breakfast and then its off to a dive briefing for the day. They bring out a mid-morning snack to the upper deck (where the hot tub/lounge chairs are). Lunch is also a big thing on the boat and it's always wonderful. Mid afternoon they have fresh baked cookies right from the oven up on the top deck. And dinner is always wonderful as well. They also have their own photo lab on the boat for those that like underwater photography (as well as a photography contest the week you are on the boat). They also have someone filiming all the time and at the end of the week they put together a movie (I still have mine) and everyone sits around and watches it together and laughs...it is really awesome. You also have to option to buy a copy of the movie if you wish....i would highly reccomend it. They deal with customs...you don't have to do a thing. They have shore excursions as well as kayaks and other things for you to play with when you aren't in the mood to dive.

Can you tell just talking about it makes me want to go back?....lol.

[littlebear]

I don't dive at all, but we went to Curacao on our honeymoon. Everyone kept asking us if we were divers. Apparently, the diving is great there. We absolutely loved the island.