My wife and I got certified about 12 years ago and every dive vacation since has been on Bonaire. We love the simplicity of shore diving with no schedule and being able to go at our own pace. Every year we say we should broaden our horizons and try somewhere new but end up back at Bonaire since it is so relaxing. So it is that time of year again and even though we will probably end up back on Bonaire (and be happy about it!) I think I should at least ask everyone if they know of any other dive destination that offers a similar experience. Little Cayman? Hondurus, Belize? We would want to avoid long or crowded boat rides to get to the dive sites having been spoiled by Bonaire! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Steve.

Little Cayman...if ya like simple take a look at McCoys Fishing and Diving Lodge....less expensive than others but still pretty expensive (includes meals though) short boat trips, your right off the wall there

Roatan....Less expensive, short boat trips, you can kind of avoid the larger resorts and get fairly reasonable lodging and diving. Vis and water temp is comparable to Bonaire (i think).

Belize - I didn't see many smaller boats on Ambergris but they may exist. More big sealife good viz. Ambergris is a kinda barefoot place.

All in all, been and dove in all three places.....I'm going back to Bonaire in a couple of weeks.

Drop me an email if you have specific questions about any of the locations

Joe
Macaroni Man

Roatan ( Reef House or Cocoa View), Utila ( Laguna Beach resort) anywhere in the Pacific (Sipidan or Mabul) and Belize are all good bets...don't care for the Keys too expensive and every dive is from a boat...few fish..it's too bad we don't take care of our own reef system..Cozumel is fun but tons of divers and very commercial and touristy..but hey thats better than no diving I guess

I've been diving for over 25 yrs in the Caribbean..North, south, east & west..
A lot of nice places, but we ALWAYS return to Bonaire.. That should tell you something..
Can't wait till this Feb to return to her again..

for a long time we came to bonaire in the odd numbered years and went somewhere else in the even numbered years. now it will be bonaire at least once every year. two years ago we were on grand turk...quieter than bonaire, not as many restaurants, good boat diving tho. before that we were on san salvador, riding rock inn, all-inclusive, good boat diving, but deep all the time which cuts down the bottom time. can't beat bonaire

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked out Coco View online and it looks good. Similar to Bonaire in that you can shore dive at your own pace. Also, like Bonaire the place seems to get a lot of repeat visitors. We had been thinking of little Cayman but it is more expensive. Does anyone know if there is any good shore diving on little cayman? How does the reef and sea life compare between little cayman and coco view? I do want to see something different than in bonaire. Any comparative info would be great, problems in getting to either place, bugs, weather? Thanks, Steve.

Steve: Don,t know about shore diving on little Cayman, but I can tell you the wall dives off Little Cayman are mind blowing. We dove these walls off the Cayman Aggressor IV. The walls were very dramatic and were a different dive expirience than the drop offs on Bonaire. The shallow areas were also somewhat different than on Bonaire (not better - just different). Liveaboard is about the only other way I will do it other than shore diving; that said, liveaboards can be expensive but very much worth it in my mind. Just another option. Have a good dive no matter what you decide.

Steve: I don't know if you've tried the Diver 2 Diver bb, but you could certainly get a mass of answers to your questions on there

http://dive.scubadiving.com/talk/list.php?f=1

You probably could shore dive Little Cayman, but be prepared for a long swim out. As to Roatan, we were there for two weeks and the only people I saw shore diving(except for us) were staying at Coco View. We stayed all the way beyond West End and the only shore diving we did were night dives (almost daily), but the boat dives were wayyyyyyyyy cheap (seems like it was around $22 US for two tanks but that was like 4 or 5 years ago) and the boat rides are very short. We stayed at a place called Island Pearl...their website is
http://roatanpearl.com/

Good luck

Joe

I like Little Cayman. It's 3 planes for us with weight restrictions due to the last little plane. There is some shore diving. There is nothing like Bloody Bay Wall - sheer deep drop adv wall. Besides Bonaire this year, we are going on a liveaboard in the Caymans.
Went on a liveaboard in T&C. Had a good time. Sue

Everyone,

To add to the conversation, how about another place with wonderful SHORE diving. Have been certified two years, and have been to Bonaire four times during that period. Just went to Coz, to practice currents. However, did not like the crowds nor the boat diving regime..

Suggestions on other shore diving locales with a similar attitude that Bonaire has?? Thanks Lydia

If you are considering Roatan, have a look at this video I made.

http://66.92.128.100/roatan/

I strongly suggest you right click on WebStream and do a save as and save it to your desktop. The link is a little slow so it might take a few minutes. You also need quicktime to view it - http://www.apple.com/quicktime/


If that kind of diving looks good to you (note: That's about 30 hours of video edited there, so don't expect to see that all in one dive!) - email me and I'll tell you where to stay, where not to stay, who NOT to dive with (i.e. The guy who admited to me he hadn't had his tanks checked in 5 years)...

I have lived in Grand Cayman for 11 years and we go to Little Cayman for the weekend 3-4 times a year. Of nearly 2,000 dives in various parts of the world incl. Bonaire, Roatan & Ambergris, my opinion is that Little Cayman has the best. At Randy's Gazebo (my personal favourite) the top of the sheer wall starts at 30 feet & teems with life. To say that you should expect a long swim out is rubbish - the Bloody Bay & Jacksons sites are not as close as Bonaire's (where are?) but the closest would be 5 mins swim & the farthest 15. The cheapest way to do it would be to stay at Paradise Villas & self-cater, hire a car from Perry & get your tanks either from Paradise or Sam McCoys. Let me know if you need any more info.

We went on the Nekton Pilot on their NW Bahamas itinerary. The best part was how easy it was to dive. You set your equipment up on the first morning, and never move it the rest of the trip. They just refill your tank between dives.

You could do up to 5 dives a day (I did 3-4), so it really felt like a "dive anytime" format.

The dives on the itinerary were very good - especially the variety of dives. But not as good as Grand Cayman (our previous trip). But the ease of the diving made up for it.

We'll check out their other itineraries as well - especially looking at going to Belize.

But our next trip is to Bonaire to check out the shore diving.

JoAn

Steve, just returned from ten days in Roatan. Best walls I've seen anywhere and very healthy corals in the shallows. Just like Bonaire was before Lenny. Larger fish than Bonaire but not nearly as many or the variety. Stayed at Fantasy Island Resort-- food, service, hotel and dive operation were top of the line. No real shore diving. Short boat rides ten to fifteen minutes. Will be back in Bonaire this summer for four weeks (our eighth year).

OK, just to be different... I went to Barkley Sound on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada last year. I am returning there this coming April and plan on making this a yearly trip.

The diving there is AWESOME! I can't compare it to Bonaire as I've not been there yet. It was just as nice as the Bahamas if not nicer, with regards to the variety of sealife one can see.

Now, this sort of trip is a completely different experience, though. It is cold water diving and the place we stayed is VERY remote. But it is most definitely world class diving, and a nice change of pace from yet another ho-hum warm water trip. ;)

Jimmie

TURNEFFE ISLAND LODGE IS THE GREATEST-DIVING-GREAT- 30 MILES OFF COAST OF BELIZE.
ALSO UTILIA LODGE PLAIN SIMPLE, GOOD FOOD, VERY DIFFERENT DIVING ALL BOAT, BUT GREAT.
HONDUAS-BARBARETTA ISLAND- PEPPER IS A GREAT HOST-THE DIVING IS AWESOME ALL BOAT DIVES-NOT MANY DIVERS REEF IN EXCELLENT SHAPE LOTS OF FISH

Hi Steve....I still consider Saba to be one of the best places I have ever seen for diving. This small volcano island offers very close dive sites and quaint places to stay. They even have a dive called warm sand where you can put your bare hands in the sand at 140' and feel the still present volcanic warmth. Its a quick boat ride from St Martin and there is an airport also. Fantastic diving!!