Vacation Ideas needed
- Thread starter djian
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Jagermeister
Premium Member
Cozumel is a great place. Been there a couple of times and have never been disappointed.
But as rmougey asked, it depends on a lot of factors. I've heard you can't beat the colors in the South Pacific. And fishwood mentioned Truk where you can dive in lagoons filled with sunken Japanese warplanes, tanks, boats, etc. from WWII.
But as rmougey asked, it depends on a lot of factors. I've heard you can't beat the colors in the South Pacific. And fishwood mentioned Truk where you can dive in lagoons filled with sunken Japanese warplanes, tanks, boats, etc. from WWII.
marcsmith73
In Memoriam
Cozumel Chakanub state park. Hope thats the spelling =)
Great place!
Great place!
FishnWishn
Premium Member
If you have the time/$ I would do a 7-10 day trip to YAP and outer islands. Crystal clear waters with 100/150 ft visibility on bad days. They have everything from 90 miles of barrier reefs, to daily giant manta ray dives, to huge caverns and wall dives to see Nautiluses. You can see what looks like fields of 3-4ft anemones, schools(looks like it anyway) of mandarin dragonets, on the leeward side there is a channel, accessible from shore, that you can dive through huge schools of giant Trevali, Bluefin tuna, Barracudas, or Hammerheads depending on the time of year.
Just a short hop to Palau, Chuuk, Pohnpei, or a short boat ride to thousands of atolls in the Micronesian Island chain. My sister and her inlaws own one of the 3 "hotels" on the island. My Bro-inlaw's cousins owns one of the 2 dive shops. That's pretty much it for modern facilities except for a few stores in town. the rest of the island locals live in traditional villages with grass skirts and palm thatch huts like you would imagine in the south pacific.
Here is a website to Yap or you can google Micronesia. My sisters place is the Pathways. there are also links to the dive shops.
Micronesia/Western Caroline Islands/Yap
Just a short hop to Palau, Chuuk, Pohnpei, or a short boat ride to thousands of atolls in the Micronesian Island chain. My sister and her inlaws own one of the 3 "hotels" on the island. My Bro-inlaw's cousins owns one of the 2 dive shops. That's pretty much it for modern facilities except for a few stores in town. the rest of the island locals live in traditional villages with grass skirts and palm thatch huts like you would imagine in the south pacific.
Here is a website to Yap or you can google Micronesia. My sisters place is the Pathways. there are also links to the dive shops.
Micronesia/Western Caroline Islands/Yap
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For a first timer I would have to say you are probably best off not going somewhere too far. You probably also don't want to spend a ton of money on the trip(what happens if you don't like it? get claustrophobic? get sick? can't equalize? etc. I could go on). Trust me, there is the chance that you might not like it or something could happen. So go small first. The carribean is probably a good bet. I've been to Grand Cayman and I liked it. A lot of people say it's the best in the area. It may be. It was definetly better than Puerto Rico or Florida(I'm from Florida so I did a lot of diving there). Mexico was a big "meh" for me. Very overated in my opinion. Too many people, too much destruction(man and nature). I just don't the draw there. I even went out with a smaller operation that was highly recommended. We did go to some nice areas, but nothing that I was amazed with. Now, to my choice. Belize. Second biggest barrier reef to the Great Barrier reef. It's a quick trip. It only took about 4 hours to fly out there. It's much more isolated than most places in Mexico. Met a handful of fellow Coloradoans there too oddly enough. We stayed at Hamanasi. They have about 20-30 rooms there and they vary in size and type. So you only have a small amount of people there. What's nice is you go diving with the same people every day. They have a great dive shop there and they are ALL very friendly. I also recommend this place because it was where my wife learned to dive. She actually took a resort course there. They had a personal diver with her the three days we went out. There's also plenty of other things to do(I would highly recommend the night hike in the rainforest and the cave tubing). Awesome trip. We will go back again one day.
rehnberg
New member
"Anyone for Scuba"-- Along Came Polly
I bet she had a personal diver for three days! Just kidding
I have been to Cozumel and it was beautiul. If you end up not liking scuba, then there are lots of other things to do. The Myan ruins are neat, along with the under ground rivers Cynotes, and the beer never stops flowing down in good old Mexico.
I bet she had a personal diver for three days! Just kidding
I have been to Cozumel and it was beautiul. If you end up not liking scuba, then there are lots of other things to do. The Myan ruins are neat, along with the under ground rivers Cynotes, and the beer never stops flowing down in good old Mexico.
guys guys....first timer scuba, try to remember the first dive trip. it was fun but a ton of work. Cozumel is all drift diving, so you can remember to focus on your dive skills and try to get everything under control. Yap, Fiji, etc are all great places, but kinda a waste of money for a first trip. Cozumel is cheap 300 airfare, if that and I know you can stay for 7 nights and dive 5 days (2 tank per day) unlimited shore diving, including going at night, for like 525 PP. All the beaches on the City side of the island are open beach resorts, so even if your hotel doesn't have a beach then you go down the coast for 5 minutes and find a beach. CLose and cheap is a great combo for a newbe diver....oh yea, and every scuba mag rates cozumel as the best for a new diver for what its worth
rmougey
Chair, MACNA 2014
My first open water dive was Grand Cayman and it was a great experience. The downside is that the islands are a bit expensive. Easy day dives, nice walls, big and small stuff to see. Plus if you only want to do a couple of dives a day, there is plenty of other stuff to do.
I think that first time diving for an aquarist is different than for 'normal' divers. Everyone that I have introduced to diving that was also into fish loved it and spent more time admiring the reef and the critters than worrying about the fact that they were underwater. I really think it helps newbies relax a bit.
There are some great deals to Fiji, Indonesia, Micronesia and even Hawaii (though it tends to be more expensive due to hotel costs). The reefs are great, the fish life is prolific and there are easy dives to be had, particularly in Fiji.
I would not suggest Truk or Vanuatu or Galapagos to a new diver. The diving there is great, but you need 100+ dives or so to be comfortable with the conditions.
The one caveat about pacific diving: once you've seen the vast soft coral and colorful reefs, the Atlantic just doesn't cut it anymore.
In any case, if you head somewhere tropical remember that you can add volcano hikes, kayaking, biking and many other outside activities to supplement your diving. Eventually, if you like it enough, you'll discover the wonders of a liveaboard. And then you'll discover what being really spoiled is like.
-Rob
I think that first time diving for an aquarist is different than for 'normal' divers. Everyone that I have introduced to diving that was also into fish loved it and spent more time admiring the reef and the critters than worrying about the fact that they were underwater. I really think it helps newbies relax a bit.
There are some great deals to Fiji, Indonesia, Micronesia and even Hawaii (though it tends to be more expensive due to hotel costs). The reefs are great, the fish life is prolific and there are easy dives to be had, particularly in Fiji.
I would not suggest Truk or Vanuatu or Galapagos to a new diver. The diving there is great, but you need 100+ dives or so to be comfortable with the conditions.
The one caveat about pacific diving: once you've seen the vast soft coral and colorful reefs, the Atlantic just doesn't cut it anymore.
In any case, if you head somewhere tropical remember that you can add volcano hikes, kayaking, biking and many other outside activities to supplement your diving. Eventually, if you like it enough, you'll discover the wonders of a liveaboard. And then you'll discover what being really spoiled is like.
-Rob
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Thunk
Premium Member
I took my first diving trip to Honduras, Roatan Island. Talk about a blast!!! Ton's of wildlife to see. Not to mention some sweet Wrecks to check out. I stayed at Cocoview resort, A+++
Hawaii was supposed to be a great trip for me last year too but literally within 3 hours of being on the ground there I slipped on a rocky beach and got a concussion, man that sucked.
Hawaii was supposed to be a great trip for me last year too but literally within 3 hours of being on the ground there I slipped on a rocky beach and got a concussion, man that sucked.
If you want somewhere that Frontier Airlines flies to, like FL, or Costa Rica, or Mexico, I can see how much buddy passes will run and save you some money on airfare. The tickets are standby, meaning that there has to be an empty seat for you to get on, but it is an option. LMK.
Bill
Bill
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