The Beetle received an e-mail from a lady in the US who asked about
\n good spots to learn to dive during a week’s vacation, close to the
\n US. Below are some suggestions: <\/p>\n
The Cayman Islands<\/strong> Cayman has fabulous blue water and Cozumel<\/strong> – cheaper than Cayman, and the best way to The Florida Keys<\/strong> – there are some excellent dives around Puerto Rico<\/strong> – the diving here is not that great, but Bermuda<\/strong> – not cheap, but perfectly manicured, very Bay Islands Honduras –<\/strong> if you are feeling adventurous, If you live in the UK or Europe and are looking for a cheap dive estimation The Beetle received an e-mail from a lady in the US who asked about good spots to learn to dive during a week’s vacation, close to the US. Below are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-january-2003"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n good walls and healthy corals. So you will get excellent visibility, easy
\n diving, good corals and some good fish life but you won't see anything
\n “big” here. The diving is mostly walls with the odd wreck thrown
\n in for diversity. If you learn here, you'll be spoilt for other places
\n as Cayman really is the No 1 spot to dive in the Caribbean and the water
\n is warm. The downside is that it is not cheap, and even more expensive
\n are Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. North American tour operators can usually
\n get you better deals than trying to book this independently. A good idea
\n is to buy a copy of Sports Diver or similar magazine to look at ads for
\n Cayman Island dive operators. Another disadvantage is that the dive boats
\n tend to be something like cattle trucks, crammed with divers. This is
\n not a nice way to dive. Small groups of divers are best, as you will find
\n out!! Other things to do – well, actually, there's not really an awful
\n lot to do apart from play golf, sit on the magnificent Seven Mile Beach,
\n snorkel, swim and drink expensive cocktails. But it's all very pretty
\n and safe for children. <\/p>\n
\n get to Cozumel is probably by buying a hotel and flight package. Cozumel,
\n in Mexico, is an island close to Cancun and is primarily known for drift
\n diving. Don't let this put you off, there are still plenty of good
\n dives that are not scary. If you go to Cozumel on a package, it is easy
\n to book diving separately once you have arrived. Here, normally
\n smaller groups of divers are taken out in dive boats than in the Cayman
\n Islands, although the majority of divers will be from the US. Other things
\n to do – well, you can take a day trip across to the mainland to some of
\n the Mayan ruins such as Chichen Itza, although it is a very long day.
\n There are also golf courses and I believe you can windsurf. Probably the
\n second best place to dive in the Caribbean. <\/p>\n
\n the Keys with just as good fish life as in Cayman! Aquanuts and Kelly
\n on the key in Key Largo both come highly recommended. A downside is that
\n the dive boats can resemble cattle trucks, so ask about numbers on the
\n boat. By going to the Keys, you can do some shopping too, in Miami! Surprisingly
\n decent diving – be careful that you go with a good dive operator; warmish
\n water but lots of topside attractions with car hire. But be warned, Key
\n Largo is a good 1 1\/2-2 hr slow drive from Miami. <\/p>\n
\n if you are going to learn, this is still not a bad place to learn as the
\n other places that you go to will have better diving, so this is not a
\n bad place to start off. An advantage is that it is relatively cheap. To
\n get around Puerto Rico you must hire a car (the roads can be pretty bad
\n in places, be warned.) There are plenty of things of interest to see and
\n good day trips, including some good night life, good bars and restaurants,
\n forts, shopping, parks, waterfalls etc. <\/p>\n
\n green and chocolate box pretty. The diving is probably the easiest of
\n all of these destinations as you are unlikely to be able to get below
\n 10 metres. As it is easy diving, it is a nice, safe and steady place to
\n learn to dive. The main attraction here is the wrecks, all in shallow
\n water and most decomposed and in various stages of almost unrecognisable
\n to pretty good anchors and cannons etc. Bermuda also scores high on topside
\n attractions, but you must hire a scooter (tourists are not allowed to
\n hire cars) and explore the island. The water is not as warm as the Caribbean
\n and it is expensive, although, if you live on the east coast of the US,
\n Bermuda is only a short hop away. <\/p>\n
\n there is some pretty good diving to be had in the Bay Islands off Honduras.
\n Any of the dive magazines have ads for the Bay Islands so it is best to
\n buy a package. There are three main islands: Roatan is a party island
\n and the most touristy, but not massively so, Utila is the backpacker’s
\n island and Guanaja is still fairly quiet. I would recommend diving off
\n Utila or Guanaja. The Posada del Sol has good write ups and usually has
\n good deals – look them up on the web! Good diving, although not as good
\n as Cayman, still pretty decent and considerably cheaper. There is not
\n masses to do topside, but you'll find enough, it's a different
\n sort of place. English is spoken in the Bay Islands is, and all of the
\n islands are much less touristy than say Cozumel so you will meet a wider
\n mix of people in the Bay Islands. <\/p>\n
\n to learn to dive in one week, then I recommend the Red Sea. It is cheap
\n (around £300 or $500 – £450 or $750) for one week's hotel
\n and flights from London) and has good diving and also extremely good and
\n safe good dive training. The dive specialists have some extremely good
\n deals in the Red Sea right now, but obviously this location may not be
\n the best place to go, depending on the political situation. <\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"