Good Caribbean dive spots - and resorts?

I'm looking for another dive site similar to Roatan.  I go to Roatan once or twice a year, and I need a bit more variety.   Still Caribbean, for cost control.

Here's the rub - I've been going to Reef House Resort for years, and if I go to Roatan, it's the place I'll go back to.   The reasons have to do with cost and convenience, coupled with excellent diving and an excellent dive guide.  I wonder if there is any place else that can replicate this place

Cost:  I get a full week, including room, board and 3 boat dives/day, for under $1000.  About $1700 for two weeks, and that is for the 'best' room there. (Small extra fee).   Drinks are not included, but my drinking there consists of 1 beer/week.

Travel Cost:   From Phoenix, it used to cost about $850 round trip, via Houston on United.  Now it is about $1000-1100, and due to flight schedules I've been having to go AA through Miami, at about $1100.   I hate flying through Miami...

Convenience:   It USED to be as convenient as it gets, flightwise.  2 hour flight to Houston, 2 hour layover, 2.5 hour flight to Roatan.   United dropped an eraly morning flight to Houston (Sept/Oct time frame), which leaves me with the choice of overnight in Houston, or fly to Miami with a 5 hour flight and 5 hour layover.

Diving:  Roatan is as good as anything I've seen in the Caribbean, but there is a lot I haven't seen.  I'd want it to be as good as, or better.

Divemaster:  I'm 66 with eyes to match.  The divemaster in Roatan at the Reef House is better than anyone else I've ever seen for finding critters.  It helps that he has more than 20,000 dives experience in the dive sites around the Reef House.  It helps that he must have phenomenal eyesight.  Without him, I would be photographing 10% of what I do following him.

Water Temp:   I'm a wimp.   Don't get me in to the 70's, and below 85 starts giving me issues with chilling.   This may change soon as I'm thinking about getting a custom-fitted wetsuit, and perhaps I'll finally get one that fits me and doesn't pump water.

Water clarity:   I want excellent visibility (for photography).  I dive to photograph, so non-clear water is a non-starter for me.

Minimum 3 (different) boat dives/day:  More is OK, but 3 is generally enough for me.  Less would generally not be acceptable.

I'd like to dive Bonaire, a lot.  But I don't have a dive buddy since my wife died, and I don't fancy trying to get my rig in and out of the water on shore dives, especially alone.  Not to mention not having another pair of eyes to spot critters for me.

Summary:  For under $3000 I can get two weeks, 37-39 dives, at the Reef House and have excellent everything in the water.  Out of the water, not so much as the Reef House is ... described by one guest as having "everything you need and nothing you don't:"  I don't need a resort with fancy rooms.

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I'm looking for another dive site similar to Roatan. I go to Roatan once or twice a year, and I need a bit more variety. Still Caribbean, for cost control.

Here's the rub - I've been going to Reef House Resort for years, and if I go to Roatan, it's the place I'll go back to. The reasons have to do with cost and convenience, coupled with excellent diving and an excellent dive guide. I wonder if there is any place else that can replicate this place

Consider Anilao in the Philippines and/or Puerto Galera in the Philippines.

Cost: I get a full week, including room, board and 3 boat dives/day, for under $1000. About $1700 for two weeks, and that is for the 'best' room there. (Small extra fee). Drinks are not included, but my drinking there consists of 1 beer/week.

I stayed at the Blue Ribbon resort in Anilao; you can see prices here. Exchange rate is approximately 50 pesos to a dollar.

Travel Cost: From Phoenix, it used to cost about $850 round trip, via Houston on United. Now it is about $1000-1100, and due to flight schedules I've been having to go AA through Miami, at about $1100. I hate flying through Miami...

Convenience: It USED to be as convenient as it gets, flightwise. 2 hour flight to Houston, 2 hour layover, 2.5 hour flight to Roatan. United dropped an eraly morning flight to Houston (Sept/Oct time frame), which leaves me with the choice of overnight in Houston, or fly to Miami with a 5 hour flight and 5 hour layover.

Probably similar regarding cost, maybe even cheaper - there are really cheap flights from SFO and LAX to MNL - but longer, as you're going trans-Pacific.

Diving: Roatan is as good as anything I've seen in the Caribbean, but there is a lot I haven't seen. I'd want it to be as good as, or better.

Among the best macro in the world, reefs are good too.

Divemaster: I'm 66 with eyes to match. The divemaster in Roatan at the Reef House is better than anyone else I've ever seen for finding critters. It helps that he has more than 20,000 dives experience in the dive sites around the Reef House. It helps that he must have phenomenal eyesight. Without him, I would be photographing 10% of what I do following him.

On most dives, the local guides spotted more critters than I could shoot.

Water Temp: I'm a wimp. Don't get me in to the 70's, and below 85 starts giving me issues with chilling. This may change soon as I'm thinking about getting a custom-fitted wetsuit, and perhaps I'll finally get one that fits me and doesn't pump water.

In October, the water was 28-29C - mid-80s F.

Water clarity: I want excellent visibility (for photography). I dive to photograph, so non-clear water is a non-starter for me.

Mostly it was okay but at times there was serious plankton soup, especially at night.

Minimum 3 (different) boat dives/day: More is OK, but 3 is generally enough for me. Less would generally not be acceptable.

Blue Ribbon does two dives in the morning, then one more in the afternoon, and then one night dive if there are at least two divers; if there aren't, it's done from shore.

I'd like to dive Bonaire, a lot. But I don't have a dive buddy since my wife died, and I don't fancy trying to get my rig in and out of the water on shore dives, especially alone. Not to mention not having another pair of eyes to spot critters for me.

Summary: For under $3000 I can get two weeks, 37-39 dives, at the Reef House and have excellent everything in the water. Out of the water, not so much as the Reef House is ... described by one guest as having "everything you need and nothing you don't:" I don't need a resort with fancy rooms.

Sounds pretty similar to Anilao. I've never been to the Caribbean, but by all accounts, the Coral Triangle diving (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomons) is massively better than anything that the Caribbean has to offer.

"massively better" is probably more like "massively different".   I dove a liveaboard in Fiji for a week.  I know how beautiful the Pacific can be.   However, like you said, it's a long flight.  (I have come to really hate air travel.  Stuffing my aging 6'2" body into tiny coach seats for 12 hours is about the last thing in the world I want to do now.

I'm very much interested though.   If I can face the travel (and I'm now starting to pay the fees to upgrade my seats to something livable), I'd love to return to the Pacific.  I'd especially love to do an underwater photo workshop too.   I am a bit surprised the cost is that low overall as I expected the airfare to be double or more my Caribbean flights.

I'll start looking there, but I'm still looking into the Caribbean.   Belize, Bonair, Saba, Aruba, Martinique.   I like Cozumel, but like Roatan it is hard to get flights there from Phoenix that don't overnight somewhere like Houston.

I've been to the Caymans (not diving, though my late wife did before I met her), Cozumel, and Belize.   Belize was more different than I expected, though obviously still Caribbean.   I'm guessing airfare and travel there should be similar to getting to Roatan (could be easy, could be relatively cheap, I haven't looked), but I've not found a dive operation / lodging in the same ballpark price as Roatan.   Last time I checked, lodging (in a much nicer place than Reef House) was 2.5 times the cost of Reef House, and it didn't include diving.    I was looking at some place on Ambergris Cay.

A friend of mine really likes Cayman Brac, so I'm going to look more closely there.