Diving Vacation - Where to Start?

"Chris Guynn" <chris.guynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message

> Seems reasonable to me. He takes a week or two off from work, gets $200
> bucks a week + a free dive trip. Sounds like a pretty good deal for Steve.


Well if the guys takin' bids I'll do it for $100 week plus all expenses
...........so where we divin' ?

Kevin Falconer Fort Myers, FL

"Steve" <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:_VCPc.62743$4h7.9542258@twister.nyc.rr.com...

> Dan Bracuk wrote:

> > Don't overanalyze something simple. Pick a place and go. The worse
> > that can happen is that you won't have a good time.

> The worst that will happen is that he'll die a slow death 130 miles from
shore and
> 130 miles from the boat he got off of at the beginning of his last dive,
and a couple
> of years later we'll be talking about the movie they make about him.

> Well, I suppose he could also wind up in some miserable foreign prison,
wishing he
> had been left behind to drown.

Or stuck in Gitmo for 2 years with a French passport, enduring medical
experiments...

Chris Guynn wrote:


> Step Seven... if the island has good diving, call your travel agent.
> Otherwise, return to step four.

That's at least the second post that refers to a "travel agent". That may work well
enough, but a lot of travel agents don't know squat about diving, and won't do
anything for you that a dive travel specialist won't do. If you want to do all of the
research yourself, then a travel agent isn't likely to screw up your trip, but then
why would you want them to get 10% of what you spend?

--
Steve

The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable
belief that it was intended as a statement of fact.

If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address.

>From: "Von Fourche" monaco8292@hotmail.com

> Ok, if I get Open Water Padi certified, then some time late in the year
>or early 2005 I want to head off to some island in the Caribbean and dive
>for a week.

Florida is the best bang for your buck, but everyone's milage may vary.


Popeye
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice
letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

On Mon, 2 Aug 2004 19:53:52 -0700, "Scott" <pugetsounddiver@gmail.com>
wrote:

>"Steve" <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message
>news:_VCPc.62743$4h7.9542258@twister.nyc.rr.com.. .
>
>> Dan Bracuk wrote:
>
>> > Don't overanalyze something simple. Pick a place and go. The worse
>> > that can happen is that you won't have a good time.
>
>> The worst that will happen is that he'll die a slow death 130 miles from
>shore and
>> 130 miles from the boat he got off of at the beginning of his last dive,
>and a couple
>> of years later we'll be talking about the movie they make about him.
>
>> Well, I suppose he could also wind up in some miserable foreign prison,
>wishing he
>> had been left behind to drown.
>
>Or stuck in Gitmo for 2 years with a French passport, enduring medical
>experiments...

Technically speaking, they're psych experiements. Except maybe for
the one with the field telephone.

"Ring 'im up, boys"

--
dillon

When I was a kid, I thought the angel's name was Hark
and the horse's name was Bob.

>From: Dillon Pyron dmpyronINVALID@austin.rr.com

>Technically speaking, they're psych experiements. Except maybe for
>the one with the field telephone.
>
>"Ring 'im up, boys"

"The Bell Telephone Hour".


Popeye
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice
letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

"Von Fourche" <monaco8292@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Ok, if I get Open Water Padi certified, then some time late in the year
> or early 2005 I want to head off to some island in the Caribbean and dive
> for a week.
>
> But how in the heck do I pick what Island I want to go to, and then how
> do I set it up? I just bought a dive site book to the Cayman Islands, but I
> really have no idea if that's where I want to do my first ocean diving.

The process of setting up a dive vacation isn't all that different from
setting up a normal vacation:

- pick where to go, and how to get there
- decide where to stay
- decide what you're going to do when there


> I'm not looking for the greatest and best dive sites...

Well, you don't want to go to a place that stinks either


> So where do I begin? Are there any tourist companies here in the U.S.
> that specialize in Caribbean diving? Or is it going to be all up to me in
> finding the right resort, finding the dive operators, etc..?


One good way to start is at a travel agent, for the primary purpose of
picking up a couple of those free magazine-like pamphlets that a couple
of travel consolidators publish. They typically have listings of
several islands with general descriptions and a bunch of hotels for each
island with various prices.

While you're out, pick up some scuba diving magazines. For this
exercise, pretty much "one of each" off the rack will do.


First, sit down and read through the travel agent stuff, focusing mostly
on the general island descriptions - what kind of stuff is there, etc.

A couple of islands will probably turn you off and a couple will attract
your eye ... you want to figure out why (what's the common theme or
pattern?). For example, if you don't care for gambling, you might do a
thumbs down on islands that list casino's as a noteworthy attraction.
Similarly, if you're not a particularly well experienced traveller, you
might want to lean towards destinations where English (or whatever) is
the official (or is at least a very commonly spoken) language.


After you've started to get a general feel for things, now you can start
to look at the dive rags. Naturally, every article will have wonderful
diving. The things to note are which diving descriptions catch your eye
more than others, and which islands that you thought that you might like
(or dislike) from Step #1 are repeated here...this helps you refine your
list again: if its somewhere that you thought you might like plus
someone's bothering to write about the diving there, you probably have a
destination for your short list. Now you can look at budget


> Or should I totally forget diving in the Caribbean and do my first ocean
> dive in Southern Florida?

The "real short list" for Caribbean diving in general is going to be the
Florida Keys, Cozumel, Cayman and Bonaire. Each has its strengths and
weaknesses, including cost.



> How do some of you who read and post to rec.scuba set up your diving
> trips?

A lot of us probably have a short list of "old standards", and we'll
then consider new-for-us destinations based on something we've heard.

To boil down all the logistics to its simplest form, it is then:

1. Flight
2. Accommodations
3. Dive Operation
4. Local Transportation (eg, rental car)
5. Booking/Reservations
6. Passport
7. Gear
8. Film
9. Cash
10. Go



-hh