Photo recommendations for ABC Islands

I have a week of vacation to use up and I'm leaning toward spending a week
in Aruba, Bonaire, or Curaçao primarily taking u/w pictures.

I would like some recommendations: which island, resort, and operator.

For the diving I'm just interested in boat diving, not shore diving. An
operator that specializes in photography would probably be a good idea. But
I'm not looking for an introductory course.

For the resort I definitely want an inclusive package with three or four
dives a day. I don't need high end luxury but convenience to the boat
matters.

Which island? I know Bonaire (was there years ago) is great for macro and
one of the other two islands is good for wrecks. Otherwise, I'm open to
suggestions.


Thanks,

-Irwin

> I have a week of vacation to use up and I'm leaning toward spending a week
> in Aruba, Bonaire, or Curaçao primarily taking u/w pictures.
>
> I would like some recommendations: which island, resort, and operator.
>
> For the diving I'm just interested in boat diving, not shore diving. An
> operator that specializes in photography would probably be a good idea. But
> I'm not looking for an introductory course.
>
> For the resort I definitely want an inclusive package with three or four
> dives a day. I don't need high end luxury but convenience to the boat
> matters.
>
> Which island? I know Bonaire (was there years ago) is great for macro and
> one of the other two islands is good for wrecks. Otherwise, I'm open to
> suggestions.

I've been to Aruba, and while the diving was OK, I've seen better
diving in other places. the water vis wasn't that great either,
but that could have been just when I was there.

They didn't really have any 'Dive resorts" on Aurba like you
do on Bonaire. You get your hotel package and then you
add on your diving, either per trip or for a multi day package.
It's more of a 'tourist' island than it is a dive island.
There are a few good wrecks in shallow water though.

It seems that most of the operators seem to limit you to
about 45 minutes of dive time also. The ones closer to
town like Red Sail seem to cater alot to the cruise boat
industry.

So, while I liked Aruba, and it's a great place to visit,
you can definately get better diving in Bonaire, etc.

Haven't been to Aruba or Curacao but have been to Bonaire several times.
Just spent a week there at Capt. Don's Habitat. That's where I usually stay
except I did go to Sand Dollar once. Bonaire is great for shore diving off
the resort or off the beach in a rented truck. If you only want boat
diving, tho, you can sign up for three a day. They put sign-up boards out
about 4 p.m. for the next day. We stayed in a bungalow with two bedrooms,
accommodating 4 people. Good-size kitchen and living room as well. Each
bedroom has a private bath. Our kitchen was well-stocked but others might
not be. Depends on the owner, as they are privately owned. They have other
types of accommodations as well. Photography was great. Saw two frogfish,
two seahorses, nudibranchs, eels, octopus, etc. Good vis, warm water.

Jeanne

"Michael Sutton" <mike_sutton@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:b773503d.0308280750.6f192bd6@posting.google.c om...
> > I have a week of vacation to use up and I'm leaning toward spending a
week
> > in Aruba, Bonaire, or Curaçao primarily taking u/w pictures.
> >
> > I would like some recommendations: which island, resort, and operator.
> >
> > For the diving I'm just interested in boat diving, not shore diving. An
> > operator that specializes in photography would probably be a good idea.
But
> > I'm not looking for an introductory course.
> >
> > For the resort I definitely want an inclusive package with three or four
> > dives a day. I don't need high end luxury but convenience to the boat
> > matters.
> >
> > Which island? I know Bonaire (was there years ago) is great for macro
and
> > one of the other two islands is good for wrecks. Otherwise, I'm open to
> > suggestions.
>
> I've been to Aruba, and while the diving was OK, I've seen better
> diving in other places. the water vis wasn't that great either,
> but that could have been just when I was there.
>
> They didn't really have any 'Dive resorts" on Aurba like you
> do on Bonaire. You get your hotel package and then you
> add on your diving, either per trip or for a multi day package.
> It's more of a 'tourist' island than it is a dive island.
> There are a few good wrecks in shallow water though.
>
> It seems that most of the operators seem to limit you to
> about 45 minutes of dive time also. The ones closer to
> town like Red Sail seem to cater alot to the cruise boat
> industry.
>
> So, while I liked Aruba, and it's a great place to visit,
> you can definately get better diving in Bonaire, etc.

Irwin Poche left this mess on Thu, 28 Aug 2003 02:29:34 GMT for The Way to clean
up:
>
>
>I have a week of vacation to use up and I'm leaning toward spending a week
>in Aruba, Bonaire, or Curaçao primarily taking u/w pictures.
>
>I would like some recommendations: which island, resort, and operator.
>
>For the diving I'm just interested in boat diving, not shore diving. An
>operator that specializes in photography would probably be a good idea. But
>I'm not looking for an introductory course.
>
>For the resort I definitely want an inclusive package with three or four
>dives a day. I don't need high end luxury but convenience to the boat
>matters.
>
>Which island? I know Bonaire (was there years ago) is great for macro and
>one of the other two islands is good for wrecks. Otherwise, I'm open to
>suggestions.
>

Lion's Dive in Curacao is a nice place, but a bit too far east. Tugboat,
however, is within easy reach of their operation, so is Saba, and both are
interesting dive photography places.

You may be better off staying at the west end, like Habitat. What type of photos
do you like to take?

Tao te Carl

"It takes a village to have an idiot." - Carl (c) 2003