Best resort near diving, restaurants, shopping

Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Hey everyone, great forum! Going in November, me the wife and our 14 year old daughter. All certified divers, not very experienced. We want a nice resort close to the best diving. Never been there before and this seems like the best place to get the information I need. Like it said in my welcome message, I don't want to learn everything the hard way. We only take 2 weeks a year and I want everything to be as good as possiblle. Don't minding spending a little more to get the best value, which seems to be the consensis here, getting the most value, staying away from the crowds, avoiding tourist traps, of course saving a few bucks whenever possible. Very Happy

Any suggestions, recommendations, tips, etc. are most welcome.

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:05 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the forum artguy Smile

, and thank you for your kind words about the forum!

I'll try to give you some suggestions, but first I have a question for you.......you say that you're looking for a "nice resort", but have you considered staying in a 2 bedroom condo instead? It would give the three of you a lot more room and privacy, and the convenience of being able to eat in for many of the meals....it's really the way to go! If you really do want to stay at a resort, then you might have slightly more crowded beaches and a more expensive food bill......but, if that's what you want, we have recommendations for those too.

So, I would suggest, if you haven't already, to take a look at the properties that are recommended here on our

page. If you contact them through that page, they will get back to you with a quote which usually gives you a nice discount or some other perk for being a member here.

Now, as far as diving goes, you don't need to stay in any particular place because it's near good diving. There is wonderful diving all around the island and you never know on any given day where the dive boats will be going anyway. For example, if you are staying along the 7 Mile Beach (which I would really recommend for your first time, especially with a teenager), then you will pick out a dive operator and either drive your rental car (another thing I recommend Drive

) to where they say to meet you, or most of them will offer free pick up service at your hotel or condo. You see, most dive operators can either take you diving on the West Side or the North Side, and that will depend on the weather conditions, water clarity, sea conditions....that sort of thing. If both of those areas are rough, then many can take you diving on the South Side and, as I say, either tell you where to meet them or pick you up first.

So, there's really no need to pick out a place to stay based on where the best diving is.

Now, if you'd like to go on a shore dive one day, I would highly recommend the Turtle Reef at the Cracked Conch dive operation.....if you call them ahead of time, they may be able to send you off with a guide, which might make you more comfortable since you're not so experienced. There are coupons in the Activity Guide for either 10% off a shore dive there or a Dive, Dine and Drink coupon for just $19CI, which includes the cost of the shore dive, an appetizer and a beer! They also have all the gear to rent if you need it......

Hope this helps. Yikes! If you're going in November, you don't have much time to put this together!

Good luck!

Char

Temporary Resident Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 199

Char is right on about the diving at the Cracked Conch. I dove there THREE TIMES last trip, and I hardly ever dive the same site twice. There's a post around here somewhere that they are one of the best dive sites in the world, Scuba Diver or one of the major dive magazines.

The closest condos recommended here are Anchorage and Discovery point. I've stayed at Discovery and its one of the better condos on the island. Like Char said, the dive companies pick up anywhere on Seven Mile Beach. Neptunes and Off the Wall are the best two, take the least people, go to the most sites, let you do pretty much whatever you like, so long as you know what you're doing. Can't go past 130 feet though, not that there's much to see after that anyway.

Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Thank you Char and JKman for all the great tips. Sure, I'd consider a condo if that's the best way to go. On Turks and Caicos the resorts were better than the condos, but if we can get closer to the best diving and away from the crowds at a condo we're definitely up for that. I clicked Discovery and Anchorage, plus a couple of the resorts, just to get a comparison. I'm pretty much open to anything that keeps us away from the crowds. Since the dive companies pick up I guess that's not as important, but I had planned on doing a couple of shore dives. The Turtle Reef sounds like the best spot, and it's closest to Discovery and Anchorage, so I guess I'll pick one or the other, hopefully they will have availability.

I read the reviews for Neptunes and Off the Wall, any reason to pick one over the other? And do I need to make our dive reservations before we get there? Not sure how busy it is in November, sure don't want to end up on any cattle boats!

I've been doing a lot of reading, and between me, the wife, and daughter, our must do list is gettiing a little full, and that's putting it mildly! We are going to have to narrow down a few things, especially the restaurants. If you could only eat at 5 restaurants (5 really nice restaurants for dinner, not counting breakfast, lunch, snack stops), which would it be? We have TEN on our must do and growing! So that has to get cut back somewhat.

We've got about 20 other things on the list, probably won't have time for all of them either, but I guess that's something we're going to have to work out ourselves. Is there anything that needs to be booked ahead of time? Besides the car, obviously the condo or resort, maybe the diving, anything else like the horse swimming, or other popular attractions?

One last thing, I've seen where a lot of people rent a car for just part of their vacation, that sounds like it might work for us. We want to spend at least a few days just relaxing. Is it worth getting a car for the whole 2 weeks?

Thanks again for all your help!

Native Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 2035 Location: Illinois

Artguy
We always rent a car for the whole time we are there---even though there are some days that it just sits in the parking lot. If you are going to stay at Discovery Point or Anchorage, you would need a car to go anywhere....so I would spend the few extra bucks (you're going off season so it shouldn't be too expensive---and at Andys I think you pay for 6 days and get 7--be sure to do it online and enter CAG20 to get the discount from the activity guide.) If you have a car the whole time, it gives you so much more flexibility.

Just my opinion---in the old days we used to just rent a car for a few days, but there weren't so many things to do on the island then.

Have a great trip--hope everything works out for you
Shelly :-)

Frequent Flyer Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 41

Artguy,
I would suggest renting a car for the entire trip. With all that you want to do, I think that is best. We were not going to rent a car at first, then after reading all that there is to do and the distance, we decide to rent a car for the entire week. Well worth it..
D

Newbie Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

Thank you everyone!

I got great prices from Discovery and Anchorage through the hotel search, ended up going with Anchorage but both were excellent.

I think we'll wait until we get there and probably rent a car for a few days, is the discount the same?

The Dive/Dine/Drink at the Cracked Conch seems almost too good to be true, added to must do list. I have one little suggestion for the must do list, well maybe 2. Very Happy

It would be really helpful to be able to sort it somehow, putting the most importan things on the top. The other thing is some of the descriptions are much better than others, some of them just have the name with no directons or many details. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the list, just making suggestions that might help make this amazing website even better.

I still need to narrow down the restaurants a little. I've alread read everything, seen the photos, viewed the videos, still have more than twice as many as possible. I'm just going to leave them all and bring my must do list with me and deciede there. Absolute musts are Cracked Conch, Pappagallo, Wharf, Hemingways. REALLY difficult decisions here!

Thanks again everyone for all your help, the people here are incredible and this whole website is the most incredible thing I've ever come across when planning my vacations, not just the forums but the other parts of the website as well, just an enormous wealth of information, photos, and of course all the savings! Very Happy

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