My wife and I are looking for a place to go scuba diving in August leaving from California. We now live in NYC and are returning to California for a wedding and want to extend our stay to travel somewhere from the West Coast and get certified. I'd like to avoid a hoard of American tourists and extremely hot temperatures. We're in our mid twenties, but are not looking for some party place; just somewhere with nice relatively inexpensive diving, interesting culture, and well... just a nice vacation. I'd prefer not spend an arm and an a leg on airfare. Last year in May we went to Belize (enjoyed it immensely, but did not do any diving). We usually plan our vacations during the "non-peak" travel periods but unfortunately didn't work that way this year. Thanks for your help!

Apparently you don't want Hawaii and Tahiti is touristy and expensive.

You can go to the Cook Islands - Air New Zealand flies a few times a week with a stop in Tahiti before onto Raratonga, hotels are less expensive than Tahiti, but being an island, things generally are expensive, but not that much.

August is rather quiet time (actually low season) better prices and surprisingly better weather than in high peak season of Nov-Dec.

I'm sure you can get your certification there. Check out some Cook Island sites to get an idea of what they have to offer - hotels, prices, etc.

You might be barking up the wrong tree on this web board because you are going to spend a minimum of $900pp on airfare from Cali to NZ or OZ in August. And that's the low season.

In any case, if you are willing to spend that much, I would suggest the Cairns/Port Douglas area of Australia. You are close to the GBR and can also visit the Daintree or Kuranda Rain Forest. With the GBR, you can take a tour in which you can do Intro-Dives. It's not very expensive and you don't have to be certified. It's 4 people and a dive intructor. That is what my hubby and I did last August and loved it. Check out Posiedon if you are interested, although I believe there are many companies that do it.

Hope you find what you are looking for. August was a great time of year for that area because no rain, bugs or jellyfish. Not many tourists.

Amy

I agree with sandi that Rarotonga would be a good choice. We dived with Pacific Diver's Graham MacDonald there for a week and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I got re-certified with Pacific Divers and felt that they were extremely professional.

Another good choice would be Fiji. Some of the best diving we have ever done was in the Somosomo Strait, between Vanua Levu and Taveuni. We stayed at the Garden Isle Resort on Taveuni, near Waiyevo. This resort is very much off the beaten track, and caters to divers. No hordes here! I took no classes, but watched several individuals do their Open-Water certification course, and it appeared to be quite thorough.

Both of the above would be great choices, but the airfare is not going to be cheap.

Besides my suggestion of the Cook Islands and ALF's of Fiji - both destinations are limited by the airlines that fly to each (days or week) and routing (some might be via NZ or AUS) and, of course, the fare.

Even if trying to use FF miles, you need to give up more miles to the Pacific Islands than you do to NZ or AUS.

You might be able a better deal and prices with a package to one of the out islands in Hawaii. And with Hawaii it's only a 6-hr flite; the others are 10-hrs or more with stops and connections.

If you are looking for somewhere really different try Kangaroo Island off South Australia.Best temperate diving in the world. Sealions, leafy and woody seadragons to name a few as well as heaps of ship wrecks.
Quiet in August.
Contact us if you want help. We can pass you on to the right people

Thanks for all of you suggestions, I appreciate it. We don't mind paying the $800 for a flight as long as we get to a not too crowded location. I did a bit of looking at the Cook Islands and it seems a bit pricier to fly there (pushing $1,300). Australia is looking relativly tempting at the moment.

check out the learn to dive package at
www.heronisland.com

check the wilson island add on package to really get away from it all...won't be too many yanks out there

see humpback whales that time of year