Rambo's World Adventure - Page 13

you are in Florida already so you can go there anytime and without too much prior planning. I would go straight to central America before you blow your money on cheap rum and cruise line trinkets.

That sounds like a lot of the same to me, choose one island (preferably one that isn't ripoff central... is there one? I doubt it) and then maybe a central American destination with a view.

Really +1 to impolyt.

I think Cuba is a must if you can get there. I have some friends who have been and it's definitely interesting. As for the rest, Jamaica might be interesting and perhaps one other island. Puerto Rico isn't that great and there's a bit of a stigma to other americans especially if you don't speak spanish well. Some of the other carribean countries are also more suited for vacationing I think.

My advice for DR is be careful what you bring into the country. They really want to charge taxes on everything you bring in there. I was in transit there and had a heck of a time. Plus, the workers in the airport pretty much only spoke spanish and my spanish was pretty bad back then.

Here are my unsolicited South America recommendations:

Peru - Andes Mountains, Macchu Picchu
Brazil - Rio, amazon, etc.
Argentina - italian version of south america
Chile - german version of south america, patagonia and perhaps Easter Island if you can afford a ticket.
Maybe Ecuador instead of Peru for mountains and Galapagos if you can afford a ticket, which is bought in Ecuador.
Maybe Uruguay - Awesome beaches, but only good for a few days or so I've heard

rambo, just do it.....

From someone who's been, why would you say so?

Because, you can't go there from US. I have friends who've been and they said it was really interesting to see no advertisements anywhere... almost a country stuck in time.

I won't blame you too much because I had the same curiosity before I went, but as I explained to rambo there was a lot about that country that made it more trouble than it was worth to visit. In fact, the only real reason I gave him to go was for him to be able to say he visited it while Castro was still alive.

I was at a bar in Vancouver a few months before I went down and happened to ask some locals what they thought as Cuba was apparently a big vacation spot for them. Thinking back, I think I now rate a person's sense of humanity based on their level of excitement post-trip. The people who told me to keep my expectations in check were right; something might be wrong if the novelty of being a "forbidden" place doesn't completely wear off and slight depression doesn't set in. It was at least comforting to find others while there who had the same sort of disillusionment. I'm worried about the others who told me how much fun they had at the resorts.

In the future, I think I can forget about putting "just because others can't" as a reason to visit a place over "I'd actually like to go here."

well trinidad and tobago are twins islands, and tobago is the nicer of the two

This is likely rambo's only chance to do twins. I say he takes whatever he can get.

Honduras (Roatan) is supposed to be amazing.

I'm your one-stop shop.

It's somewhat of a mixed bag. It's true that abroad you can get PADI certified for a fraction of price and time of what you would in the US. The problem is that you don't know what the dive master (assuming there's someone there certified to that level) is like, what the equipment is like, etc. I've gone on some cheap dives around here but I feel more comfortable knowing that I know how to check my equipment and have the general experience necessary to know if I'm getting into a bad situation.

If I had to get certified abroad, I'd pick a spot KNOWN for diving. You'd not only be able to take full advantage of good conditions but you'll have a better chance of coming across online reviews of the shop/school.

I can't completely cross out schools abroad because I've had several friends who were also dive masters work in random countries as instructors.

Not necessarily.

If you're planning on hitting Caribbean countries then it shouldn't be all that expensive unless you're specifically staying in a resort. Even in resort towns, schools typically fight with each other to keep prices relatively low. Regardless, you're probably only talking about saving a couple hundred bucks. Beach dive cert in LA runs around $300-500, the upper end of that includes a dive or two in Catalina where the visibility is great. I'd imagine similar prices in FL. Go to a small country, small town and you'd probably be talking $2-300 with warm water and good vis. I can't imagine certs being any less than that unless it's a BS course where you do a dive or two, or basically "Discover SCUBA," and then they give your c-card.

Like AC said, Honduras would be good (although personally I'd recommend Belize as the crime in Honduras is off the scales.) Here in CR the diving is good but will go down the tubes once the rainy season kicks up in a few months.