Holiday from Florida

February 5, 2022 1:36 AM

My husband and I will be heading to Florida from the UK sometime around November to visit my father. We want to break the visit up by flying off somewhere on holiday just the two of us for about a week in the middle of the trip We'd like it to be somewhere with good scuba diving and a direct flight from Ft Lauderdale if possible - around a 4-5 hour flight max. Where should we go - please could we have some ideas?
posted by hazyjane to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

Best answer: Cozumel is one of the top ten scuba spots in the world, and is a very short flight away. It's an island off the coast of Playa del Carmen. I lived there for about 3 months and spent pretty much the entire time diving and snorkeling. The water is absolutely clear - it's like diving in an aquarium.
posted by ananci at 2:31 AM on February 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

My wife's aunt and her husband scuba in Bonnaire (Bonaire?) 3-4 times a year, and have for many, many years. No direct flights from FLL that I can see, but they've been around the world and settled on this one spot (maybe also out of convenience--they live on the east coast of the US.
posted by Snowishberlin at 10:05 AM on February 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Belize has amazing reefs as well as ruins inland
posted by waving at 10:36 AM on February 5, 2022

Cuba, Cozumel, or Caymans!
posted by cyndigo at 4:25 PM on February 5, 2022

Key west/ Dry Tortugas would be fun/easy
posted by genmonster at 6:36 AM on February 6, 2022

Key West and the Bahamas are both close. Plenty of solid diving around there.
posted by Windopaene at 9:04 AM on February 6, 2022

Best answer: The Keys have the only underwater state park I know of - John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park - with diving reefs as one of the activities. It's on the north end of the Keys (around Key Largo); you can drive there pretty easily from Fort Lauderdale (time varies according to what route you take)
posted by TimHare at 10:01 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]