BY Hotel Interactive

Some hotels are famous for being “dives.” Higher-rated hotels are sometimes described as “dive-oriented” or “dive-friendly.” But then, there is the real thing for those who do it deeper: “liveaboard.”

That’s the term used by noted underwater photographer Alex Mustard, who describes dive hotels this way: “There are floating dive hotels which allow you to move around unconstrained by roads, beaches or hotels. You must go where the diving is good and you can reach areas hundreds of miles from airports.”

He estimates there may be 100 to 200 such hotels that cater mainly to divers.

One of these is the long-standing, 25-year veteran, Bonaire Buddy Dive Resort in the Caribbean. Bonaire is one of the Caribbean’s least tourist-developed areas and least visited larger islands.

“Buddy Dive Resort is a full dive center, situated in an unhurried, unspoiled natural paradise. Accommodations are no more than a giant stride from the fringe reef, accessible just a few feet from the shore,” says the Web site.

“We aim for hard-core divers -- people who are doing four to five dives a day, including boat dives and shore dives,” says Jan Willem ‘t Hooft, managing director of the facility as well as others in the Caribbean.

His market is 75 percent U.S. visitors, with the rest mainly coming from Europe.

Divers have somewhat different needs from routine hotel-goers. All-day restaurants are fine, of course, but divers desire special equipment such as dive tanks, which are available 24 hours a day.

“[Divers] also want breakfast restaurants where they can eat in their wetsuits. Divers also like to meet other divers,” says ‘t Hooft, though the later characteristic is perhaps not so different from the average sales person staying overnight at a Holiday Inn.
The amenities they seek are also not that different. Diving facilities, but also restaurants, bars and, of course, swimming pools, says ‘t Hooft.

The major attractions of a good dive hotel, he says, include easy or even direct access to the water, good dive operations, and comfortable boats to go out on dives. He estimates 80% of the hotel-goers are divers.

Why do non-divers go to diving hotels? They are often spouses or girlfriends/boyfriends going along for the ride.

There are invariably other things to do at dive hotels.

The Hotel Ilio in Tuscany, for example, offers history: It is the place of one of Napoleon’s exiles, the famous Tuscan sun, ruby wines, velvety olive oils, and fields of sunflowers. For divers, the lure is lobster and sun fish, as well as the remains of two Roman merchant ships.

The Mounu Island Resort at Neiafu, Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga is also popular for hard-core divers. But another of its famous attractions are whales -- it is not unusual for guests to wake up in the morning to the sound of whales singing.

“The warm waters surrounding Vavu’u make ideal calfing and mating grounds for the magnificent Humpback Whale,” says the resort’s Web site. Two charter vessels allow visitors to get close with the mammals. So close in fact that visitors can swim alongside them because Tonga is one of the few places in the world allowing the practice. Prime viewing and swimming season is between May and November.

Whale-watching is also popular at the Badian Island Resort & Spa in Cebu, the Philippines, which has the distinction of offering divers a full range of academic courses: even beginners, night divers or those seeking dive master certification. Divers find an astonishing variety of creatures on view here: more than 2,000 species of fish and 800 varieties of soft and hard coral.

For non-divers, there’s also Waterfall and Town Tours, Orchid Garden Tours, picnics, various spa and beauty treatments, and even glass bottom boat tours.

Perhaps similar to their land-locked cousins, many dive hotels were started by individuals who began their careers with an interest in hospitality.

Two residents of the Dutch Netherlands, Bart Snelder and Bob Labots, operated very successful and reasonably priced dive services until 2003 when they opened the Wannadive Hut Bonaire.

What stood out in their diving services was “a very personal touch,” says Labots. “Many guests have rewarded us by coming back again and again, proving to us that the formula works. It was therefore only logical that we would extend that vision and take it to the next level,” he says.

Similar to land-locked hotels, “dives” can range the gamut in costs and amenities. Snelder and Labots say their guests are treated as family in a “very friendly budget hotel atmosphere.”

Depending on various factors, rooms can be had here for as low as $323.50 a week ($10 extra a night for a guest). That cost includes an item of concern only at dive hotels: unlimited air and weights.

Likewise, some dive hotels include the unusual amenity of a specific number of dives. The much-higher priced Turneffe Island Lodge in Belize in December costs around $1,390 to more than $2,000 a night, but that includes 16 dives.

Dive hotels, also like their land-based counterparts, also offer all-inclusive rates. The Lizard Island Resort at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has rooms in December ranging in price from about $1,470 for a single to almost $2,000 for a suite. But that includes all meals, motorized dinghies, alcohol, glass bottom boat trips and even island activities.

For divers it is probably worth the price since this is a World Heritage Site. Divers can observe century-old giant turtles and swim with massive and curious Potato Cod. Perhaps it’s worth it for non-divers as well who can hide away at one of the 24 nearby beaches, hang out on the private deck of an airy villa or get a spa treatment.
Of course, some “dive” hotels are just that and don’t live up to luxury standards.

“They can be pretty rough and ready,” admits photographer Mustard, who has stayed at many of them. “But given that 70 percent of the planet is covered with water, it strikes me as the perfect type of hotel.”

For non-divers, however, it might depend on whether or not “all-inclusive” is part of the price.

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