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Netherlands Antilles Caribbean Sea Playa Porto Marie
This is a small private cove and beach with a small entrance fee. The beach
is long and beautiful and you can spend a day diving here.
It’s a short swim to a double reef system that is very similar to a large
oval fish bowl. You can dive around the inside of the coral bowl or on the
outside of the coral reef on the wide-open ocean side of the coral reef.
It’s easy to navigate and on the far side there is a natural opening or
break in the reef about 10 meters that acts like a gateway to the open ocean.
Just follow the reef from the inside of the bowl to the outside then turn around
follow the reef back to where you started. Easy to dive and navigate. Max. depth
for us was 70ft. You could have stayed at 50ft. The water is always calm here
with great marine life. We saw several eels, a few turtles and many fish. Playa
Porto Maria also has fresh water rinse showers, Umbrellas, restaurant, bathroom
and a dive shop right there. A great day of diving, food and sun. A great place
to take divers and non-divers.
Playa Kalkai
This dive site is on the far west of the island and has a dive shop right
there. In fact you are better off renting tanks at West End dive shop and use
their shower and facilities after your dive. The rental tanks at West End are
only $6.00. It’s easy to do two dives here. The reef runs parallel to the
shore and is a short swim from the small beach. Easy parking and stairs down to
the beach and ocean. This site is the last shore dive on the island but well
worth the drive. The visibility was about 90ft. no current and beautiful reef
and lots of fish. eels, and lobsters.
more info about The Playas including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Virgin Islands (British) Caribbean Sea The reef diving in the Francis Drake Channel area is very extensive. The dive
at the Indians is not to be missed as well as Rainbow Reef and Painted
Walls . Each sight has its own character, and as is my custom, I prefer the
dive crew to pick the sights based on weather conditions and experience.
Visibility at all sights were never less than 60 feet with some sights having
80+ feet viz. Water temps were in the high 70's but my hooded vest was worn
under my 5 mm wetsuit for all dives since we were averaging about an hour per
dive.
Overall I would have to say the reefs that we visited were very healthy, with
no sign of abuse, overfishing, or bleaching. The National Park fees assessed to
dive certain areas were modest and were apparently well spent on multiple secure
moorings at each sight. Although there was an apparent lack of the 'big
stuff' like sharks and rays, we were blessed with several sightings of
smaller, but equally interesting critters.
We happened to locate two sailfin blennies in separate unattached pieces of
coral and when placed in close proximity, the show they put on for us lasted
almost 15 minutes. With sails out fully, they took turns posturing and chasing
each other in and out of the holes they called home. We finally had to separate
them as we laughed through our regs and their behavior. We also sighted several
male Jawfish (complete with a mouthful of eggs). A black spotted nudibranch was
also spotted and duly photographed and captured on video.
RMS Rhone This wreck is probably one of the most famous wrecks in the
Caribbean and has SO MUCH life on it. She sank in 1867 when she was pounded onto
a sharp rock during a hurricane. Almost everyone on board died.
The wreck of the Beata which is a tug boat sunk intentionally, where
you'll probably see sting rays as they feed on the garden eels living in the
sand.
more info about Tortola including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United States Caribbean Sea
- Snapper Ledge:
aptly named reef with more
snappers, grunts, and Goatfish than I've ever seen in one place. Visibility
was much better than other dive sites, with lots less sand and particulates in
the water. There are lots of other species here too. I spent some of the dive
watching a bunch of neon Gobies on a large brain coral cleaning a Parrotfish.
- French Reef
is a shallow, relatively high-relief reef with some swim-throughs
under the coral. There were several medium size barracuda on this reef that
were not shy at all. I found a black grouper being cleaned, and a southern
stingray was disturbed by the divers and sailed over the reef. I attempted a
picture of a pale blue parrotfish but the color captured by the camera just
doesn't do justice to the beautiful, soft blue that I saw on the reef.
- Racetrack:
An unmoored dive spot consisting of a very pretty, shallow
reef surrounded by a sandy "racetrack." There are lots of soft and
hard coral with lot of varied species of fish. We found three little
nudibranchs Tritonia hamnerorum on a sea fan! I looked at about a
zillion other sea fans and didn't find any more.
- Freighter Reef:
a shallow, low reef...how many reefs are named after
the wrecks of ships? There were fewer fish on this site, but lots of stuff to
look at. I spotted a Parrotfish lying on the bottom and went over to
investigate. The fish swam off as I approached and I saw why it was there;
underneath were at least three cleaning shrimp in a corkscrew anemone. The
Parrotfish was getting as close to the bottom as it could to get cleaned of
parasites and detritus. Under the corkscrew anemone I spotted the red and
white striped antennae of a pistol shrimp, but he wouldn't come out to get his
picture taken.
- Molasses Reef, "winch hole":
This probably the most
heavily dived reef off of Key Largo. There were a dozen boats scattered over
the many moorings on this large site. I dropped in and stayed under the boat
for most of the dive until, alas, my hour was up and it was time to return
to the boat, climb the ladder and put away my gear, not a bad dive to finish
up the trip.
more info about Reefs, Key Largo including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United States Caribbean Sea
- Pickles:
The wreck was carrying pickle barrels
full of cement when she went down. The barrels have all rotted away, but the
concrete "barrels" are still there. This place is "sea fan
city;" they're everywhere. I spotted a school of eight Midnight
Parrotfish, but couldn't get close enough for a picture. Lots of juvenile
barracuda hovered over the reef watching for some fish to limp. If you wave
your hand in the water, the Barries are curious enough to swim over to you for
a closer look. Other divers reported finding a couple of nurse sharks under
the ledges near the wreck and one big green moray.
- Duane:
a Coast Guard cutter that was put down as an artificial reef in
the 80's. She's upright on the sand at 125 feet with the main deck at 100
feet. We had great conditions, no current and good visibility. I was the first
diver in the water, as I wanted to be first on the wreck with my camera. One
of the dive masters went in with his, gasp, film camera! There were many, many
big barracuda stationed above the wreck; a school of jacks breezed through,
scattering the smaller fish. I looked down on the sand off the port side of
the wreck and spied a six-foot bull shark cruising towards the stern. It was
too far away for me to get close, but I could see the dive master had gone
down to try and get a picture, but the shark wasn't having anything to do with
him. I took some wide-angle shots of the wreck itself and some of the other
divers in our group. With no current, I was able to do a blue water safety
stop just below the boat. I thoroughly enjoyed this most excellent wreck dive.
- Wreck of the Benwood:
a WWII British freighter that collided with
another boat running without lights and was run aground in shallow water where
she sank. She was used as target practice by the Navy and is pretty busted up,
but is still a very nice wreck with lots of fish, Nassau groupers, black
groupers, schools of grunts, schools of Goatfish, a few angels, Parrotfish,
juvenile fish of all kinds, et al. This must be a really nice dive in good
visibility.
- Spiegel Grove:
The Spiegel Grove was sunk as a huge artificial reef
and is very popular dive spot. The wreck is over 500 feet long and lies on its
port side in one hundred thirty five feet of water to the sand. To complicate
what is a deep dive, the current is usually strong here. The tanks supplied
for this dive were overfilled to 3500 PSI. The dive boat used a "granny
line" to the mooring line on the wreck and asked divers to go no deeper
than 100 feet and to return to the mooring line after no more than twenty
minutes on the wreck. We were moored amid ships and were able to see the
anti-aircraft guns and look into the open hatches on the deck. A few large
Jacks cruised the wreck and a school of Baitfish exploded past us, getting out
of the way of some unseen predator.
more info about Wrecks, Key Largo including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United States Caribbean Sea Unless the speed limits have been lifted it will take about 2 hours to drive
between Key West and Key Largo on US 1.
Obey the speed limits - the traffic cops have no sense of humor! If you do
get stopped - stay in the car, hands on the wheel, and wait for the patrolman to
come to you!
At Key Largo I used the Florida State operation that runs the John Pennekamp
Coral Reef State Park. They have first pick of sites inside the reserve (they
run it).
From Key Largo and south down US 1 (the highway) there seems to be a dive
operator at every lamppost, we dived with Amoray and they were good.
Most of the addresses in the Keys have a reference to 'Mile Marker' or 'mm'
on them, so you can work out how far apart they are on US
Dives to do…
The Duane
Purposely sunk Coastguard Cutter. Can have VERY strong surface currents, but
OK on the wreck. Meet Psycho, the 'pet' Barracuda.
Key West
several operators, can't remember offhand who we went with, but we were there at
New Year and it had been a little stormy, but there were a couple of half decent
reefs to dive. I understand that there are some other wrecks accessible from
here, but can't comment on them.
My opinion - do your diving round Key Largo and go down to Key West for the
fun & games on land.
more info about Key West including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Saint Lucia Caribbean Sea We were in Rodney Bay in May 2002 and the best diving is around the
southern tip of the island in the vicinity of Souffriere where diving is
located around the fantastic piton mountains. The main beach near Rodney Bay is Reduit
beach, which I am sure you can reach within a short walk of your hotel or digs,
or you may actually be located on the beach. The diving outfit we used was Anse
Chastanet's hotel dive operation, which has a booth on the beach at one of the
Reduit beach hotels (either the Papillon or the Rex, I can't quite remember).
You can book there or direct by ringing Anse Chastanet
website
Anse Chastanet will pick you up from your hotel, take you to a short
drive away at a slip where you board a fast boat to take you down to the center
several miles down the coast. There, you will be taken on a very short check out
dive of the usual variety (mask clearing, alternative air source breathing,
buoyancy check), then you have a two-tank dive, one in the morning, and one
after lunch, which is included in the deal. You are then taken back home via the
same means after the dive. The deal was approx. $75 including a great buffet
lunch, which was excellent value.
I was surprisingly impressed with the diving around Souffriere, good viz,
vertiginous walls and healthy corals and fauna. The diving outfit was
professional and the service and deal well presented/pitched.
Have fun in Rodney Bay, don't forget to patronize Spinnakers on the beach,
and the Lime bar and restaurant just off the beach. The Great House restaurant
further up at Pigeon point is first class, if you fancy a bit of 'posh nosh'.
I am sure I don't need to warn you about the 'Aloe Vera' brigade, which you
will find hanging around the shopping mall, trying to sooth your sunburn or
mosquito bites... for the obligatory fistful of dollars. Also, car hire is 'cr.p'.
We turned down 3 cars that were lethal death traps from a very reputable
company. Public transport is cheap and the share ride minibus stops just outside
the mini-mart on the main road. Use that instead! I also wholly recommend a day
sail to Martinique! Whoa, dolphins, manta rays, we saw the lot, and had a nice
French lunch at Josephine's in Marin harbor .
more info about Rodney Bay including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean Sea We were at Turtle Beach (Rex resort) and we went diving with the local
dive outfit on the spot at the hotel, as well as with Undersea Tobago ,
based at the Grafton Beach resort further down the coast.
Undersea Tobago picked us up from our hotel and we did a two-tank dive with
them. The Atlantic side can be very choppy and with some substantial swell even
at 25 meters, but well worth it, with masses of large fish (angels, rays, nurse
sharks, parrots, barracuda etc).
The Caribbean side, at Dutchman reef , is generally much more sedate,
but equally enjoyable, with beautiful fans and whip coral, and huge sponges.
The dive operators do not carry your gear or bottles for you. However, fair
is fair, the diving was well organized, and we had some very good scenic dives
further north.
You'll probably be sold 'the wreck'. My view is that, unless you want to log
it in your book, don't bother. It's the most boring 30 M/100’dive of a
relatively new wreck where you can swim through and that's about it.
The highlight of our holiday was to watch the huge leatherback turtles come
ashore at night to lay their eggs. Right in front of the bar, the rooms, it was
awesome. However, you are not very likely to see them except in May.
Tobago is not yet spoiled by mass tourism. Enjoy!
more info about Turtle Beach including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Hong Kong South China SeaI spent some time there back in '99 and contacted the local BSAC club on the island (South China Dive Club) they meet at the boat club in Aberdeen (south part of the island). They're a friendly lot and were very welcoming to me as a visitor, even loaning/renting some equipment. You can check out their website at
website Alternatively there's a club in Kowloon, but I don't know any details for them.
The diving there is similar to diving in this country, but warmer and of course different marine life etc. Viz can be good or bad, again similar to UK. WAter temperature when I was there (July/August) was 28-30 degrees, so I managed quite well with swimming trunks and a T-shirt. You may consider a wetsuit though as depths below 15m can reduce noticeably in temperature.
Rob
more info about Aberdeen including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Thailand South China SeaThis dive site is really unique. The site is a reef surrounding a small island that is attached to Koh Phangan by a sandbar that you can walk over. The reef is easily accessable by the shore or boat. What I really loved the most is the coral has nearly no damage which is quite unusual at sites in Thailand. The coral is very diverse, staghorn, brain, boulder, whip, fan - the list is endless and all in prisitine condition.
One amazing feature of the site is an anenome garden approx 30m square - I have never seen one like this before - you amost get vertigo diving through as there is nothing solid in sight to focus on and it is very shallow at 2-4m deep.
There are big shoals of fusilier, trevally and yellow fin barracuda and occasional green back turtles, black tip reef sharks. Every dive I have done there I have also seen blue spotted sting rays.
There is a dive shop situated on koh Ma called Phangan Divers and the staff there are very friendly and helpful.
more info about Koh Ma Reef, Koh Phangan including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Netherlands Antilles Caribbean SeaRates the top dive site in terms of species richness by the REEF Environmental organization. Present count, 323 species, plentiful in numbers as well as variety. With a drop off beginning in 30 feet (10 meters) of water, a continuous reef that runs parallel to shore, minimal to no currents, this is an ideal dive of all levels of divers. The majority of the fish life, colorful orange elephant ear sponges, purple tube and vase sponges and gorgonians are found between 30 - 60 feet or water. These shallow depths provide divers with plenty of underwater viewing time. Bonaire is ranked as the #1 macro capital in the Caribbean, and no site is better for marco than Bari reef. In the shallow terrace ( 0 to 30 feet) the rubble is home to move than 100 species of fish alone. (also ideal for snorkelers). Yellow headed jawfish, pike blenneys, sail fin blenneys and other beauties abound for those with patient eyes! On the reef slope, enormous schools of creole wrasse, queen and french angel fish, rock beauties, groupers, butterfly fish, and countless others. Frog fish generally there for long periods of time, squid in the shallow without fail!
more info about Bari Reef at Sand Dollar, Bonaire including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United States PacificHonolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
The YO 257 and the San Pedroo are the best wreck dive in the Hawaiian Islands. We have 2 170 ft shipwrecks laying side by side, 75 ft apart at a maximum depth of 100ft. Both wrecks have been there over 25 years and have atracted lots of marine live. There is tons of coral and fish, many big green sea turtles and 2 reef sharks that are permanent residents. It is a great dive for the intermediate (20 dives) to the experienced diver and a must to divers visiting the island of Oahu.
more info about YO 257 & San Pedro Shipwrecks including maps, reviews, and ratings...
France Mediterranean SeaThe wreck of this cargo ship is 50+ meteres to the bottom. It is covered in red and yellow coral which is unusual for the med.
more info about Donater - Porquerolles including maps, reviews, and ratings...
GrenadaThis is the wreck of an Italian Ocean Liner that burnt and sank in the 1960's. She is 600 feet long and very deep (the top is reached at 30m - the bottom at 50+) It is covered in coral and is home to lots of small marine life.
more info about Bianca C including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Indonesia Banda SeaThis is the number one macro dive.
You swim down to what looks like the contents of a full ashtray, grey crap. All the rubbish that people have thrown into the Strait over the last hundred years. Or is it?
When you really start to look you find what looks like a piece of rubbish, but is actually a fish in disguise.
Sea Urchins as large as footballs seem to gang up and flash their neon lights at each other in a magnificent display.
Our guide told us that if we did not see a seahorse that he would refund the cost of our holiday! There were so many that we began to be blase about them.
There are thousands of nudibranch. I, of course, had gone in with wide angle - but still managed to come back with some fantastic shots.
more info about Somebody's Hairball (Lembeh Strait) including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Egypt Red SeaYou really need to be in first to apprecaite this wreck.
It is a massive big upturned hull that you enter from the back and swim through (so lights needed). There's not much inside.
Your bubbles dislodge all manner of creatures (hence the get in first idea). Some of these are pricly so wear your hood (or keep moving).
It's relatively safe. You can see you exit through the broken hull midships at all times. there's huge schools of glassfish here so your photographers will find some good shots here.
Once out you can follow the reef back up at your leisure to finish the dive. you'll easy get an hour in all.
more info about Dunraven including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Gibraltar Mediterranean SeaThere's not many dives you can do that give you two wrecks for the price of one!
We did this as an intro dive. We all wanted a shallow wreck.
This dive can be done from the shore but we did it as a boat. We headed south along the sea wall and basically where it finished we went in! You could easily find it from shore using the same rules.
There's a telegraphic cable you can conveniently follow to find the wrecks.
I was pleasantly surprised by the profuse marine life. Loads of small stuff but with plenty of fish too. The species here are hybrid Med/Atlantic.
The wrecks are both upright and small enough to explore in their entirety in one dive.
Nothing tricky or dangerous on this dive. Ideal to try out your gear before exploring one of Gib's other larger wrecks.
more info about Two wrecks including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Sri Lanka Indian OceanDiving is ideal for beginners. You will find some hard and soft corals and marine life mostly small species. The diving is not very good but it is not as bad as you can think, this is probably the only diving spot in Sri Lanka during summer. go to Trincomalee an then you have to go north to Pidgeon Island. It is better to go in the morning to get the best visibiliy.
more info about pidgeon island including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Cyprus Aegean SeaThe Vera K is a medium size freighter sitting upright in 10 metres. It is an ideal dive to introduce beginners to wreck diving. It is sunk in a crater so, as a site, it is well defined. It has an intact wheelhouse but the rest of the wreck is in various states of collapse.
It takes a short boat ride (10 minutes) from Paphos harbor, where there are a couple of dive operations (Cydive being the most established).
It takes a good 45 minutes to explore the wreck and surrounding crater. There are caves that are very safe for a swim through and, if you are lucky, you will see Big George. He's a massive grouper (cow sized!) and I have no idea how he got that big in the Mediterranean but he is not a myth. I've seen him! He's understandably shy of divers and you won't get close enough to photograph him, let alone touch him.
See Also
website more info about Vera K including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Bermuda AtlanticThis was a deliberate sinking in the mid 80's. I haven't seen it recently but when I was on it there was not a lot of coral growth.
The boat has been stripped clean but there is still plenty of photogenic machinery inside. There's plenty to explore and worth a couple of dives. It is a most requested wreck on the south shore as it is the biggest and most intact (unless you know different).
The deck is around 60 foot so start deep and ascend later, leaving the wheelhouse till a quick swim thro at last.
There are loads of other wrecks nearby for a second dive. I'll tell you about them when I gety time!
Bermuda is a cracking place. Everything revolves around Hamiltion. Apparently there are more people per square mile than anywhere else (and most are well heeled).
It's a popular place with NY divers as it is the nearest bit of decent diving and the shortest flight. Steer clear in May/June as the humidity is opressive.
more info about The Hermes including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Kenya Indian OceanIt took about 30 minutes to this dive site. The wreck is an old steel shrimp boat which is about 120 feet long. My camera was kept busy with an octopus, rock cod, a moray and shoals of batfish. The wreck is quite incrusted so a good opportunity for macro.
more info about Mida Wreck including maps, reviews, and ratings...