Reefs

Venezuela

Pinnacle (or Guasa) the 'not for
sissies' dive. Lots of surge and current and struggling down a rope to the
top of the pinnacle. It was very poor—but we still managed to see everything
you can think of up close: huge, varied species of parrot fish, more octopus,
drums, eels, scorpion fish, interesting corals, and more reef fish that you
could imagine. With the current, we could only imagine what lay out of our line
of vision!

Los Gatos brought us huge nurse sharks, morays, fighting (with each
other!) scorpion fish and the biggest scrawled filefish any of us had ever seen.

Green Paradise (and it was). 1st and Los Cuchos ('Eagle
Rays' and there were!) (2nd) Good vis and all the Eagle Rays you could
count—not to mention a few bull sharks swimming back and forth below. Huge
green morays (some of the biggest we’ve seen since Cozumel 10 years ago!) were
on every dive many times more than one sighting and also out free swimming!

Mini Wall, New Wall, Ledges Turtles, African Pompano, queen angels
everywhere, soap fish, huge southern rays. Wicked, flying current at Ledges but
big nurse sharks hidden everywhere in the ledges, big porcupine fish, and
biggest cowfish we have ever seen. Beautiful forests of corals and so many
schools we called it the 'Fish Freeway'.

El Avion and La Cocina . Visibility dubbed La Cocina the
'Where Were You?' dive. Almost all of us rolled off and never saw our
own buddy until the end of the dive. We buddied up with whomever we could find
and all made the dive. Again, "clouds" of every size wrasse and other
fish. The last dive was called the "Sergeant Major dive"-they were
everywhere.

Black Wall

Puerto Rico

The Black Wall – 97 ft

This dive is on a wall covered with black corals and is pretty typical of the
profile that we dove for the wall dives. The top of the reef is at 60 feet and
we dove to a depth of ~95 feet along the wall. Dropping in we first sighted a
Spotted Eagle Ray and were accompanied by Four Eyed Butterfly fish while on top
of the reef and also spotted a four plus foot Green Moray.

The Super Bowl – 80 ft

The super bowl reminded me of Cedral in Cozumel with coral heads separated by
narrow sandy channels and is also around the same depth with a bottom at 80 or
so feet and the top of the reef at 50 some. At this site we saw the only shark
of the weekend and the only shark that others had seen in several days of
diving.

The Hole in the Wall – 135 ft

The hole in the wall starts at 125 feet and exits about 90 feet. This is a
nice dive and an easy swim thru that needn’t worry anyone. This is where one
of the group spotted a rock fish and we saw a couple of nice sized eels here to.

The Chimney – 75 ft

This was a really nice drive and was typical of the second dives in depth and
bottom. But, we were treated to a school of Barracuda and a Hawks Bill turtle
that Angel swears never saw me as I had to get out of its way or I would have
been run into. No kidding, it came within a very few inches.

In summary, Puerto Rico offers some excellent opportunities for wall and
reef diving and Angel has stated his intention to explore more dive sites west
of Parguera since he now has a craft that can reach them quickly. I also
can’t wait to check out the west coast around Mayaguez and Aguadilla
as I was told that the reefs and water there are beautiful as well. So, bring
the dive gear and come and explore a fascinating island with much to do and see
both above and beneath the sea.

Paradise Sport

Papua New Guinea

It doesn’t get any better than this! The diving left us speechless. From
the untouched beauty of the bommies to the tiny, weird creatures in the muck, to
the B-17 Blackjack bomber, everything was superlative. We saw everything from a
Harlequin Ghost Pipefish to a Hammerhead. Be careful of the Panda Anemonefish–they
are quite aggressive and they bite hard!

There is even a Nautilus dive where a cage is sent down with bait and several
Nautilus are brought up for the divers to see and hold. The crew then takes the
animals back down to 200’ where they are released unharmed.

• The Ranch --So called because of its resident pygmy seahorses, at about
  20 m.



• Silver & Black --A fun dive site, where a flutemouth hovered over
  me to hide as it stalked prey. The main attraction is a sandy plain with
  hundreds of garden eels, bobbing and weaving in the current. Schools of
  triggerfish and other reef fish. At night, we saw two ocellated epaullette
  sharks, an enormous grouper, blue spotted rays, and even a dime sized octopus
  free swimming in the blue.



• Jason's Reef --Two bommies where Rhinopeus have frequently been
  spotted.



• Bunama Beach --A muck dive site, filled with fantastic creatures! A
  pair of harlequin ghost pipefish, numerous porcelain crabs, eels, seahorses,
  lots of shrimpfish flitting through the seagrass, double ended pipefish, red
  tailed pipefish, a variety of outrageously colored gobies, and much more. At
  night, we watched a color show put on by a cuttlefish, a swarming ball of
  catfish feeding, a shy little cowfish, and ghost spider crabs. Fantastic!



• Ayers Rock --Again looking for Rhinopeus, again failed. A great
  consolation was a mature blue ribbon eel as well as the black, juvenile
  version.



• Observation Point --Billed by the divemaster as a great muck diving
  site, it was a bit disappointing. Nobody could find much of anything.



• Wreck of the B-17 "Blackjack"-- Lying at 48.5 meters. It is
  almost perfectly intact, with very little encrustation to mar the beautiful
  lines of this enormous airplane. Such is the condition of this plane that the
  twin cannons in the tail turret still move in their mounts, and the belt of
  bullets is still clearly visible. Reach into the cockpit, and you'll find that
  the pilot's yoke still moves. The nose of the plane is caved in from the
  impact, and the propeller tips are bent back, but it still looks like the
  plane is ready to fly



• Kearst Reef --A blue water dive, this was a bit disappointing. We did
  three dives, and only managed to spot one very shy gray reef shark, a small
  school of barracuda, and the occasional moray.



• Deacon's Reef and Dinah's Beach --Two dive sites close to each other.
  The boat tied up at Dinah's Beach with two tenders running divers over to
  Deacon's. I'd seen Deacon's in various books I'd read before coming, and I was
  shocked to see the difference between the present day Deacon's and the
  pictures I'd seen. It seemed like 50% of the fantastic profusion of red whips,
  sea fans, and other coral formations had died off, leaving scars of dead coral
  pieces lying about. This seemed to be diving heaven! Frogfish, eels, mantis
  shrip, octopus, ocellated epaulette sharks, cuttlefish...simply everything was
  here! And the best part about Deacon's/Dinah's is the shallowness, which meant
  some marathon 100+ minute dives. All told, I was underwater nearly 7 hours
  that day!

Basilisk Point -- Basilisk was the worst sites of the trip, a wall dive
where some mantas occasionally pass by.

The Playas

Netherlands Antilles

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.

Reefs and wrecks

Solomon islands

• Leru Cut is a geologic formation where the solid
  limestone of an island has a section cut into it. The top of the cut was open
  to the sky, but it was only about 5 meters across at the widest. We dropped
  down to about 15 meters and swam into the cut. It was like going into an unlit
  alleyway between two large buildings at night. Although there was light
  outside on the reef and up above at the top of the cut, down in the cut itself
  it was quite dark. This made for some interesting lighting effects.



• The Toa Maru is a 400ft+ Japanese cargo ship that was attacked and
  sunk during WWII. The ship rests on its starboard side on a slope with the bow
  in the shallows starting at about 25ft and the stern ending below 120ft.
  Artifacts included fuel drums, ammo, saki bottles, and a motorcycle. The big
  surprise was the condoms that Danny had previously found on one of his many
  dives there. To preserve them, he placed them in a jar and hid them in the
  wreck to show to his guests. I never laughed so hard through a reg when the
  divemaster pulled that jar out of its hiding place.



• One Tree I caught this dive at a good time as a school of Spotted
  Eagle Rays performed an acrobatic display for over twenty minutes with a few
  of them checking me out at very close distance.



• The Hell Cat - A shallow dive; 30ft, this American fighter plane was
  perfectly intact. Ammo still found in its wings. Amazingly, this fighter was
  accidentally shot down (pilot survived and was rescued) by WWII ace Greg
  'Pappy' Boyington of the Black Sheep Squadron. One of Pappy's
  bullets hit the engine and the fighter had to ditch due to loss of oil
  pressure.



• Japanese Zero This is a shallow dive that is only a stones throw from
  the market in Gizo. It is an intact plane that, although interesting on its
  own, had a beautiful florescent red anemone. The two anemone fish that called
  it home were 'tinted' in the same color of red. A few fin strokes
  away are the broken pieces of a Japanese Float plane.

Tortola

Virgin Islands (British)

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.

San Benedicto, Baja

United States

San Benedicto is a very rugged
island that looks like a volcano rising right out of the ocean. The last
eruption was in 1952 and you can easily see where the eruption took place, on
the lower side of the southeast corner of the island.

Shark Caves is located on the East side of the island. A dive briefing
was given prior to our arrival at which time we were informed that gloves,
lights and knives are strictly prohibited while diving any of the islands.

Target lights and focus lights attached to any camera gear are exempt. The
recommended water exit procedure is to climb the ladder with your fins on to
avoid any injury with the potential bouncing, surge and currents that may exist.
This was not difficult with the wide, well spaced steps on the ladder and was
indeed a very good recommendation. Once the anchor was dropped and the RIB’s
were in the water, everyone suited up and jumped in for the first checkout dive.
The dive was to approximately 70 feet. Visibility was poor at only 30 feet, but
I was able to get up close with at least a dozen white tip sharks resting in
their caves. I also spotted a Shovelnose Guitarfish, a very Stingray-ish looking
variety of the shark family.

There were hundreds of Moorish Idol's and even with the reduced visibility,
it was a great dive and the water temperature was a pleasing 76 degrees, 10
degrees warmer than the water in Cabo. Once all of the divers were back on
board, the Solmar V moved to a protected bay with calm water on the south side
of the island and dropped anchor for the evening. It seemed that in a matter of
only minutes, a few Silky sharks showed up and began patrolling the boat a few
feet under the surface. After dinner, we were treated to a shark feeding show
off the side of the boat where tuna parts were hung off the side.

The wreck of the Antilla

Aruba

The Antilla was a German freighter that was sunk in
1940. The ship is 400 feet long and there is one large compartment that you can
penetrate. The viz was still low and there were tons of people and boats at this
site. The snorkel boats were there along with every dive company on the island.
The ship was neat to see but this site is way too crowded. There were groups of
divers going in all directions and it was pretty had to even figure out which
group you were with! Our DM did manage to keep our group together on this dive,
but again, we were not overly impressed with the crew. The most personality they
showed was when the boat got back to the dock and they were pointing out the tip
jar to all of us! Well, after these first 2 days of diving, we were about to
cancel some of the rest of our dives and put the money towards something else.

Fortunately, the next day we did a "South Coast" 2 -tank dive. WOW….
What a difference. The dive was great with beautiful reefs and much better
visibility. The boat left at 8:30am so you had none of the cruise ship crowd or
the resort course divers. There were only 8 divers on the whole boat. Our dive
master and boat captains on these trips were much better. We dove at a site
called The Fingers . It was a drift dive (we had never done one of these!)
The reef comes down like a finger and we went to 100 ft. There were beautiful
coral formations, sea fans, and a diverse amount of fish. The second dive was at
a site called Gino's Choice, max. depth was 60 ft. There was a neat drop
off at this site but we couldn't follow it too far down since this was our
second dive. There were large brain coral and star coral at this site. We saw
many moray eels on this dive.

Puerto Aventuras, Cancun

Mexico

While Puerto Aventuras does not have the dramatic walls of Cozumel, it is a
dive destination worth visiting in its own right. Relaxed pace, lush reefs and
cenote diving make for an enjoyable vacation of a different style.

Our first dives were on Las Islas and Santos, two fairly shallow reefs just
out from the harbor entrance. We thought we would be bored, but far from it.

La Islas featured a mixed structural environment, nothing like the reefs
and walls on Cozumel, and the marine life, while sparse, was nonetheless,
interesting. Our biggest pleasure was in experiencing Loggerhead Turtles for the
first time. We encountered four on Las Islas, two of which I would estimate to
have a shell length of close to four feet, if not slightly longer.

Santos served to give us an example of what we would experience on the
balance of our open water dives, lots of vegetative life, fans, sponges, etc.,
and very few reef fish. Yes, we did see some rather large parrots, and the
occasional school of grunts, a squirrel fish or two, and an occasional juvenile
grouper but, again, nothing like what you see on the typical dive on Cozumel,
and other than the parrots, nothing of any size.

Cenotes Every diver should dive a Cenote at least once. Diving in
tropical waters, I wear a two piece, 1.5 mil long sleeve/long leg wetsuit. The
cenote dive guide, Mario, suggested that I might be a little cold, and handed me
a 3 mil shorty to put on, over my wetsuit. This being fresh water, he also
suggested that I could reduce my weight (the lead I was carrying, not my
physique) by as much as 25%.

We geared up in the parking lot, and carried our tanks on our backs down the
steep steps, visions of my "diving demise" being not underwater, but
due to the severe head trauma of a misstep.

The dives at Chac Mool and Kukulkan would be a typical two-tanker, but
with some new rules. One-third in, one-third out, one-third in reserve. With a
full 3,000 psi charge, we submerged into a small passage way that lead to a much
larger chamber. We experienced the halocline effect of the mixing of colder
fresh water over warmer salt water, which, again, intuitively is incorrect,
until you allow your mind to adjust for relative density differences. The visual
experience of the halocline is similar to diving in oil and vinegar salad
dressing, blurring one’s image during the penetration, but allowing for clear
viewing both above and below this sector.

Navy Pier at Exmouth

Australia

Western Samoa

Samoa

Stingray City

Cayman islands

• Seaview reef [61 minutes, max. depth 56’]: We
  headed South from Seaview towards Sunset House and rode the slight current
  back, ending right at the ladder at Seaview. Highlights: Spotted Scorpionfish,
  Pygmy Filefish , Peacock Flounder.
  
  



• Hepp’s Pipeline [52 minutes, max. depth 65’]: Looking back at the
  18 dives we did that week, this one was one of our favorites. Right away we
  saw a 5 foot green Moray tucking himself into an overhang. We crossed over a
  sandy plain, down over a mini-wall to a huge coral "mound". The
  coral here seemed very healthy compared to other areas we saw. The site is not
  dived very often because conditions are rarely favorable for the dive. In
  other words, we were very lucky! During the dive we saw the first and second
  Turtles of the trip. I snuck up on the second one while he was sharing a snack
  with a grey angelfish…very cool!

• Stringray City [44 minutes, max. depth 13’]: Often called the
  greatest 10 foot dive in the world. That I think goes to Moses Reef, Eilat,
  Israel. Still good though! Dived with Don Foster’s since TI didn’t have
  enough divers to go out. The one tank trip was not included in our dives for
  the week, so it cost us $55 US each. We rode a van out to the North side,
  and then boarded Foster's very large catamaran style boat that wasn't
  specifically outfitted for diving (no tank holders). A short boat ride to
  the shallow, sandy site and soon we were surrounded by many friendly
  stingray. Everyone should do it at least once, I guess. Don Foster's staff
  was very friendly, but the time we spent with them was really too short to
  form any kind of opinion. It's certainly a much larger operation than
  Treasure Island.

Water Temperature on all dives was 83 degrees F. On all dives the coral
was fairly healthy with a wide variety of fish life inhabiting it.

Shark Dive with Stuart Cove's

Bahamas

Reefs, Key Largo

United States

• 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...

---

Wrecks, Key Largo

United States

• 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...

---

Rarotanga

Cook islands

Canyons

Dominican Republic

• Canyons . This site ranges in depth from 35 to 80 feet with crevices
  hosting moray eels, spiny lobster and a variety of invertebrates. Atlantic
  Spadefish commonly cruise the water column above these coral canyons

• Catalina Island. Catalina Island is a longish boat ride from the Bayahibe
  area, maybe 30 minutes but many people consider it one of the highlights of
  their week. There is a true wall on the north side of the island, dropping
  from 15 to 130 feet. The shallow reef flat is rich with pillar and boulder
  corals, while the drop-off is filter feeder heaven, with black coral, vase
  sponge and large elephant ears. On the south side is a shallow reef known as
  the Aquarium. Here, pillar corals rule, and schooling grunts hide in coral
  recesses.



• Sea Pro Reef. A fascinating coral ridge at about 55 feet, absolutely
  chock-full of sea fans, tube sponges and Gorgonians. The ridge drops off seaward
  to nearly 130 feet, although the slope is gradual.
  
  



• The Tower (Cabo Cabron). Depth: 130+ feet. The boat drops you into the
  churning channel between rock and mainland. Keep your eyes peeled for dolphins,
  which frequent this spot. A giant pinnacle formation emerges from 165 feet,
  encrusted with sponge and cascading coral where lobster and crab are often
  found. The best way to see it all: drop down to 90 feet and slowly swim up and
  around the peak.

Hike Pico Duarte , the tallest peak in the Caribbean. Cross Lake
Enriquillo , the Caribbean's largest salt water lake; try rafting on the
clear waters of the Yaque del Norte river; or get close up to a school of
Humpback whales cavorting in Samaná Bay .

Beaches. Discover the breaking fun waves of Playa Grande , or
frolic in the pristine waters of Sosúa Beach , the mild surf of Playa
Dorada or the calm waters of Boca Chica . Indulge in the caress of Punta
Cana's coconut-dotted beaches on the East Coast.

more info about Canyons including maps, reviews, and ratings...

Wrecks

Dominican Republic

• St. George. The St. George is a large freighter, about 200 feet in
  length, sunk in early 1999 as a dive attraction. Now she sits upright along a
  reef slope with her bow at 140 feet and her propellers in the sand at 100
  feet. The wheelhouse and stack remain very much intact.



• Hickory. The Hickory was purposely sunk as a dive attraction in 1986
  and now sits perfectly upright on the sand seafloor at 65 feet. The 135-foot
  freighter got hammered by Hurricane George, but still hosts a massive amount
  of fish, particularly sergeant majors (obviously used to being hand-fed) and
  Blackbar Soldierfish. The sponge encrustation and marine life make this a
  must-do for underwater photographers.



• El Limon. El Limon is a 120-foot tugboat sunk near the Hickory. Given
  their proximity and reasonably shallow depth, both ships can be easily visited
  on the same two-tank dive trip.



• La Sirena Cave . This particular site can only be dived with Treasure
  Divers as they have an arrangement with the landowner, but it's an example of
  the numerous freshwater caves and caverns that are found throughout the DR.
  Here, an iron spiral staircase leads to a cavernous opening in the jungle
  canopy. Stunning water clarity washes a cave system decorated with perfectly
  intact stalactites and stalagmites. This dive is not done as a deep
  penetration and avoids long overhead obstructions, so it is safe for those
  without cave certification. But make no mistake; there is world-class cave
  diving in the Dominican Republic that is yet to be explored.



• Tanya V. Purposely sunk as a dive attraction by the owner of the
  nearby Coral Costa Caribe Resort; the Tanya V is a 120-foot cargo ship sent to
  the bottom Oct. 22, 1999. Already the stern is home to large schools of grunts
  and Goatfish. She sits in 110 feet of water.

Nova Scotia

Canada

Nova Scotia has some awesome wreck
diving, gin clear but cold water and a tremendous value for your diving dollar
given the exchange rate. If you are thinking about a family holiday, a club
expedition or simply some awesome diving then check out our website:

website

and website

Related link: Dive
Nova Scotia - Canada

Key West

United States

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.