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Venezuela Caribbean Sea 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.
more info about Reefs including maps, reviews, and ratings...
| Puerto Rico Caribbean Sea
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.
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| Papua New Guinea South China Sea
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.
more info about Paradise Sport including maps, reviews, and ratings...
| 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...
| Solomon islands Pacific
- 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.
more info about Reefs and wrecks 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.
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| United States Pacific 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.
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| Aruba Caribbean Sea
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.
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| Mexico Caribbean Sea
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.
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| Australia Pacific The Navy Pier at Exmouth is a must if you can only do a day or two. The only company with a licence for it is the one opposite the Tourist info office in Exmouth. I was a bit suspicious when they said that a pier dive was one of the best in Oz but it is a mindblow. Only 10-12m or so but more fish than I imagined possible, sharks, huge groupers, wobbegongs and dense packed shoals of many species. UPDATE Kristin Anderson reports the Navy Pier at Exmouth has been closed to divers since 01 August 2006 and there are no plans to reopen it in the near future. We are hopeful that the Pier will be re-opened at some stage, but there's no information on that yet. Currently they are doing maintenance so it will likely be at least several more months before any decisions are even considered.
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| Samoa Pacific An interesting place, a couple of dives excellent, better than Raro, the others rather mediocre. Moana Divers in Apia, and Pacific Resort Divers in the south were both OK (that means the air was clean, everything worked, the boat was there when you surfaced, they seemed to know what they were doing, and they did not insist on guided diving). PRD set a ridiculous 20m depth limit but we ignored it.
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| Cayman islands Caribbean Sea
- 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! [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.
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| Bahamas Caribbean Sea With advanced booking checking in was breeze, and was on the boat in 10 minutes upon arrival. The boat was great, 46ft lots of room and shade, topside sundeck, bathroom, freshwater showers, camera table, huge water cooler, everything you need. The first dive was at Razorback reef, about a 15 minutes from the dock. During the dive briefing we were given the choice of following the divemaster or heading out on own. I followed the divemaster and it was very good dive, lots of life, saw a hammerhead, cool. The 2nd am dive was 2 wrecks laying bow to stern, the first starting at about 35ft,the 2nd ending at around 60ft. Both of these ships are 180ft island tankers, this was a cool dive. This site is only about a minute from Stuart Cove's dock. After lunch out to Sharkwall and Sharkarena, about 45 minutes or so, defnitively worth the ride. The dive is on a wall and coral gardens that surround Sharkarena the site of the 2nd dive. The sharks know a snack isn't too far away, with 6-10 following us around (and a couple grouper too). After a surface interval back down to the Sharkarena a natural sand spot surrounded by coral, the feeding begins. I was totally blown away by these 2 dives it was great lots of sharks in your face action, 6 days later I'm still processing it. If you want to see sharks and want to go with a great dive op chose Stuart Cove's. I can't think of anything negative about Stuart Cove's the entire staff was fantastic. I hired a private photographer from Stuart Cove's Fin Photo for the Shark encounter dives, Tori did a awesome job during the dives and gave me a disc with 61 great pictures, worth the extra money. I can't wait to go back
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Cook islands Pacific Rarotonga is lovely, a great place to get over your jet lag if flying west to NZ or Oz. The diving is easy and pleasant. Think Malta with coral. There are four dive outfits on the island - Cook Island Divers caters for the young backpacker crowd; Pacific Resort is follow-my-leader diving; we dived with Rarotongan Dive Centre (RDC); and I forget the fourth one. RDC was fine and I recommend it. It's run by Huw & Sheryl John, and Steve Grant (Welsh, Kiwi & Kiwi respectively). RDC respected our qualifications and we dived unguided. All the diving is from RIB’s or similar (we saw the other dive outfits' boats about). There are only about 3 launch points on the island, but they are fairly evenly spread around the island, and since it's only about 30km in circumference you can nearly always get in somewhere. There are plenty of fish, we saw one shark, the drop-offs are steep but not vertical and there is some coral bleaching. We did six dives and always had the site to ourselves. Don't travel round the world just for the diving in Rarotonga, but do give it a whirl if you are in the area.
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| Dominican Republic Caribbean Sea
- 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 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. On Land… 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.
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| Dominican Republic Caribbean Sea The Dominican Republic is good value for your money. More than 45,000 hotel rooms are located throughout the length and breadth of the island. The competition keeps hoteliers on their toes, and the traveler benefits from great vacation prices. There are small beach inns to small hotels atop hills colonial city hostels to adventure traveler hotels, all-inclusive beach resorts to deluxe metropolitan hotels. - 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.
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| 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
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| 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.
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