Murcielago or Bat islands
This dive spot is for experienced divers and really worth taking the 1 hour and 15 minutes boat trip.
A free decent and you are in a wonderfull place. In the season May - November this place is famous for it's bull sharks.
My firts trip to these islands was awesome.....16 bull sharks!
The biggest Murene eels and big schools of rays. It's just a magnificent place to dive!
Your saftey stop has to be made in mid water without reference, this can be tricky because sometimes the currents are strong; therefore the experienced dive certification.
If you plan to go, be prepared, bring a saftey tube for the boat to spot you.
Bat islands is a national park and an entrance fee of $6 needs to be paid, make sure you take a diveshop that has legal permission because alot of divecenteres will take you on this trip and then you end up returning without any dives because the coast guard interfered with the plans.
One of the dive shops with a permit is Rich Coast Diving in playa del Coco.
click here
| Facts about Bat Islands It is in Costa Rica- Bat Islands is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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La Plata Island bottoms are, most of the time, made up of rock combined with massive Coral Reef Patches in good condition, coral fans (Gorgonians) and sand areas. The fauna is very rich and interesting, there are big groups of reef fishes like: angelfish, butterfly fish, trumpet fish, flute fish, jacks, sea basses, puffer fish, balloon fish, morays, snappers, trigger fish, parrot fish, scorpion fish, manta rays, guitar rays and white tip sharks. We can also see some green marine turtles, different species of sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers.
| Facts about Isla de la Plata, Manabí, Machalilla National Park It is in Ecuador- Isla de la Plata, Manabí, Machalilla National Park is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-50 Metres 0-160 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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I don't know who would rate this magical Island absurd. There are more than six authorized sites to dive. I would say that conditions vary, but is pacific and you really need to have a good guide that knows the tides in order to obtain the best visibility. I have seen whale shark, manta ray, white tip reef sharks and a lot of turtles. This is the huge stuff. Barracuda rings are often, parrot fish, grunts, morays, angel fish, butterfly fish, groupers, rays, idols amongs a lot of jacks. To me a wounderful place!!!!!!!!!
| Facts about Gorgona Island It is in Colombia- Gorgona Island is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 50+ Metres 160+ Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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SCUBA diving in Izu Oshima is somewhat unique from other dive sites at similar range of latitude world wide. Since the island is about 40km remote from mainland, and partially affected by warm Black Current from Philippine Sea, water is clear and extremely wide variety of marine lives are seen. Different creatures and different habits are observed at every time of dive even though you dive the same point repetitively.
Guided dives by extremely knowledgeable staffs are another great advantage in this island. Since those staffs dive the same place almost everyday, sometimes more than once a day, they know almost every pieces of creatures living in every holes and cracks of rocks. They not only just give you names of those creatures but also brief you how they lives, such as holding and protecting eggs, and how they grows.
The island is surrounded mostly by rocky coast, but sandy beaches are limited. There are no coral reefs along the coast, but some hard corals can be seen in limited places. Warm water current, so called Black Current, from Philippine Sea is flowing off southern end of the island, and partially reaches west coast of the island. This current brings many kinds of sea lives from tropic ocean, and those are often seen during September to December. However, as water is cooled down by strong cold wind from North in winter season, those tropical creatures die and disappears.
Another current with cold and nutrition rich water is flowing from deep see floor to east coast surface of the island. Therefore many fishes from small to big are gathering to these area. Huge school of sardines, snappers are often seen, especially during the autumn season. Jack fishes, tunas, sharks and even whales are also found chasing those schools quite often.
Water temperature rises to 24C at highest during September-October, but drops down to 14C at lowest during March-April.
I have prepared a detailed guide to Izu Oshima for foreign divers convenience at the following URL.
| Facts about Izu Oshima It is in Japan- Izu Oshima is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-50 Metres 0-160 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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the name says it!
| Facts about Perfect Pinnical It is in Samoa- Perfect Pinnical is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-40 Metres 0-130 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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An amazing wall dive, with sharks passing by every other minut, and with amazing macro : leef fish, slags from many kind and colurs, very colurfull soft corals and big fans.
| Facts about new drop off - Palau It is in Micronesia- new drop off - Palau is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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A beautiful sunken pool connected to the ocean by underwater passages. The sunlight shining on the ocean outside the cave gives the water its amazing deep blue color with typical visability of 100 plus feet. The Saipan Grotto is one of Saipan's best diving spots. Considered by many as one of the best shore cavern dives in the world, this must do dive site in Saipan is sure to amaze you.
After entering the water through a large limestone hole, divers realize they are in a huge cavern. From here, there are three different exit holes to the sea. Once outside, there are beautiful walls, swim-throughs, and caves to explore. Turtles, sharks, and wrasse, are some of the many types of sea life to be seen at this magnificent dive site.
| Facts about Saipan Grotto It is in Northern Mariana Islands- Saipan Grotto is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-40 Metres 0-130 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 30+ Metres 100+ Feet.
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THIS IS HARDCORE SCUBA DIVING
| Facts about Malpelo Island- It is in Colombia
- Malpelo Island is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 50+ Metres 160+ Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Monterey California.
Perfect diving for everybody. The water is a bit cold so 2 layers of 7mm or a dry-suit is needed. The viz can range between non or 50 ...
There are plenty of sites for all level of divers, Breakwater is perfect for first-timers and night dives. Monastary beach is more for the experienced divers, watch the beach entry because it can be quite tricky.
Diveshops, daytrips (boat) are available.
The dives are full of sea-lions, lingcod, cabezon, kelp .. etc etc
For some examples: click here
| Facts about Monterey, California It is in United States- Monterey, California is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 50+ Metres 160+ Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Diving in Yap has made the top 5 lists in recent years by premier photographers and authorities on dive travel. M'il Channel is legendary for the majestic manta rays that feast in the coral channel which is also used as their cleaning station. The giant mantas of Yap weigh upwards of a ton and stretch more than a dozen feet tip to tip.
A single manta encounter may be the most awe-inspiring event one can hope to experience in a lifetime of diving.
There are other equally spectacular dive sites around Yap. And more have yet to be discovered. We encourage visitors to stay longer and visit all the dive sites. Your tour guides are always friendly and helpful. Visit our website for more information: click here
| Facts about M'il Channel- It is in Micronesia
- M'il Channel is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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However, the diving in Chile looks excellent - the prevaling Humbolt current keeps the water pretty cold (it aint coral reef), but means the sea life should be rich. It might be well worth trying to get out to the Juan Fernández (Robinson Crusoe) Islands. Viña Del Mar and Valparaíso, both on the coast close to Santiago have dive centres, try Google searches on combinations of 'buceo' 'chile' 'Viña' 'Valparaíso' etc. A very quick starting link that seems to have some good info: click here Didn't go to the coast in Peru, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't *something* in Lima.
Also, is it possible (as in are there dive centres there) to dive in Lake Titicaca in Peru ? I'm told the archeology there is very impressive and Jaques Cousteau did a few dives there. No dive centres, as far as I could find out. If you do manage to mount an expedition to get full gear, tanks, weights and a compressor up there, please do send a trip report! At 4,000 metres, it is an altitude dive beyond most deco models, so be careful! ;-)
| Facts about Chilean Expedition diving It is in Chile- Chilean Expedition diving is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
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- 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.
| Facts about Reefs and wrecks It is in Solomon islands- Reefs and wrecks is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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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.
| Facts about San Benedicto, Baja- It is in United States
- San Benedicto, Baja is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 0-3 Metres 0-10 Feet.
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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.
| Facts about Navy Pier at Exmouth It is in Australia- Navy Pier at Exmouth is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-10 Metres 0-30 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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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.
| Facts about Western Samoa- It is in Samoa
- Western Samoa is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 3-10 Metres 10-30 Feet.
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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.
| Facts about Rarotanga It is in Cook islands- Rarotanga is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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Marine Divers SAC - BSAC Special Branch 2292, runs regular trips to this
resort from Hong Kong.
The resort is on the other side of the channel to Puerto Galera ,
offering dives as good if not better with more chance of pelagics, and best of
all LESS DIVERS!!!. Diving is conducted the BSAC way!
| Facts about Maricaban Island Resort It is in Philippines- Maricaban Island Resort is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 0-3 Metres 0-10 Feet.
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Honolulu, 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.
| Facts about YO 257 & San Pedro Shipwrecks- It is in United States
- YO 257 & San Pedro Shipwrecks is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-30 Metres 0-100 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 30+ Metres 100+ Feet.
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Not a lot of divers go to this site as it is very hard for boats to anchor. This makes the coral virtually untouched.
There are a lot of oriental species of fish including the Lacy scorpion fish. The water is quite cold but a lot of things to photograph. I had used up all my film in 20 minutes.
| Facts about Susies Bommy - Loloata It is in Papua New Guinea- Susies Bommy - Loloata is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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A short Zodiac ride gets you to the site where there are Turtles, dolphins, and very boring coral (very dull).
The exciting part of this dive is the many grey sharks that are being hunted by the resident hammerhead and tiger shark.
| Facts about Tiputa Pass - Rangiroa It is in French Polynesia- Tiputa Pass - Rangiroa is in the Pacific.
- The typical depth is 0-20 Metres 0-60 Feet.
- The typical visibility is 10-30 Metres 30-100 Feet.
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