Best city to live in and dive from?

[diversteve]

Willemstad, Curacao - Work permits might be an issue.
Anywhere on Maui but it's expensive. And tourism focused. Honolulu/Oahu is more developed with good local diving also.
San Diego, CA - it's warm but the water isn't. Excellent infrastructure outside of diving plus nightlife.
Sydney, Australia but the water isn't esp. warm afaik. Never been there.

 

[tracydr]

North Carolina-Wilmington, or Charleston,SC.

 

[divad]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice / tips from our lovely worldwide community here: I'm a diving fanatic, but my partner isn't (well, she's an OW diver, but it's not really her 'thing').

To satisfy both of our needs for future living, we're looking for a city / town with a good diving scene that doesn't require a few hours travelling / a whole day away just to do a couple of dives.

Can anyone recommend such a place or make a suggestion for us to look into (anywhere in the world, but preferably somewhere warm!).

Thanks in advance!

Do you need to work there?

 

[t4e]

Although it does not meet the criteria for "warm", Seattle is, I think, one of the best places in the world to be a diver. Within a thirty minute drive of my house (at least outside of rush hour!) I have six very good shore diving sites, several of which are accessible at any time of day and in almost any weather. If you extend the drive to an hour, I pick up a bunch more shore diving sites, as well as access to a couple of charter boats. We almost NEVER have anything resembling a surf entry, and our boat rides are generally smooth enough that even people with major seasickness problems aren't bothered. We have wrecks and reefs and Giant Pacific Octopuses, and an overall density of underwater life that is amazing. We're also not far from Vancouver Island, which has world-class diving and even better viz.

Seattle's a great city in which to live, as well, with a prospering tech economy. For people who are outdoorsy but not divers, there is hiking, bicycling, kayaking, skiing, horseback riding . . . it's an active kind of place.

The down side is that right now, it's 17 degrees . . .

17F or C? i'm guessing C


what is the temperature in the summer?

 

[jasonb751]

Easy question... Pensacola, FL.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I have thought about the same question but in the end no matter where you live, better diving would be elsewhere. We divers are explorers. The desire to explore "the unknown" is what gets people into diving. Whet you move to your fav dive destination, after some time it wont be the seductive stranger it seemed in the beginning and then the romance would be over and then you would be looking for a new love affair.

 

[TSandM]

17F.

Our typical winter temperatures are high 30's to mid 40's; summer runs in the 60's and 70's, with a handful of lovely days hotter than that.

 

[LowVizWiz]

17F.

Our typical winter temperatures are high 30's to mid 40's; summer runs in the 60's and 70's, with a handful of lovely days hotter than that.

Brrr... Seattle does have a better football team than South Florida.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Los Angeles has great weather, lots of jobs for anyone willing to work and great diving just off the beach. It is also within a few hours drive to San Diego or Monterey. If shore diving isn't your thing there are many dive boats here to take you to any of the eight Channel Islands or one of our local shipwrecks/oil rig dives. It's one of the few spots where you can enjoy the desert, play in the snow in the mountains and swim in the ocean in the same day.

 

[Hank49]

There are LOTS of choices. Not sure how much you've traveled or been outside the US, but beyond the diving, you'll have to make quite a few adaptations if you're considering moving to a developing country, many of which offer some of the best diving. Visiting countries like this is one thing. Living there is a whole different animal.

West Malaysia is very nice. You need a boat though or you'll have to go with shops and charters.
The Philippines is very nice but you'll have quite a culture shock for a few years.

So you want shore diving? Are you willing to buy a boat? Are you going to live on the water?

Bali would be nice.

Hawaii is nice but the marine life there is pretty drab compared to the Indo Pacific.

The Caribbean offers some nice places.....haha. Does this answer your question?