Best city to live in and dive from?

[JohnN]

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

And a great basketball team. . . . .

oh wait, they moved to Oklahoma :cool2:

 

[scubahawk27]

Maui of course. We dive all year


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[seasher]

Cozumel for sure! Everything is close - great diving, snorkelling, restaurants, beaches - and it´s warm! Has that beautiful turquoise sea that just draws you right in. People are very nice here. Healthcare is good quality and affordable. Food is the best! I love it!

 

[roydude]

Hey all thanks for the huge amount of replies! Lots of food for thought!!

Just to give a bit more background: I'm from the UK and did most of my learning and diving in Scotland ... actually all of it for the first 10 years of diving. Then spent a few years living and diving in Spain and now living in Thailand. The problem is that, while this is perfect for me (working in diving), it sucks a bit for my partner since she doesn't really dive.
Well, I say 'sucks' ... it's beautiful but after a few months it's now mind-numbingly boring for her since there's not much else to do here, so it's a rubbish long-term place for us unfortunately.

On the plus side, I have over 20 years IT experience (my 'real' job which I go back to regularly between diving jobs), so we're thinking a city where I can make good IT money (or rubbish dive center money) and she can work within her fields (teaching / recruitment and social work), but getting to the water's easy-peasy for me.

To be honest, the water can be cold (I'm very comfortable in a drysuit and very easy to please as long as I'm underwater), but we want a warm climate outside the water.

Cozumel and Australia sound good, but so does Singapore (bit of a surprise in this list) - could be good for an IT job for me, is it easy to get to the diving in Singapore?

 

[diversteve]

Good luck finding an IT job in Cozumel - or much for your g/f to do there. It's a small, somewhat poor area that's almost totally tourism-based. i think there's a preference - if not a requirement - for dive shops to hire Mexican nationals. Maybe check with Christi in the Coz forum - she runs Blue XTSea diving there. Being an island might be another drawback although the mainland is fairly close. IDK what you'd do in Cancun either though - outside of tourism related jobs.

Given any thought to Florida? The water is warm and Miami is a very cosmopolitan city. In Ft. Lauderdale nearby you could live reasonably (not waterfront but close) and shore dive a few miles away - the Keys are only a couple hours drive also. West Palm Beach is another nicer area. Lots of boat dive operations. On the Gulf Coast there's Tampa/St. Petersburg and other cities - diving there tends to be boat-focused since it's pretty sandy and shallow.

As mentioned above, Pensacola is another nice area in the Panhandle. It's where they put down the USS Oriskany for divers. There actually is not a lot of shore diving in any particular area of Florida but the reefs are just a short boat ride away in many locations. Lots of dive operators in Florida so you should be able to find something in that field fairly easily. North central Florida is the world's leading cave diving destination.

I don't know the effect of the Space Shuttle program closure on the area though but I suspect that's mostly along that part of "Space Coast" farther north. The economy is also currently somewhat depressed due to our housing foreclosure "crisis" so rentals - or even buying a house - in some areas is still a relative bargain. I do know several people who live there and they seem to be doing OK. Several cities in Florida are in the top 10 for most foreclosures currently but seem to be rebounding now. Career Builder lists over 4000 IT jobs in Fl. currently. If you wanted to consult on a regional/national level - FLL airport is served by Southwest Airlines - one of our low-cost carriers. It's also fairly inexpensive to fly to many of the nicer dive/vacation destinations in the Caribbean from there.

Of course there's the occasional hurricane...

Although I sound like a Florida travel agent, I actually live in Arizona.

 

[Doc]

Just to give a bit more background: it sucks a bit for my partner since she doesn't really dive.
Well, I say 'sucks' ... it's beautiful but after a few months it's now mind-numbingly boring for her since there's not much else to do here, so it's a rubbish long-term place for us unfortunately.

Background? That sounds like the entire criteria!

Cut your losses. Dump her. Find one that likes to wear stinky wet rubber suits. A good sturdy girl, can carry her own tanks.

It will make your life choices much easier and will have long term benefits to which you are blind at this point.

I would also suggest you find a wealthy one. This is what I did and we dive a lot. Win, win.

The thread may now be returned to your dubious plan of resolution.

 

[vladimir]

Singapore has a good diving scene??

Not exactly. The diving off the island of Singapore is pretty poor, in my opinion. But I did just spend a long weekend in Bali, and it was easy and cheap. Singapore has direct flights to Manado (Lembeh, Bunaken), Kota Kinabalu (gateway to Sipadan or Layang-layang), Port Moresby (just a short van ride to Bootless Bay from there), Cairns, etc.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'll go along with you there Vladimir but it needed to be explained. Singapore does have some nice dive shops too. That said, it's been a few years since I've been back. Can't remember the names nor exactly where they are located. Is anyone able to help me with names and locations? I'll be shopping there next week. TIA

 

[Diver0001]

Since you're Spanish, have you considered the Canary Islands?

R..

 

[LowVizWiz]

Since you're Spanish, have you considered the Canary Islands?

R..

He's british!