Best Dive Ever

[double125's]

That is a very, very tough one to answer but I would have to say it happened in vortex spring. It was one of the few times I was diving with a budy and we headed for the gate just before it was getting dark. We penned the cave all the way to the gate and by the time we got back to the cavern it was dark. What started as a day dive went to a cave dive then to a night dive. The Florida fresh water eels are active in the caves all day and come out in the basin at night so there was plenty of fish life as well.

Or maybe it was watching my wifes certification dive, or our first dive together, maybee it was my trip to Baja. Oh well to many memories to put on one little board.

 

[diverbrian]

I could choose some of the more "cliche" moments, like the first shipwreck that I saw coming into view from a descent (awesome). But my most memorable was my first ever salt water dive.

It was in Provo. The name of the dive site was Lots of Sponge in West Caicos. There is a reef shark that cruises that area that the divemasters call "Stanley." He isn't fed, but that just seems to be his territory. Dave, our DM, told us about Stanley in the pre-dive briefing and I was listening, but I didn't give it a second thought.

At sixty feet along the wall, I am just fascinated by this environment seeing all of my diving had been the cold water of the great lakes. I am looking at the coral and I feel a tug on my fin. I look back and there is Dave pointing down. I look down and see this five or six foot reef shark almost within arms length low and to my left. This was the most graceful fish that I had ever seen.

At the safety stop, Dave wrote on his slate to ask me if I had seen Stanley. I nodded vigorously to indicate that I had and that I would never forget swimming next to Stanley.

 

[MHK]

I always love telling this story.. I've been very fortunate to have dove all over the world, in a wide variety of environments, but my favorite dive took place in Cayman.

We were diving the shipwreck of the Carrie Lee. She sits on a ledge at 210'. This was just after Hurricane Mitch blew in and as a result pushed the Carrie Lee to where the bow is leaning over the edge of a wall that drop to 100's of feet deep. I suspect after the next big hurricane she'll go over.

But this dive we planned a multi-level dive of dropping down the wall to 350' and then spending some time exploring the Carrie Lee on the ascent. The visibility was several hindred feet, and the ambient light so pronounced that we never even needed to turn our lights on.. Once hit hit our max depth, I swam away from the wall to take in the view. Just at that time maybe a hundred feet or so below us we saw two hammerhead sharks.. SO there I was looking down at 2 sharks, looking at the georgeous moutain like view of the wall, and then as I looked up, you could see the Carrie Lee and from that view it looked as if she was ready to topple any second.. The view, the visibility and the ambient light all allowed for an impressionable, picturesque snapshot of everything that diving is all about..

Next favorte would have to be Nah Hoch, Na Chic cave system in Akumal.. Awseome dive and you used to have to hike into the jungle to get to the entrance, which made it fairly inaccessible so most "tourists" didn't get to do it. They recently put in a paved road to make access easier, but it's equally as impressive...

Later

 

[MantaRey]

klausbh once bubbled...
The best dive ever is always the next one!

-Klaus

I would say the best dive ever is always the last one...untill you do the next

how could you choose?!?!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Gosh, every dive is memorable. But I got to thinking, and I remember a sunrise dive off of Hollywood Beach, FL. We got in the water while it was dark and watched the "changing of the guard" where the night critters disappeared and the regulars came out. The sun was streaming through the water and we were on the outlet pipe just off the beach where the pile of rocks are. Life was so beautiful. The seas were calm, vis was pretty good, I was diving..... then a school of lookdowns- maybe 300 came past. They split my buddy and I up so that I was right in the middle of them and I actually lost sight of my buddy! The school was gone in maybe 30 seconds or so, but it seemed like forever!
The next week we did the same dive again at the same time and the lookdowns passed by again!

 

[David Evans]

22 Orcas.

Quadra Island BC.

Religious experience.

 

[dreamin']

Boy, after reading all these cool dives mine might sound lame. Last summer I was diving off the wall in Tikehau at about 80 ft. It dropped straight down a few thousand feet. The vis was about 150 feet. I had been watching the riot of color and activity on the wall when I turned around and looked out. All I saw was an endless expanse of the most beautiful blue I have ever seen in my life. Blue Nui they call it the Big Blue!I shot half a roll of "nothing". They are my most prized photos. The sight just blew me away. For the rest of the trip while everyone else was fixated on the reef I kept staring out to the big blue.

 

[scotter]

Hi y'all... been lurkin' for a week or so, but I thought I'd break out my 1st post for this thread.

While I feel like there's too many great experiences to pick from... ranging from curious hammerheads "sneaking" up behind me at Coco Islands to mischievous sea lions nibbling on my fins in the Galapagos, two dives come to mind as being my most memorable.

2nd Place: Chimney Point - NW Point @ Provo, Turks & Caicos
We were diving along one of the most beautiful walls ever (well most of the wall dives in T&C were like that) and a blacktip reef shark comes cruising by just of the wall, scoping out his territory... I turn around to get my divebuddy's attention, but he's fixated on something near the surface... I follow his line of sight and a sea turtle is heading in our direction. So here I am, a shark on one side... a sea turtle on the other, geez life is full of tough decisions. Well the turtle comes by us and checks us out at maybe 4ft away... hangs around fo a bit then goes to check out the other divers. Not to be outdone... the reef shark comes by for an encore and cruises by again. Pretty spectacular dive!

1st Place: North Wall @ Grand Cayman
We were diving along the North Wall, which is just as about vertical as you can get. Not sure why I was looking down, maybe I was trying to figure out if it was 3000ft down or more. All the sudden, two spotted eagle rays materialize out of the deep blue nothing below, blasting at full speed, vertically parallel maybe 10ft off the wall. Wow... that dive I will never forget!:wacko:

-Scotter

 

[Knavey]

Well,

It wasn't pretty and it wasn't long.

It was in the Chesapeak Bay area around Norfolk, and I went with 2 other guys who got certified with me. We went off a boat and it took us about 10 minutes to finally get the courage to drop to the bottom.

All I remember is that it was cold, vis sucked and I was breathing like there was no tomorrow until the nerves settled down.

If I would have stayed on the surface and never submerged (the thought did cross my mind) I might not be diving today!

Glad I didn't "chicken" out and that I talked myself into calming down and going through with the dive.

 

[Dyno Bill]

I have had a number of bla bla dives to be sure, usually in the areas used mostly by teaching boats. On the other hand I have enjoyed more wonderful dives than I could recall at one time. I have dove the Stav. in Barbados, lava tubes and caverns in Hawaii, the sand falls in Cabo as well as lands end pinnacles also in Cabo but I think that I have had more fun by far in the Channel Islands in So Cal. Probably the worst, and the best dive was a lobster hunt 10 yrs ago. We were on the north side of Santa Cruz Island doing a night dive when with all my experance I went into a small cave chasing bugs, while my buddy was on a quest of his own in the area. I was all over a ton of bugs until I found my tank wedges in the top of the cave. It was my tank and my chest and BC on the bottom and I wasnt moving. After what seemed a day or so but was probably 2 minutes tops I regained composure enough to think, a wonderful concept. I was in probably 45-55 feet of water give or take a bit so the bc did have some air in it. With the butt dump I managed to dump what I could and blow out as hard as I could........well I'm writing the story so it obviously worked. The worst turned to the best. I havnt done a solo cave since, thats the best part and if anyone reading my story learns even a little from it then its even better.
Bill, Dive Safe.....and often