Best Place to dive?

[InTheDrink]

I'd love to go to Egypt one day!!
But I'm sure there are any more exciting places!

If it's fun you want follow this Egypt liveabord itinerary - Brothers, Daedalus & Elphinstone. Or you could do a St. John variation. However I promise you you will not be disappointed. Save, go on the game, rip your grandma whatever - this trip is a blinder

J

p.s. I'm just back from Cocos but that requires a bank job so I'll not menton it

 

[nilsdiver]

California Channel Islands. Enough said.

Pictures? Come down to the SoCal subforum and check out the photos.

Monterey, CA trumps SoCal.

 

[SeaHound]

This is all well and good, and I agree with the sentiment. But I typically spend from $4 to $20k on a dive trip and my even more precious vacation time. So I don't intend to spend it swimming among denuded coral heads in Montego Bay looking for what makes that site special. If I had the time to winnow out all the mediocre spots by visiting them I'd be happy to do so; unfortunately I get three dive trips in a good year and I rely on research to make sure they're as good as they can be.

My feelings exactly! Since diving for me requires traveling and big bucks are involved, I choose not to randomly go places and dive to figure out if it was worth the money I spent or not. This is why I love this site because it enables me to contact people from a particular dive destination and ask specific questions about visibility, underwater topography, types of wreck and marine life etc.

My fav dives ...

U 352 in North Carolina! This is not a picturesque dive with breath-taking scenery and yada yada. Since I am interested in history, that is what made this dive a thrilling experience for me. For someone who is into "pretty and colorful" dives, a rusty submarine sitting in the middle of an underwater desert would not be the best dive.

Baja California: Another wreck dive. It was sunk by a German sub in WW2. Its wreck is near the island of Dry Tortugas. The marine life and the giant golliath groupers made this a breath taking dive for me. You could barely see the end of the wreck because of all the fishies ...

 

[Jan Kruger]

Baixo Danae
Inhaca Island is approximately 37km from the port of Maputo and is situated at the entrance to Delagoa Bay. It is an attractive holiday destination for anyone who wants to savour the laid-back rhythms of a small, semi-tropical Indian Ocean island. Situated on the fringe of the tropics, Inhaca has a wealth of breathtaking beaches, coral reefs and exotic marine life. One of the dive sites close to Inhaca Island that has impressed me the most is called Baixo Danae.

Baixo Danae is the name for the area and it has a selection of dive sites. The distance from shore means that the sites are rarely dived and they have thus remained wild and untouched. Outside the bay, the 7km long reef offers a choice of dives and spectacular scenery with many overhangs, swim-through’s, caves and gullies to explore. There are also two sunken ships called the ‘Boiler’ and the ‘Wreck’. Very little is known about them, which makes these sites even more interesting.

This reef is a haven for the underwater photographer as it has great topography, and with the wreck pieces covered in marine growth it can make for interesting pictures. The chance of seeing Manta rays is very good as well as reef sharks, dolphins, Whale sharks and turtles which frequent the waters. The reef consists mainly of hard coral species, such as Spiral coral, Plate coral and Brain coral which can withstand the currents and provide shelter to the many tropical fish. Beautiful anemones with Two bar clownfish are ever present and large schools of Bigeye, Fusiliers and Snappers frequent the area. Furthermore, Potato bass and kingfish constantly keep an eye on the visitors. Don’t forget to look out for cleaning stations manned by Boxer and Durban dancing shrimps and all the customers coming for a clean. From August to October the waters are full of migrating whales and the odd Orca has been spotted in the area.

The reef lies about 50 minutes out to the open ocean, and due to it being far out to sea a double tank dive is done. This dive is reserved for more experienced divers as the currents in the area can be strong. Depths average from 16m to a maximum of 20m. The weather is mostly balmy to hot and the water temperatures range from 24-28°C in summer – definitely warm enough to wear a shorty!

The above was taken from our local dive magazine called the Divestyle and i have dived on the 'Boilers' wreck which was the best dive ever because of the vast diversity of sealife and also the actual number of fish present while we were diving ! On the way to the dive site we went around 4-5 groups of humpback whales followed then by this magnificent dive.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Just don't go during rainy season...river run off (lots of rivers) equals no visibility.
(Sorry...forgot to quote...this was in reference to Panama.)

Biased but...whale sharks, hammerheads, black tips, Galapagos sharks, white tipped reef sharks, silkys, whales, dolphins, giant mantas, schools of eagle rays, sting rays, marbled rays, schools of golden rays, turtles, sea lions, penguins, schools of fish sometimes in millions, nudibranch, sea horse, red-lipped batfish...and I'm probably forgetting some of the other 'normal sightings' in the Galapagos.