Bucket list?

[The Anchor]

NASA Neutral Buoyancy Lab, Texas
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, Canada Arctic
Bonne Terre Mine, Missouri
USS Oriskany, Florida
Bikini Atoll, Micronesia
Empress of Ireland, Quebec
Antarctic
Galapagos, Ecuador
Cenotes, Mexico
Neptune Memorial Reef, Florida
Chuuk Lagoon
Scappa Flow, Scotland
Silfra Lake, Iceland
Red Sea, Egypt
Sardine Run, South Africa
Poor Knight Islands, New Zealand
Arabia, Ontario
Nemo 33, Brussels
Catalina Island, California
Madagascar
Rotan, Honduras
Cozumel, Mexico
Bermuda
Cayman islands

Done:
Madison Quarry, Alabama
Titan missile Silo, Washington
Bonaire

 

[TMHeimer]

The Arctic doesn't have leopard seals, true...it has polar bears! And that can be an issue. From DAN's Alert Diver Magazine, online version, In the Company of Polar Bears, by Amos Nachoum. Here's an excerpt:

"Instead, I entered the water to find the bear was already making its way toward me. Looking behind me for my safety diver, I discovered he was not there. Smart of him! When I turned back, the bear was only 10 feet away from me. At that point, my best move seemed to be to descend, but every time I looked up, the bear paws above my head loomed nearer. Cold fear entered my mind, but with each breath I took comfort in knowing I still lived.

We dived together, the bear and me, in a deadly race to the depths."

Granted, he was looking for and studying polar bears, so it was not a random attack on a civilian.

Richard.

I've seen them up close from the safety of the tundra buggy at the dump in Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay. Those suckers were walking right through burning hot spots in the dump. You'd have to be nuts to seek them out diving... again, see "shark" threads (though admittedly, humans ARE on the Polar Bear menu).

 

[g2]

Antarctica.

Especially the wreck of the Bahia Paraiso near Anvers Island and through the ice in McMurdo Sound.

 

[Kodiack]

Alright so here is how I view it. In order to enjoy diving do you really need to travel far? Yes but ...

Great Lakes are the most under-rated wreck diving destination. They should rank in the same league as "Truuk" and Bikini Atoll. True most of these are not war wrecks but the preservation is mind boggling. I plan to spend a lot of my life diving these so my primary "bucket list" is Great Lakes.

What other bucket list places can I go to without going very far? Passamaquoddy Bay in Maine is known for some great diving but does not get a lot of mention. Caves in Florida are on my bucket list. Channel Islands in California. Bonne Terre Mine in Missouri.

If these are not far enough or expensive enough to be classified as "bucket list" then I would add:

Socorro
Maldives
Fiji
Komodo
Raja Ampat
Philippines

etc etc

Sounds like you might also enjoy North Carolina - some awesome WWII wrecks to dive here in the US - and sand tiger sharks!

 

[Adryana]

For me it's Belize all the way now! I'm very likely to head there this winter! I was just reading about it so much - Best Diving sites in Belize – Scuba dive reviews by Divezone and Belize Liveaboard Diving - and I totally fell in love with this country. I've been to neighboring countries such as Guatemala, Salvador, and some of the Caribbean but Belize sounds like the perfect next stop!

Belize... and then... Indonesia all over the place!

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Sounds like you might also enjoy North Carolina - some awesome WWII wrecks to dive here in the US - and sand tiger sharks!

I am from Woodbridge VA so North Carolina is my "home waters." I was there last month and may be there next month too.

 

[BoltSnap]

Is there good diving in SC?

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Is there good diving in SC?

I would love to find out. For DC and northern VA people it seems a little further when there is a more established diving culture closer to us in NC. Most people from Georgia that I know drive to Florida for diving. SC is that "blind spot" that is ignored. I think it is not because the diving is less thrilling than NC but more because lack of dive business and dive culture. I would love to hear from people who have dived in SC how they would compare it with NC diving.

 

[TulsaTime]

Relatively new diver so just about everywhere is still on my bucket list. In no particular order:

• Silfra Fissure, Iceland
• NC coast
• Great Lakes
• Bonne Terre mine
• Florida (Atlantic coast & Keys)
• Turks & Caicos from liveaboard
• Roatan
• Truk Lagoon, Palau, and just about anywhere else in Indonesia/south Pacific
• Galapagos
• Socorro
• Bonaire
• Cozumel
• Maldives
• Red Sea
• B-29 wreck in Lake Mead

I've got three of those scheduled so far: Truk Lagoon & Palau in 2017 and Socorro in 2018.

Recently returned from my first liveaboard (a now-checked bucket list item) where I also got to check off a couple of non-diving-related bucket list items:

• View the world's shortest commercial runway on Saba
• Watch planes land over the beach at Princess Julianna airport on St Martin

So much diving to do and so little time to do it!

 

[urbaneve71]

Too island is at the top of my list. I also want to go to Micronesia too. I have others but can't think of them off the top of my head. I would love to try Hawaii at some point too