Favourite Dive Location You've Been to?

[diverjen]

I have been to some of the premier dive spots around the world and to date my favourite is the liveaboard trip to Komodo on board the Mermaid I. Great boat, great crew and a combination of varied dive sites with rich coral and a multitude of large and small stuff from manta rays to nudibranchs. Seeing the Komodo Dragons on a land trip was just the icing on the cake.

This combined with Tulamben first is the trip I want to take next the most. Just have to get the pennies together and the husband on board! Specifically the Mermaid I looks good leaving from mainland Bali so no extra flights and seems like a reasonable budget - I will have to dig around and see if I can find your old trip report.

We just returned from Anilao and PG in PI and that being our first SE Asia trip and first dive trip outside of the Caribbean is our current favorite.

But heck I enjoy practicing skills in the pool, so I am an easier pleaser, as long as I get to blow some bubbles...

 

[chillyinCanada]

This question seems as though it should be easily answered. Unfortunately it's not.

Everywhere I've been has been great though . . .oh how to answer?

I've spent quite a bit of time in Belize and the local diving is OK, sometimes even great. The atoll diving is pretty consistently awesome. Roatan diving is sweet and I've spent a fair amount of time there as well. But for me both of these locales are my "favorites" as much for what the islands offer above the water as below.

Sipidan/Mabul was super and I was fortunate to be one of the last few people able to stay overnight on Sipidan Island itself. This dive trip stole my heart and gave me my first love for muck diving, my first and most incredible hammerhead experience.

The Cook Islands aren't really known for their diving and when I was there the crown of thorns invasion was taking a bitof a toll. But there were white tip sharks on most every dive and we were often close enough to touch. It also delivered my first opportunity to be within the swirl of a huge school of barracuda! Thrilling. And the island is do beautiful, I'd have loved to stay ever so much longer.

Skipping quite a few trips brings me to Raja Ampat. Raja Ampat blew my mind but even so, would I call it my favorite? Maybe if it was easier to get to. I dunno.

Maldives! Oh what can I say? Also not my "favorite" regardless, I was on three different itineraries last January and February and already signed up for a 4th itinerary at the end of this year. So, Maldives might not be my "favorite" but I enjoy it and the diving is a thrill ride!! I can only assume it appeals to the side of me that loves a good adrenaline rush.

Most recently, I ventured farther south in the Caribbean than I'd been before. Grenada Carriacou and Tobago (Speyside ). I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised at what the locales delivered. My favorites? I dunno, but expect to be back in late fall for at least a partial do over. Woohoo

 

[KeithG]

Would love to hear about your favourite spot! Why is it your fave, what did you see?

I've had some great experiences in the Caribbean, a birthday dive in the Georgia Aquarium but the Great Barrier Reef certainly spoiled me. Lived there for a year and every day I reminded myself how lucky I was to have that in my backyard!

Location is important, but secondary. The style of dive is most important to me. Not my style? Then your location sucks.

I want warm, macro, big viz, low current, lots of time to do my own thing, ability to dive my own schedule, no cluster dives and no mandatory DM. This rules out many beautiful locations.

So our current favs are:
- Bonaire
- Belize Dancer
- Turks & Caicos Explorer
- Saba Explorer
We really enjoyed PNG on a Dancer, but it is not something we can do twice a year.

P.S. Aquarium dives are also not on the list since I can not dive my own gear.

 

[phlegm]

Only done 50 dives so I don't have the greatest depth of experience, but a few locations stand out:

Coron, Philippines. Unbelievable wreck diving on >150m long warships, machine guns, cranes etc intact. Absolutely blew my mind and is probably what consolidated my new passion for diving.

Verde Island, off Puerto Galera, Philippines. Stunning wall dives, completely covered with healthy corals and just teeming with myriad varieties of fish.

Home in the temperate waters of Victoria, Australia, it's not quite the same league but I have been lucky enough to play with a colony of seals on a dive and that is an absolute delight.

This combined with Tulamben first is the trip I want to take next the most.

Funny this should get posted, next week I'm off to indo to do a couple of warm up dives in talamben, followed by a couple of short liveaboard trips in komodo! can't wait. Getting back to warm water again will be nice.

 

[kimmerscuba22]

The best part about this is I wasn't looking for a simple answer and you guys didn't disappoint! Just love learning about the trips, destinations and types of dives other divers have completed!

 

[Hintermann]

This combined with Tulamben first is the trip I want to take next the most.

That is precisely what I did last June. 5 days of diving in Tulamben with Liberty Dive Resort where they provide excellent service and personal guides followed by a 9-day liveabaord Komodo cruise on Mermaid I.

 

[phlegm]

Any specific sites you'd recommend in Talamben? Aside from the liberty obviously. I've only got a day or two so can only squeeze in three dives or so.

 

[Hintermann]

The Liberty wreck is good for a day and a night dive. But I suppose if you have time for only 3 dives, restrict yourself to a day dive on the wreck. I would suggest Drop Off and Sereya Secrets as the other two possibilities.

 

[TSandM]

Way back, ten years ago, when I took my GUE Fundamentals class, I was exposed to photographs of cave diving, and I was instantly obsessed. I have since gone on to cave certification, and I make one or two trips a year to the Yucatan to cave dive. In fact, if I have a favorite place to dive, it is there -- the beauty of those amazing spaces underground caught my imagination a decade ago, and none of it has palled on me in the intervening time. Crystal clear, warm water is the pathway to huge, decorated rooms, or small, intricate passages requiring extreme finesse. Pots and bones, human and animal, give mute testimony to an air-filled past which is confirmed by the splendid decorations of the walls, ceilings, and floors. Mexican cave diving is the perfect blend of technical challenge and visual splendor.
'
The fact that you can spend your surface interval sitting on a patio over a sparkling white beach, staring out at perfect, turquoise water, and sipping a fabulous margarita, isn't bad, either!