Up-to-date list of "world's top scuba destinations" that are not "wiped out" yet?

[caribean-ted]

caribean i think is best nov to may
others may have more detailed times but for coral and fish life roataan and cayman are great according to lots of avid divers. i think there may be more to do in cayman. cuba was nice also some good diving and havanna quite active and veradero very safe

 

[Doc]

....is the first week of July really a good time to go there? I am worried about bad weather ruining my plans... Grand Cayman appears to be in the hurricane belt. In fat, almost everything except Aruba is. People also seem to talk a lot about windy conditions closing dive sites, heat and humidity during this time. How bad is it, really? Which part of the Caribbean (and neighborhood) is a reasonably safe bet in the first week of July?

The Caribbean is a very good bet, weather-wise, April > August.

The Hurricane "belt" varies throughout the year, but is most observable Sept>November. Understanding the paths they take is a fairly simple equation (with a wide margin of error) and is well discussed here and elsewhere. Other Southerly islands are in the Aruba category as far as being off the general path, this extends over to the Bay Islands. Hurricanes are not the only concern, read up on tropical storms, largely in the same time period with the same moderately predictable paths. These paths vary throughout the season and conform to fairly well proven historical data.

 

[danvolker]

For both Palm Beach and the Bahamas ( quite close to each other), June, July, August and September are seen as the best months for optimal vis and flatest seas.
Of course the Bahamas are a hot destination for Shark diving as well as Dolphin Encounters.....

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

Miley, most of the Caribbean is in the hurricane belt for six months of the year. And during the other 6 months your weather is never guaranteed. That being said, your chances of encountering a hurricane during the first week of July are very small. I lived in the Caribbean for 12 years and found the highest chance of tropical storms and hurricanes is Sept to November. July is a pretty safe bet, but nothing is assured.

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

Early July is a pretty safe time to travel to the Caribbean. Many spots like Bahamas and Turks and Caicos have the best diving conditions in the summer. The water is warm, the visibility is spectacular, and sometimes can get some unexpected pelagic surprises!

For your winter trip, you might consider French Polynesia. Many high end resorts, shopping and great diving. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of diving in Bora Bora and Moorea. Fakarava and Rangiroa are a little more isolated, but there are still 5* resorts to pamper you!

 

[Liam hemsworth]

Hey Miley,

I really like this thread - I too want to get away from all the fans, do some bloody good diving but still have a little fun out of the water and not just sit in a room.

For me, as long as there's a friendly bar with people who don't mind talking to an A-lister like me - that would be enough. I don't dance.

my next trip is Exmouth - Ningaloo Marine Park - End of March. Will review it on the boards when I return if anyone wants.

Then the next trip is scheduled for early Sept. I'll be in Sydney for a scriptwriting workshop so the natural direction for me to head is North-East to the Pacific region. Seems to me from this thread, Fr Polynesia has what I'm looking for. But still undecided. Need to do more research. I'd like to hear more of people's experiences, especially any negatives.

I dove GBR when I did my dive cert - I think for you, it'll not be what you want - way too many divers been trampling all over that reef over the years. It's nice diving but just too popular for me to consider now.

Btw, my last trip was to Fiji last Sept - a friend (yes, another A-lister) had recently bought a house on Taveuni so the diving was in the Somosomo Strait - the 'soft coral capital of the world' and fairly close to the Cousteau resort. If anyone wants me to review that trip, I'd be happy to. Way more your kinda destination I reckon, Miley - not many divers make it to Taveuni cos its an hour flight further than Nadi airport on the main Island. The 'Red Bull' company allegedly own an island resort just a skip north of Taveuni - I dove just off the beach which was pleasant diving as only five of us - so this area has the reputation of exclusivity without the ****ty pretension - ie it hasn't been completely spoiled by development which is why my mate bought there.

I may end up going back there in Sept - this is my fall-back position - and using the house as a central point from which to go further afield from the Somosomo Strait.

Miley - have you reached a consensus yet?

 

[Miley Cyrus]

I'm leaning towards hopping between 2 islands in the Caribbean (will have to be somewhere nearby this time due to time and other constraints), including one that has a reasonably predictable weather, and another that is more unpredictable, but has more interesting diving. For example, fly to Grand Cayman end of June (no sooner than 6/29), stay a few days, and pray the weather is good, from there hop to Turks and Caicos (Providenciales?) for another few days and return (no later than 7/7). Or Turks and Caicos => Grand Cayman. Or Aruba => Grand Cayman, and so on. Any suggestions? There do not seem to exist direct flights between many of these islands, which makes planning harder. Some of these places do not seem to offer more advanced or night diving. For example, Turks and Caicos / Providenciales only has 3-tank or drift dives mid-week, and night dives only if there are 6 divers. If the trip will be this short and weather is somewhat uncertain, I'd like to make sure there are enough interesting options to choose from on any day of the week...

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

Hi Miley
How about flying into St Maartens, from there you can hop over to Saba for a few days, then Dominica for a few days, or stay in St Maartenss, or hop up to the BVI. St Maartens is an excellent gateway to the Eastern Caribbean. Let me know if you need assistance in putting together a multi island trip.

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

My opinion...if you only have a week plus a day or two, island hopping will end up taking a couple of days out of your dive schedule as you shouldn't dive 24 hours before flying and you probably won't get a dive in the day you arrive at your new destination. I always like to do multiple days of diving at any particular destination...not every dive is that perfect dive which will represent the whole country.

Turks and Caicos is my personal specialty. Night dives are not very common in Provo. First, you don't go to where the best diving is as the boat ride is too far. If you go, the dive op will take you to the reef in front of Grace Bay. We did one out there last summer and it wasn't very good. Much of this had to due with the fact that it was still light out at the start of the dive. So, I'd make sure to ask your dive op what time they go out to make sure that it is at least dusk when you hit the water.

Back a few years ago, we went to the dive shop over at Coral Gardens and the divemaster took us on a shallow shore night dive around the snorkelling reef. It was pretty good and he took just the 2 of us. We've tried night snorkelling too...always some interesting critters to see, even just in the sand.

All of this being said, if you like big animal encounters, we've seen some great big animal life in Turks and Caicos during the summer, including reef sharks on almost every dive (they like to come pretty close sometimes too), nurse sharks, dolphins, eagle rays, and even a hammerhead shark once off in the distance. Also, there are turtles and some nice fish life too. The water is so warm, I don't need to use a wetsuit anymore when diving in the summer.

Grand Turk would be another option. They do more night dives over there because the dive sites are so close to the shore. Personally, I prefer the diving in general at the spots accessible via Provo like West Caicos and French Cay, but Grand Turks is very nice too. What I don't like about Grand Turk is the cruise ship traffic. We really enjoyed our stay at Bohio Dive Resort until the beach was suddenly jam-packed with cruise ship passengers. Luckily it was only once while we were there. Would not have been happy if that happened every day!

We've travelled to Turks and Caicos in July or August for the past few years. We've never had bad weather in July, but were there during Hurricane Irene in mid-August back a couple of years ago.

Have fun planning your trip!

 

[drbill]

When I travel, I prefer staying in one spot for a minimum of two weeks to get the best feel for the ecosystems in that area. I realize others have time constraints that make longer stays difficult to impossible. Of course for me my dive trips are all work-related as a marine biologist and underwater videographer.

CanadianTravelAgent's caution about island hopping (by plane, not boat) is a good one to consider. For short stays, the precaution of waiting 24 hours to fly can really eat into your dive time.

My Caribbean diving has been in Belize, Honduras and the Bahamas. I enjoyed each of these destinations, although for different reasons. Of course I still recommend Asia as a destination once you have a larger block of time. The biodiversity is so much greater than what one finds in the Caribbean.