Your dream scuba trip around the world

[drrich2]

Yeah. Minor tangent without derailing the thread too badly. Glancing at some web pages via quick Googling...

Convict cichlid - Central America.
Severum - Amazon region, South America.
Green Terror cichlid - South America.
Red Devil cichlid - Central America.
Jack Demsey cichlid - Central America.
Texas cichlid - lower U.S.

There are some from that other African lake I mentioned; I didn't dig by location, just searched for cichlids whose names I knew off the top of my head.

Richard.

 

[Diver0001]

Thank you. You taught me something today that I didn't know.

R..

 

[Wingy]

Lake Victoria has some of the best African Cichlids like the neolamprologus - theres also a few species endemic to Madagascar that live in brackish waters that I have not seen available in the aquarium trade.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Why does this trip have to be around the world? Why can we not be going back and forth up and down or any direction we feel like?

 

[billt4sf]

Emily and I are planning a different tactic -- move to Bali for a year or so, and use it as a (very pleasant) base to dive the Indo-Pacific area.

And visit other cultures, see topside wildlife, and be tourists as well.

Target date: June 2016. We may never return!

- Bill

 

[choiahoy]

Why does this trip have to be around the world? Why can we not be going back and forth up and down or any direction we feel like?

Of course, do whatever you like.

To everyone who was helpful, thanks for all the awesome info and fun reading. Keep the lists coming!

 

[drrich2]

I think the issue is the OP departs from the east coast, New York, doesn't want to fly west across the U.S. before he even hits salt water, and hopes to draw inspiration from our choices while taking advantage of 'stringing' his destinations to minimize travel times. Keep flights as cheap & short as possible.

Kind of like if someone in New York wanted to head south to hit the Florida/Bahamas/Caribbean region. He might fly to North Carolina & do some wreck diving with sand tiger sharks, then Jupiter, Fl, during either the lemon shark migration or goliath grouper aggregation, then Key Largo for a week of reefs & wrecks, head down to Key West one day to knock off the Vandenberg, zip over to the Bahamas & either do Blackbeards or, for mo'money and big sharks, a Tiger Beach trip, then Turks & Caicos, Saba, Curacao or Bonaire, Little Cayman, Cozumel & back home.

When I think about far flung (to me) destinations like the Red Sea, Palau & even the Philippines, I cross reference with my experience of enduring a 4 hour flight out of Atlanta to Bonaire. Haven't booked a longer flight yet.

Richard.

P.S.: While it's tempting to take advantage of an opportunity to cram in a bunch of destinations so you can come home & say 'I dove the world!' (more or less), it might be better to take one or two 'major' destinations & explore them at length in more detail (e.g.: hit the top 3 destinations in the Philippines; or the top 3 places in Indonesia; or just the biggest 3 bucket list items? Surely Palau, PNG and a Komodo or Red Sea live-aboard could scratch the dive itch hard).

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Of course, do whatever you like.

To everyone who was helpful, thanks for all the awesome info and fun reading. Keep the lists coming!

No. I mean are you trying to save up on travel costs by going around the globe? If that is the objective then my list would be different. Here are some suggestions:

1. Base yourself in the cheapest Asia Pacific destination as suggested above. I would chose Thailand. From there you have a lot of great ocean accessible. Dive, Komodo, Raja, Philippines, Maldives and Sipidan etc. You are technically not going around the world in circle but in the same time period and possibly less cost, you are hitting some of the better places on everyones list.

2. Base yourself in Egypt. Dive the Egyptian Red Sea, Saudi Red Sea and also Deep Sudan. Mix that with South Africa and Mozambique for some shark and ray diving. This would be a great mix of reefs, wrecks and big animals.

3. Base yourself in Norway and dive Norway, Iceland and Greenland and also do Scapa Flow and Normandy wrecks in France. This will be an awesome trip if you are into cold water environments.

4. May sound a bit out of league but base yourself in Northern USA or mid Canada somewhere and drive and dive the wrecks of the Great Lakes. I am convinced that the Great Lakes have some of the best wreck diving in the world and can be compared to Scapa Flow and Truuk. To Americans it is not exotic enough as it is backyard waters. Yet purely from underwater experience, where else can you dive wooden ships that are over 200 years old, fully preserved? I have thought about going around all the Great Lakes in a road trip and diving the wrecks.

I think this approach would offer more bang for the buck. Circumnavigating the planet is a great idea but when we mix that with diving then there is so much ocean that we are missing simply because we are heading in one direction.

 

[choiahoy]

Captain Sinbad,

Your lists sound pretty incredible, each place in their own way. Thanks for the great info.

My original intention in posting this thread is not that I'm actually planning a 10 week 10 stop trip for my 40th. In reality, it'll be two weeks in one, maybe two places (hence an east to west movement, placing locations close to those near it on the list.) I just wanted to cast a wide net and learn about some places I would normally never look. There are indeed way too many places, but luckily there's scubaboard and wiser divers.

 

[Centrals]

If the op did not set any rule ie. flying eastward in this case, the thread would be just another one on 10 diving destinations that you want to visit.