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Not sure if there is a pre-existing thread...but here goes...
Interested to hear which dive sites (Not general location) have been the most memorable for you in terms of that "sense of adventure" and why. Maybe they aren't the most beautiful, unique, favorite, etc...but for whatever reason....they stand out in this way. Some of these I would do again, some once is enough.
It will differ based on your own set of past experiences (Less experience --> more fear/going into the unknown) and place in time & space I reckon / frame of mind.
Here are some that come to mind:
1) Chacmool Cenote (Temple of Doom) - Tulum, Mexico
Only dove as a cavern, not a cave - not sure how deep this goes. But the entrance to this requires one to lug their gear through a little bit of jungle, then there is this big hole surrounded by forest -- see photos. You jump in then descend into near darkness, then you swim around and get to experience going above and below a thermocline as well before going up the ladder.
Deflating your BC, hooking into the reef, and then reinflating it into a very strong current and seeing the fish and sharks swim by....yeah! And the Eagle Ray. schools of barracuda, etc..when surfacing...sensory overload.
3) Koh Ha Islands - near Ko Lanta, Thailand
After a several hour (2-3?) boat ride, these forbidding looking rocks just appear out of nowhere it seems. This was the longest boat ride I ever took for an individual dive site in a -- day trip -- at the time (And maybe still is) - and the site of them as we approached was definitely of the "sense of real adventure" variety. I might have even thought King Kong lived amongst these rocks. Underwater is very nice...but the first sight of the islands left a stronger impression with me.
4) Balicasag Island - near Alona Beach, Panglao Island, Philippines
Semi-strong currents amidst incredible soft coral beauty, color contrast, and "fall colors" made this a memorable dive.
Truly another "world" I felt this could have been the equivalent of a New England / Napa Valley fall color drive.
5) Apo Island, Philippines
Amazing soft coral and colors everywhere...as far as the eye could see in some places. Another "world." Ran low on air too...and had to borrow Nitrox from one of the divemasters.
6) Peleliu Express, Palau
A very fast drift dive, with tons of scenery gradually sloping downward....
Last edited by circusoflife; January 24th, 2012 at 04:19 PM.
Reason: Added Apo Island Videos
"Adventurous" definitely has a number of possible interpretations.
I think my most technically challenging dive was a dive on the San Francisco Maru in Truk Lagoon. It was not only my deepest dive, but my longest deco.
Similar comments could be made about my penetration to the engine room of the St George in Dominican Republic (small beer for more experienced wreck penetration divers, but I certainly had an elevated pulse).
On the other hand, an alternative version of "adventurous" was a solo lobster hunting dive which I did in atrocious weather conditions using a tank which was only 2/3rds full, in a strong current. By the end of the dive, that was not the good type of adventurous.
And then there was another lobster hunting dive at a remote location (with a buddy) which no one had ever really dived where we overcame a number of logistical challenges to bring back an absolute boatload of lobster. That was the good kind - meeting and beating the challenges and reaping the rewards.
The first was when I was blue water diving a FAD. There were hundreds of tuna and a few mahi hanging at the edge of visibility the whole dive. I was watching the oceanic whitetip circle my bubbles at the surface when my buddy audibly yelled, "Holy $%&!" through his reg. I turned around to watch a marlin, maybe 8 feet long, go racing past. Later I watched a silky shark cruise past. I learned later that our topside spotter completely missed seeing the oceanic, silky, or marlin because his attention was being held by a (his description) "Very large, bulky shark" off the bow of the boat. I never did see that animal.
The second was on a solo dive off the big island only weeks before the above dive. I was lying patiently in the sand trying to photograph a fischer's angelfish when it got scared an swam behind a rock. I looked up from my camera to find a 14 foot tiger shark was circling me at a distance of no more than 4 feet. It started to swim off, so I snapped a shot. The strobe made it turn around and swim right back at me, passing so close its pec fin may have brushed my BC and swam off. I realized my situation (alone in the water with a large, curious tiger) and started swimming back to shore with an eye over my shoulder when a second tiger, smaller, maybe 12 feet long, swam up and circled me before swimming off.
This is the first shark swimming off-note my strobes fired producing back scatter: Galeocerda cuvier 5 watermark.jpg
This is as wide as my camera would go when he/she came back: Galeocerda cuvier watermark.jpg
And this is the second shark that cruised by that dive. I've never seen a tiger shark since. Galeocerda cuvier BW watermark.jpg
I have a few more stories if I can remember them...
Well, there was the one on the Brothers Islands in the Red Sea, where, as the RIB was bucking and kicking on the way to the site, the guide warned us, "Stay alert; these things DO tip over . . . "
And there was the one on Farnsworth Banks where two other dive boats anchored, tested the current, and left, and our boat put 20 divers in the water with scooters. The current was a mad, screaming thing that even the scooters battled against. The dive consisted of finding a sheltered spot for a breather, and then rising and beating into the current until we couldn't stand it, and then spinning around and being blow back where we came from. Farnsworth was as colorful and dramatic and rich with life as I had read, and it was worth the effort.
And the one in Bunaken, where we came up over the top of the wall and got hit with surface current that was absolutely mind-boggling. I felt like a fallen leaf, being blown by autumn winds, as I flew over the coral garden.
But probably the most adventurous dive I've done was one I had to try twice before it happened. On our last trip to the Red Sea, toward the end of the time, the captain and crew were trying really hard to get us on the Rosalie Mueller. Seas were big, and the first effort to anchor snapped the line. The crew went down and tied a second buoy onto what was left of it, and the boat came around again to drop us where we could drift to the shot. The first three made it off okay, but by the time I was on the swim step, the wind had blown us too far, so the boat had to make another circle to reposition. I was standing on the swim step in my doubles and deco bottle, hanging on for dear life as the ship pitched. By the time they go us back on point, there was not another diver to be seen. I jumped and made it to the shot, and went down a couple of feet, and as I expected, found my husband waiting for me below the worst of the turbulence.
We started down, and met the first group coming back up, signaling that they had gotten to the bottom and found no wreck. Back to the surface, where I had to fight the current and the waves to get back to the RIB to hand off my deco bottle. I hung to the side, being battered by the hull, with the waves breaking over my head, and tried with one hand to unclip and hand up the 80. I then had to pull myself hand-over-hand back to the boat, being tossed and drenched the entire time. (A snorkel would NOT have helped!)
We all got out, and I had decided that I was not going to do that again. But the plan was to try again after lunch, and by that time, I had calmed down and found some reserves of gumption, so I did it again. Conditions weren't any better, but the shot was on the wreck this time, and we had a pleasant dive. But the end was as much excitement as the beginning, as trying to do deco up the line, when the line was swinging sideways about 30 or 40 feet, proved a significant orientation challenge. And when we surfaced, I blew right past the boat in the current, and had to be towed back by one of the RIBs.
That was as much work as I've ever done for a dive, and as much as I ever WANT to do!
This past weekend I did a dive at a cave called Eagles Nest. It is a deep cave with depths of 300'+. I have done many dives here, but this one was the most technical one to date. My buddy and myself were using scooters and had a total of 9 OC tanks with us as well as the rebreathers on our backs. I am still totally excited about the dive and can not wait to return to go even further.
One that comes to mind for me was doing one of the Blue Hole dives in Palau. We descended down into a cave 120-130' or so, my computer is beeping and I am trying to video the other divers coming down.... when I realize that the opening out to ocean on the side of cave.... sharks are circling our exit point! Then, then start coming INTO the cave with us, in the dark, and we can't see them at all. All we could do is slowing swim towards that opening and pray we didn't run into one that was in a bad mood.
I got it on video...
my heart was pounding out of my chest! I dont' know if it was the depth or the sharks or both, but it was scary!
Another dive, the same trip, that comes to mind was Peleliu cut, we had over 40 sharks circling in front of us and we actually had to go right by them to hook into the reef.
video
this video shows all the sharks all week (multiple dives and dive sites)... but you can see exactly the dive I am talking about the 3minute mark!!!
my other most adventurous dive
was diving the Oil Rig Grace in Calif a few years ago:
dive is in open ocean, you are advised to stay under the platform at all times as the currrent can blow you out to see. The depth under rig is 250-300', too, so you have to watch your depth carefully.
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