Anyone dived at a site with no land visible in all directions?

[Bert van den Berg]

Yes,
Minerva reef (N and S), 250 miles South of Tonga. At high tide no reef to be seen. Also Beverage reef East of Niue. Except for the wreck of a large fishing boat, the Niki Lu, nothing to see at high tide except for our own sailboat. Extreme clear water.

 

[rabe]

It takes about 20 miles offshore to get to a point where you can’t see any land. Just to get on a boat 6km offshore costs $100 for 2 dives. I can only imagine what boats are charging to get that far offshore. Diesel is not cheap

Usually 180-200 AUS $ for double dives (including 2 tanks).
A little bit pricy, but the spots are absolutely amazing.
Last Saturday we had a 2 hours boat riding (to get there, and another 2 hours to come back), but it worth the ride and the price:

 

[EireDiver606]

100 miles off shore, Cortes Bank. Here's my trip report, click here.

Good report

 

[kelemvor]

It takes about 20 miles offshore to get to a point where you can’t see any land. Just to get on a boat 6km offshore costs $100 for 2 dives. I can only imagine what boats are charging to get that far offshore. Diesel is not cheap

On the east coast of Florida, USA that's roughly what we pay for most 2-tank trips. However, we've got a very shallow shelf. I think the closest dives you can do from here are 10 miles out and those are artificial reefs.


I think the furthest I've been out is 32 miles offshore to dive the USS Mohawk. When we got there, there was a guy fishing from a small jon-boat. I couldn't believe he went that far out in it.

 

[EireDiver606]

It takes about 20 miles offshore to get to a point where you can’t see any land. Just to get on a boat 6km offshore costs $100 for 2 dives. I can only imagine what boats are charging to get that far offshore. Diesel is not cheap

Actually I’m pretty sure as far as you can see in any one direction on the horizon is about 12-15km. Maybe I’m wrong?

 

[kelemvor]

Actually I’m pretty sure as far as you can see in any one direction on the horizon is about 12-15km. Maybe I’m wrong?

It's entirely dependent on how far from the surface of the ocean your eyeballs are.

Here's the formula: SquareRoot(height above surface / 0.5736) = distance to horizon
Source: When I stand at the water's edge and look out over the ocean, how far away is the horizon?

If you're talking about seeing something that is far above the surface of the water (like a building on shore) that's going to change things further.

 

[BIGJACK]

Yep, every summer I go with the dive op in St Simons GA. The closest wreck is 26 miles off the coast. I have driven 30 minutes south down I-95 to an op that has much closer wrecks, but the people in St. Simons are like family and that makes up for the long boat ride.

 

[Steve_C]

North Carolina a lot of the wrecks are out of sight of land, 25 even 50 miles off the coast.

I dive NC frequently. It is rare that we can see land. Most of the sites start 18 miles off shore and further out. For you Pacific Ocean types I will point out that 20 miles offshore can be only 85 ft deep.

 

[Snoweman]

When I read the OP's question, the first thing I thought of was liveaboards in the Bahamas, too. We also did the Cay Sal Bank trip on the Nekton and that big boat looked like a square building sitting on the surface when you came up, there was nothing else around; but I was also thinking about the Exumas on a different boat.

One time in the Bahamas the US Coast Guard stopped our LOB and searched our cabins (for drugs I guess?) but they didn't find anything and left - I think that we were near Bimini. They didn't have warrants and we weren't in US waters but they had guns and so they did it anyway. The Captain just shrugged and said "it happens".

Another time, this was in the Exumas, we were moored near the wall and a US naval boat that turned out to be a sub tender was hanging around when a submarine suddenly erupted out of the water near near us - that was a surprise!

We also once got buzzed by US navy jets while on a LOB in the Bahamas.

I am sure that Cuba was the reason for all the attention given to LOBs in the Bahamas, and probably smuggling, also. I wonder if it is still the same, we haven't done a trip to the Bahamas in awhile.

Who do you work for? CIA? MI6?

 

[KathyV]

Who do you work for? CIA? MI6?

Naw, I'm just old - and there was a lot of tension between the US and Cuba back then, and the military was paying close attention to the situation.

Just before we saw the submarine surface in the Bahamas, I was on deck and watching the other US Navy vessel that had been hanging around, and I said to a crew member "What kind of boat is that?" When he answered "Sub tender" I said "A sub tender, what for? There's no submarines around here!"

That was a very dumb thing to say but we had just been diving and I hadn't seen any submarines hanging around - but we were at the top of a wall and they could have been holding submarine races down there for all I knew!

Wow, was I surprised when the water started churning and suddenly a sub popped to the surface!