I've not done MacaBuca to know what its like, so I can't offer too much on that.
For car rentals, you'll need to contact (in advance) either DDDD's ("Four Ds") or C&B.
Here's the link to my old map/webpage for the Brac's shore diving sites. You should
also be able to find some posts from me here on SB which add some updated comments
to this. I've been taking topside photos of these shore dive sites to start to work on a
major update to this webpage. And courtesy of Google Maps, here's a similar (but more
recently maintained)
Brac Map which has the same sites, plus a lot of other stuff
(including the Alexander Hotel where you're staying).
As a general rule of thumb for Brac Shore Diving is that it is going to be a pretty
long swim to get to waters deeper than 50fsw or so. Similarly, most sites are going
to be on the normally leeward North side.
The two Brac Shore dive sites that are classically recommended to visitors
(especially first-timers) are Radar Reef and the Bucaneer. Both are relatively short
swims out to a reef, and both have supposedly "helpful" structures for water entry/exit.
Here's the ladder at Buc:
As you can see, it is located in a pretty large ironshore cutout,
and the water depth in here is pretty good ... giant stride entry is OK.
The ladder's pretty good (better than Radar's) too.
Dive Planning: when standing at the ladder, you'll see a dive mooring bouy
out at 2 o'clock not too far offshore - your planned swim out/back should
be a dogleg to that bouy for navigational purposes. You'll also see a bouy
or two that's 200yds+ offshore over at 11 o'clock ... that's the wreck of
the 356 Russian Frigate. I've swum out to it, but I don't really recommend
bothering to do so...its a long swim over boring sand and there's usually a
cross-current from the east to fight, which also gets some divers lost
(blown down-current) on the return to the shore exit point.
Site:
Starts shallow (~6ft) hardpan in front of the ironshore cutout. Hardpan has
some interesting crevice/pockets...a few deep enough for a 10ft safety stop.
Watch for fire coral, particularly to the west side of the entry/exit.
Hardpan will drop off to ~15fsw; bear east and a miniwall dropoff (20fsw to 10fsw;
a natural navigation aid) will become more evident as you approach the
area of the mooring ball. The mooring ball is in ~25fsw and tied to a large
steel anchor (Wreck of the Topsy) that resides at the shore side end of a coral spur.
Follow the spur out; you'll see others, separated by pretty broad sandy flats
instead of conventional grooves. Reef topology is around 10ft of vertical (a bit
smaller than average for the Brac) ; depth to the sand typically around 45fsw.
Radar Reef:
Here, the paved road comes right down to the water, so access is easier;
don't block the boat ramp on the right, of course. Between the boat ramp
and the stone groin pier, there's a concrete staircase with metal railing and
a pool of calm water. The water in this pool isn't usually "pretty" clear,
due to eel grass/etc collecting in here that makes it become easily turbid.
The stairs are usually quite slippery, so consider the boat ramp as an alternative.
FYI, there's a street light here for shore night dives. But do be aware that
sometimes, the street light congregates sea wasps into that sheltered pool
right at the entry/exit spot.
Dive site bouy is to the right of the groin, around 2 o'clock, a bit further offshore
than at Buc. You don't necessarily have to go that far East, but the dolphin
statue is over that way if you want to go see the statue.
Site:
Starts as shallow hardpan in the lee of the stone jetty. Parallel it out (jetty
on your right side). Keep an eye out to your left for a ~3" diameter pipe
laying on/near the bottom ... this pipe will be your KISS navigational aid for
entry/exit.
Locate the pipe and swim along with it. Depths will drop off to 40-50fsw and
you'll be in a moderately low relief (6-10ft) coral spurs with moderately wide
sand-filled grooves. You can follow this pipe out as far as you want...it is
the original telephone cable and it goes all the way to Jamacia.
Dolphin Statute: approx 40fsw depth, a couple of spurs to the east of the
main area. Spot / Patch reef in this area too; not bad.
Alternative:
Head out, then angle out to the west. Approx 75m westwards is where the "Atlantis"
site is, in roughly 40-50fsw of water ... modern manmade statutes on an
otherwise empty sand plane. There's another, much newer communications
cable over here (~6" diameter), but it buried itself in the sand better and
is harder to find.
Return: find the pipe, swim back in alongside it. When in the shelter of the jetty
(which should be on your left now), trade the pipe for the jetty and finish coming in.
A third site that I'd recommend is "Panama Canal" (aka "Handcuff"); its on the Google Map.
This one has probably the best ladder for exit, plus there's actually freshwater showers.
But it is also the longest swim out and the furthest distance from the hotels. Plus also
be aware/careful if there's anyone hand line fishing from the jetty...you don't want to get hooked.
Hope this helps,
-Hugh
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