anchochile
Contributor
I've been diving for about a year and a half and have 80 dives under my belt, in Monterey/Carmel, Key Largo, Hawaii, and Bali. In about two years from now, I will get a 6-week sabbatical from work, and I want to take advantage of this potentially once-in-a-lifetime amount of time off to go to Raja Ampat - in late 2021 or early 2022. With its remoteness, I can't imagine another time I'll be able to take the amount of travel time required - I need to save my limited vacation time for trips with my family, not multi-week solo getaways.
I'm very confident and comfortable in most recreational diving situations - cold water, deep, compass navigation, low-viz, etc. But of my 80 dives, only 2 or 3 have featured currents strong enough to be a real factor.
Given the currents that can be encountered in Raja, I would like to make sure I am experienced and prepared for diving in these conditions so that I can make the most of the trip. Luckly, I have at least two years to prepare.
Some of the basic skills I can work on at my local Monterey dive sites - deploying an SMB from depth, using a reef hook, etc.
But I would also like to plan one or two dive trips before Raja where I can gain real experience diving in current. I would love advice on the best locations to do this that are a reasonable trip from California - probably either Baja or the Caribbean.
The most obvious answer that comes to mind is Cozumel. But as I understand it, Coz is mainly drift dives - will that be sufficient practice for Raja, where I believe many of the high-current dives are not necessarily dirfts. Any other suggestions?
I'm very confident and comfortable in most recreational diving situations - cold water, deep, compass navigation, low-viz, etc. But of my 80 dives, only 2 or 3 have featured currents strong enough to be a real factor.
Given the currents that can be encountered in Raja, I would like to make sure I am experienced and prepared for diving in these conditions so that I can make the most of the trip. Luckly, I have at least two years to prepare.
Some of the basic skills I can work on at my local Monterey dive sites - deploying an SMB from depth, using a reef hook, etc.
But I would also like to plan one or two dive trips before Raja where I can gain real experience diving in current. I would love advice on the best locations to do this that are a reasonable trip from California - probably either Baja or the Caribbean.
The most obvious answer that comes to mind is Cozumel. But as I understand it, Coz is mainly drift dives - will that be sufficient practice for Raja, where I believe many of the high-current dives are not necessarily dirfts. Any other suggestions?