Captain Sinbad - I find your whole premise insulting. To think that you can paint the world of diving with a brush of black or white, go or stay away, is quite silly and shallow.
Number 1: Every place is not the same day to day, prices at every destination vary greatly depending on services offered, and airfare from different destinations vary greatly even day to day.
Number 2: Reading about "coral species" and "fish species" from books again is getting you. Stop it. You cannot tell the difference between 50 different kinds of star coral without a microscope, so quite worrying about it. You can't tell the difference between 50 different kinds of blennies if you don't start diving and taking photos and observing them. If that is all you care about - seeing all these various kinds of species so you can write it down in your logbook, then why bother. Just fake your logbook and save the money.
Number 3: MOST IMPORTANTLY -- what you like may not be what I like. Why you dive may have nothing to do with why I dive. Your opinion is worth reading but I take the other factors I just mentioned into consideration. I do not go anywhere just because a read a good review. I have a brain.
robin
yes I have been to Bonaire 2 times (great diving, not my favorite), Cay Sal banks Bahamas on liveaboard 2 times (great diving, probably not the same anymore due to lionfish invasion), Florida Keys and SE coast (okay diving), Roatan 2 times (great diving, love it), Cozumel 8 times (yes, my favorite in Caribbean for many, many reasons). Hawaii 1 time (okay diving, topside amazing), California kelp 6 times (best diving IMHO in US), NC wrecks (great diving but weather is issue), and Palau on liveaboard (most amazing diving ever but $$$$ and hard travel). I have also done 200+ dives in local springs and lakes with zero vis and 2-3 fish sightings.... great diving regardless.
Rankings are always insulting Robint. Think about “10 Most Violent Places in the World!” No matter how you make that list, someone will be insulted because you are objectifying subjectivity. “20 Most Beautiful Women in Hollywood” is another brawl waiting to unfold.
When I walk into my LDS, I see a TRIP SCHEDULE advertising that years trips along with the prices. It reads as follows:
Bonaire 850 USD + Airfare
Belize as 2100 + Airfare.
I want to know from the LDS why I should pay 1250 USD more to go to Belize? Is Belize that much better? Since 1250 USD difference in price is a lot of money, I would hate open ended answers like “Every destination has something to offer!” or “You really can’t compare one dive destination to another before you actually go there etc.” Excuse me but that sales-person crap better be thrown at the next guy who walks in. If you want to make me 1250 USD poorer, you better have some damn good reason. Try selling an auto-mobile with the same lines that dive shops are using to market destinations and no one would fall for such nonsense! Ask your auto dealership “Why does this BMW cost more than Honda Fit?” Imagine if the salesman (instead of actually comparing features) tries to tell you that “Every car is different and there really is no way for you to know unless you become the owner of all vehicles so just buy this one and start driving OK???” Thus when the LDS salesman tries to pull this “politically-correct dive-destination BS,” I am sorry but I am really not falling for it.
Here is what an honest conversation from an honest LDS would sound like:
Customer: Why does Belize cost so much more than Bonaire? Is the diving there that much better than what I can have in Bonaire?
LDS Salesman: There really is not a lot of difference between Belize and Bonaire and really nothing worth for you to spend 1250 bucks on. The reason why they are priced differently is because Bonaire is shore diving and does not involve boat rides, crew costs etc. Belize tries to give you the same kind of diving but uses boats and boats come with fuel and crew costs so your cost for the same type of diving would be 1250 bucks more if you go to Belize!
WHOAAA!!! Imagine what a disaster it would be for the whole dive industry if LDS people started giving honest answers such as this??? That is why any such list does not go well with a lot of people. Here is another brutally honest conversation you will never hear in a dive shop!
Customer walks in: Hello! I see you have a trip going to Australia that is 6200 with airfare and another one going to Komodo Island in Indonesia for 5100 with airfare. Is Australia really that much better than Komodo island?
LDS Sales person: Not at all! Well you see the dive prices are less connected to the quality of diving and more connected to the local economy. The cost of diving in Australia is higher because Australia is a developed first world economy so when you dive their reef you pay first world prices. It costs a lot of money for an Australian to buy a boat and set up a dive shop in Cairns Australia than it does for an Indonesian to do so in Indonesia. Are you still interested in going to Australia???
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
Dive destinations will start to vanish from the map if such brutally honest and politically-incorrect conversations started to happen. Unfortunately I am the consumer in the dive industry, not a tour operator, LDS owner or liveaboard owner and this is exactly the world that I would like to create. Anything other than this is insulting to me.