What was your favourite trip? But more importantly: Where else have you been?

[BigJoeBob]

Also been all down the Carribean but in 12 years of diving...
* Discover dives in Playa Mexico.
* OW Cert in Puerto Rico following a work sponsored sales conference.
* Key Largo and Islamorada FL great US domestic diving.
* Ginny Springs Florida my only fresh water experience. Very cool.
* Manta Ray Night Dive, Kona Hawaii should be on everyone’s bucket list.
* And excursions dives from a cruise ship in Cozumel and Roatan.

The very best was a 3-day live aboard with AOW cert in Australia with ProDive Cairns
11 dives in 3 days. Walls, Swim-throughs , Puffers, Clown Fish, Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Bumpheads, Cuttlefish, Giant Porcupine Puffers, Spotted Rays, Sea Dragons, Flatworms, Giant Clams…. Dive–Eat-Dive–Sleep-Repeat

Last year I had my first wreck dive on a reef-sunk ship in Fort Myers FL, USCGC Mohawk. I need to work on my skills. Someday this will be my home dive spot.

 

[michaelsballard]

When I was 13 and on my first checkout dive in the Persian Gulf a bit south of Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, I saw a humpback whale. Just a shadow in the distance while we were down, but it breached about fifty yards away once we had come back to the surface. I was so young and new to diving that I didn't realize how spectacular that encounter truly was. The next dive trip that same year was to the Saudi Arabian side of the Red Sea. That was during the mid-1980s and scuba was so new and rare in the Kingdom that we didn't really go to a named site. We just drove north from Jedda and camped at a spot where the breakers weren't so far out. It was pristine reef with huge clams, lion fish (in their natural habitat), clownfish, reef sharks, and a bonafide stonefish.

Since then, my adult life kicked in and I have only recently started diving again with any regularity. So, of the places easily accessible from the southern United States, we have so far been diving in Key Largo, Bonaire, and St. Croix. Without a doubt, Bonaire is my favorite, mostly because of the freedom afforded by so much shore diving. I'm not the kind of guy who signs up for tours of architectural ruins or the best shopping district. I would much rather get lost and find adventure than be herded and stay safe. Maybe it was that first real dive trip to the unnamed spots in the Red Sea...

This summer, we are headed on a seven-day yacht trip in the Dodecanese islands of Greece, leaving from Rhodes. The route is entirely up to us and we plan to dive along the way. With the legalization of recreational diving in Greece only recently being enacted, I look forward to another unscripted adventure.

 

[David Martel]

Me:I don't mind cold water and low viz.
7. Monterey, CA: Dramatic structure with granite pinnacles covered in hydrocoral and corynactis anemones. Great biodiversity and nudibranchs. Can have incredible viz. One of my favorite places to dive.
9. And home base is Puget Sound, which has incredible density of marine life and biodiversity. Water is cold and viz is typically low, but it's worth it.

Monterey??? really, w.t.h?? imho, it doesn't belong on anyones list.

You say: "...can have incredible viz". Reality is visibility is normally quite poor. Those days are very rare and special days, most of the time you are stuck with less then 15 feet, five meters. The days of great visibility are less than the days of "cant' see my own fins", per my dive master.

You don't mind cold water and low viz. Got it. That explains everything. I just spent a weekend diving in Monterey. I hated it. By far the worst diving experience in 10 years and over 100 dives. I hate cold water, even though I windsurf in the San Francisco Bay regularly in a 5 mil wet-suit. I know how to cope. Diving is different. I like to relax and enjoy being in the water. I don't like to feel like I am struggling to survive exposure. And I don't like low visibility. I dive to see things.

My prior dives have been in multiple places in Thailand, Indonesia, Tahiti, Hawaii, and the Dominican Republic. Let me count the ways Monterey was absolutely horrible. I went there to complete my Rescue diver certification and my two sons were there to complete AOW. For starters I don't like cold, frigid water, 49 degrees. Yes we rented 7mil doubled up farmer John combined with pullovers. No matter, unless you are in a full dry suit, you will not last 30 minutes. You will count the minutes till you can get out. Second, on most days, visibility is absolute $hit, like less than 5 meters. That is most of what to expect. Yes, maybe a handful of days a month there is visibility. But don't count on it. This was expensive, add transportation to the dive sites, a hotel, rental, dive boat and meals. I paid more for crappy dives than anywhere I every went anywhere in the world. I don't know or care why anyone would find Monterey a best place to dive. If you like seaweed, kelp and a few fish, than maybe. But for what I've seen in the other trips, I wouldn't dive there if it was free or if you paid me.

Not one of the eight dive instructors I met while on my Rescue Diver course and my two teen age boys AOW course this past weekend go there because they like it. They go for a job and the love of scuba. They think that the diving, for the most part, is poor.

Anyone who wants details of the issues at Monterey are welcome to PM me. I used Diver Dan's in Santa Clara for the education and training. They were great. But the diving is absolutely awful, imho.

OW: Maui HI
AOW: Phuket Thailand
Rescue: Monterey, CA

---------- Post added April 27th, 2015 at 05:44 PM ----------

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Monterey??? really, w.t.h?? imho, it doesn't belong on anyones list.

You say: "...can have incredible viz". Reality is visibility is normally quite poor. Those days are very rare and special days, most of the time you are stuck with less then 15 feet, five meters. The days of great visibility are less than the days of "cant' see my own fins", per my dive master.

You don't mind cold water and low viz. Got it. That explains everything. I just spent a weekend diving in Monterey. I hated it. By far the worst diving experience in 10 years and over 100 dives. I hate cold water, even though I windsurf in the San Francisco Bay regularly in a 5 mil wet-suit. I know how to cope. Diving is different. I like to relax and enjoy being in the water. I don't like to feel like I am struggling to survive exposure. And I don't like low visibility. I dive to see things.

My prior dives have been in multiple places in Thailand, Indonesia, Tahiti, Hawaii, and the Dominican Republic. Let me count the ways Monterey was absolutely horrible. I went there to complete my Rescue diver certification and my two sons were there to complete AOW. For starters I don't like cold, frigid water, 49 degrees. Yes we rented 7mil doubled up farmer John combined with pullovers. No matter, unless you are in a full dry suit, you will not last 30 minutes. You will count the minutes till you can get out. Second, on most days, visibility is absolute $hit, like less than 5 meters. That is most of what to expect. Yes, maybe a handful of days a month there is visibility. But don't count on it. This was expensive, add transportation to the dive sites, a hotel, rental, dive boat and meals. I paid more for crappy dives than anywhere I every went anywhere in the world. I don't know or care why anyone would find Monterey a best place to dive. If you like seaweed, kelp and a few fish, than maybe. But for what I've seen in the other trips, I wouldn't dive there if it was free or if you paid me.

Not one of the eight dive instructors I met while on my Rescue Diver course and my two teen age boys AOW course this past weekend go there because they like it. They go for a job and the love of scuba. They think that the diving, for the most part, is poor.

Anyone who wants details of the issues at Monterey are welcome to PM me. I used Diver Dan's in Santa Clara for the education and training. They were great. But the diving is absolutely awful, imho.

OW: Maui HI
AOW: Phuket Thailand
Rescue: Monterey, CA

---------- Post added April 27th, 2015 at 05:44 PM ----------

I can totally see her point when she says she does not mind cold water and bad vis. When I started into diving how far I could see was directly proportional to how great the dive was. Then I started to notice smaller things that you will never see from 100 feet even if vis allowed you to. Even wreck diving is fun when you cant see the whole wreck and it mysteriously reveals itself from a ghostly fog.

 

[drrich2]

David Martel:

Enjoyed your write-up. It reminds me that individual preparedness is a big factor in dive site assessment/satisfaction. I like warm water with great viz. & easily viewed sizable lifeforms - coral, fish, etc… The 'typical Florida/Caribbean vacation diver.' TS&M has posted about Puget Sound before; sounds more like an alien planet than my idea of a dive site, but evidently many people love diving there. Looking over your write-up, I see...

1.) You indicate to dive there over 30 minutes, you need a full dry suit. You didn't have one.

2.) You like good viz., and that's often not the case there.

3.) You list a variety of what I believe are warm water destinations you've dove at previously.

I probably wouldn't like Monterey too much, either. But maybe for people who dry suit dive, like looking at macro subjects up close (so viz. isn't quite as big a deal), and are able to dive the better viz. days, it would work out.

That said, I appreciate criticism about destinations as well as praise, because when I am trying to decide between options, I want to know what I'm getting into.

Richard.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

One of my most memorable dives was actually "Folly Cove" in MA. I would never have imagined New England as a dive destination but after doing all the tropical diving, it felt like drifting on an alien planet for sure. The underwater plant life that the site had was not something I had seen before and the way those plants literally "danced" in the surge made it a breath taking sight. Keep in mind that Folly Cove is no where near best diving New England has to offer.

Drysuit is a must though. If I was attempting the same dive in a wetsuit then my experience would be similar to what David is describing.

 

[Diver0001]

I see so many threads about this vs that, what's your favourite place to dive, but no one asks "where have you been?". If someone says Bahamas is the best but the only other place they've ever dove is a quarry, well that doesn't say much. If someone says Grand Cayman sucks but they were there for a day on a cruise and went out on a cattleboat to wrecked reef that's an important detail. So where have you been? What was your favourite(s)?

I've dived in a lot of places. In several countries in Europe (from Holland to Croatia, the Czech republic and all stops in between), India, in Africa (lake Malawi), North America (Canada, USA), Mexico, Turkey, and Egypt, which I know is Africa but doesn't seem like the rest of Africa when you're diving there.....

Each is unique. None turned me off. I do have my favorites but in the end analysis everywhere I've dived I've loved it.

R..

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I've dived in a lot of places. In several countries in Europe (from Holland to Croatia, the Czech republic and all stops in between), India, in Africa (lake Malawi), North America (Canada, USA), Mexico, Turkey, and Egypt, which I know is Africa but doesn't seem like the rest of Africa when you're diving there.....

Each is unique. None turned me off. I do have my favorites but in the end analysis everywhere I've dived I've loved it.

R..

Makes sense but when people say "I love them all" then it does not help a new diver pick up their next dive destination. Over all consensus on this thread seems to be that Asia Pacific is generally more enjoyable than Caribbean. If by this thread, we could establish which areas of the Asia Pacific are superior to which others or which areas of Caribbean are superior to others (general consensus wise) then this thread will be more useful to someone like me who is graduating from mostly US diving to Caribbean.

 

[drbill]

Monterey??? really, w.t.h?? imho, it doesn't belong on anyones list.

Okay, YOU stated YOUR "humble" opinion. Why can't you respect TS&M.s (who is a lot more humble than yourself)?

As for me, my favorite dives have all been in the distant Pacific. Palau, the Philippines and Tahiti. Being a marine biologist, I love the biodiversity of Asia... and the challenge of trying to identify species new to me (and often finding that they are not yet even described scientifically!). I enjoy diving in places like the Caribbean but they generally pale compared to Asia. And, of course, as a kelp forest ecologist I enjoy diving my home waters (at least when the giant kelp is healthy and the dive site isn't totally overrun with the invasive Sargassum horneri.

 

[Diver0001]

Makes sense but when people say "I love them all" then it does not help a new diver pick up their next dive destination. Over all consensus on this thread seems to be that Asia Pacific is generally more enjoyable than Caribbean. If by this thread, we could establish which areas of the Asia Pacific are superior to which others or which areas of Caribbean are superior to others (general consensus wise) then this thread will be more useful to someone like me who is graduating from mostly US diving to Caribbean.

Ok, ok.....

I would book a trip to Egypt every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The Red Sea is God's aquarium. I've dived all over the world and there is literally NOTHING that compares to diving there.

That said, the most impressive dive I've ever made was in Lake Malawi. Why? Because I saw fish species there that literally don't exist outside of aquariums anywhere in the world.

In India I saw a Nautilus. it was in 8m of water against all odds. I also swam in a sardine swarm. It was one of the coolest animal encounters I ever had, and I grew up in the bush-bush in the Canadian Rockies in a place where the deer numbered more than the dogs and spent most of my fist 18 years living amongst the wild animals. It takes a pretty cool animal encounter to impress me.

In the North Sea I've seen some wrecks that made my heart race from excitement. I was on the team that discovered the E36, a submarine that had been lost for almost 100 years.

In Mexico we did a safety stop while a school of HUGE tuna swam past. You could hear them... .like ZOOF... ZOOOF ZOOOFF.... a couple of hundred HUGE tuna moving at frightening speed..... some of which were the size of small cars...... It even concerned me that one would hit me a full speed while I was hanging there.

So yeah. I really don't know which animal encounter rates higher than all the others. I said "I love them all" and maybe I really can't help someone pick their next vacation...... But I do love them all.

R..