Where to go next, help???

[Captain Swoop]

I could happily spend the rest of my life in Marsh Harbour or Hope Town. I love the Abaco Cays.

Malta is good. Nice place, friendly and safe. Some good diving.
I learned to dive there when I was in the RN back in the 80s. (Recreational, I wasn't a Navy Diver but our instructor was an RN Clearance Diver)

 

[Alastor]

If you love Malta (as I do), come to dive in Ustica (Italy). It is friendly and safe too (but the food is better ).

 

[drbill]

I went to Egypt in 2015 but was with a group. While in Cairo, we were escorted by four armed guards and also an armed guard in Luxor. However when we were at El Qusier at Roots Camp (Pharaoh Dive Club) we had no guards and it felt quite safe. You can get there via Hurghada rather than flying in to Cairo.

 

[Zalick]

PNG - Milne Bay Tawali Resort land based - Wetpup (also a single female diver) has a trip report somewhere on Tawali.

I second PNG. Never been to the resorts or official dive spots but was living on a sailboat with a compressor and we dove all over the outer unnamed islands about 100 miles east of Milne Bay and it was hands down the best diving I've ever seen.

 

[Zalick]

You live near some of the best diving in the World. Try Vancouver Island.

Agreed. Never been on the east side, but diving on the west side around Barkley Sound is incredible.

 

[Wingy]

I second PNG. Never been to the resorts or official dive spots but was living on a sailboat with a compressor and we dove all over the outer unnamed islands about 100 miles east of Milne Bay and it was hands down the best diving I've ever seen.

Yeahhh..I know exactly what you mean, most of the best diving in my life has been off yachts - whats the name of the dive site - "Somewhere between Tonga and Kiribati if you head ....."

Were you tethered by having to use Hookah/Surface Support? That was my only regret during the last couple of long voyages I did - sorry for the third degree its just not that common to encounter people who have moved around and dived this way. Lucky eh? Did you happen to hit up Samurai? Trobriands?

 

[Dan]

How about Galápagos? My trip there in December turned out great.

How is diving in Galapagos in December?

 

[Zalick]

Yeahhh..I know exactly what you mean, most of the best diving in my life has been off yachts - whats the name of the dive site - "Somewhere between Tonga and Kiribati if you head ....."

Were you tethered by having to use Hookah/Surface Support? That was my only regret during the last couple of long voyages I did - sorry for the third degree its just not that common to encounter people who have moved around and dived this way. Lucky eh? Did you happen to hit up Samurai? Trobriands?

Yes, we are extremely lucky to have these experiences! No tethering, just traditional tank diving. We would just anchor and dive off the boat, or use the dingy loaded with tanks and cruise around. Had plenty of tanks for nonstop diving. There's no better experience IMO than diving a pristine reef and thinking "I might be the only one to ever dive here".

Hard to remember the names, was 15 years ago, but I think we were in the Trobriands. Also Woodlark Islands (Budi Budi Atoll which I think is the easternmost island chain from Woodlark/Muyua. Panapompom area. Can't remember if we went inward to Samurai. Such an amazing place.

 

[Pacifico]

You lucky people!

I dream of that almost daily. What was your favorite island/island group in the area Zalick? Any photos?

Jose

 

[Zalick]

You lucky people!

I dream of that almost daily. What was your favorite island/island group in the area Zalick? Any photos?

Jose

Its hard to pick a favorite and lots of the islands don't really have names. My favorites were tiny uninhabited atolls. I'd say my favorite named area was locally called Budi Budi. Its about 40 miles due east of Muyua Island. There are three tiny islands in a semi-circle. Google has them named Waboma Island, Budelun Island and the last unnamed. There are a very small number of inhabitants on Budi Budi (Waboma). The other two are uninhabited. The diving around there is simply amazing. We thought about going to the Solomon islands but its a bit too dangerous with pirates. We knew of one group that disappeared.... I have lots of photos on land although at that time I was not doing underwater photography. I'll check my drives and see what I can find!