Best diving spot???

[Nicky]

Hi everyone,
Was thinking the other day about where I would want to dive most in the world, (as you do...:duh ) and realised I didn't know.
So I thought I'd ask you guys....

Where is the best place to dive in the WORLD?

I realise you obviosly don't want to give away all your favourite spots and have lots of crazy tourists invading your area - so the country/region is just fine.

Chow,
Nicky

 

[crazyfrenchmen]

Hawaii

I think hawaii is a paradise for Blue Water Hunting.

I've dive Petit Byahaut in St-Vincent and tthe Grenadines, it's a virgin paradise.

I would also like to dive the pool at the Playboy Mansion

 

[narked]

Pretty much anywhere in the UK. Crap vis, cold water, but plenty of crabs and lobsters, and lots of wrecks to look at (providing you find them in the murky waters).

 

[Iyadiver]

Hi Nicky,


You need to explain what u want to do or see on the best dive spot in the world.

01. Macro phorography. Reef fishes and all the rare mini size creatures.

02. Pelagics photography - sight seeing . Great white, Manta, Whale Shark and so on.

03. Coral reefs sight seeing ?

04. Blue Water Hunting ?


I have friends who do all those different things, so they rate diving site based on what they want to see.

Overall, the best diving spot should be in Asia, we are around the tropics and you can't argue that. 15 degrees north and south the equator is a good guess. Some in Indonesia but not much pelagics here. I mean if you want to see say 100% of mini reef species, you need only to go one location and you will get perhaps 80%. In other areas you see 30% here, 30% there and so on.

So what do you realy want to see ?


Dive Safe
IYA

 

[Nicky]

Well,
I'm not too keen on seeing those Great Whites - or the little pretty reef fish....more the pelagics fish that you can hunt (and hopefully not get hunted by). Kinda the inbetween, but in a nice environment too, not just blue water (like where you can't see the bottom). Thanks Iyadiver.

Mr. Frenchman - tell me why I saw that call about the Playboy mansion coming a mile away? :hmm

And Narked? I don't know how you dive in the UK. I couldn't stand it.

Nicky
:girlie

 

[Pekka]

Kinda in between... Huh..
Well I would recomend the red sea, for sightseeing and deep diving... Nice coral reefs and deep waters..
The mediterranean is nice if you don't care about the corals...
How about the North sea above Norway?? I heard that there the wiz might be around 50 meters, nice place for spearfishing and if you are lucky you run into Orcas while diving...
I think one BIG thing when trying to figure out the best dive sight is not only what you want to see, but how easily you can get to it.... I wish I would be millionaire:duh

 

[narked]

Once you get used to the cold, diving in the UK is great. Although the vis is rarely great (often much less than 5m) there is plenty of sea life, such as lobsters, crabs, starfish, seals, conger eels etc. Also, we have hundreds of wrecks.

Some of our inland dive sites such as the flooded quarries are pretty fun to, the owners tend to sink things like small boats and helicopters in them.


Matt

 

[renemarcsamson]

I've been to Tonga in the South Pacific which, to me, was a fantastic place to dive.

We went diving around the Vava'u group of islands and also dipped in around Haa'pai.

The underwater landscapes at Vava'u were as varied as you would want them to be, ranging from drop-off's to plains, caves, reefs and canyons. There were lots to see wheter you are interested in macro life or bigger fish. The thing that caught the imagination with Vava'u and Haa'pai is its untouchedness - when you go diving there, there's nobody around but yourself and your buddies and the big blue. No boat traffic nor wrecked divesites.

To my mind the state of the reefs were pristine, but I am not experienced when it comes to tropical diving as I am from Norway. In fact the only tropical place I have dived is Tonga. However, according to one of my buddies, the reefs resembles the Red Sea when it comes to coral, but not when it comes to fish, and then especially big fish. But there are lots and lots to see, even humphbacks if you are lucky enough. And the visibility is great, better than any I've experienced in Norway.

The thing about Tonga however, is not only diving. I will heartily recommend it whatever you do. But be prepared to move around a bit, and keep in mind that allthough things are comfortable, there is little luxury around. The friendliness of the people makes up for all of that though. They are real diamonds.

I would love to go back.

Best wishes
René-Marc

 

[pjm]

Hiya Nicky -

reading through the back posts - a good spot that's relatively close to you, not too expensive - if you're tea-total and live in standard squalor is Turks & Caicos Islands. There are liveaboards available and SOME good operations on the main island - Provodenciales.

You get everything from beach out to the reefs, boats onto the deeper reefs, walls (deep ones at that) and some good deep channels for big stuff (especially early in the year).

Check out DiveProvo's site on the web www.diveprovo.com

Oh, the people are cool aswell and the surroundings are nice. Nightlife is a little quiet - unless you base yourself in a resort. Easiest and cheapest way onto the islands is to fly out of MIA.

Not the BEST spot in the world ... but not bad either ... but then aren't they all (you get wet don't you)!

Pete

 

[bdurrett]

Dive Spots

Hi Nicky,

I have dived in the Florida keys (not too bad but really shallow < 10 meters), off of St. Thomas (did my OpenWater Cert there) and, most recently, off of the Kona Coast of the Big Island (Hawaii) and of all hese, the Hawaiian trip was the absolute tops. I dove with an outfit called Big Island Divers (www.bigislanddivers.com), got my NAUI Open Water 1 cert upgraded to a PADI Advanced Open Water cert, my wife got her initial Open Water cert, and these guys have some EXCELLENT dive sopts. We went on a night dive and "played" with the Manta rays (there were between 12-15 of them, the biggest with a 3 meter wing span).

We want to go again but, due to financial concerns, we are looking at someplace closer to home, perhaps Turkey or Eygpt. I take it from your spelling of things that you are British? If so, and you happen to run across decent warm-water diving in Europe, drop me a note! I am ALL ears and have started buying Dive magazines to temporarily quash the urge but... uh.... pretty soon, it is going to be too strong and then <splash! > in the water and <smoke> goes the credit card!

Bret

 

[Reef Raider]

The Florida Middle Grounds
www.jollyrogersII.com