Calling all scuba divers

[glypnirsgirl]

DH and I are winding up our year of Disney and looking forward to diving again soon. This year we have dived a total of 3 times all at Cozumel on one trip. Compared to last year when we made approximately 50 dives in one year, our gills are DRY!

So, have any of you fellow mouseowners used your points for trading into a place with good diving? Do you just have a favorite dive spot? Ian and I dive in Cozumel to the point that the dive leaders there recognize us. I want some place new and different.

I am considering the following and would like input from anyone that has been there:

Belize
Bonaire
Maui
John Pennenkamp Park
Corfu
The Great Barrier Reef

The only live-aboard (obviously not on points) that we have ever done is at Turks and Caicos. Frankly, the diving was not as good as Cozumel -- and it cost a whole lot more. Not interested in a repeat of that experience.

Thanks for any ideas.

Elaine

[nono]

Elaine,

Do you prefer drift diving? Or not?

[tammymacb]

Guess what?

Yesterday I revamped the entire dive trip. We got an email from a friend that he would be on Grand Cayman the same days we'd be on Bonaire. We made lots of last minute changes ( luckily, I could actually change my airfare! ) and now I'll be on Grand Cayman in two weeks instead of Bonaire.

I'm kinda sad we won't be trying something different, but we looooooooooove GC. We have friends who visit/live there that we can see every year. We always dive with the same boat/dive company.

So, no Bonaire trip report from me this year.

Sorry.

[glypnirsgirl]

I love drift diving. It is so effortless. I am up for other types. Ian and I are both master divers, Nitrox certified (going to start working on tri-mix in the next month or so). We have completed classes in boat diving, deep diving, photography, stress and rescue, navigation. I think that search and recovery is the only class that we have not taken. We both have 100+ dives.

I especially loved the live-aboard experience. Dive, eat, dive, snack, dive, eat, dive, snack, dive, eat, work on dive log, sleep. There was not much of a current in Turks and Caicos, so it was just fin-power out to the reefs and fin-power back to the boat, it was not bad.

I have been dying to go to both Belize and Corfu from BEFORE I actually learned to dive. I have since learned that the best diving in the world is actually in the South Pacific - thousands of variety of reef fish instead of hundreds. Fiji, the Phillipines, Micronesia. I would love to dive any reef in the South Pacific.

Ian LOVES Japan. I have a feeling that if we were going to get on a plane to cross the Pacific the FIRST place he is going to want to go is to Japan. So, until that is done, if I want to dive, I am going to have to choose some place closer. Right now, we are tentatively planning a trip to Japan for June 2009. We will be at Tokyo Disney for 4 days and 11 days touring the countryside, if we stick to our tentative plans.

Any recommendations?

Elaine

[nono]

Elaine,

Ah -- Mr Nono is the master diver in our house and isn't thrilled with drift diving, so I haven't done much in that way. Now with the wee ones, we're kinda handicapped and spending all of our time topside...He's particularly fond of Maui...but I don't know if there's liveaboards from there or not. He did say that you need to find the dive shop with the fastest boat and pay for it there, or else you see more divers than fish. :slyasafox

He also spent a few vacations in Belize. I don't know that we'll ever get there together -- I think he and his fiancee kind of fell out of a future there, so I don't think he's anxious to return. But he always says he saw tons of :goldfish: there. And, he enjoyed the simplicity of the resorts -- VERY focused on diving.

Good luck with your decision and keep diving --we'll catch up with you guys in about 8 1/2 years! (When youngest can start diving!)

:sunny:

[greenban]

Just for the record......

The frog dives.

triple certified since 1978, yup 78, them good ole days. Steel 80s:
http://www.omsdive.com/images/cyl_dbl-hi.jpg

Mae West BCs:
http://www.thescubalady.com/photogallery/Keith%20Lamb/DKLamb%20check%20out.gif(or was it floatation device....)

dual hoses:
http://www.scubadiverinfo.com/images/aqualung_2hose_orig_small.jpg

20 lb. Rocket Fins:
http://www.1000online.com/Ebay/Aqua_Lung_US_Divers_Rocket_Fin_-_Adjustable_Large.jpg

J & K valves on tanks, with reserve levers:
http://i15.ebayimg.com/03/i/04/89/e6/c2_1_b.JPG

not to mention the EAST COAST (Top of da foodchain baby) standard, the Pony Bottle with spare regulator:

http://www.oceanscan.com/underwater/Bxbrkt1.jpg

and of course Dive 'Computers':
http://www.scubadiverinfo.com/images/Dive_tables_NAUI.jpg

You younguns gots it easy!

(PADI, NAUI and YMCA).

Of course, most of mine was recovery, with an occasional rescue as well as evidence searches.... Maybe a little UW demo.... shhhhhhh......

-Tony

[Colorado Belle]

So I got my basic in 1967 by a Navy Seal who showed us all 7000 ways a diver can be killed scuba diving. (so ok, maybe 4000). I did my advanced in the Caymans and that is a nice area to dive (in addition to swimming with the stingrays.)

My favorite dive spot is actually a place that you don't even need to dive...just stick your face in the water and its like National Geographic-land. But UNLESS YOU HIRED ME AS YOUR GUIDE, if I told you where this was other than INDONESIA, I'd be forced to kill ya. (hint: you'd also see Komodo dragons on the same trip)

I lived in Maui for lots of years but never dived there..I always thought it was such a deep drop off to the floor that there wasn't all that much to see cept for the shore reef. I liked Jamaica diving. I thought Aruba 'ok'. I did an amazing drift dive in one of the Tahitian islands that was really neat and the current was amazingly fast. So all in all, limited experience (tho in addition to advanced, I have photo, wall, night certs.

I think you should stick with your dream spots, esp. Bonaire, Belize sincde they are so close by comparitively. Another way to hit several of these dive spots on one trip is to go on a cruise ship tho I'd book your dives separately...you could dive in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Belize all on one trip for example.

[tammymacb]

ACK! Dive tables...Now that scares me.

Tammy ( who is never far from her trusty dive computer )

[glypnirsgirl]

I learned to dive using tables instead of a computer. I still like to "check" my computer to see how much extra bottom time I am getting by using it.

I originally got certified in 1994. I used dual steel 80s. A Calypso BC and Micron regulator (that I still use). I bought a dive computer as soon as I got certified. I used Blade fins. There has not been that big of a change for me --- a Diva BC instead of the Calypso (the Calypso was much prettier), the weight pockets instead of a weight belt, better dive computer. Oddly, the best change has been in the fins. I now use the natural rubber fins and they are FABULOUS. No pressure on my knees - plenty of speed, and quick on and off. Love 'em.

I can understand why having kids would hamper diving. I was thrilled when my son expressed an interest in diving when he turned 13. He was a natural diver. When I learned that Rose (my new daughter in law) was interested in learning to dive, that was what Ian and I got her for Christmas - lessons and full gear. Our dive instructor said that Rose was one of the most comfortable and sensible divers that he had ever certified. We took her to Cozumel with us in March (our one non-Disney trip of the year). Together we all had a great time.

Indonesia!!! That was what I was trying to think of.

I have heard that Maui and especially Nihua (is that spelling correct?) have great diving. I don't think that live-aboards really do Hawaii. I may check into that. Belize is starting to look better and better. From DFW it is less than a 4 hour plane ride. Much less $$ = more diving!

Elaine

[greenban]

So I got my basic in 1967 by a Navy Seal who showed us all 7000 ways a diver can be killed scuba diving. (so ok, maybe 4000). I did my advanced in the Caymans and that is a nice area to dive (in addition to swimming with the stingrays.)

My favorite dive spot is actually a place that you don't even need to dive...just stick your face in the water and its like National Geographic-land. But UNLESS YOU HIRED ME AS YOUR GUIDE, if I told you where this was other than INDONESIA, I'd be forced to kill ya. (hint: you'd also see Komodo dragons on the same trip)

I lived in Maui for lots of years but never dived there..I always thought it was such a deep drop off to the floor that there wasn't all that much to see cept for the shore reef. I liked Jamaica diving. I thought Aruba 'ok'. I did an amazing drift dive in one of the Tahitian islands that was really neat and the current was amazingly fast. So all in all, limited experience (tho in addition to advanced, I have photo, wall, night certs.

I think you should stick with your dream spots, esp. Bonaire, Belize sincde they are so close by comparitively. Another way to hit several of these dive spots on one trip is to go on a cruise ship tho I'd book your dives separately...you could dive in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Belize all on one trip for example.

I bow to the senior divatrix :worship: 1967? Wow, you musta certified at what age 4?

-Tony

[Colorado Belle]

Froggie, all I remember was I was surrounded by warm water and gentle motion, submerged, muted sounds and I was sucking my thumb in a fetal position. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!;)

[JimP]

Debbie and I learned to dive in Fiji. We went back a 2nd time... but she left her gear at home saying she was never going to dive again. I have since sold hers.

/Jim

[glypnirsgirl]

Tony - I left an opening for CB to tell you that she got certified before BCs existed --- now that is a real scuba diver!!!

I got my first certification in 1994. Dive computers were still fairly new, not yet common for recreation divers. I got SSI certified by the man that had been described to me as "the best dive instructor in the world." It was a grueling class. 40 hours of class and dive time to get the original certification. I dove for several years, then experienced some severe financial difficulties and stopped diving for several years. In 2003 I fell off that cliff (it seemed like a cliff - but it was really only a 4 or 5 foot drop) at Cape Flattery and broke my leg. I asked Ian if he would mind getting certified because I thought that "finning" would be good to build my leg back up. We enrolled in a class close to where Ian works. The class was not taught by dive professionals, but by other engineers who had gone through and become "dive instructors." We were sitting in class for about 5 minutes when I told Ian we were going to have to take classes from Don - it took me forever to find Ian and I had no desire to lose him in a diving accident. So we got certified by that class. Then turned around and took Don's class and got certified again. We have been diving ever since.

The first time I got certified, I did not bother to log my dives. So for a couple years, no verifiable dives. Logging dives is actually enjoyable to me now so now I can actually count the dives that I have done instead of just wondering.

Jim - have you dived any place other than Fiji? I have heard that it one of the premier diving spots in the world and I was just wondering if you have anything to compare it to?

Ian and I do almost all of our diving in Cozumel. The diving is great and an extended weekend only costs about $750 for each of us - two days of boat diving, unlimited shore diving, airfare and hotel. I have booked a trip to Cayman twice - and then came down with pneumonia each time and did not make the trip. From here, the scoop on Cayman is that it costs 4X as much as Cozumel and that the diving is half as good --- not an inspiring dive destination. And frankly. that was about our dive experience in Turks and Caicos also. It cost alot more than Cozumel and the diving itself was not as good. The live-aboard experience was wonderful and I was glad to dive someplace other than Cozumel where I could see some fish. The diving in Texas is all in lakes and it is like diving in mud - terrible visibility almost all of the time. We still do it. Sometimes we just feel the need to get our gills wet.

Elaine

[Colorado Belle]

....without a BC
with a double hose regulator
in a cold quarry with zero visibility....

other than almost drowning in the big tank at Disney, never an accident (yet) in the quarry, the Atlantic, the Gulf, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Indian.....and hopefully, next year not one in the Red Sea.

[JimP]

Jim - have you dived any place other than Fiji? I have heard that it one of the premier diving spots in the world and I was just wondering if you have anything to compare it to?

Elaine... unless you want to count the pool where we did our confined water dives... it has only been Fiji.

/Jim