Bucket List Diving

[bowlofpetunias]

I think you have a good point here. I am amazed at people who dive in cold water or inland with limited things to see. I am not sure I would have been dedicated enough to keep the interest with all the gear, restrictions and so on.

I am lucky that we can dive here year round and see interesting things. We have some really unusual critters. I have really enjoyed diving California Kelp Forests and Florida warm water. I loved the Tropical diving in PNG, Indonesia and GBR. The cooler waters in Melbourne offered up some really great subjects. The freshwater diving was interesting but there was so little life I would have got bored very quickly had I still lived there.

I won't say that Diving in Sydney is better than anywhere else but I will say that it is grossly under rated as a dive destination. I am not sure that is a bad thing. If everyone figured out just how good it is.. our dive sites would be way too crowded for my liking I will say that of all the places I have gone to dive Sydney and possibly Melbourne would be my first pics to live based on diving options.

We can dive year round wet (or dry if you are a wuss) and see interesting things. We can appreciate tropical diving as a treat and we can tolerate colder dive destinations like California or Tasmania without a lot of difficulty. I think I would find it harder if my home dive sites were warm and tropical to transition to cooler temperate water like we have here or in Calif etc.

 

[gflemming]

Great thread Miss Jessica Anderson. I have a rather long bucket list but the destination(s) that I am planning to hit sometime in the near future are:

a) Red Sea liveaboard from Egypt: Still deciding between Northern Wrecks and Southern routes. I am told that Spring and Fall are the best seasons for Egyptian Red Sea.

b) Passamaquoddy Bay (Maine): I keep pushing this due to work and family commitments but I am hoping to do this next year. This is a hidden gem that is mentioned by Jonathan Bird in the book "Fifty Places to dive before you die." I have gotten in touch with some divers from Deer Island Maine and I am told that it is right at par with British Columbia's cold water dives. If someone has dived the Eastport Maine area then I would love to hear more. If anyone is interested in joining me next year for a drive and dive tour then lets put a trip together.

Cheers -

CS

Passamaquoddy Bay
Been there, done that, over 500 times over the past 40+ years.
The Bay is actually bordering Maine and New Brunswick. Deer Island is in New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Bay.
The water is not warm, ranging from near freezing in March to about 55º in September. Tides in the Deer Island area are about 24' on average, so you can imagine the current. The Bay of Fundy was glacier cut so it gets deep really fast, what this is leading to is that the visibility rarely exceeds 15'.

BUT, the marine life is well fed. Everything from coralline algae to whales. You may be able to see Humpback, Finback or Minke whales on the surface, but you're not going to see them underwater. Same goes for Porpoise or Seals. Sharks are a maybe. Algae, soft coral, tunicates, anemones, lumpfish, wolffish (or eels), starfish, and of course lobsters (look but leave alone).

Because of the fast drop-offs of the waters there, wrecks tend to slide out of reach, so while there are some lodged on the rocks, they're wreckage rather than wrecks.

I keep waiting for things to calm down in the Red Sea area, but that may not happen in my lifetime.
Heading to Saint Vincent and Dominica next month.

Gerry

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Passamaquoddy Bay
Been there, done that, over 500 times over the past 40+ years.
The Bay is actually bordering Maine and New Brunswick. Deer Island is in New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Bay.
The water is not warm, ranging from near freezing in March to about 55º in September. Tides in the Deer Island area are about 24' on average, so you can imagine the current. The Bay of Fundy was glacier cut so it gets deep really fast, what this is leading to is that the visibility rarely exceeds 15'.

BUT, the marine life is well fed. Everything from coralline algae to whales. You may be able to see Humpback, Finback or Minke whales on the surface, but you're not going to see them underwater. Same goes for Porpoise or Seals. Sharks are a maybe. Algae, soft coral, tunicates, anemones, lumpfish, wolffish (or eels), starfish, and of course lobsters (look but leave alone).

Because of the fast drop-offs of the waters there, wrecks tend to slide out of reach, so while there are some lodged on the rocks, they're wreckage rather than wrecks.
Gerry

See, a place like this to me would be on my bucket list way before somewhere warm but boring with dead coral and no fish just to say I dived warm water. Maybe I'm one of the very few on scubaboard that doesn't care about cold low viz with currents and dicey conditions to get to see great stuff.

I should start a thread about remote wild cold water diving spots around the world and see what comes up.

 

[drrich2]

Hardly anybody wants to dive with dead coral & no fish (assuming they're not after wrecks of historic significance or some such, and those tend to draw fish). You can get warm with lush coral and plenty of fish. With better viz., you can see them better, too.

It would indeed be interesting to see a thread on what cold water destinations do a strong business in dive tourism (as in, somebody buys plane tickets to get there). Many people will make do with local diving conditions for convenience and low cost; it's the places people pay money & vacation time to get to that prove themselves little more.

Richard.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Hardly anybody wants to dive with dead coral & no fish (assuming they're not after wrecks of historic significance or some such, and those tend to draw fish). You can get warm with lush coral and plenty of fish. With better viz., you can see them better, too.

It would indeed be interesting to see a thread on what cold water destinations do a strong business in dive tourism (as in, somebody buys plane tickets to get there). Many people will make do with local diving conditions for convenience and low cost; it's the places people pay money & vacation time to get to that prove themselves little more.

Richard.

I used to think that cold water diving would be colorless and bland. Then I did a few dives in New England and was totally blown away by the plant life and marine animals. The marine life that you see in cold water is so out of the ordinary and rare that cold-water diving turned out to be a far better experience than a lot of "tropical diving" everyone raves about. Keep in mind that New England is no where close to some of the best cold-water diving there is. After New Englad, I have a strong preference for cold water in comparison with tropics though tropics are easier and convenient.

I don't think there is a place that generates a fair amount of tourism from cold water diving because most recreational divers associate cold water diving with pure discomfort. Some of the places that I have heard get mentioned as top cold water destinations are:

Galapagos (Of course!)
Browning Pass
Poor Knights Island
Iceland (Silfra gets mentioned a lot. I would love to hear from people who have done ocean dives)
Great Lakes (If you are into wrecks)
Channel Islands
Norway

If anyone else has something to add to the list, please go ahead.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I used to think that cold water diving would be colorless and bland. Then I did a few dives in New England and was totally blown away by the plant life and marine animals. The marine life that you see in cold water is so out of the ordinary and rare that cold-water diving turned out to be a far better experience than a lot of "tropical diving" everyone raves about. Keep in mind that New England is no where close to some of the best cold-water diving there is. After New Englad, I have a strong preference for cold water in comparison with tropics though tropics are easier and convenient.

I don't think there is a place that generates a fair amount of tourism from cold water diving because most recreational divers associate cold water diving with pure discomfort. Some of the places that I have heard get mentioned as top cold water destinations are:

Galapagos (Of course!)
Browning Pass
Poor Knights Island
Iceland (Silfra gets mentioned a lot. I would love to hear from people who have done ocean dives)
Great Lakes (If you are into wrecks)
Channel Islands
Norway

If anyone else has something to add to the list, please go ahead.

I could add Monterey California specifically Point Lobos.
California North Coast on a good day, it's similar to Point Lobos in many locations with huge walls, tons of fish, huge eels, giant pacific octos and many undived locations. Problem is access and complete lack of diver support i.e. no charter boats. That's why it's still so pristine.

Part of the problem with making cold water places popular is logistics plain and simple. It takes a lot of gear and trying to fly and travel with all that gear becomes awkward and expensive. Rental fleets could be a possible solution but cold water gear is a fairly personal fit/choice so that becomes problematic. Then there's the training aspect, cold water diving requires more training for the gear and you have to do it all the time to remain comfortable in the gear and setting.

That's why warm water destinations remain more popular. Easier to train for that type of diving, less bulky gear, easier to travel with less gear, more leisurely (people on vacation don't want to work their asses off to try and have fun).
So even though some cold water places have unbelievable life that warm water doesn't have, (not to say that there aren't unbelievable warm water places), I think people would rather go to a warm water location simply for reasons listed above even though some of the locations may be slightly less in dive quality. A lot of people equate dive quality with personal comfort (warm).

However, there are people who will go to any length to dive in whatever locations warm or cold because they want to see unbelievable underwater life and the logistics part is just a minor inconvenience to them. The problem is there aren't enough of these adventurers to support and industry in those locations.

 

[gkrane]

See, a place like this to me would be on my bucket list way before somewhere warm but boring with dead coral and no fish just to say I dived warm water. Maybe I'm one of the very few on scubaboard that doesn't care about cold low viz with currents and dicey conditions to get to see great stuff.

I should start a thread about remote wild cold water diving spots around the world and see what comes up.

I love warm water diving, but have zero interest diving somewhere warm with dead coral and no fish. Where is this so I can avoid it at all costs? I also think there is a lot more to it than logistics. Quite a few people go on vacation to relax. Warm water diving still allows people to completely relax for the most part. I have done quite a bit of local cold water diving and So Cal quite a few times where the temp was usually around 50- 52 degrees. I can't say I have ever been completely relaxed. The cold water is always a nagging factor that detracts from my experience, although I have had some fantastic dives. I could never see myself looking forward to a week long liveaboard to do 5 cold water dives per day and getting out of the water in cold weather. I have personally never gotten past 2 cold water dives in a day, and I don't consider myself a cold water wussy. Will I dive it.....Yep if it is whats available. Will I pay the same amount for travel and other costs as a warm water destination and look forward to leaving for months on end....No way. Plus, if I had to rely on getting my wife and family to cold water dive I would be permanently dry docked.

 

[drmwc]

Galapagos (Of course!)
Browning Pass
Poor Knights Island
Iceland (Silfra gets mentioned a lot. I would love to hear from people who have done ocean dives)
Great Lakes (If you are into wrecks)
Channel Islands
Norway

If anyone else has something to add to the list, please go ahead.

Scapa Flow is very good, and historically significant. (I have just finished a week diving there.) Malin Head may also be worth adding, although I've not dived there.

The Farnes and Scilies are good for diving with seals.

 

[Seya]

I love warm water diving, but have zero interest diving somewhere warm with dead coral and no fish. Where is this so I can avoid it at all costs? I also think there is a lot more to it than logistics. Quite a few people go on vacation to relax. Warm water diving still allows people to completely relax for the most part. I have done quite a bit of local cold water diving and So Cal quite a few times where the temp was usually around 50- 52 degrees. I can't say I have ever been completely relaxed. The cold water is always a nagging factor that detracts from my experience, although I have had some fantastic dives. I could never see myself looking forward to a week long liveaboard to do 5 cold water dives per day and getting out of the water in cold weather. I have personally never gotten past 2 cold water dives in a day, and I don't consider myself a cold water wussy. Will I dive it.....Yep if it is whats available. Will I pay the same amount for travel and other costs as a warm water destination and look forward to leaving for months on end....No way. Plus, if I had to rely on getting my wife and family to cold water dive I would be permanently dry docked.

Micronesia is amazing warm water diving

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Someone skirted around it a little but if the partner/family are not into diving they will enjoy the warm water destinations more. Most of them would prefer enjoying the sun and swimming on a tropical beach more than what is offered in the colder locations. Easier to get your dives in if the family is happy with the destination too.