Advice on International Diving

[stanw]

I have a friend who is giving me discount tickets to travel and I am going to take two trips this year. I am brand new to diving, and figure if I'm going to take a trip, I will try to go places where I can experience incredible diving.

I want to spend about 3-wks in Spain/France/Italy for one trip and am looking into ideas for the other trip.

1.) How is the diving in these areas?

2.) I am thinking of going to one of these places for a second trip. Any thoughts on the diving in these places?

Costa Rica
Greece
Japan

Thanks for any info!

 

[Doc]

The places you mention are not well regarded for diving destination opportunities, and Greece is further laden with Governmental Permitting to see anything of note.

From Japan, you can go cheap and fly to the Philippines, or Palau and Yap at a higher price. The actual critters underwater are relatively the same.

In Costa Rica, getting to the Pacific side's Guanacaste area might be a problem, but the diving is remarkable. See Costa Rica - Scuba Diving for a thumbnail sketch of what you might expect.

 

[DeputyDan]

I have a friend who is giving me discount tickets to travel and I am going to take two trips this year. I am brand new to diving, and figure if I'm going to take a trip, I will try to go places where I can experience incredible diving.

I want to spend about 3-wks in Spain/France/Italy for one trip and am looking into ideas for the other trip.

1.) How is the diving in these areas?

2.) I am thinking of going to one of these places for a second trip. Any thoughts on the diving in these places?

Costa Rica
Greece
Japan

Thanks for any info!

France/Spain/Italy are not dive destinations. France has different rules on certification and your may not be allowed to dive there if you are not certified there anyhow!

Dive destinations generally are not tourist destinations. That's why the threads here are mostly for places you have never heard of.

You need to find out which locations world wide are best for a new diver - make that your list of possible locations and then scale that list down to a couple of places that will meet your needs.

DD

 

[altaskier]

I travel a bit for work, and have sometimes brought my scuba gear along. It's been lots of fun, even though I just started diving in 2004.

In France I went to Porquerolles for a conference, and had some great dives there (Porquerolles Plongée). At that time I just had PADI OW and 20 dives under my belt, but they took good care of me even though I don't speak much French. The sights were not bad, and I still remember the dives with pleasure.

My very next trip was to Japan where I snuck in some dives at Atami with Japan Underwater Explorers (:: Japan Underwater Explorers :: Tokyo, Izu, Kobe, Kansai, Hiroshima..) which seems to consist of Westerners living in Japan. Again it was a great trip with really good underwater sights (soft corals, eels, etc.) though not with Caribbean warmth or visibility. But definitely a great experience!

In Spain I went to Cap de Creus. Played with some octopus. Again, colder and less vis but still a memorable trip.

In Oz I've taken a bit more time and done a four-day liveaboard on the GBR. Fantastic...

None of the first three places above are considered dive destinations. However, I still had a lot of fun at each place between meeting some locals, seeing a different underwater environment, and gaining dive experience. One thing I did was to lug my gear to each place, and though it added to my travel packing I liked having my familiar setup in an unfamiliar environment. Also, in each case I made contact with a local dive shop in advance (via email) to make sure they were OK with my language skills (which don't matter underwater) and my coming solo. My general impression is that overall divers are a friendly lot and are really happy to show people their local sites.

In conclusion: go for it!

 

[TerryJ]

If you want to experience some of the best Mediterranean diving in Spain try KennaEcoDiving - a friendly English-speaking dive center based in the unspoilt town of L'Escala. I'm a big fan because they're so cheap and very flexible - you can tailor your own holiday. They do a lot of serious marine conservation work and have a sub domain dedicated to marine conservation.

You'll experience great diving in the newly created Marine Protected Area stretching from L'Escala to the famous Medes Islands Marine Reserve.

I'll be heading there again this summer, for the third time!
Terry

 

[jedi_diver]

Hi there!

Diving here in Japan is good. I used to always go outside of Japan to dive. Since I have been diving in country I have found out that there are a lot of cool sites and sealife.

Vis and temp can play a big part in your dive, especially if you are new to the sport. Also you have to decide if you want to dive in Tokyo, Ehime, or Okinawa, etc. Conditions can be different in each location.

I suggest that you get in contact with some of the dive clubs in Japan that are represented on this board before your trip. You can ask them about upcoming tours and dive conditions so you can plan your trip. Sometimes you will need a drysuit but other times you can dive with a 3mm or 5mm wetsuit. It depends on when you come to Japan.

The dives here are challenging, but my theory is that if you vary your diving experiences, you will be a better diver over all.

Let me know if I can help you.

Regards,
JD