Best global locations for rebreather diving

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  • North America

    • Florida

      • Key largo. Horizon is the company to go with. They have He and O2 on site and can get you sorb if you ask ahead. The charters allow you to do up to 2:20 run time on the deep wrecks, primarily the Speigel Grove but occasionally the bib, Duane and northern lights.
      • South Florida Dive Headquarters, out of Pompano Beach. They run tech and CCR charters all the time. I do not know what their CCR support is, but I imagine they have it or can refer you to someplace local that has it. They have CCRs on their boats all the time. There are some great, deep wreck dives just minutes out of the inlet where SFDH runs.
    • Vancouver Island – Depends where you go and who you know. Generally speaking you have to arrange sorb, O2, etc ahead of time.
    • Great lakes – belowthegrade.com
    • North Carolina

      • Olympus Dive Center, Morehead City, NC: They can supply O2 and they do allow CCRs on their boats. But, they do not have trimix or sorb. They also do not have CCR cylinders. But, you can rent an AL80 to use for bailout.
      • Dive Hatteras (the Lion's Paw), Hatteras, NC: They can supply O2 and do allow CCRs on their boat. But, they do not have trimix or sorb. They do not have CCR cylinders. I am unclear on their status for renting bailout cylinders from them. I know they have steel tanks to rent for OC diving. I'm not sure what they have for aluminums (if any).
      • Atlantis Charters (aka the Pink Boat), Atlantic Beach, NC. Very comfortable 6-pack. CCR-friendly and tech dive-friendly. They have no CCR support, though. But, you can get O2 and air fills at nearby Olympus Dive Center. Bring your own sorb and all cylinders.
    • California: Catalina Divers Supply - ask for Bob or Tina
  • Central America

    • Mexico

      • Socorro. I also had a great time diving with Nautilus at Socorro. Easy to get fills. They gave me a keg of sorb which easily lasted the trip. Got much closer to the mantas and had better profiles than the divers on nitrox.
      • Tulum – Mexico dive factory – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Cozumel: One of my favorite places to dive. Deep Exposure dive shop has full CCR support. I have not dived my CCR in Cozumel, but I have stopped by Deep Exposure to check it out in person. Next time I go, I will definitely try to take my CCR and use DE for support.
    • Bonaire: CCR support from Technical Diving Services, onsite at Captain Don's Habitat, or from Buddy Dive.
    • Curacao: I know they have CCR support there somewhere, as I know one CCR instructor that goes there to teach CCR classes. But, I don't know what shop.
    • Grand Cayman – DiveTech - ask for Rachel or Jo
    • Honduras
  • South America

    • Brazil

      • Natal and Recife in Brazil. Sea, O2, Sorb, Trimix, various profiles, tech guides, and, in Recife, wrecks.
      • Mina da passagem, in Mariana, total facilities, a flodded 18th century gold mine with various profiles. The dive center owner recently released it's own designed front mount CCR called Smart rebreather, with IANTD training
      • Subaquatica in Sorocaba Brazil, wich i am associated through Inspiration Brasil, who, although not in a touristice destination, can arrange pretty anything needed for CCR trips
    • Galapagos – Dirty Dozen is doing CCR liveaboard trips.
  • Asia

    • Chuuk or Bikini with Dirty Dozen and Master Liveaboards checks off everything on the list including the DPV.
    • Rangiroa: CCR rangiroa is a great shop in a remote AF location. O2 fills, sorb, tech guides, endless sharks and visibility.
    • Egypt

      • Sharm el Sheikh with Emperor Divers as basis for all local, Ras Mohammed and Tiran diving
      • Dahab for the blue hole

        • Lagona Divers (Formally Team Blue Immersion) - 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's (they can organize them)
      • Blue O' Two Liveaboards - ask for Emma
    • Indonesia

      • Bali Dive Trek – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Tekdeep – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Dark Horizon Diving – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks
      • Trawangan Dive – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Manta Dive – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Blue Marlin Dive – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks
      • Sulawesi Dive Trek – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks (limited but if you give him a head up he can organize more from his partner)
    • Thailand

      • Blue Label – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Koh Tao Tec Divers – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks
    • China

      • Blue Flag International – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks
      • Guangzhou Hailang Watersports Ltd. Co – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Legend Diving Center – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
    • Philippines

      • Oceanplayer – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Blue Lagoon – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
      • Dauin Tech – 200B O2 fills, Helium , Sorb, air fills, guides, CCR tanks, DPV's
 
  • Europe

    • Malta: Techwise - ask for Alan
    • Spain

      • Malaga: Natura Dive Center - ask for Alvaro
      • Tenerife: Diving Canarias - ask for Lu or Alé
    • Portugal (Lagos): WeDive - ask for Delfi or Nuno
    • Croatia

      • Vis island. Every dive center in Komiža has sorb and helium, along with standard bailouts rental and 3l tanks.
        Most of the let you do you own thing for tec dives, but there is always a guide in the water.
        Dive positions go from 0m reefs to 130m deep wrekcs, and everything in between.
    • UK

      • Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland. Pretty much all of the boats will rent you 3l cylinders, lead, stages and sell lime. Great wrecks, and stuff out of the flow around the islands available too. We tend to dive off the Clasina and Bob will help with lazy shot or trapeze etc as needed for bigger diving. Also got to consider Malin Head well set up for ccrs there. It's relatively shallow with a max of 45m/150ft and is sheltered so you won't loose too many days if the weather's bad. It isn't easy to get to. The diving and the history of the diving is great though.
    • Ireland

      • Malin Head in north west Ireland is utterly amazing diving, probably the best around the British Isles. There's big wrecks at 70m/230ft MOD2+ depths and deeper at MOD3 depths which are simply sublime. There's a couple of boats which go out of Malin both are well set up and supply gas. You will need to arrange for rentals which can be done through people who organise trips up there (Kieran Hatton divingindepth.co.uk who took these photos). I've been a couple of times and it's easily the best technical diving I've done. Weather's an issue though. We managed five of the six days but made a trip up to the Giant's Causeway for the off day (highly recommended).
 
More places I I have enjoyed great CCR diving:

North America / Lake Erie / Westfield, NY / Osprey Charters - Osprey Charters Inc. – Lake Erie's Premier Boat Charter Good, deep, cold shipwrecks in Lake Erie. Captain John is awesome and hilarious! (in a crusty, old, not-putting-up-with-any-**** captain kinda way)

North America / Saint Lawrence River/ Alexandria Bay, NY - Hunt's Dive Shop - Dive Charter | Thousand Islands New York | Hunt's Dive Shop Dana Hunt is awesome and runs a good boat. The wreck diving in the Saint Lawrence River Thousand Islands area is awesome. Wrecks that are shore dives to wrecks that are 200+ feet. The water is even pretty warm (in the 70s) in late Summer and early Fall. Numerous good opportunities for wreck penetration.

North America / Saint Lawrence River/ Alexandria Bay, NY - Bluefoot Diving - Andrew also runs a good boat, to the same general list of dive sites at Hunt's. Bob Sherwood is in that area and uses this boat, making it the GUE divers' boat of choice.

North America / Saint Lawrence River/ Brockville, ON, Canada - Brockville Adventure Center Dive Brockville Adventure Centre Helen Cooper is also awesome. Also in the Thousand Islands area of the Saint Lawrence. They dive many of the same wrecks as the shops from Alexandria Bay. But, being on the Canadian side, some wrecks are easier to get to, versus others being easier from the NY side. And in Canada... they have poutine! AND, if you are on that side, you must stop into Dive Tech. They have O2 and trimix for fills. Probably have sorb and cylinder rentals, but I'm not sure. But, Dan, the owner, is awesome and the shop is like a tech diver's candy store. Dive Tech is about 15 minutes from BAC, heading towards the crossing to go back across the river to the US side.

All of these are CCR friendly. I have always taken all my own stuff, so I don't know what they offer for sorb and rentals. I think they all can do O2 fills.
 
As it's becoming too long for one post, I will keep posting updates by continent.

  • North America

    • Florida

      • Key largo / Horizon is the company to go with. They have He and O2 on site and can get you sorb if you ask ahead. The charters allow you to do up to 2:20 run time on the deep wrecks, primarily the Speigel Grove but occasionally the bib, Duane and northern lights.
      • South Florida Dive Headquarters, out of Pompano Beach. They run tech and CCR charters all the time. I do not know what their CCR support is, but I imagine they have it or can refer you to someplace local that has it. They have CCRs on their boats all the time. There are some great, deep wreck dives just minutes out of the inlet where SFDH runs.
    • Vancouver Island – Depends where you go and who you know. Generally speaking you have to arrange sorb, O2, etc ahead of time.
    • Great lakes
    • Saint Lawrence River

      • Alexandria Bay, NY / Hunt's Dive Shop - Dive Charter | Thousand Islands New York | Hunt's Dive Shop Dana Hunt is awesome and runs a good boat. The wreck diving in the Saint Lawrence River Thousand Islands area is awesome. Wrecks that are shore dives to wrecks that are 200+ feet. The water is even pretty warm (in the 70s) in late Summer and early Fall. Numerous good opportunities for wreck penetration.
      • Alexandria Bay, NY / Bluefoot Diving - Andrew also runs a good boat, to the same general list of dive sites at Hunt's. Bob Sherwood is in that area and uses this boat, making it the GUE divers' boat of choice.
      • Brockville, ON, Canada / Brockville Adventure Center Dive Brockville Adventure Centre Helen Cooper is also awesome. Also in the Thousand Islands area of the Saint Lawrence. They dive many of the same wrecks as the shops from Alexandria Bay. But, being on the Canadian side, some wrecks are easier to get to, versus others being easier from the NY side. And in Canada... they have poutine! AND, if you are on that side, you must stop into Dive Tech. They have O2 and trimix for fills. Probably have sorb and cylinder rentals, but I'm not sure. But, Dan, the owner, is awesome and the shop is like a tech diver's candy store. Dive Tech is about 15 minutes from BAC, heading towards the crossing to go back across the river to the US side.
    • North Carolina

      • Olympus Dive Center, Morehead City, NC: They can supply O2 and they do allow CCRs on their boats. But, they do not have trimix or sorb. They also do not have CCR cylinders. But, you can rent an AL80 to use for bailout.
      • Dive Hatteras (the Lion's Paw), Hatteras, NC: They can supply O2 and do allow CCRs on their boat. But, they do not have trimix or sorb. They do not have CCR cylinders. I am unclear on their status for renting bailout cylinders from them. I know they have steel tanks to rent for OC diving. I'm not sure what they have for aluminums (if any).
      • Atlantis Charters (aka the Pink Boat), Atlantic Beach, NC. Very comfortable 6-pack. CCR-friendly and tech dive-friendly. They have no CCR support, though. But, you can get O2 and air fills at nearby Olympus Dive Center. Bring your own sorb and all cylinders.
    • California: Catalina Divers Supply - ask for Bob or Tina
 
stuartv:
More places I I have enjoyed great CCR diving:

North America / Lake Erie / Westfield, NY / Osprey Charters - Osprey Charters Inc. – Lake Erie's Premier Boat Charter Good, deep, cold shipwrecks in Lake Erie. Captain John is awesome and hilarious! (in a crusty, old, not-putting-up-with-any-**** captain kinda way)
Click to expand...
John won't have sorb available unless he is aware a few weeks in advance. He can get it, just doesn't normally stock it. He can provide O2 and trimix anytime.
Also, he happens to be the most beautiful captain in the world, so that is worth the trip.

1694802036110.png
 
Tracy:
John won't have sorb available unless he is aware a few weeks in advance. He can get it, just doesn't normally stock it. He can provide O2 and trimix anytime.
Also, he happens to be the most beautiful captain in the world, so that is worth the trip.

View attachment 802589
Click to expand...

Love those stickers!!! I have never seen him with his shirt off. He should deliver his boat briefings in that outfit.
 
I would guess most (definitely many) GUE-affiliated dive centers rent 3l and BO cylinders and sell sorb, including Red Sea Explorers for the charter/destination side of the question as well (Egypt).
 
Now I think about it, there's Krnica dive in Krnica, north Croatia, which has cylinders, gas and I'm assuming lime from the large number of travelling divers. Maurizio is very good and the logistics are great. Www.krnica.com I think. Great wrecks from recreational depth down to 70ish metres, including some real classics like the Baron Gautsch and the Lina.

There's a couple more centres that facilitate logistics for GUE CCR courses I can think of, Portofino Divers in Italy and Scubalife in Greece which cater for travelling divers and have wrecks on tap. I've not used them myself but friends highly recommend both.
 
Around the UK there are many fantastic spots, I,m more in to rust so my choices would be

1, Malin Head. in county Donegal Ireland, depths from nothing ~ abysal (30m - 160m that I know have been dived but some past 200m) vis usually good lots of history excellent diving ww1 battleship in 65m luxury liners from titanic era, ww2 liberty ships with cargo etc etc, at least 2 well established boat runners with b&b with gasses etc

2, Scapa Flow. In Orkney, nearly a dozen Wreck locations in a huge natural harbour including the remains of the German 1,st world war scuttled fleet, from Battleships to light cruisers, depths of a few meters to 44m, a lot of support for divers, Day and live aboard boats, most 1hr from harbour (Stromness).

3, south coast of England, many many wrecks in all different depths, BSAC and Guztec good to google toget you ideas,

In the UK there isn’t really any restrictions with rebreather apart from the obvious (military areas etc) some wrecks you do need permission for, but these are usually of serious historical importance Lusitania, and Royal Oak the famous ones, hope this is informative for a few people.
 
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