Brazil Diving - Recife and Fernando De Noronha

[danilocesar]

Sorry to bump, but if going to FdN I would book this week. Does anyone else have a strong opinion on experience level needed to dive? I mean if the current is too strong, I can always skip a dive, and I would assume boats pick sites based on conditions? As far as depth, I'm assuming many people diving will be capped at 100ft. Honestly I'm more worried about language barriers and not having a buddy. Will probably look into booking via Atlantis - are most divers on that boat rec or is it a tek boat that will take rec divers?

Looks like both the Voyager and the Enterprise are running as liveaboards, and the Enterprise (takes 24) seems large enough to be comfortable (I mean, as long as I'm not sleeping on an open deck).

Noronha has dives for all levels, from beggining to tek. Last time I went there I did 6 dives, two with the OWD guys, three with the AOWD and a Tek Discover (Corvetta 17, 60m deep).
There is current, true. Not a big deal though. If you book with Atlantis, they don't really use the buddy system there. From my experience: 10 divers with three/four dive masters. You're suppose to follow the leader and the other DM missing is to keep people moving =)

Navigation time is pretty short there (that's a huge advantage since you can dive twice in the same day), half hour top. You leave your hotel at 7:30 and will be back before mid day.

Current is strong? Depends. But I don't think you need to worry about that since they consider that (tidal, your certification level and experience) before choosing a diving stop.

When are you intending to go?

 

[drbill]

Navigation time is pretty short there (that's a huge advantage since you can dive twice in the same day), half hour top.

Are you saying that the maximum dive time is half an hour tops? Not sure I understand this. Noronha has been on my list for about 10 years but if dives are limited in time like that, I doubt I'd head there.

 

[danilocesar]

Are you saying that the maximum dive time is half an hour tops? Not sure I understand this. Noronha has been on my list for about 10 years but if dives are limited in time like that, I doubt I'd head there.

No, what I tried to say is that it takes (by boat) half an hour or less to go from the pier to the diving spots in Noronha. It's a short time comparing to others diving places in Brazil (like Recife, Abrolhos, Bombinhas) where it takes around 2h to reach the diving spots.