Question Caribbean Dive Recommendations - Long Weekend Options

[rhwestfall]

Maybe tet your feet wet in Tobermory (Canada),

 

[BoozeHound36]

Diving is not a long weekend kind of hobby. On your list:
1. Been there. Expensive.
2. Been there. Not great diving, lack of fish, and hard to reach, MIA to SXM to EUX.
3. Never been, but they're still struggling to recover from the hurricanes in 2017.
4. Been there. Exumas, Freeport, Nassau, sharky in some places, but mostly absent of fish.
5. Bleached reef
6. Been there on a cruise ship stop and it was good enough that I'd like to go back for a dedicated trip.
7. Bleached reef

A few more:
Belize-bleached reef
Bonaire-bleached reef and SCTLD (coral disease)
Roatan-overfished, not much to see.
St. Croix-overfished, dead reef, not much to see
Isla Mujeres-meh, fair diving but not good enough for me to return.
Cozumel-I was there in October and the reef was completely bleached. Looked like a layer of snow covering the ocean floor.
The Keys in Florida-you probably already know the reef is dead
The Sea of Cortez on the Pacific side of Mexico-Was there on a liveaboard last August. The diving was good.
St. Kitts-been there a couple of times on a cruise ship stop. I would have like to make a dedicated return trip, but none of the operators have Nitrox, so I won't be going back.

That's one of the reasons why I'm focusing on caribbean. I dive SE Florida pretty much every week, sometimes multiple times a week if I can move the work meetings around appropriately. Caribbean is pretty much the backyard, where a flight is often direct and no longer than a drive to WPB or Key Largo. The way I figure it - a trip out on a Wed/Thurs, dive Friday/Sat Morning, and then fly on Sunday should allow for plenty of room for no-fly time and allow 6 dives or so. If I like a place I can always make another trip, if I never go I never get the experience. This post is an effort to try to maximize that first experience.

However, you paint a pretty bleak and depressing picture, would love to know what you are comparing it to - not sure if you've seen them at their peak and comparing it to then, or to diving in the coral triangle, or what.

 

[BoozeHound36]

Maybe tet your feet wet in Tobermory (Canada),

Hah, I've heard some things about Tobermory, the stories I've heard make it sound like the only bad thing is the viz! Would love to get up there and check it out. I've replied to a couple of posts with this statement already, but the primary motivation for me to do drysuit even though it's all warm water around me is to open up all those cold water diving sites.

 

[BoozeHound36]

Doesn't make sense unless you only want to dive for one day? Travel Thursday, dive Friday, off gas Saturday and fly home Sunday? Maybe I am missing something.

General dive plan would be to aim for 6 dives: 4 dives Friday, 2 dives Saturday AM. As long as I stay in recreational limits that should allow for plenty of no-fly time prior to flying out on a Sunday afternoon. These aren't trips I'd be planning to use the twinset on.

 

[Marie13]

How far in advance? I was hoping to schedule a trip up late august / early september. I don't really know anything about Great Lakes diving, but just the thought of visiting those wrecks is making me twitch. I'm doing my drysuit this spring with the main intention of making the cold water dive sites around the world possible.

For a first time Great Lakes diver is there any locations or operators you'd recommend?

To give you an idea, many Great Lakes charter boats are booked for the season by the previous fall. They’re usually booked by groups of friends or dive clubs for private charters. There are very few boats that take walk on divers like happens in tropical places.

The Straits of Mackinac (by the Mackinac Bridge) are my favorite place to wreck dive, but it’s not easy to get to. Also not the shallowest. You also don’t try to reserve rooms up there last minute. Memorial Day through a bit after Labor Day is the season. You mostly need to reserve months in advance for the more affordable hotels.

 

[Marie13]

Hah, I've heard some things about Tobermory, the stories I've heard make it sound like the only bad thing is the viz! Would love to get up there and check it out. I've replied to a couple of posts with this statement already, but the primary motivation for me to do drysuit even though it's all warm water around me is to open up all those cold water diving sites.

I agree with Toby. Fabulous place to dive.

 

[BoozeHound36]

To give you an idea, many Great Lakes charter boats are booked for the season by the previous fall. They’re usually booked by groups of friends or dive clubs for private charters. There are very few boats that take walk on divers like happens in tropical places.

The Straits of Mackinac (by the Mackinac Bridge) is my favorite place to wreck dive, but it’s not easy to get to. Also not the shallowest. You also don’t try to reserve rooms up there last minute. Memorial Day through a bit after Labor Day is the season. You mostly need to reserve months in advance for the more affordable hotels.

Wow, didn't realize that you need to book that far in advance. How do you manage to get out and dive on a semi-regular basis if you are local, even then do you need to plan that far ahead?

 

[Marie13]

Wow, didn't realize that you need to book that far in advance. How do you manage to get out and dive on a semi-regular basis if you are local, even then do you need to plan that far ahead?

Depends on where you live on the Great Lakes. The Straits are an 8 hour drive each way for me. There’s day boats out of Milwaukee I’ve dived off before. Diving up here ain’t cheap. Could be $150 for a two dive half day charter.

 

[Marie13]

And I’m going to give my standard speech: if you’re going to dive the Great Lakes, you better put some time in reading about the wrecks. Because if you’re not going to bother actually learning about what you’re going to dive, don’t bother diving them. They will be wasted on you.

 

[TheScubaDirectory]

Could also consider Cayman Brac.
List of dive sites:

The Best Dive Sites & Dive Shops in Cayman Brac

Cayman Brac Scuba Diving - The best Dive Sites & Dive Shops with map locations, critical details, diver reviews, and photos.

thescubadirectory.com