Dive sites for those limited to 40 feet

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Craig66

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Location
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My 10 yr old just got certified. As a junior she is limited to 40 feet. I am looking at dive destinations where a reasonable number of the dive sites can be enjoyed and still stay safetly within the 40 feet limit(50 as an absolute limit). I am looking for options that are in the Carribbean including Florida and the Bahama's. I want to avoid deep dives where we would be expected to hover midwater above a reef at 80 feet and at 40 feet would like to be either on the sand or just above a reef system.

Thanks

Craig
 
You should really consider Bonaire.

At least 90% of the popular sites can be dove at 40 feet or less.

I have done many 80+ minute dives with Herman (from this board) and we never reached 35 feet.

Two of the reasons that Bonaire is so popular is that 1) You dive your own schedule and 2) you dive your own profile.

My kids have been there 3 times as teenage divers. (I am getting long in the tooth - they are no longer teenagers)

You can also PM GypsyJim. He has kids that dive!
 
All the reef dives I did in Key Largo were <40'.
 
Your alternative destination is Key Largo.

Really good diving at good sites - many of which are less than 50 feet.

It was the first location that I took my kids diving to!

Everyone has an opinion as to whom they like best in Key Largo. But you seldom hear many negatives about an operator. Reason being, most all of them are good and its what fits your personal preference!
 
Lots of shallow ~20' reefs in Key Largo ; the Molasses 'system'....

The 'balls' area in Ft Lauderdale...

Blue Heron Bridge in WPB
 
Definitely Key Largo... pretty much every dive is less than 40 feet and there is tons to see. Ambergris Caye in Belize also had some amazing shallow dives.
 
A lot of the divesites in the BVI's start in the 20-30' range.

Some around the Dogs or Cooper Island don't exceed much over 40-50' ever. One of the better dives - The Chimney off Great Dog Island never exceeds 45'. Thumb Rock off Cooper is 60' to the bottom but the top is 15' below the surface. I spent the better part of that dive at about 20-30'. Cistern Point in the same area starts at 20' and goes to 40' max. Aquarium off Virgin Gorda's Yacht Harbor is another really shallow (35') excellent site. And the Baths nearby are a great snorkel site. She could even dive the shallow part of Seal Dog, the day I was there, there were thousands of Silversides no deeper than the 1st 20' or so. There was a Barracuda and a couple other fish hitting them nearby though. At a site off Ginger Island - can't recall which one - we did a shallow dive near some rock ledges - a couple of snorkelers from a catamaran nearby swam down to join us for part of it.

DiveBVI lists depths on their website. They run an excellent operation also. Dive Sites | Dive BVI

Another option might be Curacao. The Tugboat - famous dive site on Curacao - is 20' deep. There's also a pier nearby that starts at - 0' deep...lol.

Parts of Varsenbaai are shallow as well - but the wreck is deeper - close to 80'. We found seahorses at the mooring at 40'. And turtles in 6' of water just offshore. The facility mgr. said they're always there.

Nos Kas (Habitat's reef) also has a shallow area. I burned a 2nd tank waiting for my friends filming flounder and tropicals in the shallows inside of where they moor their boats offshore in the afternoon - it couldn't have been deeper than about 20-25'. The reef there rolls off at about 40' also. So she could do part of it.

The first reef at Porto Mari nearby starts at 6M - 18' also. The second is considerably deeper...

Since Sunset Waters closed/was demolished recently I don't know the status of the dive there now, but when we did it, there was a protected breakwater with an opening through it that led to their "plane" wreck (Cessna). It was at 40' max. It's likely still there, whether you can get to the beach via the road is another question.

Theoretically she could also do the Dolphin Dive at the Seaquarium - not sure if there's an age requirement. My log shows it at 50' max. And I all but sat on the bottom.

For a new diver, I'd pick Curacao over Bonaire unless you only plan to dive off the resort docks. Bonaire shore entries are a lot rougher, most are over ironshore, submerged ironshore and/or coral rubble. It's sharp and slippery. Maybe not the best idea for a 10 yr. old balancing a tank - even a 63' on her back. I have a 4" x 1" scar on my shin from stepping in a hole at Angel City - there was a sharp coral at the bottom of it. After that we mostly dove the resort docks or found easy entry points through the ironshore. But some of those were near more advanced divesites further south - currents could make those very difficult for a 10 year old. Not that diving the resorts is a bad thing - almost every one is on a named dive site.

Bari Reef was another shallow dive, we spent 1/2 the dive looking for fish in the shallows. There's rubble from an old pier there in about 10-15' of water and the mooring was about 35'. One option she may like there is that you can do an official REEF fishcount with a naturalist at Bonaire Dive/Adventure - your results get reviewed and submitted by them.
 
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I would strongly suggest Key Largo. My wife and I did a week of diving there last month. On most dives were were at 30 odd feet at the deepest. I think we did a couple of dives that went over 40' and maybe one of those hit 50'. Shoot, out of the 12 dives we did, we ended up shallow enough that we had safety stops on only 2 or 3 dives. If you go to Key Largo, I would highly recommend Quiessence as the dive operator.

Little Cayman Beach Resort might work for you to. The first dive is 110' max and 50 minutes and the second dive is 60' for 60 minutes. But most of the time the boat moors in less than 30' of water. Often the area under the boat at 20' so you can do your safety stop on the bottom. We did one dive on the south side of the island and that had a minimum depth of 50'. You could email them and see what they said. I think they might be able to keep you in your 40' range with the 50' absolute max.
 
I will throw in Curacao in the mix as well, plenty of very easy shallow dives. For shorter trips the Keys are hard to beat. For longer trips for more diving then Bonaire is pretty much impossible to beat from a $/minute of bottom time standpoint.
 

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