- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,880
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
Picking dive sites here is pretty much futile because conditions will dictate what boat dives the operators will do. Some will give you options - often on the boat when they get near an area. If the north wall is blown out, typically the west side is still good. Boats based farther south also might go around to the south side. So although you may want to have a short list of sites you want to dive, weather conditions and everyone else on the boat - plus your overall experience level - will dictate the dive sites chosen. For most mixed boats that's often a deep wall dive followed by a 2nd shallow dive.
At some there's a shallow component but if you plan to stay on top of the wall, tell your operator so they can have someone shadow you - the DM is often leading the advanced group deeper. Also mention your experience level and interests when booking your dives or talking to them once there.
One thing to bias that in your favor is pick one of the operators that advertise 6-8 divers max. Sometimes that means 4. One afternoon it was two of us and the DM. I think Ambassador will still go with 2 - they advertised it at one point. Jason at Ambassador is one of the people behind idiveglobal.com if you saw my link above.
Our operator is out of business or I'd recommend them. The bigger operators are Fosters and Red Sail, although they might pick shallower dives due to being cruise operators, I personally wouldn't like that - they have big boats and although everybody follows a 8divers/DM rule, we once watched three sets go off a Fosters boat at the same time.
Having said that, Orange Canyon is a good dive. I haven't done Neptunes. In all honesty, Trinity Caves or Big Tunnels are probably too deep if your profile dive count is correct. Hepps Wall is shallower and interesting. Aquarium is a good shallow 2nd dive - look for cleaning stations (fish hovering over a coral head) often when you get close you'll see small banded coral shrimp cleaning them. If you slowly hold out your hand, you might get a cuticle trim.
Watch your depth when dropping down the wall also. The water at some sites is clear like glass. So there's no visual reference to how fast you're falling or deep you are. The first time over the edge of the wall can be intimidating, the next thing you see in the deep blue is larger pelagics feeding possibly 2-300' below. There are documented cases here on SB of people who've gone deep trying to get there - most survived when the DM chased them down. Most people narc around 100' or so - I get really happy about 120' and simultaneously start worrying about how am I going to swim all that way back up to the boat...lol.
If you do plan to dive Turtle Reef, contact Happy Fish Divers. Ollin/Sundivers on-site has some sort of arrangement with them for escorted (paid) shore diving. Might be worth it since it would be just you and your guide.
At some there's a shallow component but if you plan to stay on top of the wall, tell your operator so they can have someone shadow you - the DM is often leading the advanced group deeper. Also mention your experience level and interests when booking your dives or talking to them once there.
One thing to bias that in your favor is pick one of the operators that advertise 6-8 divers max. Sometimes that means 4. One afternoon it was two of us and the DM. I think Ambassador will still go with 2 - they advertised it at one point. Jason at Ambassador is one of the people behind idiveglobal.com if you saw my link above.
Our operator is out of business or I'd recommend them. The bigger operators are Fosters and Red Sail, although they might pick shallower dives due to being cruise operators, I personally wouldn't like that - they have big boats and although everybody follows a 8divers/DM rule, we once watched three sets go off a Fosters boat at the same time.
Having said that, Orange Canyon is a good dive. I haven't done Neptunes. In all honesty, Trinity Caves or Big Tunnels are probably too deep if your profile dive count is correct. Hepps Wall is shallower and interesting. Aquarium is a good shallow 2nd dive - look for cleaning stations (fish hovering over a coral head) often when you get close you'll see small banded coral shrimp cleaning them. If you slowly hold out your hand, you might get a cuticle trim.
Watch your depth when dropping down the wall also. The water at some sites is clear like glass. So there's no visual reference to how fast you're falling or deep you are. The first time over the edge of the wall can be intimidating, the next thing you see in the deep blue is larger pelagics feeding possibly 2-300' below. There are documented cases here on SB of people who've gone deep trying to get there - most survived when the DM chased them down. Most people narc around 100' or so - I get really happy about 120' and simultaneously start worrying about how am I going to swim all that way back up to the boat...lol.
If you do plan to dive Turtle Reef, contact Happy Fish Divers. Ollin/Sundivers on-site has some sort of arrangement with them for escorted (paid) shore diving. Might be worth it since it would be just you and your guide.
