HELP!!! Where next?

[lktmpl]

Hi everyone,

I am a new poster on this Forum so be easy on me!!!!

Me and my girlfriend are looking to go on a scuba based holiday at the end of Sept, we are really torn on where to go? I enjoy larger pelagics and would love to dive with mantas and whale sharks, my girlfriend loves lots of sponges and soft coral, we have already been to Koh Tao, Phi Phi, Similians, Fiji (Mamanucas), GBR (just the basic - not cod hole) and Poor Knights NZ.

To make matters more complicated we love liveaboards but dont have loads of money:shakehead . From past experience we have booked them on stand by rates when we get to the country and will probably do that again?

PLEASE does anyone have any recomendations so that we can start to book?

 

[caymaniac]

If you can get to the Big Island of Hawaii, off Kona the Mantas seem to be found on a regular basis. You also might think about the coast of South Africa, in the northern part of the coast there are areas that the whale sharks come to at certain times of the year.

 

[lazyturtle]

Turks and Caicos has excellent diving with liveaboards, but I wouldn't classify them as cheap. In TC you can see lots of pelagic life and cool benthics. There's pretty good coral cover, and most if not all of the good diving is wall diving.

 

[mjh]

If your girlfriend likes Soft corals and Sponges then pass on Hawaii they are hard corals only. The draw is fish species endemic only to Hawaii and of course on Kona the famous Manta night dive and the Turtle Pinnacles. Most in the UK seem to love the Red Sea liveaboards.

 

[Mantasscareme]

I've never been to the Indian Ocean myself, but to my knowledge a lot of Brits enjoy the Maldives. Can anyone who actually dives that part of the world back me up on this?

 

[lktmpl]

Red Sea would be good - - - i thought, but it seems to really get a mixed reception on the board? Might be tempted with Belize and Hondoras, anyone know much about these places?

Cheers for all you help - - wish i could afford Hawaii!!!!!

 

[Doc]

Yes, I know Belize and Honduras pretty well, and you can vacation there rather inexpensively... once you have flown all the way over from England.

Red Sea? A "mixed reception" on this board? Only because most have not been. It's a travel maze for us Americans and the operations there are not well publicized (advertized) in the SCUBA mags.

Being a Brit, don't you have a well beaten path of inexpensive methods to travel and dive the Red Sea? The Red Sea to the UK is as the Caribbean to the USA. You just pack up and head South for a bit. You can't swing an octopus regulator in Sharm without hittin' a Brit.

The Maldives (as mentioned previously) are also within your sights. Few Americans get there because of the lengthy flights. They are quite doable for you. Bop on over to the Secheleyes. Worth the trip, wrecks and rays.

If you really want to come to Belize and Honduras, there's tons of places yacked about here incessantly. If you want to go Hawaii, that would be a very long trip for you. It's close for us, but still, very few Americans go diving there. Hmmm.