How do you decide where to dive?

[Juardis]

Here's my dilemma. My wife and I are new divers. We've only been to St. Lucia. We both thought it was great for our first dives. Not too deep, fairly colorful, no strong currents (or nothing we couldn't handle). We know there are supposedly more difficult dives there, but Sandals didn't take us there nor were we interested.

While there we asked all the experienced divers where their favorite locations were and you got the usual responses - Bonaire, Caymans, Cozumel, one guy said Belize, one couple said Maldives. Obviously it's subjective.

Which brings me to my question. Is there a comprehensive web site that sorta ranks dive locations, easiest to hardest? Not best to worst because that's subjective, but easiest to hardest? Or is that not possible since maybe all locations have easy and difficult dives? How does one go about researching all the different locations to see if that's where they want to go?

Our next diving will be in West Palm Beach FL. I understand they're drift dives so we're looking forward to that. Plus, we're going with our LDS and looking forward to making new friends while down there. But we didn't do any research for that since our LDS was going and I have family in the area.

 

[Insta-Gator]

First I look for water. Then ... :joke:

Actually, that question is alot like, "what's the best flavor of ice cream?"

Very subjective.

 

[Juardis]

First I look for water. Then ... :joke:

Actually, that question is alot like, "what's the best flavor of ice cream?"

Very subjective.

Yes, I understand the question "what is your favorite place" is subjective, but "how do you go about researching different locations to see if it's for them" shouldn't be that subjective should it?

 

[TSandM]

It's not only subjective, but it's variable. For example, we have done two trips to the Red Sea. The area is known for having strong currents, and sometimes reduced visibility. We spent 17 total days there without encountering either. Our dives were easy, and most of them, anyone could have done (a few were deep). But they have lost divers who have been swept away from dive sites. Is that okay for beginners? Well, if you have OUR luck it is.

Some places are pretty reliably difficult -- the Galapagos comes to mind. But if you are physically fit and don't mind strong current, it might not daunt you. It would daunt me; I don't like strong currents.

I can show you places in Puget Sound that are lovely, and where there is no current, but you might have to cope with 10 feet of viz. Some people find that very difficult; we live in it.

If you go to the regional forums here and read trip reports, you can get a very realistic idea of what travel to and diving in any particular area may be like -- but you will still only be getting a few points of view, and a few data points in the year's conditions.

Have fun in West Palm -- the diving there is GORGEOUS and tremendous fun. But if you are diving Al80s, make SURE you have read the material on rock bottom/minimum gas. A lot of the reefs there that we dove were rather deep, and would require some careful gas management on small, single tanks.

 

[Darnold9999]

Talk to other divers. Read about the dives you are thinking about on the net. It is almost certain that someone on the board has done the dive you are thinking about.

I have never seen a list of worldwide dives rated by difficulty. I do have a book that rates some of the more common dives up and down the coast of BC by difficulty. However the difficulty is usually measured by three factors. The presence of current, the lack of a hard bottom and the difficulty getting in and out of the water. All things that you can figure out pretty quickly from tide tables and charts so not really that helpful.

You are not likely to get anything that rates general locations like Belize diving is more difficult that Cayman diving as there will be easy and less easy dives in virtually every location. There are some exceptions where the diving is really only best for the advanced diver, but a little research will reveal that pretty quickly.

What will set general locations apart will be the conditions at the "best" spots in that location. Usually it is the presence or absence of strong and/or unpredictable currents that make a location more or less advanced. Next will be the depth that you will need to get to to see whatever is the attraction of the site. for example the Blue Hole in Belize requires a dive to beyond 130 to see what is there - but there are lots of other dives in Belize that I would consider easy and appropriate for beginners. Another factor will be the gear required to make the dive. Drysuits and significant amounts of lead make diving in BC more advanced than the same dive in the tropics because you need to be able actively manage your bouyancy in a drysuit.

The reality is that there are not very many dives that are promoted by tourist charter operations that are difficult or dangerous. If a particular dive is difficult or requires some level of experience you will usually find that it has some kind of requirement for "advanced" divers only.

Until you have more experience you will probably want to stay away from any dive that is promoted as having currents, or is deep.

 

[Doc]

In terms of difficulty, there is only one contributing factor: a new situation, heretofore and not previously experienced by the diver.

"Is there a comprehensive web site that sorta ranks dive locations, easiest to hardest? Not best to worst because that's subjective, but easiest to hardest? Or is that not possible since maybe all locations have easy and difficult dives?"

No, and it's way more than an issue of subjectivity.

The more you acquire knowledge about the fairly limited list of what these possible situations are, the sooner you can start planning your next dives to familiarize and train yourself for these situations.

Look for things such as: Shore entries and exits; backrolls off of inflatables; negative entry with quick descents; lateral and vertical currents; night diving (and other AOW modules); how to inflate an SMB from depth while doing safety stop and awaiting pickup; how to approach a RIB, inflatable or small boat and be recovered; etc.

If you just want to continue slipping easily into the water (ala Sandals), that's not a bad thing, just know that you'll forever be locked into having this question in the back of your mind. Depending upon the dive-op's boat, equipment, and process- almost any dive site can have complications that another dive-op might not present you with. So- there is no way to point at a specific dive site and categorically say that it will be this-or-that way... then factor in the weather (which also includes currents at that particular moment).

There was a well intentioned group of guys two years ago that took satellite images of the islands and pinpointed various dive sites. Each one of them had a quick description, a notation of somebody or the other's depth, plus a rating, beginner thru advanced. Their main rating criteria involved depth and if it involved a "wreck". After hundreds of my own dives on these wrecks, I couldn't see how all of them were lumped into the same category... but then again, I wasn't selling dive maps.

Go, absorb knowledge, understand what potential situations may arise- seek them out... one at a time. It is when you start Task Loading, that is- having all these new experiences tossed at you in rapid succession... that's where prior experience brings you through it.

 

[ElChe]

On our website (sadly it's in Hungarian) in the dive site database the users can indicate if the particular dive was easy, difficult or average. Surprisingly the same dive site can be easy and difficult as well, depending on the actual conditions and diver's experience. Anyway, I think there are some guidelines: in the database there are mostly easy and mostly difficult spots as well. The mentioned Red Sea for example can be challenging if the weather is windy in a liveaboard at the offshore reefs. Not all the time challenging but you have to expect some tricky dives. On the other hand in the protected reefs close to Safaga it's hard to imagine that bad conditions. I use to say I always think about the worst case scenario: what if the weather is worse, etc? I mean those who dive specific places more often should know what to expect. I haven't been to Egypt for six months but even here in my living room I would be able to suggest if a beginner should travel to the Brother Islands in the winter or not. (Shouldn't in my opinion.)

 

[jameseg]

"how do you go about researching different locations to see if it's for them"

I do the majority of research on this forum. A quick search for just about any location you're interested in diving will give you multiple reviews, often including level of difficulty. I find potential locations by talking with other divers on trips and by reading this forum. Plus, there's a lot of places that just sound interesting to me that I hear about other ways.

I've never seen a comprehensive list of places with difficulty noted, but dive guide books will often list the level of difficulty for some or all of the dive sites at a particular location. For example, before my wife and I went to Turks & Caicos, we bought a scuba guide book, and each of the sites we ended up diving was described and assigned a difficulty rating.

I like to develop a list of places I'm interested in, and then see how prices look for the time I can take vacation. You see a lot of questions on this forum about which is better: Place A or Place B. But I'd like to think that in my lifetime I'll be able to visit both, so all else being equal, I'll pick the one that has cheaper airfare or a special deal going on.

 

[lmorin]

Here's what my wife and I did, deciding that we really knew nothing, despite having our OW cards. We took several trips to Key Largo and dove in max 35 ft water without a guide. Our worst fear was "getting lost," so we worked hard on our navigation skills trying hard to avoid sunshine navigation. The increasing number of dives in shallow depths while successfully navigating for ourselves really boosted our diving confidence. After about 30 dives in the Keys, we went to Bonaire with a small group and enjoyed the simplicity and ease of diving there. At the same time, I began researching other locations in the Caribbean and we have subsequently done at least 3 trips per year to Curacao, Roatan, Dominica, Cozumel, Dominican Republic, and to Belize for a live aboard trip, plus return trips to several places including Roatan, Cozumel and Bonaire. In the beginning, dive difficulty was always a primary issue to consider. It's now considered, but not a primary issue. There are numerous places to visit and dive, with the choice is more limited by ease of getting there than anything else. We are not particularly fond of high speed drift diving and so have shied away from places like Tobago. Cozumel is great, but to us, some of the dives are a waste because the drift speed can preclude stopping or looking at anything up close. On the other hand, one of these days we will go to Palau or the Maldives precisely because big creatures often frequent the strong currents in those places.

My major point is that as you dive more and more, the reasons for going any particular place will change, and those reasons may be linked to time of year, phase of the moon or other factors such as your skill level and ease of getting there. My advice: ease into diving and the related travel, branching out to your heat's content or sticking to just one location while diving within your skills. We recently bought a condo on Bonaire, so the focus of our diving has substantially narrowed for the time being.

 

[nimoh]

I think the best way:

1. think of things you would like to see and do
2. use google to find some popular destinations for those things
3. ask in scubaboard for feedback about those destinations. Wherever it is, there is a good chance there are a few people here that have done it.