Greetings All,
I just returned from a working trip to Antigua and thought I would share what I found out about diving there.
I had a rushed trip to go there as a consultant for the USAF. I have been there several times before but was not into diving at that point.
I had not found too much on the web before I went and what I did find was rather poor. like 4 on a scale from 1 to 10. But I took my gear anyway. Turns out that work took up too much time but I did find a seasoned diver there that gave me the scoop on the low quality of diving.
Turns out that the reason it is so poor is that the locals have been allowed, at least in the past, to use dynomite and chlorine to harvest lobsters from the reefs. Well, you can imagine what that would do to fragile corals. The cast system there is fairly start with some really ritzy resorts while the majority of the residents live in very poor shacks. One of my traveling companions had been to Tialand and said that the conditions there were better than Antigua. They are also not a very hospitipal sort which explains why the return rate for tourists is the poorest in the carribean. I would not go there for a vacation.
I hope this helps if someone is considering a dive trip there.
Russ
I just returned from a working trip to Antigua and thought I would share what I found out about diving there.
I had a rushed trip to go there as a consultant for the USAF. I have been there several times before but was not into diving at that point.
I had not found too much on the web before I went and what I did find was rather poor. like 4 on a scale from 1 to 10. But I took my gear anyway. Turns out that work took up too much time but I did find a seasoned diver there that gave me the scoop on the low quality of diving.
Turns out that the reason it is so poor is that the locals have been allowed, at least in the past, to use dynomite and chlorine to harvest lobsters from the reefs. Well, you can imagine what that would do to fragile corals. The cast system there is fairly start with some really ritzy resorts while the majority of the residents live in very poor shacks. One of my traveling companions had been to Tialand and said that the conditions there were better than Antigua. They are also not a very hospitipal sort which explains why the return rate for tourists is the poorest in the carribean. I would not go there for a vacation.
I hope this helps if someone is considering a dive trip there.
Russ