Koh Tao, Brazil or Central America?

[August West]

Hey You Guys!!!

I'm looking to get my Divemaster completed this summer. Want to know which you might think are the best. I have been to asia (although not Thiland), I speak Spanish (covers Central America) and have friends in Brazil. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

August :11ztongue

 

[MaxAlegraD]

Brazil ! Go to Fernando de Noronha and you get the best. Or go to Ilha Grande where the cost will be lower and the sites are also very good. But nothing, NOTHING, compares to Noronha !

 

[pufferfish]

Fernando is definately up there especially the topside beaches and lack of commercial development, but for an interesting place to do a DM I'd go for Galapagos. Ripping currents, cold or warm water depending on the time of year, and awesome marine life.
Contact Mathias at www.scubaiguana.com for the experience of a lifetime.

Or what about good old Cozumel?

Maxalegra, which outfit on Noronha would you recommend for training?

 

[MaxAlegraD]

Noronha is a warm water dive so you will rarely use a wetsuit more than 3mm or even use one at all. Most of the dives use single tanks.

But there is the Corveta Ipiranga Wreck at 55 meters that is awesome and requires a lot of planning. For more information: http://www.naufragiosdobrasil.com.br/naufcorveta.htm

or

http://www.atlantisnoronha.com.br/naufragio.html

And the dive plan: http://www.atlantisnoronha.com.br/images/planejamento.jpg

The Corveta wreck is the most advanced dive in Noronha. Most of the sites are actually OWD or AOWD.

Dont forget your certification and log book. Some operators will try to get some money more by asking you about your credentials. If you dont have them you will certainly be requested to hire a DM.

Since you dive without using a wetsuit, it might be an issue to use a Stainless Steel (SS) backplate. Specially if the operator uses SS tanks as well. So it is better to use a BCD without BP like Transpac's or jacket.

For night dives take your own flashlights, dive alert and tank light. Due to heavy drifts I have heard about bad experiences from people caught in the middle of the ocean during the night without a mean to indicate where they were after the dive. So primary light, secondary light and dive alert is a must. Only use new batteries...

 

[V-Erthal]

Yeah, max is right.
Noronha is really awesome! The best place in Brazil for diving. Warm water, spectacular vizibility, lots, lots of marine life. But i guess that theres a limit of time for the dives (not in the corveta ipiranga) of 30 minutes.

 

[MaxAlegraD]

Well the limit of diving time depends on the dive it self. There is no rule that states 30 minutes max.

For the Corveta you only stay 12 minutes at the deck level at 53 meters. And make a long decompression.

The other dives are normal between 30-55 minutes dependending on your air performance.

 

[miketsp]

Max,
There may not be a written rule that dives are limited to 30min but when I was there last year diving with one of the major operators we had to complain formally about this practice. My wife and I were constantly getting back on the boat with 100 - 120bar!
Diving in Noronha is definitely treated as a money making business and runs to a tight schedule. A lot of other people also complained. Maybe you are saying that this has improved.

No doubt it is one of the most fantastic places to dive but I am not sure I would recommend doing a lot of training there. Prices are much higher than on the mainland. My son, although instructor rated, didn't have a Nitrox card which was needed to do the Corveta at that time (air dive but O2 at final deco stop). For the Nitrox course and checkout they wanted double what I paid in São Paulo for mine.
Obviously this is all relative. Due to the weak Brazilian Real against the US$ at the moment, Noronha is still cheap in international terms.