1. My favorite dive location is one where the water is deep enough to submerge. The tank gets heavy in air and tends to roll you if it is not submerged. Ricky and me carry dive equipment in our vehicles all the time lest we pass a pothole (called mud puddle in the South) in the road. The type of diving that we do is dependent on what is available. One of the Historcial Society bluehairs told us. "You can't possibly dive in a river where you can't see!" We told her, "We do it often Ma'am." She gestured and asked, "WHY!" We just said, "It's fun Ma'am." (Here in the South you have to put that Ma'am in whether the person deserves it or not. Either that or "Well bless your heart!") So I guess the answer to your question about the best dive site is - All of them.
2. Wildlife - It's great to look at and exciting to see things that you haven't seen before. One of life's great adventures is to experience "Shift Change" either dusk or dawn where the day eaters are trying to get that last meal and the night eaters are waking up and trying to get that first meal. Vice versa at dawn. Just sitting there watching the great bait balls being herded and shaped by the Spanish Mackeral is indeed an adventure. However, when I dive for fossils and stuff in the estuaries and rivers I like for the local fauna to stay far distant. We absoutely abhor having to kick a six-foot alligator's behind just at the moment we find a six-inch shark tooth. An occasional American Eel or large Catfish is fun though. As are the little Flounder and Shrimp or a school of Mullet.
Water Visibility - Moot, that's why I have fingers to feel with.
Water Temperature - Moot but probably just cold enough to properly chill the watermelon.
Reputation of the Operator - A compressor adequate for keeping tanks filled without having to wait. I hate waiting for tanks to fill when my money and vacation time are at stake. I won't return to a resort where the "Divemasters" teach a whole open water course in their dive briefings. You dive these sites every day. Show me some elusive marine life and leave the diving to me. All "Divemasters" in the Caribbean should be required to study with Murphy.
Developed Tourist Infrastructure - The fewer tourists and the more travelers are best. There is a difference you know. Actually the more remote and the more rustic the better. I wish politicians like those in Bonaire would realize that. They have enough hotels, they can't fill them because there are no airlines to get there. But they want to build more. The thing that travelers want is no traffic lights and lots of wonderful shoreline. Not another stinking hotel, use that money to keep your hospital open.
3. How important is the company's protection of the environment. I believe that if someone opens a business to attract others to come to an area they have the responsibility to initiate measures to protect the fragile environment. It takes a number of years to grow a good coral reef and seconds to destroy it. For a while, resorts taught free buoyancy control clinics. Those have mainly gone the way of more cash flow. I went to the Maldives seven years in a row and was broken hearted at the progressive damage to the reef by careless divers, construction that altered natural current flow, and sewage. On the other hand, I have been to Bonaire fifteen times in thirteen consecutive years and find that STINAPA has until now done a wonderful job and the diving gets better all the time. I fear that political pressure and quest for the cruise ship dollar is going to change that. The whole Caribbean could probably learn from Cozumel. When the last Mexican leaves San Miguel please take the flag.
