Please critique my "DIVES TO DO BEFORE I DIE" list ...

[SeaHound]

I am relatively new to diving. 60 dives! Every year I try to make a list of new dive destinations that I would like to explore for that year only. I have been a year to year planner when it comes to diving. This year I thought I should plan even further ahead and make a lifetime list of 10 dive destinations. This would make planning and budgetting easier and when I have 1000 dives under my belt (like many of you veteran divers on this board here) I would have traveled to some of the most unique locations.

After doing a lot of research into global dive destinations, liveaboards etc this is what I have come up with. This is not in the order in which I plan on diving them nor is it in the order in which I give importance to them. Please look at this and tell me if this was your list, what would go out and what should come in.

Here we go ...


1. Galapagos OR Cocos Island: It would be fun to do both but since they are both $$$ I think I will have to choose one.)

2. Arctic or Antarctic:This is the only reason why I want to get into ice diving. Massive expenses are involved like dry suit etc. By the end of the day should it even be in this list?)

3. Bloodybay Wall - Little Cayman: This is in the list for landscape photography. If there is anything else out there that should replace this one, please ...)

4. Cenotes in Mexico (In order to fully explore and enjoy these I believe I would have to be cavern certified? Open water divers get a very strictly guided tour? I was looking into getting cavern certification in Ginnie Springs just to determine whether this would be something worth pursuing. Since it is one of those exotic, creepy dives for now it it in the list.)

5. Palau

6. Fiji

7. Indonesia (Komodo Islands)

8. Catalina Islands: Last week this spot was held by Hawaii. After reading about this from SoCal divers I threw Hawaii out and put Catalina islands in there. Where else can we see kelp forest? It is a submerged natural wonder and something more unique than reefs I think.

9. South Africa or Australia? (South Africa has sharks and Australia has the Great Barrier reef. When I have enough money I think I will toss a coin.

10. Bahamas: Shark photography and James Bond wrecks


All of the above comes to about $60000-80,000 worth of diving. But I plan on taking into my grave the best diving experience the planet has to offer. $$$ doesnt look that bad. You have tpo start somewhere right?

 

[luckydays]

I like your list. May you have plenty of time in your life to complete it.

If you are going to consider the dry suit option for the really cold diving, you should add #10.1 Great Lakes Wreck Diving. Cold but pristine wrecks all over the Great Lakes region.

 

[TSandM]

Since you apparently don't mind cold water, you might consider finding room on your list for some of the incredible diving in the Pacific Northwest. Where else can you see Giant Pacific Octopuses?

Cenotes in Mexico (In order to fully explore and enjoy these I believe I would have to be cavern certified? Open water divers get a very strictly guided tour? I was looking into getting cavern certification in Ginnie Springs just to determine whether this would be something worth pursuing. Since it is one of those exotic, creepy dives for now it it in the list.)

Yes, open water divers get a very strictly guided tour, and only certain sites are used. If you want to get the biggest bang for your buck, definitely take a cavern class. But why not schedule a little longer trip to MX, and do the cavern class while you're there? You'll be seeing the Mexican caves through the whole class, and since it doesn't sound as though you're thinking to go on and get cave certified, I don't see much reason to do the class in Florida, where it's likely you'll do some of your training in high flow cave. You DO need to be able to manage flow if you cave dive, but not for a single trip to see more of the cenotes than you can do on the standard tourist itinerary.

BTW, a cavern class will be a great step to take in improving your personal diving skills for any environment, as well.

 

[*dave*]

I would add the Black Water Dive, Kona HI. 10 is far too few for this list.

 

[liuk3]

Wreck diving in Truk.

 

[H2O 70]

The wrecks off of NC...The Graveyard of The Atlantic.

 

[stargost]

Excellent list ! I share the #1 and #2 ! (while I'd have 1: Galapagos, and 1.5: Coco!!) and almost all the other ones ! Actually Palau is #1.

I think you need to have a list of 20....or 50 or 1000 ? ;-)

I would drop Catalina and Fiji into the 10-20 list and replace Fiji with French Polynesia (dove both last year - Fiji is great, but no comparison with Rangiroa or Fakarava) and Catalina with Egypt/Red sea.

Also I'm wondering if it would be worth having a high altitude lake in this 10-20 list. But not sure which one would be ZE one.

 

[robint]

I think your #2 is a dream, not something to really shoot for. Just my opinion. You might get a chance to do it (a friend of mine signed up for an Antartica dive trip a few years ago, put it off because of the expense for getting all the gear - special cold water regs, etc. and has since decided it doesn't really appeal to him anymore)

#3 - Bloody Bay Wall - yeah, it gets alot of press as one of the best wall dives in the world. Still haven't made it there but I have seen some pretty freakin' amazing walls elsewhere.

#4 - No, you don't need to be Cavern certified to enjoy the Cenotes in Mexico. You DO have to have a certified Guide. There are tons of them there, most are independent. We used Nicholas at Cenote Experience last year and really enjoyed the one day we did. We would like to do a few more with him another trip.

#8 - Catalina is only 1 of the Channel Islands. Each island has its own personality and you MUST visit them all. Catalina is the only one with a city and hotels, all the others you will visit by boat. San Clemente has fabulous kelp forests which I love, Santa Barbara has sea lions, Anacapa has Kelp, nudibranchs and sea lions and shallower easier dives, and then there is Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, & San Miguel. Then there are the sea mounts.... Lots and lots of superb diving in Calif! Further up the coast is Monterrey which I have seen stunning photos from of huge critters and nudibranchs.

10 - Bahamas for sharks - sure, chum fed sharks if that is what you want. If you want to see them in their natural environment - try the Nekton liveaboard to Cay Sal Bank or Medio Reef. Or go to Turks and Caicos on a liveaboard. You will see sharks. Or just go to Palau where we saw sharks on almost every dive, sometimes schools of them.

~~I would add that the wreck diving in Truk and NC are both on my list. I plan to do the ones in NC this summer.

Just my 2 cents.

robin

 

[ScubaduoAdventures]

Great list but you need more!

1. Indonesia Raja Ampat and The Derawan island area off of south eastern Borneo.

2. PNG such as Kimbe Bay.

3. For colder water Poor Nights Island in New Zealand was one of Jaques Cousteaus favorites!

4. Try to go to South Africa during the Sardine Run for one of the greatest shows on earth!

5. Bail on the kids college fund and do both Cocos and Galapagos you will not regret it and your kids will have more character by accomplishing it on there own.

We could go on and on but you should get back to work!

 

[SeaHound]

Since you apparently don't mind cold water, you might consider finding room on your list for some of the incredible diving in the Pacific Northwest. Where else can you see Giant Pacific Octopuses?.

Giant Octopuses? How come no one told me that before? More info plz ...

Closest City? Name of dive site? Viz and ocean temperature?

Sounds so good I think I will have to push something off of the list to make room for this one.