Prefer shore boat diving?

[Charlie99]

Shore dives are on my own schedule, can be spur of the moment, and are cheap. Most of my shore dives are solo which means there is a sort of Zen calmness of being alone with the marine life.

Downsides of shore dives are hauling gear to and from entry point; surf entries; sand in gear; and at least here in Maui, lower viz than most boat dives.

Boat dives to such place like Molokini virtually guarantee much better visibility. Boat dives greatly expand the number of dive sites that are accesible. Less gear hauling.

Downsides to boat diving is that it isn't as spur-of-the-moment )although I've had good luck showing up at the boat ramp at 6AM and seeing who has room). Obviously much more expensive. Most dives in Maui are DM led groups, but with the diveops I use the downside of having to stay in sight of the DM is balanced by the awesome critter spotting ablility of most DMs.

Fortunately I'm not forced to make and "either - or" choice and get to enjoy both shore and boat dives frequently.

Charlie

 

[String]

I absolutely loathe shore diving and avoid it wherever possible. Boats take me direct to the dive site, no swimming required, no effort to get kitted up, in or out AND has far better wrecks in deeper water.

Shore diving is a lot of effort for usually a much worse dive.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Most of my dives are shore dives. That's primarily because of where I live. Puget Sound has some amazingly nice dive sites that are easily accessible from shore ... one of the better ones is only a couple miles from my home. And since getting a scooter, the selection's only gotten better.

Shore diving's cheap ... and I can go whenever I want. Often I'll decide on my way home from work that I feel like a dive tonight and just go home, pack up, and go diving.

I suppose if I owned a boat I'd do more boat diving ... and I enjoy those times when I do get to dive from a boat. But I love the convenience of being able to dive whenever I feel like it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[captain]

It kind of depends on your location. Here there aren't any shore diving locations worth diving so locally all of my diving is from my boat. I would have to travel a couple of hundreds miles to get only decent not great shore diving.

 

[emttim]

I have had great and terrible dives with each. I guess if I had to pick it would be shore diving for no other reason then it is more comfortable to kit up.

oh, and cheaper

This pretty much should sum up the entire thread.

Shore dives are ugly! Always!

Of my first 100+ dives, only 5 or 6 were shore dives. For all practical purposes, all of my early dives were from a boat of one kind or another. Lately it has been beach dives. Did I mention that they are ugly?

I'm not sure I will appreciate the charter boats at Monterey (I haven't been on one yet) for the reasons you mention but I do know I hate the beach entries. The proper solution is to buy a Boston Whaler and dive off of that. It won't be long... I just have to figure out how big it needs to be for 4 divers (2 tanks each) plus a non-diving passenger.

Richard

I'm assuming that you're diving in Monterey where you're saying shore dives are ugly, given your location, so I'm going to have to guess you're not hitting the right sites? There's plenty of beautiful shore diving locations on Monterey. Stop diving Lover's Point and you'll stop having ugly shore dives.

The wall at Breakwater, anywhere at Breakwater at night, the Mertridium Fields, Monastery North and Point Lobos continue to be my favorite dive spots in Monterey and they are far from ugly...if you're really picky, then give Point Lobos a go. I guarantee you won't regret it! If you do decide to try out the charter boats, go with the Cypress Sea. Great crew, they have the hot showers (not stingy with it either) and they have a compressor on board. I won't mention the name, but apparently my gf dove with another charter that was really whiny about letting you use the hot shower hose unless you were hypothermic and they didn't have a compressor so you had to switch tanks between dives. Not exactly what I'd call great customer service.

As far as shore dives versus boat dives, they do both have their advantages and I've had great times with both. I love boat diving for the simple fact that there's no sand and the dives are usually deeper which almost always translates into better vis. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't need to go down to 100 feet to enjoy a dive, but if it's a choice between 100 feet of depth and 40 feet of vis and say 40 feet of depth and 10 feet of vis, yeah that's a pretty one sided choice. Shore dives are great because you can take your time regardless of before, during or after the dive, you can grab an actual meal on your surface interval, or if you get cold you can just go back to the hotel, get warm and order up a pizza then take a three hour catnap and go night dive instead. Trust me, that works great and it feels great.

As odd as it may sound, if someone told me I had to pick between boat dives and shore dives for the rest of my life, I'd pick shore dives easily. Why? Sand is mildly annoying. Maybe more so annoying if it's that coarse sand at Monastery that makes it feel like you're going nowhere when walking over it. Cattle boats, limited dive times, lack of being able to eat real food and dealing with all the other downsides of a boat dive is far more annoying. Plus shore diving is way cheaper.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

Boat diving is much better in my opinion, however, it can get expensive.

Hopefully with a good captain/divemaster you will be dropped off in a good spot and just have to go down the line to see cool stuff. Putting on gear is easy on the boat (no akward trying to get fins on in the water). No long entry to get deep enough. Have some nice lunch between dives. No long walks to change tanks

The cons are cost primarily, and there is a little less independence (large groups, although you don't all need to stay together, and there is usually a DM, you aren't fully in charge of where you go, etc.)

 

[nilsdiver]

Currently I'm guessing I have done about 75% of my dives as shore dives and the other 25% from boats. I also have to point out that most boats I do are not cattle boats and the passengers get a lot of input on where the boat goes.

Only boat diving I get the "here again" feeling is diving Anacapa Island in California. All the boats going there are too big to book the whole thing unless your planning 6 months in advance or so...

So Boat dives:
Good:
Far and distant sites.
Can do different sites in same trip easier
Sonar for finding new sites
Easy entry and exit
Bad:
Long rides in rough seas :shocked2:
Feels more hurried diving on the boat's schedule


So Shore dives:
Good:
Less cost
With a good scooter a lot of good sites become reachable
Diving on your own time schedule
Bad:
Entries and Exits can be more work
Sand in the car

 

[nilsdiver]

Hi folks, I've notched about 40 dives, just completed AOW. About a third have been from a boat, the balance from shore.
I'm curious what others think about the pros and cons of each kind of recreational diving.
There are a couple of things I don't like about chartered boat dives in my area. First, I seek a measure of solitude on my dives, and many of the boats have 6-16 bodies on them. Also, the dive boats go to the same spots, day in and day out. This puts pressure on the environments in those spots, and many of them are far from prestine. Finally, all of these boat dives are a bit 'canned', and expect you to go along with their program or tour.
When I shore dive, the only divers present usually are myself and my buddy. It is much more relaxing and uncrowded. We can plan and execute the dive WE want. Finally, when I decide to go dive from a shore spot, there is a slow, thoughtful progression; a continuity, if you will, from the land into the water. I value this gradual immersion into the ocean; it gives me time to relax, to prepare, to appreciate the journey I'm about to embark on, if only for an hour or so. What do you think?

Have you considered finding a group of buddies to charter the entire boat with? If you charter the entire boat you get a lot more say in where it goes. But of course you need to talk to the captain about your desire to do this ahead of time. Cost may change based on fuel usage for distance to the desire sites, etc...

 

[Aquabear]

I've done a good mix of both shore and boat (in NY and away) and agree with most on their advantages and disadvantages.
If all great reefs and wrecks could all be reached by shore life be AWESOME mon! But reality is not so.
I have decided to look into joining a local dive club and one of my prereqs is finding one that dives more from shore than boats. I want to dive more often but cannot nor do not want to pay the expense of boats and timewise shore is better. So I guess I am more inclined to shore if I had to choose one.

 

[Beachlover]

Most of my dives are beach/shore dives.I live near the beach and have several nice sites to choose from.My tanks are always full and I can and do dive when the urge strikes, which is fairly often.If I lived in Kona,like you do,I would probably still do most of my diving from the beach.I was in Kona in January,2006 and I did some boat and beach diving, both were awesome.Where else can you walk five minutes and be in the water checking out lava tubes,reef sharks,eels,etc? Damn,I miss Kona! Boats can get you to remote spots and are nice,too. As long as I can get wet,I'm pretty happy. Both ways are good.