Scuba diving hubs in South America

[christoph1]

Hi everyone,
are there any hubs for diving in south America? places like Puerto Galera and other is Asia? it will be my fist time in the Americas so all tips are highly appreciated.
cheers

 

[emoreira]

Hi Christoph1, I don't know where are you going. South America is really huge. In Argentina, there is a "diving hub" as you defined. It's Puerto Madryn, located something like 1800 km from Buenos Aires.
There there are several diving spots where you can dive. Several wrecks like "Albatros", "Miralles" and "Folias". You can dive with sea lions (both diving and snorkeling), and, depending on the part of the year you will be visiting, you can also make whale watching. Only at the end of the summer you could dive wet, otherwise, and depending of the amount of days you will be diving, you should dive dry. From there, another place near is Puerto Piramides (150 km from Puerto Madryn), waters have better visibility normally. There are operators located in puerto Piramides, but there are also operators from Puerto Madryn that carry you to Piramides.
Besides Argentina, Brasil has many diving hubs, Chile, Colombia, Peru, etc., but I leave those descriptions to the locals.

 

[danilocesar]

Could you be more specific? Which places are you going to visit in south america? I mean, You're talking about 7500km from caribean sea (north) to cape horn (south).

While we wait for your answer I can talk about a bit diving in Brazil. While you can find dive sites all along the Brazilian coast, clearly the best diving sites are in the north east of the country. Hot water and at least 20m visibility. Recife being the best place if you like wrecks and Fernando de Noronha if you like reefs and have a large budget. (Don't ask about visibility in Fernando de Noronha. They will laugh and answer "a lot!". Some says around 40m in a decent day)

But since foreigners usually prefer to go to Rio de Janeiro, the best place near the city is Arraial do Cabo with a lot of different diving sites there, however you can also visit Angra if you want to dive. If you're going to the south of the country you probably want to dive in Bombinhas (in Santa Catarina). There also diving spots in Paraná (parque dos meros) and São Paulo (Lage de Santos).

Just a tip: Usually, there's no diving during the winter in the north east because of the weather/currents.

 

[christoph1]

thanks for the reply!
i am planning to visit Brazil and possibly Uruguay / Argentina, i have quite some time but need to look a bit on the budget so fernado de noronha, as much as i would love to go , will most likely not be possible. For now i found out a little about diving on ilha grande not far from rio and sp. i do speak some Portuguese so Brazil will be my number one destination. Are there any reefs closer to shore in the north or north east? Obrigado

 

[danilocesar]

thanks for the reply!
i am planning to visit Brazil and possibly Uruguay / Argentina, i have quite some time but need to look a bit on the budget so fernado de noronha, as much as i would love to go , will most likely not be possible. For now i found out a little about diving on ilha grande not far from rio and sp. i do speak some Portuguese so Brazil will be my number one destination. Are there any reefs closer to shore in the north or north east? Obrigado

So, if you're going to Rio, Arraial do Cabo [1] is the best diving place there (IMHO) and it's not too far away from the city.
That being said, i've also heard good things about Ilha Grande (although I've never been there). They even have this liveaboard called "Enterprise" that might be interesting.
In SãoPaulo there not many diving sites despite "Laje de Santos". I've heard about some guys diving in a new place between São Paulo and Minas Gerais called Estreito [2], but I don't know anything about it, don't even know if it's safe

[1] http://www.pldivers.com.br/imagens/pontos de mergulho.jpg
[2] Mergulho em Estreito - MG - YouTube

 

[Ricren]

Hi, I just returned from diving in Arvoredo. Nice place, not a lot of visibility, mostly warm water.
I contracted with Acquanauta mergulho, located in Canasvieiras, Floripa. They have daily diving trips, mostly Discovery Dives (batismos de mergulho), good boat, nice people.
From Canasvieiras is more or less an hour and a half sail to Arvoredo.
This is all I did in Brazil so far. I still have 5 days left in Floripa (family vacation) and I'd like to try another location nearby. If I find something interesting I'll report back.
cheers
Ricardo

 

[diveguide.com]

i have been to fernando de noronha. it is beautiful.

 

[Manwork]

Today Laje de Santos was unusually clear (20 m visibility). If your flight comes through São Paulo it's worth to save a day and dive there. Laje is a national park protected from fishing.

Are you planning to travel when?