sharkiest dive spots

[potato cod]

The hubby and I are just back from a dive trip, which means, of course, that we are thinking about where to go next. And we'd like it to be someplace with lots of sharks! There are a few other preferred criteria:

1. We’ve only got 70 dives under our belt, so nothing too technical or with strong currents to fight (unless it’s drift diving and you just ride the current).

2. No feeding/chumming. We’re not interested in the shark feed dives a la Stuart Coves and similar. We just want a spot where sharks are common and can be observed naturally.

3. Warm water is preferred. We don’t dive dry suits yet.

4. Species of shark doesn’t matter, but the ones I DON’T want to see are tiger sharks and oceanic white tips—those just scare me!

5. The closer to the U.S. the better (just because of affordability).

Any suggestions?

 

[Doc]

San Salvador, Bahamas meets all your criteria

Lots? Well, that's relative. Enough anyway.

What do you want after you see Sharks?

 

[lulubelle]

Do you have to have all of those criteria?

We certainly have gobs of sharks in our waters, certain wrecks tend to be magnets.

Currents..not always, but you always have to be prepared to deal with them and it isn't going to be a drift dive.

Water temp..I'm a www myself. I tend to like the water starting around June but like it even better in July/August. The bottom is probably 75+ those months.

Have you done any deeper dives out of your 70? You have more dives that I do, and I was diving offshore here right out of OW. That wouldn't be a good choice for everyone, but it was for me. And I dove with very experienced buddies.

 

[potato cod]

Oh, after the sharks we'd like reefs, sea grass beds, mangroves, muck, whatever. We love diving reefs, but would like to experience new environments, too, as long as there's cool sea life to see.

We do have our AOW and Nitrox certs. Deeper isn't a problem, but we prefer not to do much below about 85-90'.

 

[scubadada]

Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. This short video at the cut in the wall at Boat Cove, West Caicos with Caicos Adventures July, 2009 YouTube - Old Shark and Big Shark The walls off West Caicos are quite nice, some approaching the grandeur of Grand Cayman North Wall.

Good diving, Craig

 

[potato cod]

Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. This short video at the cut in the wall at Boat Cove, West Caicos with Caicos Adventures July, 2009 YouTube - Old Shark and Big Shark The walls off West Caicos are quite nice, some approaching the grandeur of Grand Cayman North Wall.

Good diving, Craig

Ah, yeah, we were there last May and dove with Caicos Adventures. Our favorite spot in the Caribbean so far! We did see several sharks and eagle rays and the best diving I've seen outside of the Great Barrier Reef in terms of crazy amounts of fish. I'd love to get back there to dive with Fifi and his crew, but the husband always wants to go someplace new.

Nice video, by the way!

 

[ScubaduoAdventures]

The three major and most famous dive areas of the world for seeing a variety of shark species including Hammerheads are Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Cocos Island in Costa Rica and Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Archipelago out of Los Cabos Mexico.
Out of the three Socorro is the most affordable and easiest to get to as flights to Cabo San Lucas are easy to connect from most anywhere in the USA. It also has the added advantage of seeing Giant Pacific Mantas and Dolphins along with a chance of either Whale Sharks or Humpbacks depending on what time of year you go.
It is also has warm water and very good viz most of the year. It is what we call a lot of blue water diving so you need to be comfortable with your buoyancy and some deeper dives but all within recreational limits. No shark feeding,everything happens naturally and you will have close interactions with the Mantas, just awesome!!!
If your interested we have a group trip leaving Dec. 14th 2010 for 8 nights on the very comfortable Nautilus Explorer Liveaboard.
Please feel free to look at our 2010 travel page @ Home and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

 

[scubadada]

Nothing wrong with something new, my philosophy also

Good diving, Craig

 

[Doubler]

Having dove Socorro I agree with Scubado about the animals. Warm water has to be your definition. Water temps when I was there ranged from 65 to 71. The Mantas are awesome and will come right up to divers. When went in March and the Humpbacks were in so we watched them breaching every morning at breakfast and heard them every dive. We saw Scalloped Hammers, Galapagos and Silky Sharks. The diving was from tenders and they are right there to pick you up on the surface. Well worth the trip. We were on the Nautilus Explorer.

 

[NTSilver]

On my two experiences at Socorro, the mantas were the prevailing wildlife, not the sharks. I think Cocos or Galapagos (while not warm water) are the best bet for close-up shark encounters. You will see sharks at Roca Partida (Socorro) but you really have to go away from the rock to find them. Additionally, the Mexican Navy has shut down diving at Socorro island itself through March.