Dantheengineer
Contributor
Cheers Andre!
Yuh! last night was great! the west of the isle is like a mill pond at the moment. so viz is good.
No more Octopuses out to play though.
in all my time here and about 300+ dives i've NEVER made it to Razor back! talk about jealous BDK!!
it supposed to be a series of limestone slabs that have sheared off the wall in layers creating a saw tooth set of reefs. kinda like books fall over on each other when the bookend's been taken away. With good viz it should have been stunning!
My personal fav is the Ray of Hope. the ray is a recent wreck about 200' long, it was sunk right next to the Bahama Mama an old party boat that's been there for a good while now. the area is home to many ridge backs (reef sharks) and, normally, two bloody great grouper. Swim down the companion way and get the photographer to get a shot of you. if they get your reflection from the bubbles that lodge in the ceiling it's very effective!
The Port Nelson is another goodie. A wreck about 80' in length and right next to a small reef known as the Bacardi reef. The wreck is fairly new, the reef is pristine!
Twin sister is a good dive too. two freighters close to each other. 120' each sat bow to bow about 40' apart. Very similar vessels as the site name would infer. Not allot of reef if memory serves.
Steel forest is cool, three wrecks close together. varying in size and condition. often a wicked current near the sand floor!
Sea Viking a fishing trawler i believe. about 80' in length. Normally has a bloody great eel under it.
South west reef and Pumpkin patch are cool too. probably the healthiest coral i've seen here (not that i know a whole lot about coral!)
Those sites are to the south close to the drop off wall. the weather often means that it's unsafe/uncomfortable to dive them. This means they are less diver damaged.
To the west of N.P. is the Sand Shoot is a fantastic strech of wall. Clifton wall and Tunnel wall are also nice.
The Bond wrecks and the Will Laurie wreck are a must see (either of these two are fantastic night dives. the soft corals really light up). The David Tucker wreck is really nice with a good section of wall. The DC3's also pretty cool, if a little broken up these days.
From out previous chats, if you aim to get out west first since it's a lot tamer than south, build up some confidence and try south later in your visit. you can't odds what you'll see with any certainty but jumping into the Ray of Hope with large predators swimming around you might steepen the initial learning curve unnesscesarily. Shark sightings to the west are less than few! If you do get out west, statistically speaking you're likely to do a wall/wreck dive first (say David Tucker; Sand shoot or DC3) then a shallower wreck dive like the Nari Nari or Hollywood Bowl. Once you've found your "zone" you'll avoid those last two like the plague! not cos they're bad dives, just very tame indeed! And i've spent more time aboard the David Tucker that it's last Captain!!!
There's few very experienced or special (SCR/CCR; cave;tech etc) divers who visit N.P. so given the "usual" level of skill it doesn't take much adverse weather to require a trip out west. (If the captains hate all those used "all inclusive" breakfasts on their decks!! the clientelle enjoy it less!!). This leads to SC's being an excellent place to safely and comfortably gain early experience in your diving. It did for me anyway!
I'm not too worried about Paloma. the trick is to have stashed one case of Heineken to each catagory of storm! i feel a big one coming on!
Yuh! last night was great! the west of the isle is like a mill pond at the moment. so viz is good.
No more Octopuses out to play though.
in all my time here and about 300+ dives i've NEVER made it to Razor back! talk about jealous BDK!!
it supposed to be a series of limestone slabs that have sheared off the wall in layers creating a saw tooth set of reefs. kinda like books fall over on each other when the bookend's been taken away. With good viz it should have been stunning!
My personal fav is the Ray of Hope. the ray is a recent wreck about 200' long, it was sunk right next to the Bahama Mama an old party boat that's been there for a good while now. the area is home to many ridge backs (reef sharks) and, normally, two bloody great grouper. Swim down the companion way and get the photographer to get a shot of you. if they get your reflection from the bubbles that lodge in the ceiling it's very effective!
The Port Nelson is another goodie. A wreck about 80' in length and right next to a small reef known as the Bacardi reef. The wreck is fairly new, the reef is pristine!
Twin sister is a good dive too. two freighters close to each other. 120' each sat bow to bow about 40' apart. Very similar vessels as the site name would infer. Not allot of reef if memory serves.
Steel forest is cool, three wrecks close together. varying in size and condition. often a wicked current near the sand floor!
Sea Viking a fishing trawler i believe. about 80' in length. Normally has a bloody great eel under it.
South west reef and Pumpkin patch are cool too. probably the healthiest coral i've seen here (not that i know a whole lot about coral!)
Those sites are to the south close to the drop off wall. the weather often means that it's unsafe/uncomfortable to dive them. This means they are less diver damaged.
To the west of N.P. is the Sand Shoot is a fantastic strech of wall. Clifton wall and Tunnel wall are also nice.
The Bond wrecks and the Will Laurie wreck are a must see (either of these two are fantastic night dives. the soft corals really light up). The David Tucker wreck is really nice with a good section of wall. The DC3's also pretty cool, if a little broken up these days.
From out previous chats, if you aim to get out west first since it's a lot tamer than south, build up some confidence and try south later in your visit. you can't odds what you'll see with any certainty but jumping into the Ray of Hope with large predators swimming around you might steepen the initial learning curve unnesscesarily. Shark sightings to the west are less than few! If you do get out west, statistically speaking you're likely to do a wall/wreck dive first (say David Tucker; Sand shoot or DC3) then a shallower wreck dive like the Nari Nari or Hollywood Bowl. Once you've found your "zone" you'll avoid those last two like the plague! not cos they're bad dives, just very tame indeed! And i've spent more time aboard the David Tucker that it's last Captain!!!
There's few very experienced or special (SCR/CCR; cave;tech etc) divers who visit N.P. so given the "usual" level of skill it doesn't take much adverse weather to require a trip out west. (If the captains hate all those used "all inclusive" breakfasts on their decks!! the clientelle enjoy it less!!). This leads to SC's being an excellent place to safely and comfortably gain early experience in your diving. It did for me anyway!
I'm not too worried about Paloma. the trick is to have stashed one case of Heineken to each catagory of storm! i feel a big one coming on!
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