Sure, in the end, we just dove around the wreck and did not do the other sites. Did three dives at the Liberty, one at the Drop Off, and one at Coral Garden. One of the wreck dives was at night, which was interesting. Seemed like everything we saw was oversized - big big groupers, big humphead parrot fish, huge moray eel out in the open but there were divers everywhere and the place was lit up like we were in an operating room. We also did one really early dive at the Liberty and spent the whole time watching about 30-40 humphead parrot fish. I enjoyed the Drop Off quite a bit, saw lots of fish life but also lots of cool nudibranches and other small things. I was not that crazy about Coral Garden. Saw lots of ribbon eels but not much else.
We dove with Liberty Divers. The place was nice, food was good, service was great, staff were very friendly and helpful. I appreciated that they gave my wife and I our own dive guide and did not make us join another group. But our dive guide was average. Nice guy for sure, but honestly, I didn't even feel I saw the Liberty and I don't recall him pointing out anything I couldn't find myself. This all came clear to me when I saw another thread on this forum talking about the guns falling to the ground the weekend I was there. I kept thinking what guns, we didn't see anything like that. Then I started reading more about diving the liberty and I kept thinking where was this wreck they are talking about. I dove the Liberty 15 years ago and have great memories of being in awe of seeing it and diving in a wreck, and really checking it out. We didn't do anything like that and I never felt like I was diving a wreck. In hindsight, I am not sure what the guide was doing. Maybe he wasn't sure of our capabilities but between my wife and I, we probably have done 800 dives. After 1 dive, he should've been able to see that we know what we are doing and can handle diving a wreck.
But all-in-all, very good diving and I would still stay at the Liberty but try to better the odds on the guide. He was not a regular LD guide but someone they brought in from Sanur since they had alot of guests. He seemed to dive the Liberty alot but maybe he doesn't know it as well as the locals. I'd like to do it again and really explore the wreck itself. I'd also probably try the other sites nearby since there are so many divers and it would be good to get away from the crowds. (In 1998, I think I was the only diver there for 2 days. Boy have times changed!)
