Your list of lesser known dive destinations
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OP
CAPTAIN SINBAD
Contributor
Care to name a few wrecks that would be worth someone coming from West coast or even outside USA?
We have had a few fly out from California to dive the San Diego and Oregon wrecks before they also went out to Andrea Doria. Same group came east another time to join a group we had going to Scapa Flow.
OP
CAPTAIN SINBAD
Contributor
I did San Diego and thought it was an amazing dive. Id love to dive Oregon now.
I am looking at traveling to Sudan next year, friends of mine dived there back in 96 and more recently as 2 years ago
http://www.emiratesdiving.com/uploads/magazine/sept-2013.pdf
Not impossible to reach and the value is up to how much the diver appreciates that type of diving.
Personally I have some reservations of diving on a live aboard that goes back to having suffered from ear infections on various dive trips several years ago, but luckily have found a way to avoid such issues since adopting a serious pre and post dive ear treatment. I would hate to be on a live aboard and spend most of the trip above the surface. One of the reasons I have not been on a live aboard since the mid 2000s
I was "lucky" to live in Saudi for 11 years from 86-97 and dived some amazing sites from the shore all the way from the border with Yemen up to Aqaba in Jordan, my local diving here in UAE pales in comparison, plus I frequently dive in Saudi whenever I can arrange a trip to Jeddah during a business trip.
Locally I would say that diving north Oman (Musandam) with it's rocky fjords and the Damaniyat Islands near Muscat are definitely worth a trip from Europe, long way though for US based divers.
For those with a lust for rust, there is plenty in the Persian Gulf but visibility is usually 2-5M, although my daughter reported 20M vis on a wreck from yesterday off Dubai while I was in 2-5M off the UAE east coast (Fujairah).
Scotland has Scapa Flow, plus some awesome diving off the west coast, but it is all dry suit diving, which you may still need once you surface as the weather cannot be relied upon
drrich2
Contributor
How much is the mainstream warm-water U.S. diver missing by overlooking the Dry Tortugas? I didn't know of it till Wookie got the M/V Spree trips there which get mentioned on Scuba Board once in awhile. From their website:
Putting aside the caves & springs to focus on ocean diving, the impression I get from other's discussion of Florida diving is that the east coast is greatly preferable to the west for diving, the Florida Keys are #1 with the upper keys (mainly Key Largo, but also Islamorada) dominating unless you want the topside attractions of Key West, then it's West Palm Beach for drift diving or Jupiter if you want more big stuff with your drift, and after that the other options fill in (e.g.: Boynton Beach, Pompano/Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, & of course Blue Heron Bridge).
So, what's keeping the Dry Tortugas so marginalized? Is it...
1.) Being far enough out you need a live-aboard? Not everyone is open to live-aboard diving. Sea-sickness prone, non-diving family, insistence on wasting good potential dive time on topside activities, etc...
2.) Non-descript name? Petty it may be, but if it were named 'Key Tortuga,' I wonder if it'd get a little more notice? The public would group it with the other Keys.
3.) Is the diving there much different than that in the upper Keys? How so and if so, why isn't there greater public awareness of it? Do people not see the point in distancing themselves from mainland resources/entertainments if they can get the same diving in the upper Keys?
Think about it...let's say your LDS is considering a Key Largo trip, or maybe Turquoise Bay Resort in Roatan, and somebody pipes up 'We already did those; they don't we try the Dry Tortugas?' After the other people ask 'Where's that?' - then what?
Richard.
---------- Post added October 10th, 2015 at 09:40 AM ----------
P.S.: Something I wanted to add about the Dominican Republic, mentioned earlier. My one day visit there was via cruise ship stop, which is how many people 'meet' some Caribbean islands. In planning, I checked into the diving scene. But the ship stopped at Samana, and that's not near the good diving. While cruise ship divers' competence and performance get dissed on the forum, cruise ships do help put potential destinations 'on the map' in the public mind. Not only does this situation not effectively market Dominican Republic diving, but it may give the impression the D.R. is not a dive destination.
For comparison, how many Scuba Board divers have dove St. Thomas? And why is that? The topside shopping (doubt it)? Dive conditions that are compelling vs. competitors (I say no)? Fact it's a U.S. holding (so are Puerto Rico & St. Croix)? Or maybe because it's very popular on cruise ship itineraries and many of us were cruising and docked there? That's why I got 4 dives there.
Putting aside the caves & springs to focus on ocean diving, the impression I get from other's discussion of Florida diving is that the east coast is greatly preferable to the west for diving, the Florida Keys are #1 with the upper keys (mainly Key Largo, but also Islamorada) dominating unless you want the topside attractions of Key West, then it's West Palm Beach for drift diving or Jupiter if you want more big stuff with your drift, and after that the other options fill in (e.g.: Boynton Beach, Pompano/Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, & of course Blue Heron Bridge).
So, what's keeping the Dry Tortugas so marginalized? Is it...
1.) Being far enough out you need a live-aboard? Not everyone is open to live-aboard diving. Sea-sickness prone, non-diving family, insistence on wasting good potential dive time on topside activities, etc...
2.) Non-descript name? Petty it may be, but if it were named 'Key Tortuga,' I wonder if it'd get a little more notice? The public would group it with the other Keys.
3.) Is the diving there much different than that in the upper Keys? How so and if so, why isn't there greater public awareness of it? Do people not see the point in distancing themselves from mainland resources/entertainments if they can get the same diving in the upper Keys?
Think about it...let's say your LDS is considering a Key Largo trip, or maybe Turquoise Bay Resort in Roatan, and somebody pipes up 'We already did those; they don't we try the Dry Tortugas?' After the other people ask 'Where's that?' - then what?
Richard.
---------- Post added October 10th, 2015 at 09:40 AM ----------
P.S.: Something I wanted to add about the Dominican Republic, mentioned earlier. My one day visit there was via cruise ship stop, which is how many people 'meet' some Caribbean islands. In planning, I checked into the diving scene. But the ship stopped at Samana, and that's not near the good diving. While cruise ship divers' competence and performance get dissed on the forum, cruise ships do help put potential destinations 'on the map' in the public mind. Not only does this situation not effectively market Dominican Republic diving, but it may give the impression the D.R. is not a dive destination.
For comparison, how many Scuba Board divers have dove St. Thomas? And why is that? The topside shopping (doubt it)? Dive conditions that are compelling vs. competitors (I say no)? Fact it's a U.S. holding (so are Puerto Rico & St. Croix)? Or maybe because it's very popular on cruise ship itineraries and many of us were cruising and docked there? That's why I got 4 dives there.
OP
CAPTAIN SINBAD
Contributor
Depends where you are situated and how much is it costing you to do Dry Tortugas. I did a liveaboard trip there in 2009 on board the Ultimate Getaway and it was a lot of fun. Keep in mind that I never got inside the Tortugas area which is known for scenic diving. We stayed out of it because it was a spearfishing charter and people wanted to shoot fish. The Tortugas I witnessed was not the one famed for all its glory. Reef wise, it did not come close to Bonaire or Utila that I got to do later in my life. It did have one thing that beat Caribbean. Big animals! I encountered a pod of dolphins, massive groupers, a few sharks and some rays. In 3 days I saw more big stuff than one week of diving in Bonaire though reef itself was pale.
I guess if you are coming from Kentucky you would have to see cost VS benefit of that from your location. For me, I would do another trip to Dry Tortugas because I can save airfare by driving to Florida. It is a long drive but do-able. If it involved air travel then I would not bother and choose better places than Dry Tortugas. One attraction of doing it with MV Spree is that they dive Vandenberg. I don't know how much value you would add to that but combining one of the best wrecks in the world in the same price may add to its appeal.
I can't say much about the other destinations on your list, but this one I know well.
I'm leading a trip there at the beginning of August, and there are some spots open. Should be fun.
Also, will be there next month (February), as co-leader of an expedition, one goal of which is to open the flooded mine up for "adventure tourism." READ diving.
Details of that project are here >>>
and here>>>
Slym
Contributor
I have a buddy that lives on Terceira Island in the Azores, I would love to go over with him one winter and if there is good diving that is a bonus. Anybody ever gone diving in the Azores?
Ontwreckdiver
Contributor
The Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway. The Great lakes is arguably the best fresh water wreck diving in the world. They are home to 5000 to 6000 wrecks, with more being discovered every year. No where else in the world can you dive a 600 ft. modern freighter and an upright and intact 200 year old wooden sailing ship in the same day. The cold fresh water that keeps the old wooden ships intact, is also what prevents a lot of people from diving them.
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