[ggibbs]

I would like to see a forum in which divers list there top 5 and bottom 5 (or less if they are beginners like me) diving experiences... with an explanation of their ratings and dates the visits were made.

This might give me the information that I need to spend my limmited travel dollars in the best way possible.




Here is the kind of information that I would hope to see....

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My diving experience is limmited to two salt water trips and some lake dives 20 years ago.

1980 - Grand Cayman - Close second
2007 - Bahamas Blackbeard Cruise -First Choice

I will only comment on my diving experiences at Cayman. I am sure that the night life is completely different since the 80s. The variety and quantity of aquatic life at Grand Cayman was unbelievable. The visibility was typically greater than 100ft. There were no significant currents to deal with... Jump off the boat-explore the reef-surface at the boat. No surface swims. It was a wonderfull experience. I highly recommend Cayman.

On my Bahamas trip the visibility and diversity of aquatic life was very good, but definitely a notch below Cayman. With this said I would still rank the Blackbeard Cruise as a better diving experience. I experienced double the bottom time and the marine life was still incredible: sea turtles, sharks, eels, wide variety of reef fish, lobster hunting, a wide assortment of coral formations. If you are looking for an intense week of diving (and just diving) I would recommend Blackbeard.

On my cruise I shared a 65' sail boat with 25 divers and 6 crew. I knew no one at the start of the trip and left with a number of friends and 20 others aquaintances. Besides diving, there is little to do beyond visit with everyone else. By the end of 7 days you feel like an extended family. I really enjoyed that aspect.

The accomodations are not luxurious. It's similar to camping in a motor home, except it floats and is 65 ft long, you can sit on the roof and you can only leave the camper by jumping into the ocean. It is a great diving adventure, but would be a dull and claustrophobic week for a non-diver. Also, you have a full time cook and the crew handles every other aspect of the boat. (I have heard that some barefoot cruises make you do the work.) The crew worked. I just played.

Final note... The seas and winds were very calm. Except for our last day, we were under diesel power. The final day we had 4 ft seas and ran with the jib and mainsail. I was told that we had very typical summer weather.

We experienced rain for a few minutes one day only Apparently, the clouds form over the land and rain rarely makes it out over the water. Average rainfal in Grand Bahama is pretty high in the summer, but the boat sees very little rain. The crew told us that winter months are very different. More weather with 20' seas (Better for the sailors, i guess..)