Where should our next dive trip be??

[moosicman]

My dive buddy and I just got back from the Florida Key's on a week long dive trip. We have decided to make these trips annual yearly somewhere together and are looking at where to go next year to start the budget and save. So where would you recommend. Initially, we probably prefer to stay closer to home (southern US/hemisphere area) rather than to someplace like Fiji or French Polynesia. We'll save those for later in life. We were thinking perhaps the U.S or British Virgin Islands. I'm going to Cozumel (and have been already) in October, so not there perhaps. But maybe you folks can suggest some places we've not thought about and trip experiences you've had and enjoyed. Turks & Caicos maybe?? Bahamas, yes/no?? Barbados?? I suppose as I read this that we are leaning toward somewhere in the Carribean. OHYES, we like shallower dives and more bottom time. We also want SHARKS (all natural, not a chummed dive-but more than just nurse sharks). Thanks for your input, as always!!

[Athena2c]

Couple of suggestions:

We just got back from Curacao and had a FANTASTIC time! Loved the diving and it can be done really inexpensively (check out the full trip report by maggs_the in the Caribbean section for details). The dives were teeming with life, but most of it is macro life, so it would not likely offer the shark encounter.

I also really wanted a natural shark encounter, so we did the Caribbean Explorer in the Bahamas in January. They do not do any feed dives, but do a dive at a place called Shark Reef where we spent an hour with reef sharks. We also saw them periodically throughout the week (as well as hammerheads in the distance). The Explorer was great and the diving good, but I didn't think it was as good as some of the other places we have been (Curacao, Roatan, Cozumel).

[chinacat46]

I got the part you want sharks and you want to stay in the Caribbean so let me ask this what time of year? Do you want to be land based or would you consider a live aboard?

[moosicman]

Between summer and fall college semesters. By that I mean later July/early August. And land based for sure.

[KimkiD]

My husband and I got back from Aquacat in the Bahamas in January...OMG...great diving, fabulous food and fantastic rooms. If price is a concern consider going to one of the mid level live aboards. Imagine setting up your gear once, and living the mantra, eat, sleep, dive!

If you are looking to party, the crew are generally very welcome to including you in their after hours libations. And its all included!

For the money, it rocks! And if you are willing to book at the last minute you can get good deals!

Happy and safe diving!

[chinacat46]

Well for the time frame you've listed and the fact you want to see sharks and be land based maybe you should dive North Carolina.

[scubarobin]

liveaboards in Bahamas you are pretty much guaranteed to see sharks, particularly the Nekton to Cay Sal or Medio reefs itineraries. We've done both and loved them. T&C has liveaboards where you can see sharks, also Caymans.

land-based to see sharks other than nurse sharks that are NOT chummed?????. I don't know of any place you can guarantee them. We saw a few white tips in Hawaii, sleeping on bottom like nurses though. Maybe Little Cayman? Maybe Grand Cayman, but that is still very upredictable.

I think you should look at Welcome to CoCo View Resort and then do the shark dive (they do chum but only after swimming around with them for 20 minutes).

[moosicman]

Well, my wife doesn't dive. That is the "hold up" on doing a live aboard. She doesn't have plans to dive as she has a "panic" type personality. The sharks can be take or leave it. We mostly do want good diving with the chance to see some reef sharks thrown in. I've seen photos of people DRENCHED in Carribean Reef sharks, I think on some of Dallasdivegirls posts or something. I need to look. Those photos I'm thinking of don't appear to be a chummed shark dive but I could be wrong. Thanks for the advice. Yeah, perhaps North Carolina is an option. We are trying to keep it tropical to please my wife, as she likes the beach. That way she can go lay out and stuff while we are diving and then we get together after the morning dives and hang out all day long.

[violakat03]

North Carolina's got plenty of beaches for her to lay out on. You could probably also drive there for less than flying from Georgia, so you could use the saved money to upgrade to a nicer hotel - she'd probably appreciate that. Also wouldn't have to worry about baggage restrictions that way There's bunches of wrecks off NC if you want to see something different or try something new.

[scubarobin]

Originally Posted by moosicman

Well, my wife doesn't dive. That is the "hold up" on doing a live aboard. She doesn't have plans to dive as she has a "panic" type personality. The sharks can be take or leave it. We mostly do want good diving with the chance to see some reef sharks thrown in. I've seen photos of people DRENCHED in Carribean Reef sharks, I think on some of Dallasdivegirls posts or something. I need to look. Those photos I'm thinking of don't appear to be a chummed shark dive but I could be wrong. Thanks for the advice. Yeah, perhaps North Carolina is an option. We are trying to keep it tropical to please my wife, as she likes the beach. That way she can go lay out and stuff while we are diving and then we get together after the morning dives and hang out all day long.

there is no place in Caribbean where you can get drenched in sharks without chum. Sharks are not attracted to divers for any reason other than if food is introduced. Otherwise they just swim around like all the other fish paying zero attention to you. In the Pacific that is a different story! We have been drenched in sharks in Palau as they were mating at the time and our group drifted right through a school of 40+ sharks..... once again they paid no attention to us. Check out my videos.

Since your spouse doesn't dive, consider Roatan. Places like Cocoview or Fantasy Island might be perfect.

If you really want to do a liveaboard, look at the Aquacat. (do a search on YouTube, they have excellent videos on there) and they have lots for non-diving spouses to do including island excursions while others are off diving. They also do a chummed shark encounter.

I found them for you:
YouTube - Join Oceanblue Divers on the Aqua Cat in the Bahamas! Part 1
YouTube - Aqua Cat Cruises, Chapter 2 Part 2
YouTube - Aqua Cat Cruises, Chapter 3 Part 3
YouTube - Aqua Cat Cruises, Chapter 4 Part 4

have your wife watch these and see if you would be interested.

robin