Little Cayman’s Big Time Diving

If you are looking for a dive destination that even Phillipe Cousteau considered one of the top three dive destinations in the world, yet it is still not inundated with tourist galore, then you can’t find a bigger island with more magnificent and mesmerizing dive sites than the island simply known as Little Cayman.

The island population has exploded since the early nineteen eighties and now there are close to 170 some people living on the island, and although you might think this number is a lot, it is nothing compared to the two thousand rock iguanas living on the island which have the right of way around the island. Now take the total number of locals and all the tourists and this total will still be so small that the vast majority of red footed boobies are unaware that humans are even on Little Cayman. We’re not exactly sure how an ornithologist arrived at 5,000 pairs of red footed boobies. This round number makes us wonder, did they just stop counting when they reached this number and then head for the reef where the hawksbill turtles like to hang out? We may never know the answer, but if you are like most “Birders” we had you at “red footed” and most photographers will agree that there is nothing more picturesque than a pair of boobies posing for a camera. Of course, we almost sincerely apologize for this blatant misuse of fowl humor.

On the more serious side, the Cayman Islands are actually a collection of three separate instances where the peaks of the Cayman ridge broke through the Caribbean Sea’s surface. Little Cayman tops the surface by a mere 40ft (12m). On the north side of this ridge lays the Yucatan Basin and on the south side is the Cayman Trench. Little Cayman is approximately 80 miles (129km) east of Grand Cayman and 5 miles (8km) from Cayman Brac. Little Cayman is directly south of Miami with a little plane hop over or around Cuba, but typically, flights to Little Cayman arrive several times a day direct or non-stop via Grand Cayman.

Southeast of Little Cayman is Jamaica which tends to shield the Caymans from most hurricanes. Around these three exposed island peaks are fringing reefs, coral heads, sand plains that over time deposit vast amounts of sand down chutes that form between finger shaped coral canyons and ridges. Around, between, and hidden by the coral outcroppings you may encounter pinnacles, arches, tunnels, chimneys, mini-walls, caves, and eventually walls that descend downward into the deep blue.

Back to the area which makes Little Cayman such a famous place to dive we have to go to Bloody Bay on the slightly northwest side of the island. The wall starts at a mere 18ft (6m) of depth, but it is such a long shallow swim from shore before you reach the edge of the wall that may descend eventually down to 3,000ft+ (1,000m) and this is why some 99% of all local diving is facilitated by boat. To visit some 76 different local dive sites is quite an undertaking and since most visits are from Saturday to Saturday on Little Cayman you might as well plan a second trip or extend your first excursion.

There are some 24 dive sites on Bloody Bay and the adjacent Jackson Bay, but the favorite dive site of all for divers, underwater photographers, videographers and instructors alike has to be Mixing Bowl; aka (Three Fathoms). If you are facing Three Fathom Wall on the left side of the wall is a sand chute that descends down to 110ft (34m). A short distance more is a coral arch and to the left of a flat coral head is a cave that leads to a second canyon. To the right of Three fathom wall is Marylyn’s Cut which is where a large mushroom topped pinnacle is cut from the surrounding wall and goes down to 80ft (24m). Just to the right of the pinnacle is a cave where light filters in the open roof area and air bubbles filter out. Randy’s Gazebo is similar to Mixing Bowl with structural features on both sides of the wall, but on a smaller scale so you can explore this site on a single dive.

Besides the rock formations, there are myriads of yellow and red tube sponges, elephant ears, gorgonians, invertebrates of all sizes and types, schools of reef fish such as grunts and snappers, barracuda, sharks, rays and Nassau groupers. Grouper are found off Little Cayman in great abundance because of the long standing designated grouper spawning areas off both the west and east end of the island. Although, how they get the grouper to adhere to these specific courtship coordinates is beyond the scope of this article.

Now if you are into wreck dives several dive charters cross the short distance over to Cayman Brac, weather permitting, to spend a few dives visiting the 300ft + (91m) long former Russian Destroyer Keith Tibbetts. This dive descends down to 97ft (30m) and recently the Tibbetts broke into two pieces making it easy to investigate the engine and control rooms.

In addition to scuba diving, you can jog, bicycle around the island, go birding, or go kayaking, but the biggest non-diving sport on the island has to be blue water fishing. Little Cayman is well known for its mahi mahi, tuna, marlin, wahoo, and sailfish, and has been a sportsman’s dream out here since the 1980’s.

So now you know that Little Cayman is a secluded uncrowded island with world class diving, lots of iguanas, and tons of birds including thousands of pairs of red footed boobies. The island may be only 10 miles (16km) long, a little over a mile (2km) wide, and just above sea level, but if you think you can see it all in one week, then think again . . . or better yet, plan on staying longer or coming back again, but whatever you decide, we know you are going to enjoy your small island dive adventure experience in a very big and memorable way.

Dominica The Nature Island

Dominica the Nature Isle

If you immediately think this island is adjacent to Haiti and next to Puerto Rico, this is not the island you’re looking for. Dominica “the Nature Island” can only be found by traveling over to the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea and there between Guadelupe and Martinique close to half a dozen volcanoes rose up from the deep sea floor and separated the Caribbean from the Atlantic ocean by forming one of the youngest islands in the Lesser Antilles: approximately 290 sqmi (750 km squared). Three of these volcano peaks rose above 4,000ft (1220m) in height. Morne Diablotin (Diablotin Mountain), the highest, stands at over 4,692ft (1430m) tall and has been inactive since the Holocene epoch or last 10,000 years. Morne Trois Pitons erupted a mere 920 years ago. These tall mountains collect moisture from passing clouds and disperse this mist over the island in the form of rain, streams, and rivers, making Dominica one of the most prolific and relatively untouched rainforests in the Caribbean. There are many rare plants and birds on the island. In fact, the Sisserou Parrot (Imperial Amazon) is only found on this island and on Dominica’s flag as well.

By the way, Dominica is pronounced with the stress on the second “i” as in DOM-i-NEE-ka. We think that the stress on the island name Domin”í”ca will perhaps be the only stressful event you encounter when visiting the island.

One last note on the natural pristine beauty of this island is the fact that both Pirates of the Caribbean movies two and three were filmed here because, even Hollywood can’t make a background as cool as the naturally occurring settings on the beaches and along the Indian River.

As far as the historical background goes, Columbus discovered the island on Sunday November 3rd, 1493 during his second voyage and therefore named it Dominica which in Latin (dies dominica) apparently means “Professional Sport’s Day” (our Latin may be a little rusty). Fortunately he didn’t discover more islands on Sundays or there would be more confusion on which island was which, than there already is. The Spanish never did much with the island and that upmost remarkably includes not slaughtering or dislocating every member of the local population of Island Caribs or Kalinago, as happened on most other Caribbean Islands. Even to this day on the northern end of the island there is a reservation similar to U.S. and Canada for indigenous islanders. Next came the French who in 1727 harvested timber and set up coffee plantations with the help of enslaved West Africans. The West Africans quickly made up the majority of the Island’s population and a dialect of French Antillean Creole became the dominant language. In 1761 the English invaded and ever since then, English has been the official language. There were more fights and squabbles between the French and English, but this is the quick cliff note version for scuba divers who prefer their history not too dry.

As for divers, the young volcanic nature of the island lends to black sand beaches, swim throughs, crevices, tunnels, corals growing on granites, deep walls, canyons, finger like ridges, and unique warms spots where volcanically heated water is swept up between fissures and cracks and in one location is known for the sulfur tinted bubbles that rise towards the surface in what appears to be an endless procession.

As for the fish and invertebrates, this secluded island boasts vast schools of jacks, grunts, big eyes, flying gurnards, squirrelfish, frogfish, angle fish, blue chromis, seahorses, eagle rays, spotted rays, southern sting rays, turtles, tube sponges, a wide variety of soft and hard corals, octopus, lobster, crabs, and flamingo tongue shells to name a few.

As for the dive sites, the unique volcanic past has created some one of a kind dive spots at the south end of the island. The Scottshead Soufriere Marine Reserve encompasses three miles of coastline and a large submerged crater. One of the most famous dive and snorkel destinations is in the most northern area of the marine reserve and is called Champagne Reef. The entrance is from shore via a long wooded walkway to help avoid the long rock strewn beach. Divers typically do a leisurely swim around the fish and corals and perhaps take in a view of a prevalent school of reef squid. Then at around 15ft (5m) while relaxing at a deco stop you can view what appears to be champagne bubbles seeping out from the sand and up between the rocks. This hot water and bubbles can burn your hand if you place it too close to the sub-aquatic hot springs, but the scene is a mesmerizing sight to witness. The repeatedly requested dive site Swiss Cheese with three swim throughs and two large granite rocks that form an arch way that leads to a coral area and across to a famous spot called Scottshead Pinnacle with a swim through at 35ft (11m) that exits to a wall that drops down to 120ft (37m) should not be missed. Another popular spot is Dangleben’s Pinnacle which is a series of five swim throughs that you can circumnavigate down at 80ft (25m) and the area is filled with colorful vertebrates and invertebrates alike. Also well known here is L’Abym with a wall that descends straight down to 1500ft (457m).

In the middle of the island on the west side we have well known dive sites such as sloping Nose Reef, and Rina’s Hole with a swim through, black coral, azure vase sponges, golden crinoids, and if you see a thing in the reef with bright shinny teeth, that’s a moray. Actually, here there are several moray eels. Rodney’s Rock is considered one of the best critter dives around and a good spot to find assorted crabs and spiny as well as slipper lobsters.

Up by Portsmouth, Cabrits Dive Site is a great drift dive over barrel sponges and schools of creole accented fish. Douglas Point is known for its abundance of flamingo tongue shells, Pointe Ronde and the Craters has hot bubbles percolating out of the sand at 120ft (37m), Toucari Bay has coral covered rocks at 40ft (12m), two tunnels plus multiple caves, and Five Finger Rock in the Cabrit Marine Park appears mostly submerged in the shape of its name sake with lots of critter life as well.

For wreck divers, there is the 55ft long (17m) Canefield Tug Wreck sitting almost perfectly upright at 90ft (27.5m) and the links of chain from the 18^th century Cottage Point Wreck in less than 30ft (9m) has some interesting pinnacles close by..

As for night dives, there is Newtown Dropoff, Sea World Pinnacle, Fort Young Flats, or a second round at Rodney’s Rock.

There are over thirty official dive sites around the island, as well as “secret spots” which can be experienced when weather and currents permit exploring.

For a non-diving day, you still will want to remain on the water as whales are prevalent throughout the year. Whale watching tours go out to see, hear, and record the sounds of sperm whales; the largest toothed whales in the world who can be seen from October to March. The nomadic males get up to 60ft long (18m) and don’t socialize until they are 30 years old. Females form natal family units that encompass several generations and may consist of 70 year old grandmothers, mothers, and male and female calves that enjoy the gentle deep waters off the west coast of Dominica. The waters offshore dip down to over 3,280ft (1,000m) and this is where sperm whales are presumed to hunt for giant squid using their spermaceti organ in their oversized nose region as a sonar system in the deep dark waters to locate their prey. They also make social noises “codas” with different clicks, sounds, and dialects around the world. Using a boat’s hydrophone you can hear these sounds miles or kilometers away. For an extra treat, Humpback whales can be heard in January and February. We like to think of these boat trips as the beginning of Eco “Echolocation” Tourism. There are some twenty other mammal species that frequent the islands including: spotted and spinner dolphins that roam in mixed pods of over 500 members strong, pilot whales in pods of 50 members, and bottle nose, risso’s, and other dolphins in smaller groups.

Now if you would like some time off from getting wet, then we recommend hiking some 300 miles (500km) around the island and visiting Trafalgar Falls, Victoria Falls, and Emerald Pool. We recommend taking a poncho and sweater with you as it can get cold, and the rain falls over five times as much up in the mountains as it does near the beaches. Hiking in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park rainforest is a must to see Boiling Lake; the second largest boiling lake in the world. On the way up to this site, tourists often stop in the Valley of Desolation to boil an egg in the sulfur laden springs or creek. Personally, we prefer eggs at a table setting with a pinch of salt, sometime before the eight mile (130km) return hike begins. You also have the chance to rest in relaxing hot springs along many trails, so in Dominica you never really have to miss being out of water any day during your entire stay; it’s your choice.

There is much here for all to discover as Dominica is a remote volcanically formed island lush with tropical rainforests, rivers, waterfalls, friendly people and abundant sea life. You have to change planes from one of the nearby Caribbean islands to reach one of the two local Dominica regional airports, and you also have to stress the way you say the island name, but coming here is definitely worth the effort to have a chance to explore what is rightly called the nature island, and dive literally some of the hottest dive sites on this planet.

For additional information on Dominica and various special dive and vacation packages, Click here.

Turks and Caicos

Turks and Caicos
White Sand and Wicked Wall Dives.

There’s a group of islands just over an hour’s flight from Miami and they are so much more than their ancient Lucayan name for red blossomed topped Turk cactus and string of islands (caya hico) implies. The low lying limestone islands here are bordered by white sand beaches and while at least one of them you can walk across to at low tide, a few are separated by the 7,200 plus feet deep Turks Island passage. Huge pelagics such as North Atlantic humpback whales pass between the islands during their annual migration from January to March. The passage also divides the main eight islands with West Caicos, Providenciales (Provo), North Caicos, Middle Caicos, East Caicos, and South Caicos on the west side, and Grand Turk and Salt Cay on the east side of the passage. Some 299 uninhabited islands help round out the rest of the island chain.

Whales aren’t the only thing that has passed by these islands. Christopher Columbus passed by here in 1492 on his first voyage to discovering a western route to Asia. He may have been off on his calculations by a continent and an ocean or two, but had he known how far the circumference of the Earth really was, or that the Vikings had made settlements in the New World already for some 500 years, Columbus might not have been able to talk anyone into joining him for the first of four total expeditionary cruises. Another explorer passing by Turks and Caicos, astronaut John Glen, orbited Earth three times in 1962 before making a splash near the islands and coming ashore for some rest and relaxation at Grand Turk.

Now it’s easy to reach the shores of Turks and Caicos by scheduled airlines to the international airport with ongoing inter island flights or cruise ships. The Grand Turk Cruise Center is home to a 3,000 foot pier and the recreational and shopping center is home to the largest “Jimmy Buffet” Margaritaville in the world. If you want to visit somewhere less crowded, take a short trip over to Salt Cay and do some whale watching from the ruins at Taylor’s Hill or take a short excursion over to Gibb’s Cay to see the stingrays swim right up next to the beach. Don’t forget to visit the Columbus National Marine Park complete with 25 dive site moorings to visit with corals, garden eels, turtles, nurse sharks Nassau groupers and a host of smaller fish species.

Some 13 miles south of Salt Cay exists an ocean pinnacle and at 40ft of depth (12.5m), is the wreck of the HMS Endymion, a British fifth rate 49 gun warship that sunk in 1790. Ironically an early diesel five-masted schooner General Pershing wrecked here at Endymion Rock as well in 1921, and now you can see the chains running over from General Pershing’s anchor towards the Endymion’s anchor. As far as ship wrecks go, Turks and Caicos has the oldest wreck on this side of the pond. The Molasses Reef Wreck dates back to 1505. Many wrecks came to rest on Molasses Reef, but this Spanish ship was thought to be Columbus’s famed Niňa and so some divers in the 1970’s blew this historical artifact up in search of treasure. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but cannons, crossbows, and crew personal effects are now on exhibit at the Turks and Caicos National Museum built before 1885 and located near the seat of the government since 1766; Cockburn Town on Grand Turk. There is also a lighthouse built in 1852 with cast iron tower worth a sightseeing visit while on Grand Turk.

The ages may seem old, but when you consider that the Arawaken speaking Tainos lived here from 500 AD to 800 AD, and the classical Tainos moved here in the 1200’s, then anything after 1500 AD doesn’t seem so long ago. In fact, the classical Tainos had a good thing going for close to 300 years until Juan Ponce de Leon recorded the islands in 1512 and introduced the locals to a work abroad program that he just wouldn’t let them refuse. By 1513, His work and no-release program left the islands once again uninhabited until the salt collectors appeared in 1645. Pirates used the islands for awhile; the most notable being Anne Bonny around Parrot Cay in the 1720’s. Loyalists from America fled to the islands from 1775-1783. Also since Britain abolished slavery in 1833, many slaves that were shipwrecked or intercepted in transit in near waters were freed, and the population of the islands modestly grew once again. So now knowing the brief history of the islands, you are now able to appreciate the local architecture, the local island culture, cuisine, and part of the geography.

Across the Turks Island Passage you’ll find the Providenciales International Airport on Provo (Providenciales Island). Provo is the home of several major all inclusive and independent resorts. Some of these resorts cater to families, others to adults only, and all with miles of spectacular white sand beaches, beautiful pool settings, pool bars, and many with their own or otherwise serviced by dive operators with boats to take you to some of the hottest dive sites around the Caicos side of the islands.

Now, although thousands of boats have sunk around the islands, the main attractions are the reef and wall dives. That is except for the Mad Max style Thunderdome that was used for the pilot of a French game show. The thunder dome collapsed during hurricane Francis in 2004. But at 20ft from the surface and 35ft at depth, it makes a great swim through to view shrimp, scallops, clams, barracuda, queen angelfish, gray angelfish, lobster, and schools of snapper, goatfish, and others will surround you on this one of a kind dive.
Many of the dive sites here are named after what you expect to see at the site: Hole in the Wall starts at the top of the reef at 55ft and a tube goes down to and you exit out onto the reef at 90ft. The Crack cuts down the reef at 55ft down to 100ft, Eel Garden…take a guess at what is found here besides peacock flounder, and nurse sharks. The Amphitheater is a wall dive with an under hang that goes back about 15ft at the base at 85ft of depth. Perhaps Becky’s Beautiful Bottom doesn’t quite describe the huge coral heads off West Caicos, Brandywine doesn’t quite showcase the sand chutes at this site. G Spot doesn’t at first invoke images of Gorgonian soft corals. Double D off French Cay might not readily conjure up images of two pinnacles, but other dive sites such as Shark Hotel, Elephant Ear Canyon, Aquarium, Football Field, Graceland, Grouper Hole, and Highway to Heaven may appear less scandalous when mentioned in your log book and social media posts. Oh, and expect to see big eye jacks, grouper, rays and schools of smaller fish just about everywhere you go. Some sites such as the Molasses Reef, a wall dive, is south of Provo by French Cay and takes awhile to get there, so it’s usually part of a two or three dive excursion that may leave in the morning and not get back until 5pm. The two and three dive boat trips are the best way to see the sights at the farthest ends of the islands. For extended liveaboard trips around the islands may we recommend the Turks and Caicos Aggressor II or the Turks and Caicos Explorer. Remember that the winter months are peak tourist season, and dive boats may fill up fast. It doesn’t help when these islands are getting so much good press as being one of the top dive destinations but the reefs are available every month.

Turks and Caicos has several marine and shore preserves and national parks to see on your non-diving days and besides viewing birds such as frigates and flamingos at the parks, there is a Rock Iguana preserve on Long Cay. You can get around the islands by car, scooter, TCI Ferry system, and other boats.

The Caicos Conch Farm on Provo is the only place in the world where they raise queen conch for local consumption as well as export. This ten acre oceanfront aqua culture farm has 65 acres of adjacent circular pens where queen conchs graze and grow. People will think you’re a marine biologist after a short tour at this site.

And speaking of conch, no trip to Provo would be complete if you didn’t stop for conch served at Bugaloos Conch Crawl or da Conch Shack and Rum Bar. Fried or marinated, you “conch” go wrong man, with this delectable and renewable island resource.

So there you go, islands filled with tourist attractions, cruise ships, shopping and dining, islands uninhabited, islands with long white sand beaches to relax on, or get up, dive and explore almost endless miles of reefs, walls, wrecks, with extensive marine life such as turtles and corals. So no matter how or what century you get here, Turks and Caicos has something for everyone.

110,000 Reasons to Go Liveaboard

110,000 Reasons To Go Liveaboard

There are more than 110,000 islands in the world and many pinnacles that rest just below the surface and each and every one of them may be filled with multitudes of critters and creatures that seldom come in contact with humans. Sure, some of these islands may be inhabited, but most require transportation via some sort of marine vessel to get there and it may take a day or two to reach some of these remote destinations. Even destinations that are not remote, but are near other dive sites, may require a liveaboard to maximize your dives as you simultaneously minimize your back and forth to port travel time. Weather, animal migration patterns, multi-nation destinations, and toys/technical gear supplied, are other considerations for choosing liveaboards.

While many of these liveaboards offer first class dinning experiences with remarkable onboard chefs and while many of these vessels are built using iron wood hulls and beautifully hand crafted teak interiors or modern steel designs with the latest in furnishings and electronics, we will restrict this article to dive destinations, as well as mention some of the experiences you may encounter while being a guest on one or many of these luxury liveaboards vessels.

Starting off down under, Mike Ball offers great expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia for three nights/12 dives, or to the Coral Sea for 4 nights/14dives, or a combination of 7 nights and see both incredible dive destinations on one spectacular trip aboard the specifically designed twin hull Spoilsport. It’s just impossible to do so many dives at so many remote Great Barrier Reef dive sites from a shore-based resort or per day dive charter.

How about diving one nation, but with thousands of islands? The MV Pindito , Msy Seahorse, Komodo Dancer, Raja Ampat Aggressor and the Pelagian are just some of the vessels that cruise though the 15,00 plus island of Indonesia. Indonesia is the epicenter of marine biodiversity. These vessels have different itineraries depending on the time of year to maximize your visit and to view an unforgettable as well as incredible amount of sea life.

How about diving three different nation destinations on one liveaboard trip? The M/V Caribbean Explorer II travels 8 days/ 7 nights to SABA, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. Perhaps you would prefer one island chain like Turks and Caicos, where the Turks and Caicos Aggressor II and the Turks and Caicos Explorer peruse some 70 miles of reefs, walls, multiple cays and islands, as well as visit when possible the 22 mile long Columbus passage that is 7,000ft deep and right on the migration route for Atlantic humpback whales from January to March and large pelagics the rest of the year.

Speaking of seasons, the Rocio Del Mar is either in the Sea of Cortez around the Midriff Islands or near Revillagigedo-Socorro islands from November to May. The Sea of Cortez also called the Gulf of California; Jacques Cousteau called this area the Galapagos of North America.

The Nautilus Explorer also leads expeditions to Socorro Island as well as Guadalupe Island, San Bernitos Island, and even all the way over to a seldom visited exotic destination of Clipperton Atol. Guadalupe Island gets the most notoriety as these crystal clear waters make it easy to view some 108 different great white sharks each year. Nautilus Explorer uses double decker descending cages to make your experience with these apex predators unobtrusive, and arguably second to none.

The Solmar V is also at Socorro Island from November to May and at Guadalupe Island during great white shark season. They are also part of the Dive Encounters Alliance. All vessels are independently owned and they have eight liveaboard destinations including Galapagos, Cocos Island, Maldives, Indonesia, Palau, and Honduras Bay Islands as well as Guadalupe /Socorro Islands.

For some, the ultimate dive sites are in the Galapagos Islands for this is where Charles Darwin first observed how cormorants had evolved into flightless birds, and Iguanas had evolved into ocean going reptiles. Galapagos penguins and tons of fish, silky and Galapagos sharks round out the rest of the underwater one of a kind marine environment and make this dive adventure so inspiring; the Galapagos Aggressor III and the Humboldt Explorer journey to these enchanted waters.

Now, as they “sea” it, sharks don’t care if it rains, but the time of year you plan your liveaboard trip can greatly effect what you see on your dives. We could be more precise, but generally fish and whale sharks alike rely on the phase of the moon, water temperature, hormonal changes, and Neptune’s will. Then again, you could book the same trip three separate times of the year and end up with three unique diving experiences.

For wreck divers we recommend diving the 50 mile wide Truk Lagoon where you can dive some 60 ships from WW II. This former southern fleet headquarters of the Imperial Japanese fleet is a historical graveyard and with a ghost fleet of submarines, destroyers, cargo ships, Betty bombers and more sunk during two raids in 1944. The Truk Odyssey ventures here. For those that are into tech diving and rebreather diving you might like to journey on the SS Thorfinn.

Palau also has sunken WWII wrecks as well as a freshwater jellyfish lake. The reef and manta cleaning stations are a big hit with divers, and night dive spawning trips are coordinated with local marine biologists and tour guides from Palau.

The Aggressor and Dancer Fleet Boasts 22 itineraries from East Flores, Belize, Maldives, Myanmar, and to the Red Sea. Their Kona trip will let you dive sites too remote for most one day charter trips and their Cayman Aggressor IV will allow you to dive, weather permitting, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman all in one trip; Saturday to Saturday.

For something completely different might we suggest one of the 7 trips available by Oceanwide Expeditions to dive the Arctic waters of Spitsbergen using zodiacs to take you close to spider crabs, soft corals, peacock worms, dogfish, and walrus from a safe distance during the warmer summer days when the sun shines 24/7. They also dive in the Antarctic where you’ll see penguins, leopard seals, krill, and fur seals. These dives are for more experienced drysuit trained divers.

We ran out of space before mentioning the Okeanos Aggressor and the hammerheads of Cocos Island off Costa Rica. The M/Y Sun Dancer II is a great way to experience the diving off Belize such as Turneffe Reef and the world famous Blue Hole. The Caribbean Pearl II explores the Honduras Bay Islands. Both the Nai’a liveaboard and the Island Dancer II cruise through Fiji. The M/V Atlantis Azores allows you to dive with ease off Tubbataha Reef and the colorful corals off Anilao in the Philippines. The M/Y Spirit of Niugini lets you tour the muck diving sites of Papua New Guinea. The MV Bilikiki and the MV Spirit of the Solomon Islands let you dive 1500 miles west of Fiji and 1,200 miles northeast of Australia, and just like Fiji, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea, you are still diving within the Coral Triangle. In the Maldives you may like to try an adventure aboard the Carpe Vita Explorer, the Maldives Aggressor, or the MV Emperor Voyager. We just might have to write a book to let you know everything about these spectacular world class dive destinations.

Having mentioned all these destinations and luxury liveaboards, we have to admit, that, one of the best reasons to go on one or all of these diving excursions is a chance to meet and dive with other divers that share your level of enthusiasm and passion for the sport; some of these people may become life long friends. Some of these individuals may be professional underwater videographers, photographers, or marine biologists, while others may be relatively new to the sport, and just fun to be around, talk about diving, share past dive adventures, share good food, and most importantly share incredible experiences on a planet mostly covered by water, yet still called Earth.

To access additional information on these and other dive liveaboards as well as their destinations click here or to view possible exclusive deals click here.

North Sulawesi, Indonesia Part Two

North Sulawesi, Indonesia

The Center of Life’s Diversity

Part Two

As you last recall, we tried to include all 50,000 miles (70,000km) of shoreline of Indonesia in one article, then we briefly mentioned three dive resorts on the northern edge of Sulawesi Island where some 390 species of coral, 90 resident species of fish, and where some 1,650 species of fish commute to work daily to and from the Bunaken National Park which is considered Grand Central in the incredibly bio-diverse Coral Triangle which stretches from the Philippines down over to Malaysia and across to the Solomon Islands.

One of the most famous dives here at Bunaken Park is Lekuan 1, which is a 120ft (40m) wall dive where away from the wall you might see pelagics as big as whale sharks.On the wall you might find pink pygmy seahorses, and small orange colored orangutan crabs, colored corals, sponges, and perhaps a turtle resting on a ledge. Sachiko’s is another wall dive where you might encounter black tip sharks, schools of bumphead parrotfish, or napoleon wrasse. Ron’s Point is a site for advanced divers where two currents entwine and tunas, black tip sharks, leaf scorpions, and pontohi seahorses are spotted. In addition, at any of these sites, you may see emperor anglefish, bluestripe snapper, pinkish basslet, two-lined monocle bream, frogfish, and a plethora of small shrimps, crabs, and other invertebrates.

The resorts we mentioned were the Eco Divers Lembeh and Minahasa Lagoon Resort and Eco Divers Manado. From Singapore, Bali, and Jakarta, as well as several other airports you can fly right in to Manado, the capital city of northern Sulawesi. It’s a big bustling modern city with KFC and McDonalds, innumerable blue taxi buses filling the streets, yet there are also regions where you can taste cooked to order local foods from outdoor vendors, visit street markets, and enjoy a ride on an ornate decorated horse drawn carriage.

We think that there is something for everyone in Manado, but if you came here to completely relax at a secluded dive resort or do some serious muck diving, its time to leave the big city.

Minahasa Lagoon Resort and Eco Divers Manado, is within 90 minutes of Manado. This oceanfront property with several types of accommodations and expansive beach is surrounded by a tropical rain forest. It is highly rated on TripAdvisor with modern amenities, spa services, local and international cuisine.

Besides the dives at Bunaken Park, the Minahasa Lagoon Resort and Eco Divers Manado has a house reef that is ideal for divers and snorkelers. Some of the other boat dives in the area include City Extra, which is a muck dive with seahorses, ghost pipefish, and down the slope you might find frogfish, mimic octopus, and black and blue eels. At Tanjung Bulo there are some 15 different species of nudibranchs, cuttlefish, harlequin shrimp, and sea snakes. Molas Wreck is a Dutch cargo ship that 70 years later has lots of coral growth and sponges. After diving the wreck divers typically go check out a nearby reef.

Here you will see tons of coral that make up the fringing reef and tons of sea life as well. Batu Goso is a boat site with several steep pinnacles (5- 35m). It’s a drift dive where you can see white tips, black tips, turtles, grouper and multi-colored corals. Across the waterway on the Sulawesi coastline is Paradise Pier. This is a muck dive site at the old paradise hotel pier. Hot springs are located at the bottom of the steps. Frogfish, seahorses, octopus, squid, and batfish apparently don’t mind the warmer water. Sabora has nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses and a great place for night dives. Sahuang has jacks, dogtooth tuna, barracuda, red-toothed triggers and colorful corals.

Their is also a combination two resort package that lets you stay 7 nights at Minahasa Lagoon Resort and Eco Divers Manado, then a land transfer of 2.5 hours to Eco Divers Lembeh for another 7 night stay. This gives you the opportunity to experience the best diving that Manado and Lembeh can offer. For every divers piece of mind there is a hyperbaric chamber within 90 minutes of both resorts. When you depart it is a about a one hour van ride back to Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado.

Eco Divers Lembeh uniquely offers the comfort of a land based resort and all its amenities and services with the convenience of a stationery day dive liveaboard. A maximum of 16 divers can relax, eat and depart in smaller dive boats to over 60 dive sites in Lembeh Strait. But just to inform you, don’t expect 100 plus feet of visibility here. What you will see is a black sand and silt substrate with patches of reefs, discarded man made objects, lone anemones, a few wrecks, and even small rocks with absolutely breathtaking rare creatures of every size, color, and texture. This is Mecca for underwater photographers. An anemone with clown fish, an old bottle with a blue ring octopus inside, or a rock with a frogfish leaning against it fill your camera frames and image cards on almost every dive. And when we say frogfish, we are talking hairy frogfish, clown frogfish, painted frogfish, or the newly discovered Lembeh frogfish to name of few. Fish moving across the sand or mimic octopus or mantis shrimp burring themselves in the sand are common sites too. Keep in mind that there are also multiple species of shrimp, octopus, pipefish, and nudibranchs often seen on the same dive. Some oddity fish you will find include: stargazers, crocodile fish, Pegasus sea moths, bobtail squids, devilfish, rhinopias, and candy crabs, but it’s not just about these fish, as the strait is also home to juvenile pelagic fish that are drawn here for safety and plentiful amounts of zooplankton.

Some of the other favorite dive sites include Nudi Falls (nudibranchs), Jahir (night dives), Tk 1 (everything in this village bay), Hairball (frogfish), and of course the Mawali, a Japanese cargo wreck, which sunk in 1943 and now resembles a coral reef with occasional straight edges.

As you can see, we’ve run out of space again, and we haven’t even mentioned land activities such as jungle tours, guided treks into rainforests, volcano trekking, white water rafting, or birding to see the endemic species of birds found no where else in the world. Also, the 6 national parks, 19 nature preserves, and 3 marine preserves of Sulawesi along with the freshwater fish, freshwater shrimp, and the highly cave adapted freshwater crabs will have to wait for another time. Sulawesi has so much to see and explore, but none of these spectacular marine creatures can truly shine unless immersed by the light from your own camera or dive light.

For more information on exclusive dive travel offers, competitive airfare, and how you can visit North Sulawesi, Indonesia, please contact us or CLICK HERE

North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Part One

North Sulawesi, Indonesia

The Center of Life’s Diversity

Part One

You’ve probably heard of the Coral Triangle where the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea collide and infuse each other with nutrients and where different species of fish and invertebrates intermingle with scuba divers from every culture around the world? You haven’t? Well, before we go in depth on this incredible zone of creatures, critters, and coral cornucopias, we should mention the country that hosts this unique spot in the world.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, and it is also an archipelago made up of some 17,508 islands of which 6,000 are inhabited, but who’s counting? Now if you weren’t there or don’t recall, after the super continent of Gondwana began to split apart some 140 million years ago, the Pacific, Eurasian, and Australian tectonic plates with much volcanic fanfare met right where Indonesia now resides. Indonesia has 130 active volcanoes and most of the eruptions currently take place in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra just above the Eurasian plate subduction zone and when we say current, we’re talking geological time; Krakatoa last erupted in 1883, a much bigger eruption happened 70,000 years ago at Lake Tobo, Sumatra, but small earthquakes are more common in this region.

When seas were lower than they are today, animal life came down through Eurasia until deep waters stopped their advance. Animal life from Australia came up and over until deep waters stopped them too. The point or line made by these deep waters is called the Wallace Line and where these transitional animals mixed is called Wallacea. So now you know why Orangutans, Tigers, and Sumatran rhinoceros are found in western Indonesia, and two species of Anoa (miniature water buffalo), Babirusa (a curling tusked pig), and many other smaller placental and marsupial animals are found in Sulawesi and eastward Indonesia.

Now when you include birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and invertebrates, Indonesia is only second to Brazil in biodiversity with a greater percentage of endemic species than any other country except Australia. In fact it’s hard to view many of these creatures found nowhere else in the world without the voice of BBC’s David Attenborough narrating in your head. We think a local monitor lizard that hasn’t change much in 3.8 million years, and whose ancestors go back at least 100 million years ago, called the Komodo Dragon is the perfect poster child for the rare creatures found only on a few of the thousands of Indonesian islands.

The first tourists attracted to all this diverse wildlife was Homo erectus “Java Man” (1.8 million years ago to 35,000 years ago), but apparently Java man followed the Boy Scout slogan of “Leave no trace behind”, so little is known of them. The second wave of tourists were modern Homo sapiens and on their way to Australia they left trails thousands of miles wide with items like the 40,000 year old hand stencils in Pettekere Cave in Maros, Sulawesi. It is the oldest art work known to date in the entire world. Someone later drew a pig on the wall 5,000 years later near the hand. Speaking of art, we should mention that the entire island of Sulawesi (formerly called Celebes) looks like a stencil of an elephant standing on two legs with its mouth wide open. Not to be out done by others, one group of artists left some 400 stone carved megaliths between 3,000 BC and 1,300 AD on Sulawesi Island. In general, each group that found its way to Indonesia brought its unique language and culture so that by today there are 300 ethnic groups with 742 languages and dialects spoken in Indonesia with the official language being Bahasa Indonesia.

Most of the islands were Islamic by the time the Dutch became nuts about nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper and therefore claimed this area their own as The Netherlands East Indies and later The Dutch East Indies. Imperial Japan took control from 1942-1945 and divided Indonesia into three regions. During the three years of Imperial Japanese occupation some estimated four million or more Indonesians died of forced labor, forced prostitution, or famine. Sultans, intellectuals, as well as 30,000 Europeans were either murdered or sentenced to death and anything of value was shipped back to Japan or to other locations in the ever-expanding Japanese Empire. After the war ended, Indonesia gained independence, but there was later a protracted battle with the Communist Party (PKI) during which time 500,000 people were killed during the anti-communist purge. A political settlement was reached in 2005 and things have been comparatively peaceful in recent times for this diverse yet united tropical island nation. It’s interesting to note, that now the top five visitors of Indonesia are from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, China, and Japan.

So now you might be thinking, sure Indonesia’s enchanted and a one of a kind paradise with a very interesting history, but what about the 500 plus dive sites that we’ve heard about? And for this reason we are going to focus on the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi. Here on the Eastside we have Eco Divers Lembeh with access to over 50 dive sites in the Lembeh Straight, which separates Lembeh Island from the Sulawesi mainland. This area is considered the “muck diving” capital of the world. Here with a backdrop of black lava, a macro world of pygmy seahorses, pipefish, frogfish, and several unique and bizarre species of octopus, and other invertebrates steal the show on every dive.

On the west side of North Sulawesi is the capital city of Manado and nearby the oceanfront Minahasa Lagoon Resort and Eco Divers Manado. From the resort you are close to Bunaken National Park which is comprised of five islands: Bunaken, Manado Tua, Nain, Mantehage, and Siladen. Were not sure if this marine preserve is more famous for its wall dives where you can see giant clams, black tip sharks, white tip sharks, sea turtles, and eagle rays, or its famous because of the local species of brown coelacanth fish they found living just beyond the reef walls in deeper water.

Lobed fin coelacanths have been around here for over 485 million years and they were thought extinct for 65 million years until they were seen as the catch of the day in a local market in Manado Tua in 1997, and just like the Indonesian dugong, and 200 million year old chambered nautilus, coelacanths have become ambassadors of Indonesia’s marine life.

We will mention more about these resorts and some of the top dive sites in “Part Two” of our North Sulawesi expedition. Suffice it to say, it won’t be easy, as a country with black sand beaches, white sand beaches, sand dunes, mangroves, estuaries, coral reefs, sea grass beds, coastal mudflats, algae beds, thousands of small islands, and a few large islands where even elephants run freely is hard to cover with just one pair of fins and booties.

For information on exclusive dive travel offers, competitive airfare, and how you can visit North Sulawesi, Indonesia, please contact us or CLICK HERE

Abaco, The Treasure Of The Bahamas Out Islands

If you are into numbers, there are 16 main islands in the Bahamas and another 684 cays (pronounced keys) that push out above the ocean some 50- 400 miles off the Florida coastline and appear as a dotted string just above Cuba. Thousands of boats and sailing vessels traverse these islands yearly and it’s easy to loose your bearings: An Italian guide brought a Spanish tour group here in 1492 and proclaimed that these islands were the East Indies. Perhaps geography and navigation weren’t Christopher Columbus’s strongest assets, but as an explorer you have to admit that no matter how misguided, he was determined. This tenacious sea going attitude might explain why some 500 Spanish galleons sank after hitting reefs off the Bahamas Islands. Hundreds of more modern wrecks also litter the reefs. One traditional way to seek shelter from rough seas has been to anchor in the Sea of Abaco, which is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a series of cays and fringing reefs and is part of the third largest reef in the world. The Abacos or Out Islands consist of some 13 islands and cays and the entire island chain contains untold generations of vast coral growth.

When the ice age seas were 400ft lower than today, rain entered the porous coral outcroppings, eroded away the limestone, and left articulate patterns and astounding designs and shapes of stalactites and stalagmites in hollowed out chambers. When the seas rose to their present height, some of the cave roofs collapsed and created blue holes. The 120-mile long chain of islands has more blue holes than anywhere else in the world. Some of them are inland, also called island bush diving, and have fresh water and/ or shrimp and blind cave fish, and other blue holes near shore or just offshore are filled with saltwater invertebrates and/or large schools of fish. Tech divers visit the Abacos Islands to dive The Abaco Blue Hole, Dan’s Cave, Ralph’s Cave, Reel Breaker, Big Blue, Starfish Blue Hole, and the Guardian Blue Hole to name a few. Ocean going recreational divers are blessed with swim troughs, enchanted and strangely illuminated caverns, and shallow holes just about everywhere you dive. Some of these hot spots include: Coral Caverns, The Catacombs, The Craters, and The Towers.

If you are into nature dives, the Abacos Islands has six national parks. Diving with the abundant sea life at the Fowl Cay Government Preserve 30-98ft deep and north of Man-O-War Cay is a must. Also do the Tarpon Dive, Coral Condos, Valley of the Sponges, Grouper Alley, Sea Gypsy Reef, and Coral Gardens. Abaco is also known for its turtle population and at the northern most island Walker’s Cay you may see up to 150 sharks on a dive and at Sandy Cay, one of four islands in the Pelican Cay National Land and Sea Park where you can expect to find the largest stand of Elkhorn coral in the world. This Sandy Cay is not to be confused with Sandy Cay south of Bimini, Sandy Cay east of Long Island, or the Sandy Cay northeast of Nassau which was the island pictured in season one of the TV show Gilligan’s Island. Yeah, Christopher Columbus wasn’t the only one who had a tough time naming the islands in the Bahamas.

Most of the wooden wrecks from decades ago have long since been eaten away or pummeled by waves and surf, but the metal parts such as iron canons, and pieces of silver and gold are still occasionally found in the sand. The 207ft long U.S.S. Adirondack, a Union wooden screw sloop struck a reef here in 1862 a mere six months after she was launched and now two 12ft long cannons and 12 smaller canons can be seen in 10 to 30ft of water. The 234ft long S.S. San Jacinto built in 1847 was a one of the earliest American steam vessels and on blockade duty for the U.S. Navy when she ran a ground in 1865. Her remnants can be found in 40ft of water. The Train Wreck is another popular dive site where pieces of two Confederate captured and sold Union trains were being shipped to Cuba, but now they rest as scattered pieces in 10-20ft of depth.

For more information on these mentioned dives as well as the H.M.S. Mermaid, and the Violet Mitchel freighter, we recommend stopping by Brendal’s Dive Center located adjacent to the Green Turtle Club . Brendal has close to 30 years of local diving and teaching experience, having certified or taught specialty courses to over 5000 students. So even if you brought your own boat, tanks, and weights, we still say, diving with Brendal is the easiest way and most rewarding way to see the local dive sites and cays.

The Green Turtle Club Resort & Marina which was established in 1964 has been a haven for boaters, vacationers and scuba divers ever since. The marina was recently dredge even deeper and currently contains 40 slips. The resort has several types of accommodations from deluxe rooms to 3 bedroom cottages that are completely up to date, offer many amenities, ocean-views and are minutes from several spectacular white sand beaches. For dinner you may have a tough time deciding on which delicious main course item to choose. We like the seafood choices or the fresh catch of the day. Many boaters like to stay here as part of their Bahamian sea going journey. Many tourists come here for weddings, honeymoons, and family reunions in addition to those who wish to vacation actively or passively . Did we mention that the resort is also popular with former Presidents, music & movie stars, and more importantly, scuba divers?

Green Turtle Cay, the Abacos Islands, and especially the town of New Plymouth first became popular when old English Loyalists had the revolutionary inspiration to flee New York in the late 1770’s. Today you can still see their architectural designs everywhere on the islands.

Green Turtle Cay is only 3 miles long, and nearby beaches include: White Sound Beach, Ocean Beach, Coco Bay Beach, Bita Bay Beach, and Gillam Bay Beach. To see them all and to take along lunch and snorkeling gear you really need to rent a golf cart. Yeah, that’s about as fast and furious as it gets on this island in the daytime, at night the island pace slows down even more. Green Turtle Cay is a great place to relax, lay on a white sand beach, scuba dive, rent a boat, play some golf, view Abaco Parrots, try local foods, savor Tipsy Turtle rum drinks, watch sunsets, and get ready to do any or all of it again the next day.

So why haven’t you ever heard of Abaco Island, or the Out Islands before? Perhaps it’s because it takes an incredulous long 55 minute long flight from Florida, an unbelievable 5 minute taxi ride to a ferry, and an epic 15 minute ride on a ferry filled just to get here. Who’s going to believe that a place with such world-class tech and recreational diving is such a short hop away from the USA?

They may have run the pirates out of the Bahamas in 1718, but because of the local accommodations, beaches, blue holes, wrecks, and spectacular dive sites, scuba divers are here to stay. No doubt, word of mouth be a powerful reminder of what you can expect to discover for yourself when you visit Abaco in the Out Islands.

For more information on exclusive dive travel offers, competitive airfare, and how you can visit Brendal’s Dive Center and Green Turtle Club Resort and Marina, Click Here

The Mantas of Yap

If you are lucky, you may have seen a manta or two while diving, but in the waters off the island of Yap, it’s not uncommon to see a dozen or so 12-18ft wide mantas slowly going past you or hovering just above the nearby coral as wrasse and other small fish dart back and forth while cleaning parasites off the mantas. There are over 100 resident mantas in the waters of Yap, and nightly they go out into the deep waters to feed on plankton, and each morning they return to designated coral cleaning stations to remove microscopic parasitic hitch hikers. From December to April the mantas display courtship rituals, breach out of the water, somersault and form underwater multiple member conga lines. The word “manta” derives from the Spanish word for blanket, and when a manta gently moves though the waters a few feet above you, the cover is large, wide, and alive. This is just one of the scenarios that plays out daily when you dive Mi’l Channel (Manta Ray Bay or Manta Ridge) or at Goofnuw Channel (Valley of the Rays).

Now, to find Yap on a map, place the tip of your index finger on Hawaii, next place the tip of your middle finger on Guam. Now lift your index finger off Hawaii and rotate it southeast of Guam by about 500 miles and you just found Yap. In reality it is just “plane” easier to take United Airlines on this island hopping adventure.

Although the Indonesians on Yap proper and the Polynesians on the outer islands have been living on Yap for some 3,000 years, it took a European explorer from Portugal in 1525 to discover the Islands. The local Islanders called themselves Wa’ab and with great cultural sensitivity possessed only by Europeans in those days the Islands were promptly called Yap and the people Yapese. Yap by the way means, “canoe paddle” in Wa’ab.

To make history short, in 1886 Pope Leo XII gave Yap to Spain and three years later Spain sold Yap to Germany who had to give guardianship to the Japanese in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The Japanese built a lighthouse and later used Yap as a stationary aircraft carrier until the Americans in WWII bombed them heavily. Wrecks of Japanese Zero Fighters, Suisei dive-bombers, Gekko night fighters, Ginga bombers, L2D2 transport planes, American B-24’s, Hellcats, Helldivers, Corsairs, and Avengers can still be seen on shore as well as underwater.

Yap is nine degrees north of the equator and part of the Federated States of Micronesia, which also includes Truk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae. Yap is comprised of four volcanic islands, Yap Proper, Maap, Tomil-Gagil, and Rumung, which volcanically lifted up

from the Philippine Sea Plate. Yap also consists of some 130 other atolls and islets that extend some 600 miles. The State of Yap covers 118.9 sq miles total, with a landmass of 38.7 sq miles. One of the volcanic atolls Ulithi, for seven months during WWII was secretly home to the world’s fourth largest Naval base. The 553ft long USS Mississinewa was sunk here at a depth of 120ft by a Japanese Kaiten, manned suicide, torpedo. Ulithi is also the home of a hawksbill turtle sanctuary.

Yapese are proud of their old cultural ways which include using several sizes of stone money. Some of the stone circular coins are 12ft in diameter and take some 20 men to lift. When they set these stones in groups it is called a bank. They may trade the stones during ceremonies, or during transfer of land, but although the ownership of the stones may change, the location of these giant monetary units tends to be set in stone. Yapese typically went to Pulau’s Rock Island where they quarried and shaped the large stones, then they brought them 280 miles back to Yap using nothing more than canoes made out of mahogany or breadfruit trees and with sails made out of plaited leaves. For navigation they used their masterful knowledge of a group of 32 stars passed down from generation to generation.

Yapese still have a caste system and each village has a tribal hut just for men where skills such as fishing and sailing techniques are learned from elders. On the outer islands men wear loin clothes called “thus” and topless women wear skirts called “lavalavas”. During Yap day, March 1^st and 2^nd, even local women on Yap Proper, must go topless. On the other hand, showing legs and thighs of women is considered indecent. Yap Day is also a time to see story dances, try local foods, see races up betel nut trees, hear local music, show off coconut husking skills and arts, and to view exquisite craft skills. On non-diving days cultural trips are a great way to meet the locals and see some of these activities.

Back to scuba diving, Bill Acker first came to Yap in 1976 as a Peace Corps volunteer and within a few years began Yap Divers. He and his family now own and operate Manta Ray Bay Resort. Each of the rooms comes complete with modern conveniences and beautifully decorated marine themes from nudibranchs, sharks, fish, squids, or stingrays. Rooms with Ocean views, private plunge pools, stone showers, or a private rooftop jacuzzi are very popular. Guests can swim in the main pool with mantas painted on the bottom. You can eat, dine, drink, or even watch open-air movies on a permanently moored 110-year-old 170ft long Phinisi schooner from Indonesia called the MV Mnuw. At the Nautical Weaver Bar on the bridge deck or at the Crow’s Nest Bar you can delight in the fresh taste of Hammerhead Amber or Manta Gold microbrews made right at the resort under the name: Stone Money Brewing Company. On the main deck is the Manta Ray Bistro known as the island’s finest restaurant. Manta Ray Bay Resort is also home of YAP divers and the Taro Leaf Spa.

Yap Divers has eight boats of various sizes to take you to Rainbow Reef where 30-40 mandarin fish perform romance rituals daily. At Vertigo, steep ledges and free handouts ensure sharks of all types such black tips, silky, gray reef, white tip, black tips, will show up. Scalloped hammerheads, nurse, leopard, zebra, and whale sharks are often spotted around some 50 other known dive sites. Yap Caverns is a must do for any diver that loves caves and swim throughs.

From Hunter’s Bank Seamount, a sunken island, 17 miles North of Yap to 15 miles east at Yap Trench that descends down 28,000ft you have a chance to see coral cabbage patches, torpedoes, machineguns, and other military artifacts, schools of large humphead wrasse, bluefin trevelly, giant trevelly, yellowfin, skipjack, wahoo, mahi-mahi, barracuda, red snapper, and grouper. Dolphins, pilot whales, and even Orcas whales pass by Yap.

So if you would like to dive a 8,243sq mile manta ray preserve, view some 200 soft and hard coral species, see some military war relics, observe or take images of numerous small to pelagic fish, snorkel with small jellyfish and nudibranchs, do some game fishing, kayak around mangrove lined canals, paddle to secluded beaches, or just do some incredible scuba diving with over 100ft of visibility, then you may wish to spend some time on an island called Yap.

For more information on exclusive dive travel offers, competitive airfare, and how you can visit Yap Divers and Manta Ray Bay Resort, Click Here

How Do You Top The World’s Greatest Blue Hole Dive?

It’s difficult, but you can do it when you are fin kicks away from the second largest barrier reef in the world. It’s hard, but it can be done when 160 miles of walls, sloping reefs, and lagoons surround you. It’s tough, but the task is made easier when 500 species of fish, invertebrates, turtles, dolphins, manatees, and 60 species of birds surround you.

So where is this site that is next to what Jacques Cousteau called one of the top dive destinations in the world?

The simple answer is Turneffe Flats on Turneffe Atoll some 30 miles or 90 minutes from Belize City, Belize on the Caribbean side of Central America, but before we go there, lets just mention a little about diving the Great Blue Hole. It seems like everyone before Cousteau in the 1970’s came here to view the blue hole. Al Giddings the great cinematographer came here in the early 1960’s. Blackbeard the pirate came here a few years before Al, and the Mayans came here some 2000 plus years earlier than Blackbeard.

The Great Blue Hole is a former Karst-eroded sinkhole. Jurassic reefs originally created the limestone formation 195-190 million years ago. Water seeped through the limestone and formed a large chambered cave where stalactites and stalagmites formed many times over thousands of years before the roof fell in and eventually created a 984ft wide hole 407ft deep. The hole flooded as sea levels rose, which put a halt to all further stalactite and stalagmite formation. Some stalactites are over 20ft long and they are not exactly as straight as stalactites grown where past earthquake movements and substrate shifts have not so obviously occurred periodically. It can take a stalactite 100 years just to grow an inch, but it takes a diver just a brief second to be impressed by these slightly skewed cone shaped geological structures.

During the last 18,000 years when the area surrounding Chicago was 2 miles under glacial ice, the sea level of Belize was down some 394ft. There were at least four distinct times when seas rose and left ledges where waves slapped against walls and shorelines, before reaching the current sea level. Some 10,000 years ago the ocean was still 148ft lower than it is today, but as the ocean water and fresh water both rose close to their current levels, many Mayan temple sites seemed to be ruined.

What was a misfortune of Mayan civilization structures is nirvana for divers. Now that the rim of the exposed cave is within snorkel depth, both divers and snorkelers flock to this location to view passing fish, and the permanent resident sponges and corals. For scuba divers on the south end of the Great Blue Hole at 130ft feet you can see the stalactites and stalagmites in a cave that goes back some 20ft. For technical divers, at 230ft deep on the western side is a cave that leads through a narrow tunnel and enters a second cave that ascends 100ft. On the silt filled floor of this adjacent cave rest the skeletal remains of turtles that wandered inside this dark recess without cave diver training or experience. The Great Blue Hole is in the middle of Lighthouse Reef, which is 25 miles long and 10-12 miles wide. Divers from Turneffe Flats Resort typically dive here once a week, depending on weather. This is a whole day trip with dives planned at Half Moon Caye Wall, which has a swim through at 35ft, and The Aquarium, named after all the small fish, at Long Caye. Lunch is served at Half Moon Caye. How often do you get a chance to see both gobies and boobies on the same trip? Red-footed boobies are the smallest of all booby birds and there is a sanctuary for boobies of all sizes and foot color on Lighthouse Reef. So now that you know what draws so many divers here, let’s talk about what really puts this dive trip over the top.

Turneffe Atoll in the largest of 3 atolls sitting off the coast of Belize. The island is 30 miles long and 10 miles wide and is made up from 200 cayes/mangrove islands. It has lagoons, streams, creeks, and reefs, and is one of the most biological diverse marine environments in the world. It is home to an endemic species of snail named Leptophis mexicana hoeversi, a gecko species named Phyllodactylus insularis and best of all, the rare Whites Spotted Toadfish that you can hear croak on any given dive. On the down side there are biting flies and mosquitoes for those that don’t use repellent on calm days, and you will see an occasional crocodile in certain locations, but they are pretty much left alone except to look at or snap a photo.

You might think that because of all this marine life, Turneffe Flats would be filled with divers year round, but there are times when only a few divers actually stay here, and that is because Turneffe Atoll is one of the greatest saltwater fly fishing spots in the world, and the resort can be booked early and annually with mostly fly fishermen. They wade in the waters for 5lb Bonefish, 20-30lb Permit, and 150-200lb Tarpon. If they catch all three species in any single day, they call this a “Flats Grand Slam”. It’s “catch and release” with all the thrill and endorphin rush you could ever get naturally. Fishermen come from all over the reel world to test their skill, rods, and flies.

What this means is that you as a diver might be going out on the Pro48ft custom dive boat Ms. Ellie, for dive groups of up to 12 divers, or out on the 29ft Ms. K with 5 or fewer divers. At some of the dive sites you will see large pelagics such as grouper, goliath groupers, tuna, mackerel, and spotted eagle rays, such as at The Elbow. A pod of sometimes interactive dolphins live in the South Lagoon. White-spotted toadfish are found at Lindsey’s Back Porch and The Terrace. Black grouper, hammerheads, and great barracuda can be seen at Pelican Wall. Corals such as staghorn, elkhorn, and brain corals are found at Cabbage Patch. Nurse sharks and groupers are found in caverns down at 70ft at Gailes Point. This is also the site for Nassau, black, tiger, and marble grouper mating in December so plan your calendars appropriately. Wall dives include Jill’s Thrill and West Point Wall, and wreck sites include The Sayonara sunk at 50ft in 1985 and the 56ft long HMS Advice, by Pirates creek that sank June 1^st, 1793; just to name a few.

Speaking of exploration, Turneffe Flats Resort guests can visit multiple Mayan ruins on the Belize mainland as well as go on locally guided tours and activities such as Manatee & Dolphin tours, sea kayaking, snorkeling tours, seashell & starfish tours, crocodile tours, birding tours, cooking classes and learn about the Maya and Turneffe, to name a few options.

Flat out, when it comes to staying at Turneffe Flats, seeing the Great Blue Hole, and diving Turneffe Atoll, there’s nothing else quite like it in the world at all.

Ask for more information and how you can visit Belize and Turneffe Flats Resort

Curacao. Can We Say Choices?

If you are trying to choose your next dive destination, you may want to look no further than Curacao. Who would have thought that an Island just over 444km² (171sq miles) would constantly be named one of the top dive destinations in the Caribbean so many years in a row by so many divers and so many dive related publications?

The word Curacao is thought to drive from the Portuguese word for heart, but we believe that it stands for “choices”.

As divers we like the fact that Curacao has 17 main shore dive beaches with some beaches having multiple dive sites adding up to some 40 dive areas; you can almost double this number when you include boat dives around Curacao and it’s little deserted companion island of Klein Curacao. Some of the top voted dive sites include: Alice in Wonderland an easy shore dive at Westpunt. Here expect to see lots of colorful fish, small invertebrates, and a resident turtle.

Almost all of the dive sites offered by Go West Diving are short boat rides with average underwater visibility of 100ft and provide unlimited opportunities for every photographer.

At a dive site named Mushroom Forest, many of the coral formations resemble snow covered dwarf pine trees, but since snow is unheard of on an Island that averages 28.9°C (84°F), we’ll just call these unique displays of multi-colored coral growth mushrooms too. Keep your eyes peeled here for eels, lobster, and octopus.

At Rediho expect to see slipper lobsters and seahorses near the coral heads, and southern stingrays half hidden in the soft light colored sand. Watamula, on the most western point is virtually unspoiled and teaming with life down its slopes and a great place for macro-photography. Also, the fuselage and remaining parts of a small plane rest between Watamula and Playa Kalki.

If you want to dive through something with more legroom, then dive the Airplane Wreck at Santa Martha. For more fin room there is extra cargo space on the 200ft long ship Superior Producer near the mouth of Williamstad Harbour. The cargo ship suddenly sank and was caught with her pants down at 100ft. On that last voyage, she carried a cargo of soon to be exclusively coral washed Levi’s jeans as well as valuable yoyo’s. For those on the island that benefited from the rescued jeans, the expression “wear your salty clothes” came to mean “casual attire.”

We haven’t had a chance to mention the double reef system at Porto Marie also known as The Valley, or the drift diving at Klein Curacao where you may spot Shark Cave, or the other fringing reefs that descend quickly from shore down to depths giving you a wide view of all the coral gardens and the local inhabitants, or mention that pilot whales and dolphins have recently been seen on the island in greater numbers, but we have to take you topside for a moment if we are even going to mention a fraction of all the cool attractions and activities you can do above water.

First, do you feel the need for speed?

We thought you might.

Curacao is home to the annual Amstel Curacao Race on bicycles and the Heineken Regatta Curacao with streamlined sailing vessels. You can also go ATV riding across the dunes and cliffs, or take a guided horseback riding tour; island style in the scrublands and along the shoreline or in the shallow waves.

If you’re more comfortable traveling by foot, perhaps you’d like a hike at Cristofel Park where you’ll find white tailed deer, orchids, and the Palabrua native barn owl. If you like really big birds, then you’re in luck, because the biggest ostrich farm outside of Africa, is right here on the island. You can hold emus and ostrich eggs, touch less than week old chicks, feed juveniles, and take photos of adults. There is a Zambezi restaurant where they serve African style ostrich cuisine and this is also where you just might see a slightly smaller sized humming bird fly by while you have lunch.

For another interesting hike, walk, or tour, you can visit the Hato Caves, which have limestone formations, a waterfall, pools, a famous Madonna statue, and a colony of long nose fruit bats who would rather ignore the tourists and keep to themselves. The Indian Caves in Westpunt is another cave and grotto area with fresh spring water and is thought to be an early shelter site of the early native Arawak-Taino islanders. For a walk through a botanical garden filled with exotic life, take a walk through the Curacao Zoo & Nature Reserve.

Of course you can always walk around the historical Dutch forts built from 1634 to 1828. The Riffort has currently been turned into fortified stores, shops and restaurants complete with cannons too big to bring home as souvenirs. A hotel was built right on top of Fort Waterfort which guarded Sint Anna Bay, the entrance to the harbour between the Punda and Otrabanda quarters of the capital city of Willemstad.

Visiting the Curacao Sea Aquarium and Dolphin Academy is a must for all divers and non-divers alike. Besides visiting aquarium tanks, touch tanks filled with stingrays and/or nurse sharks, you can feed sharks, dolphins, flamingos, and turtles, watch a sea lion or dolphin show, train dolphins, visit the Shell museum, or view the undersea in an air conditioned theatre.

Without a complete history lesson which you can choose to read later while sitting on a beach, it’s important to tell you that Curacao has one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean and it’s GDP is ranked 46^th in the world. The population is comprised of a majority of Afro-Caribbean descendants with sizable minorities of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, East Asian, South Asians, and others. This makes the food served in restaurants internationally wide in variety with plenty of choices. You might like to try something delightfully unique like Pincho a Brazilian style sliced grilled beef with Caribbean pasta salad and potatoes.

Now all the aforementioned cultural infusion has also given rise to a class of local cuisine simply known as Krioyo which you can order at one of many authentic local restaurants complete with a scenic view, or you can try a wide variety of local seasoned Krioyo items at the Old Market Food Court where you order straight from individual vendors/cooks.

Well, we ran out of time, but not choices. The Curacao Liqueur Factory has a tour and five choices of liqueur you can choose to purchase. You can visit the Kura Hulanda Museum and visit 15 buildings, which house cultural art, historical relics, and the chronicle of the Origin of Man, or you can choose to just relax on the beach and watch an iguana contemplate the Origin of Species.

No matter what you choose to do, we think you’ll like your choice of Curacao as your next dive, dine, and discover destination.

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