How to Choose the Best Dive Site

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How to Choose the Best Dive Site

• By Victoria McLaughlin
• December 2003

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Time to Begin

• Choose a destination. Call your travel agent and
  get some brochures.
• Research the site and institution leading the
  dive.
• Make sure you are given a permit to dive in the
  country.
• ALWAYS check your own equipment.
• Allow for only one dive-master to take no more
  than 5 divers under his supervision.
• Check your dive time tables. Know YOURSELF how
  long you can dive for, at what depth can you not
  exceed, and how long your decompression stop
  should last.
• Relax, enjoy, and remember a camera!

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Dive Site Safety To enhance the enjoyment and
safety of a dive.

• All dive sites should be affiliated with a diving
  organization.
• The dive guide should jump into the water to
  determine the exact strength and direction of the
  water.
• Tides are an important aspect to consider when
  diving. One should consider the direction,
  strength of currents, and ones own ability
  before getting into the water.
• Drift diving is easy and safe (most popular) when
  conducted with proper care. A knowledgeable
  dive-master should instruct the divers before
  setting out.

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Scuba Tips for Beginners

• Ensure you check your equipment and your buddys.
• Never dive alone, follow the buddy system
  procedures.
• Listen carefully to the pre-dive briefing and
  follow the instructions carefully.
• Start your descent without spending much time on
  the surface, to avoid being swept off the dive
  point.
• Never swim against a strong current.

• Make sure you do not exceed a depth of 30 meters.
• Avoid decompression stops in open water. You
  could get swept away many miles from your dive
  boat.
• For additional safety, make sure all your dives
  are no-decompression dives.
• Always carry a flag or a surface balloon to
  signal in case of distress. Use this if the dive
  boat cannot be seen when you surface.

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Dive Sites in the Caribbean
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Turks Caicos IslandsBest of the Best in the
Caribbean

• GRACE BAY AREA North Eastern side of the Islands
• Prolific marine life such as groupers,
  barracudas, turtles, sharks and manta rays
  inhabit the area.
• 1. Coral Gables -- A gentle slope to the wall
  allows divers to pick their depth. Home to
  grunts, snappers and groupers. 2. Graceland --
  This site has a large sand chute and swim-through
  leading to at wall at 50 feet. The wall has many
  indentations. Reef sharks swim in the depths off
  the wall. 3. Grouper Hole -- The mooring is by
  a deep sandy grotto, the Grouper Hole, with a
  large coral head in the middle of a sand chute
  that leads divers to a gently sloping wall. 4.
  Aquarium -- Enormous schools of grunts and
  snappers are ubiquitous on top of the wall at the
  Aquarium. The wall has some spectacular sand
  chutes that run down through to the reef at a
  depth of 100 feet.

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The Mediterranean Menorca

• Beneath the water there is an abundance of life
  in a environment that is one of the richest
  marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean.
• There is an outstanding selection of caverns and
  caves to dive through.
• Fascinating ship wrecks surround the Island
  dating back to 1430.

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Wreck Dives Croatia

• The U-81 was one of the successful VII-C class
  German submarines she was built by Bremen Vulkan
  during 1940, and launched during 1941.
• Unlike the crystal blue waters of Australia and
  the Caribbean, Croatias water is royal blue.
• Diving in Croatia requires booties, gloves, and
  wet suit jacket with a hood. Without these
  accessories, the diver will catch pneumonia.
• Water is clear and dives do not require torches.
  The marine life is simple and most ground cover
  consists of weeds.

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Boston Harbor

• Three and a Half Fathom Ledge
• A plunging slope of rock, boulders, and rubble
  that eventually lead to a mud bottom at
  approximately 95 feet. A pretty New England dive
  for all. Do not forget to bring a torch and
  netthere are plenty of LOBSTERS!

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Viewed by Anne Moulin
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