Quote:
Originally Posted by RedRaider56
I was PADI certified many, many years ago and dove quite often, prior to my wife and I starting a family. I can say without a doubt it is one of the most relaxing, yet invigorating sport to do.
I've was lucky to have an opportunity to dive in places like The Cayman Islands, the great barrier reef, Cozumel, Hawaii,Dominican republic to name a few. One of my favorite places to dive was in Key Largo. Dives are about 30 feet deep, so you can do 4 of them a day and the fish and coral were stunning. May not be an exotic locale but was very nice back in the day
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I did these four spots as well! Grand Cayman Island was amazing and Tarpon Alley was one of the most memorable spots I've ever been at.
I've dove in:
-Haiti : Saw and photoed a group of 15-18 lobsters all squeezed in together under a giant rock-small cave. Incredible coral and colors
-Bora Bora: Numerous sharks (black tip, reef and white tips) and many octopus
-Jamaica: Dove through a small cave during the dive and came out the other side and divemaster had a GIANT moray eel he knew that he fed on each dive. The eel was at least 5 feet long and thick as 6" rope. Also two giant barracuda that looked nasty as hell.
-Fiji: Lot's of smaller fish and really some of the nicest clearest water like Cayman Islands
-New Jersey: Did my checkout dive along the rocks and did a few shipwrecks. It's a little scary at first as the visibility is low and you really need to pay attention.
-Hawaii: Lot's of turtles and some porpoises
-Great Barrier Reef: Sadly the weather was bad the day I dove and the overcast sky made the experience less than stellar. Saw millions of small fish. Also several giant clams like 3 feet wide and incredible colors. Nothing big but really cool.
-British Virgin Islands: I was on a dive boat for 10 days and we did the Wreck of the Rhone, the wreck they used in the move "The Deep" with Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bissett and her giant knockers. Also did my first night dive and it was incredible! So many neat things including parrot fish that encapsulated themselves in a slime bubble to sleep safely.
-Grand Cayman: So many BIG fish including a 400-500 pound giant Grouper, nurse sharks, hundreds of 25-40 pound giant tarpons all clustered. Also went really deep on one of the dives on the Cayman Wall, about 140 feet deep. The deepest I ever went.
-Nassau Bahamas: Lot's of variety and some turtles and good sized variety of fish
-Cozumel: Really neat protected preserve we dove right off the beach. Had a great variety and bigger fish. Lots of stuff on the bottom as well.