Hello everybody,
Are there any scuba-diving enthusiasts among the members?
Wherever they are!
I live in France and started scuba-diving at age 70.
Now, 7 years later, I have reached Master Scuba Diver level (the maximum at PADI for non professionals) and 300 dives in 20 countries.
Discovering great dive sites has become one of my favorite reasons for traveling.
So, I would love to continue exploring the world with new friends who share this common passion: traveling and scuba-diving.
Jacques Bojin
Replies
I did get to see a lot of animals when I did Scuba Diving though in Mexico and Costa Rica
I have done that in Costa Rica 2013. I did Study Abroad in College to Costa Rica 12 years ago. I remembered the Scuba Diving I've done. However, I haven't done it for years. THis is something I can do when I'm traditionally retired from my career.
At Mabul Island, we have only stayed with Borneo Divers as they consistently get the best ratio of dive permits to Sipadan. I like staying there because the muck diving around Mabul is amazing and I believe it balances out the dive experience. We still went to Sipadan 50% of the time, or greater.
As for Celebes explorer? Yeah... it looks terrible! And more than boat age, diesel exhaust and headaches would be the biggest detractor... especially for Divers.
Forgot to say that in the Maldives we were in the South
Liveabords are fantastic. We now try to go only on liveaboards because of the convenience, the comfort and the possibility to see lots of diving spots we would not see otherwise.
But you must choose them carefully, because some of the boats are very old and uncomfortable.
I've been on half a dozen and they vary from horrendous to marvellous!
I particularly recommend the Siren Fleet. We went with them to Palau and Rajah Ampat, two fantastic experiences (with a slight preference for Palau). Brand new luxury boats, built by divers for divers, charming experienced crew and incredible dive spots.
Sipadan is tempting but the only liveaboard there is very old and uncomfortable.
But The Celebes Explorer (CE) is the only way to guarantee to dive at Sipadan every day of your trip. If you stay at a resort, you are not guaranteed to receive a permit to dive Sipadan.
I saw some pretty bad comments on the boat:
The major downside to the trip is that the boat is very old and the sleeping rooms have a VERY STRONG diesel odor. A number of passengers chose to sleep on deck rather than in the rooms. In addition, the intake for boat's compressor for the dive tanks is located directly above the boats engine exhaust - quite amazing really.
very strong scent of mold and decay. Waking up with a headache was common place.
Also some very bad comments about the pollution and the state of the corals.
Maybe I'll wait until they have a new boat (apparently they'v been talking about it for several years…)
Jacques
Hello Jacques,
Few divers know it is possible to dive in Dubai Mall's aquarium. But it is :-) https://www.alboomdiving.com/featured-location/all-dubai-aquarium-a...
I continue to dive whenever I can. Last time was precisely in the UAE (on the Fujairah side), ... one year ago...
Have a great day!
That boat sounds terrible. With all of our trips, we've never done a liveaboard. We were thinking that would be the most affordable way to do the Maldives. Now we are rethinking that.
I think our first live aboard will either be Truk Lagoon or Raja Ampat.
Definitely do Sipadan!! That is easily the best dive destination I've traveled to.
Hello François!
How did you manage to dive in Dubai's aquarium?
I did not know it was possible, even if it is huge.
I did see some divers in the aquarium but I assumed they were there only for maintenance or cleaning!
Well, when you're ready to dive again, let me know. Who knows.
Maybe you could be interested in going to Wakatobi with us (see my answer to Tim).
And, in the mean time, I may come back to you for tips about Mauritius and Cayman.
Jacques
Francois Aubert said:
Hello Tim,
Just discovered your February reply I had not seem before.
Sorry.
Thanks for the tips about Rodrigues and Sipadan.
I have not yet decided on the destination of our next trip but, in March, we went to the Maldives and were extremely disappointed.
The corals are 90% dead, following a tsunami two years ago and El Nino last year. As result, we did only about 9 dives over a week. The only interesting one was a cleaning station for mantas. We were so close that one of us was practically hit by one leaving the station!
Besides, we were on one of the best and most recent ships in the Maldives, the Maldivian Blue Force One. But it should be avoided at all cost: it is very poorly maintained end the dive team was absolutely awful, rude and incompetent and made us take inconsiderate risks. For example we discovered afterwards that our dive guide was not even registered with Padi any more (maybe kicked out?) nor with any other organization. As an example of his incompetence, if we had three dives in a day, he would take us to 32m, then 34 and then 29… Another day, I refused to follow him further down than 37 (after 35 on the first dive!), knowing that we were diving with Nitrox and that, in any case, it is forbidden in the Maldives to go beyond 30m!
The only good thing about this cruise is that we made several good friends from the States, Australia, South Africa and Germany.
We all complained very strongly to the owners of the ship, the travel agents, some dive magazines and of course Padi, to such a point that they are offering us a free cruise next year in the Red Sea!
Another benefit is that several of our new friends are going with us to Wakatobi in November 2018, for a cruise and a few days at the resort.
Knowing that the Wakatobi ship, the Pelagian (very luxurious), is taking only 10 divers, and that, right now, only six of us are going, we're ready to welcome two more couples to go along with us.
Anyone interested?
I mentioned that last year we went to Baja California. Dancing with the sea lions and swimming with half a dozen of whale sharks minding their own business as if we were not there was quite exhilarating even if the contact with their skin is a bit painful…
I'll try to stay in touch this time!
Jacques
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