The Caribbean, Hawaii, the Galapagos, Florida

For the past year, American divers have been relegated to diving in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Mexico. While many have had some excellent diving, it's still good news that Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, Palau, Thailand, Costa Rica, and Fiji are gradually opening and looking for divers. Entry requirements can be tricky. For example, Indonesia requires a visa from one of its embassies, and you have to provide proof you're fully vaccinated and have $25,000 in health/travel insurance coverage. And there are test requirements to enter. See the accompanying sidebar to check online for entry requirements for all countries.

Many Undercurrent subscribers who refused to sit home have filed their reader reports. It's no surprise that as dive travel took off, popular destinations such as Bonaire drew a lot of interest, especially because of easily accessible shore diving,though it's not for everyone.

In February, Bethany Kolb (Albuquerque, NM) went to Buddy's Dive Resort and reported, "Our package included a truck with a tank rack in the bed. As a diver of a certain age, I made several shore dives, but they have become less appealing over the years but still rewarding despite the effort. A guided full-moon night dive on Buddy's house reef to see the phosphorescing ostracods received high marks. Most boat dives were off Klein Bonaire, where the reefs were in good shape with many tropical fish and macro subjects. Buddy's has clearly perfected their guiding services" https://buddydive.com

However, they chose not to stay at Buddy's but at Belmar Apartments, a long-time favorite of Undercurrent readers. "We had a three-bedroom/two-story condo (5 people) with a second-story veranda large enough for evening dining, lounging, and gear drying. The kitchen was well stocked with dishes, etc. There was an option to stock groceries,beer, wine, and liquor, making it easy after a long journey. Grocery stores are a short drive away and well-stocked." http://www.belmar-bonaire.com

Jeanne Downey (Baden, PA) was on the Roatan Aggressor this past February and says the staff was excellent; however, "Roatan diving has taken a turn for the worse. The soft corals still look OK, but it seemed like there were fewer fish, and a large percentage of hard corals looked to be dead or dying. I read that it was due to stony coral tissue loss disease and locals catching the fish when the tourist industry collapsed during the pandemic. Even Mary's Place looked terrible. But we saw a few unusual fish (a toadfish, a couple of stargazers, and white mantis shrimps), many fish cleaning stations, and some cool invertebrates."

Shark feeds are becoming a staple of dive operations, and Jeanne describes the Cara a Cara shark feed: "Frozen fish pieces are put in a bucket on the bottom, and after a while, the guide is supposed to take the lid off for the feeding frenzy. Except the sharks have figured out how to get the lid off much earlier - very exciting, especially when you're right there and the sharks are pushing the bucket towards you!" www.aggressor.com

In January, Nancy Boore (Frederick, MD) boarded the Turks & Caicos Aggressor, and says: "True to form with Aggressors, the food was phenomenal!" However, she also wrote, "The boat needs some TLC and maintenance. We had a bit of a sporty overnight ride to our first site; the salon and kitchen doors wouldn't latch or close properly, so we had doors coming off hinges, things coming out of cabinets and flying about, dishes flying about and breaking . . . the boat didn't seem to be in the best state of repair, not consistent with what I've found on other Aggressors."

We hasten to point out that Aggressor Adventures is a franchise operation, and each vessel is privately owned. Some vessels are less well-run than others, despite operating under an approved formula.

Since the 1980s, we have felt that Pirate's Point on Little Cayman Island is perhaps the Caribbean's best small dive resort. For Dave Reubush (Toana VA), who has visited annually since 1995, it's become family. "The February diving was as typical, great, with the bonus of several gray reef sharks. After almost two years of few divers, the sharks are back patrolling the walls and shallows, and the lionfish are few; even with a minimal number of visitors, the resorts took time to remove lionfish. The water was rough, driven by strong winds, producing a lot of surge and sand in the water. The Bloody Bay wall still had at least 60-foot visibility. On my last dive at Meadows, we saw everything from a pipefish thinner than a piece of spaghetti to a large nurse shark, an eagle ray, and three gray reef sharks. Pirates Point has always been known for its food [thanks to the founder, Gladys Howard, who was a chef in Texas]. The two chefs, Joanne and Winston, continue the tradition of great food. . . . . I need to acknowledge the caring shown by Susan Howard, the owner. My wife has Alzheimer's, and she cannot be left alone. This was going to be an issue for me being able to dive, but Susan flew her aunt down from Texas to spend time with my wife while I went diving. This was a typical example of the wonderful people at Pirates Point. For those familiar with Pirates Point, I should note that Gay (manager and head divemaster), Ed (Gay's husband and general fix-it man for the resort), and Diane (morning chef) have all retired. Michelle, who had been the divemaster, is now managing full-time." https://piratespointresort.com

For Unique Diving

Hawaii offers some unique diving for divers who tire of the Caribbean. A good friend, Jeffrey Zankel (Sebastopol, CA), who has more than 1000 dives, reports on his trip last May. "I went on Jack's Diving Locker's dolphin snorkel, and bottlenose dolphins were with us from the moment we left the harbor until we grew tired of each other. Then, the guide asked us what we'd like to see. Could he rustle up a few oceanic white tips? He pointed the boat straight out to sea until we reached an offshore fish farm structure. I jumped in and had my mind completely blown by a pelagic white tip directly below and one coming toward but turning away. We loved our snorkel guides from Jack's."

Jack's features black-water diving, which they do after sunset in mid-ocean, with bright underwater lights to attract plankton rising from the depths. Jeff said, "For Jack's Pelagic Magic dive, you tethered yourself to a weighted vertical line and while you could go up and down to a max depth of 50 feet, if you just hung there, all manner of plankton, jellies, siphonophores, and undulating worms, mostly translucent, passed right by your light in front of your face. The boat deployed a sea anchor that aided in ensuring that we drifted at the same speed as the critters, making for excellent photographic opportunities." www.jacksdivinglocker.com

By the way, do you know that if you want to refer "to one plankton," you use the singular "plankter?

Emmette Murkett (Wetumpka, AL) traveled to Cuba in January to join the Jardines Avalon III liveaboard and dive the Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen). "The crew deserves a lot of credit for a wonderful visit. The dive staff was excellent, our 33-foot tender was spacious, easy to enter and exit, the boat staff was eager to please, and the food was fantastic, with freshly baked bread and pastries . . . . The hard corals were in really good shape. Only two dives out of 24 had no sharks. Most had six to nine gray sharks, and many had a couple of silky sharks. The grays would zoom in and out to the point of being annoying. I saw more grouper in a week than I have seen in the Caribbean in the last 10 years. At three sites, we had a Goliath Grouper hang out with us. All were over 300 pounds, and one was over 500."

But the night dives were less exceptional, "especially when you consider the onslaught of blood worms, one of which ended up in my ear until the next morning." Ugh! https://tinyurl.com/yc2zmtr7

The Galapagos Islands, of course, offer some of the most exciting diving in the world, as Richard Mertz (Mount Pleasant, SC) found out in February aboard the MV Calypso. "Diving was spectacular. Just go down and hang on (or sit) to watch the show. From scalloped hammerheads galore to a herd of sea lions playing, marine iguanas feeding, and huge schools of fish. The Calypso is a new boat, airy, roomy, and friendly. Even when all 16 divers were getting ready, the dive deck had plenty of room. It provided a fantastic experience, so much that several people cried at the last-night farewell party because it was so good."

That makes a change for us from often hearing about divers crying because they chose the wrong boat. calipsodive.com

And for Macro

If you're a muck diver and the prospect of traveling halfway across the world deters you, St. Vincent in the Grenadines is the critter capital of the Caribbean. Keith Wilmott (Gainesville, FL) dived with Bill Tewes' Dive St. Vincent (Sadly, good ol' Bill is no longer with us) and reports, "Crawling around the sand and peering under rocks hunting for minute creatures is one of divemaster DJ's favorite activities. At Steps, with lots of soft corals, spectacular gorgonians on the walls and overhangs, and great diversity of colorful sponges, we found a brilliant red frogfish resting on a brightly colored sponge. A night dive with dive leader Cally, just off Young Island, produced a couple of octopus hiding beside the remains of their prey, several sponge-carrying crabs, lots of sleeping fish, a King Helmet conch eating a sea urchin, a gray cowrie patrolling the sand, and a sea slug (Navanax gemmatus). https://www.divestvincent.com

"There is an excellent new dive operation at Paradise Beach Hotel, run by Kerry and James, young, energetic, and knowledgeable. With a great diversity of hard and soft coral everywhere, Camden Park is notable for the overhangs, caves, walls covered with gorgonians, and lots of small tropical fish. In the sandy bottom of Petit Byahaut, we found a black-spotted eel, plenty of morays, lobsters, and in the sand at Lady Susan James, numerous swallowtail headshield slugs, octopus, and lobsters. James gave us a spearfishing lesson, and we speared numerous lionfish - James cleaned and barbecued them that evening." www.paradisesvg.com

Or Stay Home

If international travel is still less appealing than it was for you, the east coast of Florida lies waiting. Craig A. Wood (Radnor, PA) was happy to reacquaint himself with the joys of West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, and Jupiter last December. With Jupiter Dive Center, he reported, "Several reef sharks, a good size lemon shark, several goliath grouper, many southern rays at Tunnels, a few hawksbill turtles, at least one loggerhead, several green morays, and all the usual reef fish." https://jupiterdivecenter.com

With Starfish Scuba from Boynton Beach, he says the first site "was covered in a huge school of grunt and the usual reef fish. The second dive had a large bull shark; we also had a couple of good-sized lemon sharks stay with us for quite a while on the Bud Bar." https://starfishscuba.com

There's a lot of good diving north of Miami, with plenty of hotels and restaurants as well. Don't overlook it.

And, no matter where you go, don't forget to post a report on your latest dive trip. It's easy to do, and you can even add photos if you wish. www.undercurrent.org/SubRR

And if you want to know any more about the trips reported above, simply go to https://tinyurl.com/58ewjaxa to find the complete reports.

- Ben Davison