Roatan, the Big Island, Indonesia, the Sea of Cortez

I've always been delighted with the detailed and honest reports that Undercurrent members submit. Not only have they helped thousands of readers select the best place to go diving, but they also encourage resorts to buy new mattresses, extend the dives past 40 minutes, and discipline the divemasters who harass the creatures. The travel industry listens to Undercurrent readers.

As I read the reports, I noticed that many interesting comments and criticism deserve sharing, so I've selected a few you might miss when you peruse them in search of your next destination.

Transition Journeys

One unique liveaboard trip to consider is those when a boat is being repositioned; you begin in one port and end in another. You typically dive places not usually visited, and while you might get a good deal on the price, flights may be more expensive since you arrive and depart from different airports.

The Aggressor Fleet has several transition trips, and John Morgan (Surprise, AZ) spent 13 days on the Raja Ampat Aggressor in July, traveling from Raja Ampat to Borneo, about 2000 nautical miles. He writes, "We started in the Lembeh Straits for two days - the world's best muck diving. We did a day at Bangka Island and a day at Bunaken National Park (lots of turtles). Then, three days transiting the north end of Sulawesi Island. We dove a couple of reefs that did not have names, doing two dives per day, understandable as we had a lot of miles to go. From Sulawesi to Borneo, we found a floating fish platform with two whale sharks below, which was incredible. The last part was at the Derawan Islands for heavy current drift diving. We saw eagle rays, barracuda, and a few distant sharks, including a zebra shark. . . .With the best crew I've ever seen. The food was great. The boat is older but well-maintained. It was a great trip." www.aggressor.com

The Philippine Aggressor II also makes transfer trips, and Randy Alexander (Littleton, CO) joined a 10-day trip in June. They were moving the boat from Puerto Princesa to Cebu and would return in the fall. "We started by diving Tubbataha Reefs National Parks, then continued to Cogayanillo, which is excellent because divers rarely visit. We continued to Apo Island and worked north toward Cebu. We did see a few sharks, but large pelagics were rare. There was a massive amount of smaller sea life and great macro photography. The boat and crew were excellent. It's a new boat, and I was on its third charter. The transition is a great way to see a variety of sites. Because a considerable distance must be covered, this results in less diving. I did 29 dives on this ten-day trip; three were night dives. We had time to relax, and photographers had more time to work on photos." www.aggressor.com

Flight Woes!

Indonesian inter-island flights can be a headache, especially if you don't use a travel agent and book your own, as did Judy Orange of Irvine, CA. Before traveling to Sarong to board a Raja Ampat liveaboard, she booked five nights at Spice Island Resort in Ambon, where she would take a direct flight on Lion Air to Sorong. She booked through Nusatrip. "Knowing Lion Air from experience and reputation, I checked the flight schedule daily. On the fourth morning, at breakfast, our flight to Sorong disappeared from the website! A phone call by resort staff confirmed that it had been canceled. But the noon flight in a few hours was still open, so we packed as fast as we could to catch this flight. We did not want to miss our boat! At the airport, the board indicated that our canceled noon flight the next day was replaced by an earlier 9:00 am flight, so we could have stayed the 5th night at the resort. We were not informed of this by the resort or airline. In fact, a Lion Air staff member showed up at the resort to deliver our tickets and to collect a penalty fee for the change, even though Lion Air canceled our original flight. This person never mentioned the next day's morning flight."

Judy received no refund for the shortened stay and paid for an extra night at the Sorong hotel. www.spiceislanddivers.com   www.nusatrip.com

We get many reports of inter-island flights in Indonesia (and elsewhere in the world) screwing up plans. Judy was wise enough to track her flight daily, but many travelers do not. Using a reputable travel agency can help avoid such hitches.

Long waits in airport lines are another annoyance. They are common on Saturdays, the day many tourists use to arrive and depart during a few afternoon hours. Bonaire and Cozumel get backed up, as does Roatan, where Ronald Bailey (Roanoke, VA) said in August, "It took an hour and 45 minutes to go through immigration while standing in a hot line/building. They were not fast at processing entries. Before entering, one needs to fill out a custom form. Be warned that you must fill out a custom exit form before exiting." The solution is simple: arrive or depart on any day except Saturday.

What About the Lion Fish?

In June, Kenneth LaBarbeara (Grass Valley, CA) had a great trip to Belize's Blackbird Resort: "We were treated like royalty! Dives were full of marine life: grouper, blacktip sharks, nurse sharks, eels, tangs, lobsters, turtles, rays, jacks, barracuda, triggers, and even a toadfish!"

Reefs are healthy, but he notes that although lionfish prowl the reefs, tourists are not allowed to spear them. "I don't recall any [Caribbean] dive resort that would not give a qualified diver a Hawaiian sling to hunt these invasive creatures. The divemaster explained that they were speared and fed to the sharks for years, and the sharks got used to the sound of a sling and would consider it a "dinner bell." The sharks became overly friendly toward the divers. On one dive, while taking a picture of a large nurse shark, a smaller one swam right through my legs!" While resorts don't want their divers nipped at by sharks, tourists with spearguns are essential for keeping reefs clear of lionfish. It's a dilemma. www.blackbirdresort.com

When the Reefs are Dead, Wait Until Dark

On the big island of Hawaii, Jack's Diving Locker has long been the go-to place, and a reader who calls herself "Love Sharks" (Portland, OR) visited in May.

"I have always used JDL; with our 10 percent discount (for return customers), we paid $198 for a two-tank dive. The sites were over-dived, boring, and browned out. We had to look hard to find critters. JDL seems to cater to student divers, which means going to easy and over-dived sites. It's the specialty dives that make Jack's worthwhile. To our delight, on the first night of our manta dive, we had 31 mantas show up; on the second night, we had 26. There was so much food in the water, and the mantas were loving it."

"I did two black water dives. The first was cut short 20 minutes into the dive because the guide spotted an oceanic white tip. I never saw it, but I would have loved to. I know they're an aggressive species, but I wonder if it was appropriate to abort the dive? There was no refund for this expensive dive. A few nights later, I watched the incredible show of deep-ocean critters coming up to the shallows. I was struck by a squid with torpedo speed three times and got inked. Had the guide not told us about it in the dive briefing, it might have been unsettling not knowing what just impacted my body. Other sightings were pyrosomes, comb jellies, siphonophores, salp chains, and other things that were just indescribably beautiful." www.jacksdivinglocker.com

Where's Our Boat 2

When two divers were lost for nearly 40 hours in the Gulf of Mexico in July, their liveaboard, the MV Fling, had no chase boat in the water. There should always be a boat ready to pick up divers, though even resorts fail, as Joan Huke (Centennial, CO) found out while diving in June with Borneo Divers at Sipadan in Malaysia. Her boat had a couple of snorkelers aboard, but she was the only diver. Just before she entered the water, she heard a snorkeler say she did not want to snorkel there. Now, divers have the right to expect their boat to stay with them during a dive, but upon surfacing her boat had vanished.

She says, "The water was rough. It wasn't terrible but I do get seasick and was worried about it. The divemaster cursed and then waved his safety sausage. Later, he began blowing his whistle. I waved my safety sausage, too. We were not extraordinarily far from shore or other dive boats. I told him I was going to swim to shore or to another boat. He said no, he's coming. After 20-30 minutes of bobbing around, we saw the boat on the horizon, and with the waves, there was no way he could see us. But he knew kind of where we were and finally found us. It was not that scary with my BC fully inflated and knowing I could swim to safety if I had to. The boat driver decided to take the snorkelers back to the dive shop while we were diving. Good thing we didn't have an emergency " www.sipadan.com/Borneo-Divers.php

Grand Cayman Sharks

On Grand Cayman, Ocean Frontiers and the Compass Point resort, on the East End, is away from the madding crowds. Their dive packages even include a rental car, so you can easily get back and forth and try nearby restaurants. Michael Cotter (Great Falls, VA) visited in May, liked their condo accommodations, and made 25 dives in the week, repeating only two sites. "The dives covered almost the entire 'horseshoe' of sites from Old Man Bay on the North Side (Babylon) wrap-ping around the East End to Frank Sound on the south (Fantasea Land). The boat rides were never longer than 30 minutes. A stretch of sites outside the reef was 100 percent reliable for reef shark sightings; we regularly saw up to three different sharks at these sites.

"On several occasions, they would swim no more than five feet from us. At one site, a large remora repeatedly tried to hitch a ride on us. On the North Side, we were lucky to see a hammerhead and a pair of spotted eagle rays rooting around in the sand. Bleaching was worse, but not excessively so, than what I saw on Little Cayman a few months prior."

And maybe those sharks he saw were at Little Cayman a few months prior.
www.compasspointdiveresort.com

So, fellow divers, keep your reader reports coming. We, and all Undercurrent subscribers, look forward to reading about your dive trips.

- Ben Davison