|
Just booked my flights to Samoa for holidays.. Does anyone have any dive recommendations for the region? I'm also thinking about getting an entry level computer to track my dive times/profiles etc.. I don't dive very often, so don't want to spend a fortune. Is the suunto zoop still the go-to entry level option?
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2013 06:46
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 04:48 |
|
|
Tomberforce posted:Off on a dive trip to Nusa Lembongan in Bali tomorrow. Can't wait. Anyone dived there or elsewhere in Indonesia? Yep, about 2 years ago. Was spectacular.. Crystal clear water, beautiful corals in perfect condition. Can't remember the name of the dive shop I went out with but it was right near where the boat from bali landed, and the trip was only me, one other guy and the guide. Would definitely go back. One of my mates did a liveaboard trip to komodo and said it's the best diving he's done. 5 dives / day for 4 days.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2013 14:38
|
|
|
Just booked a trip to the Philippines in December - going to be diving in Coron, followed by a 4 night/5 day boat expedition through the islands to El Nido where i'll do a couple more dives. Does anyone have any dive shop or site recommendations? I've heard the diving is incredible so I really can't wait. Unfortunately my wife doesn't dive so I'll probably only be able to squeeze in 3 days diving if I'm lucky - 2 days in Coron and 1 in El Nido. Will be doing heaps of snorkeling on the boat tour though.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2013 06:16
|
|
|
Trivia posted:Get your lovely lady into a rig and throw 'er in the ocean! She won't drown! (maybe) Hah, she can't swim either so that doesn't really help! Even with a life jacket on, and me towing her around she's scared shitless but gets pretty excited when surrounded by fish. We actually spent a bit of money on some decent snorkeling kit for her for this trip instead of the foggy, leaky cheap k-mart crap so hopefully that will help her confidence in the water. Bangkero posted:Sweet, are you going with Tao Expeditions? Yep, a friend did a tour with Tao about a month ago and had wonderful things to say about the trip - gonna be sleeping in hammocks, surrounded by palm trees and eating suckling pig and freshly caught fish  Thanks for the tips, will definitely check out those spots
|
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2013 03:23
|
|
|
Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on the news but it's not looking good. Haven't heard anything from Tao, but from what I've heard the comms infrastructure has been completely destroyed so any news coming out of the region is pretty slow. We might just put in a travel insurance claim - It doesn't feel right going there immediately after a disaster of this sort of scale.. They are trying to rebuild their lives, bury loved ones, etc. all while having tourists swanning about. Our flights to/from Philippines were via KL so we might redirect to Thailand or something instead.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2013 02:43
|
|
|
Hip Hoptimus Prime posted:Hi diver Goons! Have any of you gone to Caye Caulker, Belize and used that as a base for diving? I'm going to be there for about a week in June. I'm thinking of doing a night dive, a 2 tank trip and a 3 tank trip. I don't want to do Blue Hole this time around though (I haven't dove since last July, so I want to take it easy on this go around and make sure I'm still comfortable). I'm in Caye Caulker right now, did the blue hole today, as well as Half Moon Caye and Long Caye. Went with these guys: http://www.belizedivingservices.com/ Super professional, great guides and crew - if you don't do the blue hole you'll save a bunch of cash, it was expensive - $321 USD for the 3 dive day. I'd definitely do more dives with them if i could afford it, but I'm backpacking for 6 months and really need to be thrifty. I'll also be diving some cenote caverns near Tulum, Mexico in a week or so which i'm really looking forward to. Caye Caulker itself is also a lovely island, laid back, safe, good food but it's expensive compared to other countries in the region.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2014 06:05
|
|
|
I just finished a dive tour of the cenotes/fresh water caverns in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun. Holy poo poo, I cannot recommend this highly enough - INSANE vis of like 100+M, haloclines, full overhead caverns with beautiful stalactite/stalagmite formations, hydrogen sulfide clouds creating eerie underwater swamps. If you guys get the opportunity, get onto it! Here's some pics (not mine, I don't have an underwater camera yet unfortunately). The Pit  Angelita  Grand Cenote  Dreamgate 
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2014 16:58
|
|
|
Yeah full cave is pretty terrifying, but these caverns are a great intro - no special cert is needed, you just need a bit of experience and good buoyancy control so you don't smash into any delicate formations (I've only logged ~42 dives). You are never more than 60M from a natural light/air source in case of emergency. The guides you go with have to dive with a full cave rig so they are more than adequately kitted out to help you if you get into trouble. The only issue I had was some equalization problems, not great when you are in an overhead so cannot just ascend a bit to sort it out. That said, if you are full cave/deep/tech certified, or want to get certified then this is the place to be. Some of these cenotes have over 250km of interconnected cave systems.. It's pretty mind blowing.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2014 17:16
|
|
|
eviljelly posted:
If I had my choice again, i'd go for the vyper over the zoop - it's a touch more expensive but includes the usb interface cable (~$50 on it's own) plus it has an illuminated display instead of the glow in the dark display on the zoop.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2014 23:54
|
|
|
Aquila posted:Counterpoint: I love my zoop, it's big and easy to use and just always works so easy. The vyper is the same computer pretty much. If you are going to get the USB cable anyway then it's almost the same price. Zoop is fine in daylight, but if you want to do night/wreck/cavern then the luminescent display is worth it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2014 23:04
|
|
|
Jealous! Make sure you do the cavern/cenote diving there.. Seriously incredible stuff. I dived with Blue Life, super professional guys with fantastic service - highly recommended. http://bluelife.com/
|
|
#
¿
Jun 11, 2014 16:31
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 04:48 |
|
|
GORDON posted:IIRC, to connect the Zoop to a PC you need to buy the $50+ cable to do it. Kind of a ripoff, as those things go. Not sure if it's still the case, but the zoop+cable was the same price as the next model up (vyper i think?) which included a cable.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2016 06:54
|
|