Has This Ever Happened To You?

Has it ever happened to you? You tell someone that you’re a SCUBA diver and the next thing they ask is “Where is your favorite dive spot?” This happens to me all the time. There are other variations like,  “Where’s the best wreck dive or the best shark dive or the best corral?” If you’ve only been to one dive destination, the answer is easy but if you’ve dived many places, it gets difficult to identify the best.  Best is also an opinion with a lot of variables. 

For example, if you asked me what wreck dive is my favorite, I don’t know how I would choose. Would I say is my favorite it would be the Tibbets in Cayman Brac? Or is it the C-58 in Cancun or Hilma Hooker in Bonaire or the remains and anchor from ship that broke up in the 1600’s in Bonaire. There are a lot of wrecks that come to mind but it’s almost impossible to say that one was the best or a favorite because they all have so much to see. I’ve dived these wrecks numerous times and each time I see something I missed on a previous dive.

There isn’t favorite or best place for sharks, coral, turtles or rays either, since the creatures you see on a dive is completely up to chance.  I’ve done organized shark diving in Roatan where they fed chum to the sharks. Amazing as that was, I find that it is particularly thrilling to see sharks by chance, just cruising through the reef.  I have been lucky enough to see magnificent sharks of many varieties in the Hawaiian Islands and in just about all the islands I’ve been to in the Caribbean, without having to lure them in. Diving with a shark anywhere is experience that I never get tired of.

Coral and sponges can vary in character from one island to another. Cayman Brac used to have the biggest Stag Horn coral that I ever saw until the hurricane took most of it out, but is still has some of the biggest barrel sponges I’ve seen. The Brain corals seem to be the biggest in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and they are enhanced with a riot of colorful sponges and tunicates. Whatever the reason that the coral varies from Island to Island it’s a reason to dive all the Islands. So many islands, so little time. 

There is such diversity of life in the ocean you can dive the same island over and over and always see something new each time. So when people ask me where the best place to SCUBA dive is I answer “under water”.