On Scuba diving

On our cruise, we finally got to scuba dive somewhere other than Puerto Rico. Not that there is anything wrong with diving here. In fact, we are very VERY lucky here. But it is always good to try something/someplace different, to see "how it's done" in other places, and just to see different "stuff." That said, "seeing different stuff" always invites comparisons.

So, with my extremely limited experience diving elsewhere, here goes.

Our two dives in St. Kitts were beautiful. The sea was calm, getting on and off the boat was easy. The boat dives we do here, especially the ones to The Wall, can be a little dicey. The boat dives out to Desecheo Island are usually a little easier than The Wall because the anchorages are in the lee of the island rather than in open ocean. .

Of the islands we visited, St. Lucia and St. Kitts are the two I'd most like to go back and dive. However it appears all the dives in St. Kitts and most of the dives in St. Lucia are boat dives, although St. Lucia does have a few shore dives.

That is one place we are truly spoiled. Except for The Wall (LaParguera/Guanica) and Desecheo (Rincon), all of our dives are shore dives. There are eight different shore dive sites and nine different dives within 20 minutes of Ola Lola's and our house.

Logistically shore dives can't be beat. No driving to a boat, fitting out a boat, no making sure there's fuel, no prep time. We've been known to call one another and say, "Hey, it looks great. Let's go!" We just grab our dive gear and a tank of air and go. We can even fill a tank on the way if need be.

Granted not everyone likes shore dives. There is always a walk from the car park to the water and then a swim out to the "drop" zone. Waves and changing shoreline conditions can make entrances and exits adventures unto themselves. But for me, those are generally small inconveniences for having so much so close.

We are also lucky in what we see on our dives. We regularly see the common reef fish. Some are more abundant at one site than others. For example, we almost always see black durgon at Shacks but rarely see them at Natural. We regularly see green and hawksbill turtles on most of our dives. At one site we often nurse sharks but we don't see them at other sites. For some reason, spotted eagle ray sightings are becoming more common at a couple of sites but again, not at others. At one site, if you know where to look, there are sea horses and baby octopus. We don't see those at any other site.

The underwater terrain is different at each site. One site is mostly hard coral that forms canyons and little tunnels to swim through. Other sites have lots of sponges and soft corals like sea fans.

I'm not saying other places, other islands, don't have the same kinds of great diving. The research I've done says of course they do. That's why I/we want to dive other islands, to see their version. I just think we are remarkably lucky to live here with so much so close.

For those who don't know, I have quite a number of underwater photos on our Flickr page. You can check them out there.