Caribbean Travel Blog

Today I went out with Jolly Dive for a couple of tanks. The first dive (Dive 1) was at Cades Reef - a firm favorite here as it provides a good dive almost every time. My dive was no exception - Nurse Shark, Octopus, Ray, and then some smaller stuff flamingo tongue - sea slugs. Paul took the effort to point out the various unidentifiable for me using his slate. The purple patches of Sargent Major eggs for example that the other fishes were taking bites out of ! The vis was good but apparently it wasn't I was told we could see 20ft ! A good torch and the ability to look into all the crevices pays dividends here and at this Paul and Connie the dive masters are excellent.

The second Dive (Dive 2) was a shallow 30 ft max dive on Bluff Cut. The vis was again not to the normal high standard for Antigua and this was due to slightly wet weather systems around. I am always confused as to the poor reviews given for Antigua Diving and I have to imagine that is is the first impression of steep dropoffs or walls isn't there - but the diving and fish life are equal to many other islands. See the videos here on this site for tiger sharks !

The weather is a bit off and on this time of year but it was in fact very enjoyable for us in total for 2 weeks there may have been 3 hours of rain at the most and it was refreshing along with the ever present winds.

Related Links and further reading

Book Tours in Antigua and Barbuda

You may be based in Europe and fancy doing a diving holiday. I am in such a position and have the valuable hindsight to help me out. I have dived Sharm El Sheikh and various places in the Caribbean.

And I can help you decide which is the better option for you.

We need to clarify that value for money is not meaning the cheapest here. Without doubt flying from European Gateways such as London Gatwick Stanstead or Luton for example or from France Italy or Germany etc then without doubt and ALL INCLUSIVE SHARM EL SHEIKH diving holiday will be cheaper.

The problem I have with Egypt diving vacations is multifaceted. SO lets jump right in in and go there:

The problems with diving in Sharm El Sheikh

The Dive Operators are real factories and have largely lost sight of the customer as an individual diver. I'm not going to name any individual operator they are all pretty alike in that they are there for the money. You will see this in the low prices initially rising with addons such as afternoon dives or excursions to best dive sites such as the Thistlegorm. There is nothing wrong in this IF this is clearly stated and simple to understand. In the larger operations you will not find the divemasters and instructors hanging out after the day is out unlike in the Caribbean, that's fair enough as well - I'm not complaining just trying to get across the fact that diving is different here. You will get buses to the dock and have to wait while getting processed to the boats passing the metal detector. This gets fatiguing and after the diving day you might have to walk back the last 75m to the shop after the bus doesn't go all the way back.

If you are part of a group the above isn't really that much of a deal - but for the lone traveller you will find the dive shops largely lonesome places. And this continues into the evening. Thank god I met some students going  for their IDC and their Instructor in my hotel to make things more interesting. I have travelled the world alone and some countries are more for the lone traveller than others. If you are part of a group then you will enjoy what is good about Sharm El Sheikh..

The restaurants and Nightlfe in Sharm is disappointing. Hassle from the locals to be expected and really not too bad if you accept where you are

November 18th saw Jason De Caires Taylor add three new sculptures to MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte) in Mexico.
Please comment on the photos and what they mean to you.

Time Bomb (Mine):Depth 4m, Size 1.5 x 1.5m 

Time Bomb (fuse) : Depth 4m, Size 2.5 x 3.5m

Here is an absolutely wonderful series of videos that will help you prepare for your PADI open water diver course ! Use this if you like as an additional primer to your course.

Here are the links (if you have any comments or questions please leave them at the end of the relevant video)

Episode 1. Introduction to Scuba Diving

Episode 2. About a SCUBA Certification Course

Episode 3. SCUBA Gear Intro

Episode 4. SCUBA Gear Assembly and Notes

Episode 5. Underwater Skills and First Lessons

The Lionfish now inhabit all of the Caribbean and are present on the wreck of the Aeroplane at Nari Nari. But did you know that this dive site got its new wreck for the film Jaws 4 The Revenge !

Image thanks to Laszlo