Dry Tortugas
aquadiver
the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/george.cathcart/DryTortugas2009#
are from there, but a few were taken in the Upper Keys. Tortugas are
awesome reefs for the Atlantic.
Daniel Kessler
dived anywhere else!
george.cathcart
> "awesome" ...a very overused word...and I guess they're awesome if you haven't
> dived anywhere else!
>
> aquadiver wrote:
> > Got in two full days of diving in the Dry Tortugas last week. Most of
> > are from there, but a few were taken in the Upper Keys. Tortugas are
> > awesome reefs for the Atlantic.
That's why I added the qualifier "for the Atlantic." I think the coral
cover in the Tortugas is "awesome" compared with Grand Cayman, USVI,
Belize, Saba, Statia, St. Kitts and Roatan. Bonaire and Cozumel are
probably better, and some of the Bahamas south of Bimini are
comparable. The Tortugas reefs are FAR superior to any other coral
reefs in Florida, from the Keys to West Palm. Those statements of
opinion are based entirely on my personal experiences with those
reefs.
I wouldn't compare them to anything in the South Pacific, where I have
not dived, but I expect that when I do dive Raja Ampat and Palau next
year, all the Caribbean sites will drop off my map. I also wouldn't
compare the Tortugas to the Pacific sites I have dived, including the
Galapagos, Monterey Bay and La Jolla Cove, because those are
completely different ecosystems, as are the wrecks of North Carolina,
Delaware and the St. Lawrence River.
Where you been lately, Daniel?
gc
Greg Mossman
wrote:
Who are you diving with in Raja Ampat, George? I'm trying to figure
out my Indonesia plans for next year, probably Wakatobi but it's not
set in stone.
If you can go this October, Aggressor is selling the Palau Aggressor
for only $1,995/pp according to today's e-mail.
george.cathcart
We're booked on the Shakti through a company called Dive the World.
If it goes. Our original booking was for mid-February, but by a month
ago nobody else had signed up for that time, so they canceled the
trip. We're now booked for mid-March, but there are only two other
people booked, and they need two more to make that trip, so we're in a
bit of limbo now. We have our airline tickets from the US to Bali, but
not yet from Bali to Sorong. We're going to wait on that till we have
a definite confirmation on the boat.
I can't do a trip like that in October, unfortunately. Wish I could,
but the time and money for Raja and then Palau next year are going to
restrict me to a few long weekends to Florida for a while. Until I
win the lottery.
Check out the Shakti. Relatively inexpensive, looks like a nice boat,
and if you guys book it we'll have the six needed to make it go. Our
dates are March 16-27 or something like that.
gc
Greg Mossman
My Komodo trip was sort of like that. Ended up sailing with 8
passengers on a huge boat meant for 16-18, and two of those passengers
were comped "professional" videographers. Even so, it still got a bit
congested on some of the dive sites.
> I can't do a trip like that in October, unfortunately. Wish I could,
> but the time and money for Raja and then Palau next year are going to
> restrict me to a few long weekends to Florida for a while. Until I
> win the lottery.
I'm hoping to do just one big trip in 2010 and I dare not even plan
that until I know a bit more about how the rest of 2009 is going to
turn out. Raja Ampat sounds great, but so does Wakatobi. Already
done Palau twice and I'd go again in a heartbeat, but only after I've
been to a few more spots in Indonesia/Malaysia.
> Check out the Shakti. Relatively inexpensive, looks like a nice boat,
> and if you guys book it we'll have the six needed to make it go. Our
> dates are March 16-27 or something like that.
11 days with a shared bathroom? Janna would kill me. We'll probably
end up at Wakatobi as I've suffered a mixed bag of boats over the
years and if this is to be my one big trip for the year, I want to
make sure to get it right.
Daniel Kessler
"george.cathcart" wrote:
> Where you been lately, Daniel?
George...not lately...with the economic situation these past few years, plus the
problem of carrying around all that u/w photo dive apparatus after 9/11with all the
airline security problems... my last dive trip was PNG...but a book I wrote recently
is bringing in some income...and plan to travel to PNG within the next 12
months...I'm 74...it will be my last...but want it to be where the u/w biodiversity
is the greatest...the Indo-Pacific...
Thank God I've dived nearly everywhere in my prime-- Galapagos dive cruise, 13 trips
to Fiji with several live-aboards, two trips to Tonga including Va V'au, 5 trips to
the Austalia and the GBR, one to New Caledonia (Island of Pines), 5 trips to
PNG...five trips to Vanutu, 3 trips to the Solomons, two trips to Palau, one to
Truk, one to the Red Sea, one to the Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, three to the
Maldives, one to Sepidan, another to Manado (Sulawesi)...only place I've not
traveled to is Pouket and Wakatobi.
Won't list all of the Caribbean and Bahamian ones...too numerous to list.
Daniel Kessler
>
> > Where you been lately, Daniel?
Ops! I left out the Philippines...Apo Reef in 1979...bubble coral, rice maze
coral...Also...I miss purple Elephant's ear fan off New Brittain...or a grove of green
Elephant's coral off Ghizo in the Solomons.
I hear the Philippines as a dive destination seems to have withererd or perhaps maybe
the corals have been trashed by now with dynamite or how about another technique known
as "pounding the reef."
I'm glad I was there when it was something to behold!