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Dive Coral Reefs

If you are already planning a trip to dive coral reefs or thinking of doing so, then this section of our website is for you. Here, we provide some helpful information regarding coral reef dive trip planning, including "best destinations" and essential equipment.

Choosing A Destination

There are many options when it comes to where to go and where to stay for those planning to dive coral reefs. Obviously there are many factors involved in making such decisions, including distance, accessibility, cost, and other attractions of the destinations.

Choosing where to dive coral reefs can be challenging. © Fotolia.com

Choices based upon such factors can only be narrowed down by each traveler, depending upon financial resources and main goal(s) of the trip.

Where is the would-be coral reef explorer to turn when it comes to reliable tips regarding the best destinations at which to dive coral reefs? Let's examine some of the alternative information sources most widely used by would-be coral reef explorers.

Online Resources

You can easily settle most of the practical aspects of travel-related transactions online nowadays, from booking cheap flights, to making well-priced hotel reservations.

Such "aggregator" websites make the task of making travel arrangements much more efficient by offering visitors the ability to access results from multiple air travel or lodging providers with a single search.

Once you have narrowed your choice of likely destinations down to a particular geographic area, an excellent source of information on some of the best places to dive coral reefs is provided by unsolicited and uncompensated member input at Undercurrent.

In terms of other sources of online information regarding the best places to dive coral reefs, there are some other useful general guides such as Trip Advisor, but these should be used with some caution.

It is not at all uncommon for unscrupulous dive resorts and dive operators to "stack" the ratings of such sources in their favor by having friends and colleagues submit overly favorable but inaccurate reports.

Also, the resort and live-aboard dive boat operations regularly "reviewed" in monthly print dive publications or promoted online by commercial websites should routinely be viewed with skepticism in terms of "unbiased journalism".

Despite their glossy spectacular cover photos, the most widely read and distributed print publications (i.e., "dive magazines") are little more than thinly disguised paid promotionals written by a surprisingly small cadre of photojournalists who are compensated by being provided all expenses for their visit (often by the very resorts and/or operators whom they "review"), along with a fee or staff salaries from the publications.

Obviously, the last thing the publications (who depend heavily upon regular advertising revenues derived from the same oft-reviewed operations), or writers, want to do is alienate the "geese that lay the golden eggs".

Best Destinations To Dive Coral Reefs: Our Picks

Here we present our own recommendations for the best vacation destinations at which to explore coral reefs of the Greater Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions.

These recommendations (listed below) are based upon personal experience, a variety of other information sources, and adherence of the recommended destinations to our list of reef-friendly diving practices.

Best Indo-Pacific Destinations

• Great Barrier Reef

• Palau

• Vanuatu

Best Caribbean Destinations

• Saba

• Belize

• Bonaire

We have devoted a separate page to each of these destinations, which may be directly accessed using the above links.

Essential Equipment

The question of what (and what not) to bring along in the way of dive gear and accessories is critical for the novice setting out to dive coral reefs for the first time.

Dive Gear

In terms of dive gear, bring along everything you own EXCEPT tanks and weights. Almost all operators also supply weight belts, but if you prefer your own padded weight belt, bring it.

Be particularly sure to bring along proper thermal protection. Keep in mind that when you dive coral reefs, water temperatures in some areas (e..g., The Bahamas, Vanuatu) during local winter can be in the low-mid 70s, while summer temperatures in most coral reef dive destinations will generally be in the 80s.

Regardless of time of year, to comfortably dive coral reefs you should bring full body protection of appropriate thickness for the season. Even in the warmest months, you can encounter stinging plankton in the water column, and areas of exposed skin are vulnerable.

Other Essentials

Particularly indispensable for travel to dive coral reefs are two pieces of accessory equipment. First, you should bring along a sturdy, good quality gear bag large enough to hold everything you will want on the dive boat. This will enable you to conveniently keep all your gear in one place during travel, and provide a safe place to store your dry clothing, towels, sunglasses, etc. while in the water.

Second, bring along a quality pair of polarized sunglasses, with dark lenses designed for the brightest conditions and plastic or nylon sport frames that can take some rough use. At sea or on land in the tropics, quality eyewear is essential for good vision, and polarization allows you to see the water colors of varying depths as well as reefs as you approach dive sites.