Scuba Club Tucson

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What a fantastic trip!  As you’ll see from the photos, the diving is superb, particularly if you’re into macro critters, nudibranchs and beautiful reefs.  But, to top it off, Scandi Divers, is an incredible dive resort.  The rooms are super comfortable, air conditioned and clean.  The food is plentiful and tasty.  I don’t typically gain weight on a dive trip with 3-5 dives a day, but I did at Scandi.  And, most importantly, the staff of Scandi Divers, from Luke, the manager, to all of the dive staff, to the cooks, the servers, the cleaning folks and the front desk:  my hat is off to everyone of them.  They take care of every need and do so with genuine friendliness that pervades every action.  

You’ll find incredible reefs, small wrecks and a significant number of much dive sites.  The best reef diving is a 30 minute boat ride to Verde Island…though, because Covid restrictions were already in place, we couldn’t partake in the typical Verde Island picnic after a couple of morning dives there, we were taken to another island and had an amazing barbeque!  Almost every dive is about a 10 minute boat ride, so the surface intervals are back at the resort where you have enough to time to refresh and get ready for the next dive adventure of the day.

There are direct flights from LAX to Manila, so that makes for a fairly short travel day.  We did arrive just as Philippines were placing restrictions within Manila — mandatory temperature checks at the hotel, nearby restaurants, etc — but we got a decent night of sleep near the airport and headed to Puerto Galera early the next morning.  A long van ride followed by a shorter boat ride and we made it to Scandi Divers.

There’s not a lot to do in the nearby town, but there are a few night clubs and we did go out one night, but most evenings we did night dives and one night was a blackwater dive.  Unfortunately, I had camera trouble that night so didn’t get any photos on the blackwater dive.

Several days into our trip and a few days before we were supposed to leave, we were informed that Philippines was restricting all flights into and out of the Manila airport.  Of course our initial reaction was, “well, we’ll get to dive every day for next god knows how long, so we’ll make the most of it!”  However, that quickly turned to a dark reality when the local island officials decided to shut down all diving activities.  I mean, yeah, the island was beautiful, but not only was diving restricted, but also all hiking, biking and other activities were shut down.  

That made it quite the adventure to leave the island because all boats were restricted from taking us off of the island and back to the main island so we could get to Manila.

After much wrangling with the local officials on our behalf by the manager of Scandi Divers, we were able to somewhat stealthily make it back to Manila where some international flights were given a short window to allow foreigners to leave.

Two boats, a several hour long van ride through a number of military/police checkpoints and 4 flights later (with a number of cancellations and rebookings) and I finally made it back to Tucson.

Despite all of the “troubles,” I’d do it all again.  That’s how awesome the diving and the resort are.

I plan to return in 2021 and hope you’ll ask to join us!

Photos and Trip Description by Dr. Cynthia Gerszewski

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“I went to get certified and had 2 dive days right after the certification days. I was nervous about a few things- mask fit, panicking while under water, not being skilled enough, making a mistake. But being side by side with my instructor, calm and experienced Steve Backerman, I surpassed those issues easily and got to the fun and wonder of diving and LOVED IT! Its a whole new world of AWE that feels isolated from the human world above. I felt like I was interacting and part of nature in a way that is difficult to do on land sometimes. I love many things about the whole experience- water, boats, friendly active people with the similar interest of loving underwater life and adventure. I will definitely go back and want to have Steve do my Advanced Certification so I can feel even more safe and at ease down there so I can have even MORE fun!  Dr. Cindy”

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In November 2017, I did a week of diving from Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas.  I had such a great experience that I decided at that time that I would do a live aboard through the Exumas.  I finally made the live aboard trip on the Bahamas Aggressor in November 2019.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this trip.  The trip began from and returned to Nassau, so the travel is pretty easy.  From Nassau, we motored over to the Exumas.  Frankly, I was shocked at the lack of fish.  There were definitely highlights which I’ve captured on film, but for the number of dives we did, the highlights were rather few and far between.  Now, of course, no one can control Mother Nature, so maybe conditions were simply off for some reason.  It was pretty chilly throughout the week and rainy, too, at times.  And the water temps were never above 75f, which was colder than typical from what I understand.  Maybe at another time of year the diving might have been better.

We did see a single Great Hammerhead Shark and a single Tiger Shark.  In both cases, the experience didn’t last long (and not even enough time for me to get my camera into position) as one of the other divers decided to swim at the sharks and both were scared off rather quickly.

But, what really disappointed me was the way the boat and its crew conducts itself.  First of all, the dive guides don’t really do too much guiding.  While it’s nice to have freedom to dive without feeling like you’re constantly being herded, the guides, for the most part, didn’t seem to have too much knowledge of the sites and where the divers might be able to see this or that. 

On one dive, in fact, the dive guide was quite negligent in guiding the dive at all, to the point where at least one diver ran out of air and had to share air and then everyone ended up having to surface and devote themselves to a long surface swim back to the boat against a significant head current.  When I asked the dive guide what happened, his response was that it wasn’t his fault that so many divers went too far away (yet he himself was following those divers’ lead).

To make matters worse, there were three of us who would tend to go deeper on our dives (110’ or so).  I’m a Master Scuba Diver Trainer and the other two are highly trained technical divers, so we weren’t violating any industry standards.  After one such dive, the captain of the boat admonished us and told us that the boat’s policy is that no one can dive below 100’ and if we did it again, we’d be prevented from diving for the remainder of the trip.  Turns out that it was a warning she didn’t need to give, as we never went to another site where we could even remotely get below 60’.  Or maybe she was punishing us.  Who knows?

After the trip, I dug up my “know before you go” materials for the trip and found that the actual policy for the Bahamas Aggressor is that no diver is permitted to dive deeper than their certification level.  As such, the boat captain’s admonishment was neither called for nor correct.

To top it off, there was visible tension amongst the crew and between the crew and the captain.

I will say that the chef was fantastic and friendly and a great cook. The food was always plentiful, nutritious and yummy.  The boat itself has a lot of carpet, on the floors and the walls, and I’m told that’s why the air conditioning runs 24/7 even though most of us were freezing as the A/C wasn’t needed given the chilly conditions.

Once we returned to Nassau, I decided not to spend the last night on the boat, as I had an extremely early flight out of the next morning and wanted a proper shower.  I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Nassau where the single night ran over $250.00.  I guess that was a poor decision on my part, as when I awoke to shower, there was no hot water.  Despite my complaint to the front desk, the manager and to InterContinental Hotels Group directly, I was offered no compensation or credit. 

So, of all of the trips I’ve reported on this site, this has been the only one where I’d honestly say that I wish I had gone elsewhere.  Maybe luck of the draw with respect to the diving itself, but there’s simply no excuse for the boat crew and conditions on the boat.  While I expressed my experience to both  LiveAboards.Com (through whom I booked the boat) and directly to Aggressor Adventures, neither company has reached out to me in the 2 months since.

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Big Corn Island is a laid back island with a road that travels its circumference.  I stayed in what is more or less an AirBnB type of setup called Villy’s Cottage.  Spartan to be sure, but for a single diver, or even a couple, it was more than adequate.  I will warn you that the mosquitoes can be fierce, so having proper defense is super important.  There are several great restaurants within walking distance and catching a taxi is super easy…you just stand on the side of the street and will pick you up if they aren’t already full.  $1 U.S. will get you anywhere and there are many many taxis…you’ll never be left standing or walking for long.

Dos Tiburones Dive Shop is a short walk from the cottage.  I think there might be a couple of other dive shops on the island, but Dos Tiburones seems to be the most robust and active.  The owner lives in the U.S., but the manager, Kevin, and dive master, Dwayne, are super cool and accommodating. 

The diving on Big Corn, in my opinion, is not nearly as diverse in terms of dive sites and critters as Little Corn.  But, part of that, I think, was due to Dwayne being pretty new to the island and the boat captains weren’t very adept with the GPS units, so I think we might have missed some of the dive sites to which we thought we were going.

However, Blowing Rock, which is not only accessible from Big Corn, but Little Corn, too, is definitely the highlight of any and all of the diving from both islands.  It’s about a 40-50 minute boat ride from both of the islands.  Blowing Rock is a seamount and the diving there is spectacular.  Loggerheads, Reef Sharks, African Pompanos, Atlantic Spadefish, lobsters, crabs and shrimp are just a few of the critters you are likely to interact with at Blowing Rock.  Conditions can make it an adventurous ride out and back, but it is a not to be missed site.

After 3 days of diving on Big Corn, I took the ferry (which is a pretty good sized panga, nothing fancy) over to Little Corn Island.  The cost is about $6 U.S.  It only runs twice a day, so you have to plan to arrive at the dock enough time in advance to make sure you’ll get a ticket.  It’s about a 30-40 minute boat trip. 

On Little Corn Island, I dove with Dolphin Dive and stayed in Hotel los Delfines.  There are great package deals that make this super inexpensive.  The hotel has individual air conditioning units in the rooms, so that is an added bonus.  It was still rather hot and humid in September and, as mentioned before, mosquitoes are a constant issue, so the air conditioning was welcome relief.

The diving on Little Corn is really a lot of fun.  The dive sites are relatively shallow, but no two site is the same in terms of topography and, while you do tend to see sharks (both reef and lemon) on most of the dives, the critters tend to be rather diverse from site to site.

I went back to Blowing Rock with Dolphin Dive – another spectacular day of diving. 

Dolphin Dive is well staffed with knowledgeable and experienced dive staff which made the experience a lot of fun as they “know where everything is” at each of the sites.  Tunnels and Caves is another great Little Corn dive site, one of quite a number that are 10-15 minutes by boat from the shop.  T

he night dives were quite an experience too.  There’s an area at the Turtle Rock dive site where the bioluminescent critters are such that when all of us on the dive turned off all of our lights, it appeared we were in some kind of space opera with shooting stars and trippy tracers all over the place.

Little Corn Island is a backpackers paradise with many hostels and inexpensive places to stay.  There are no motorized vehicles on the island and you can walk around the entire island in less than 2 hours.  Beautiful beaches on the north shore and lots of bars and restaurants on the south shore. 

The amazing experience is totally worth the travel, and the mosquitoes, and I highly recommend the trip to anyone with any kind of a sense of adventure.

Added by Steven Backerman from his trip to Jardines de la Reina, Cuba in November 2019.

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Christopher Columbus named the archipelago to honor Queen Isabella I of Spain.  It is comprised of over 600 cays and islands over 840 square miles.  It has been well-protected by the Cuban government for over 20 years and the abundance of life, from thick coral gardens to huge schools of fish and sharks on every dive, is phenomenal.  And, if you’re lucky, you can snorkel and spend some time underwater with American Crocodiles (more on this below).

I flew into the Camagüey airport and, along with the other divers, we were met by a luxury bus and were drive to the port of Jucaro, Cuba where we boarded the Jardines Aggressor II and departed for the Jardines. 

Although recent actions taken by Trump may prevent future trips, at least for now, I was able to make this trip through a non-profit group, Oceans for Youth, which sponsors these trips as educational adventures. 

The Jardines Aggressor II is a 135’ boat with room for 24 divers, though there were only 9 of us on my trip.  The staff are extremely attentive, the food is first class, the dive masters are well trained and the accommodations extremely comfortable.  The boat includes a hot tub, hot showers on the deck and the staff meet you with hot towels after every dive.

The skies are beautiful.  I witnessed my first ever green-flash and ended up seeing it a couple of times.  But, even without a green-flash, the sunsets never disappointed.

Two dives are offered each morning.  There are two additional dives available each day, either two in the afternoon or one in the afternoon and one night dive.  On Friday, the final day of diving, there are only two morning dives, as the boat then makes its way back to Jucaro to complete the trip.

As stated, life is abundant throughout the reefs.  Silky sharks and reef sharks are plentiful, as are groupers, turtles, tarpon, octopus and huge schools of fish.

Several times, over a couple of days, we took the skiff through the mangroves in search of crocodiles.  We had difficulty locating them but, thankfully, on our final foray, we found a couple of them. 

I was able to get in the water with the crocs and managed to take several photos.  The quality of the photos leaves something to be desired as the water was extremely silty and the strong current only managed to stir up the silt even further in the algae rich water.

American Crocodiles, while dangerous, are not nearly as aggressive as those from Australia and Africa, so with a bit of precaution not to engage the crocs from the side and only approach them head-on, I entered the water and enjoyed this rather unique experience.

On Saturday, the day we disembarked, we were treated to a tour of the city of Camagüey and I’ve included some of the photos of this very interesting city.

I hope you enjoy viewing my photos.  It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it!

I will definitely return.

Added by Steven Backerman from his trip to Saba & St. Kitts in November 2018.

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I did a live aboard dive trip to Saba and St. Kitts in the Caribbean aboard the Caribbean Explorer II in November 2018.  The Caribbean Explorer II is one of a fleet of live aboard dive boats operated by Explorer Adventures.

Caribbean Explorer II has two itineraries…you can either fly to St. Maarten, board the boat, then dive a few days at Saba and then a few more at St. Kitts and then fly home from St. Kitts or you can fly into and embark from St. Kitts, dive St. Kitts first, then Saba, then fly home from St. Maarten.

I chose the first option as I was hoping to spend 3 days diving Saba, a place I’ve wanted to dive since first learning about it from my Advanced Open Water instructor in Utila, Honduras in 2008. 

Unfortunately, we only spent 2 days at Saba and did not dive the pinnacles.  I was initially told it was due to problems with the moorings, but later found out that was untrue….the problem was due to some divers on the trip (the pinnacles typically boast of strong currents) who did not have sufficient experience to tackle those dives.

Though disappointing, otherwise the trip was amazing.  The crew on Caribbean Explorer II are fantastic.  First rate service, first rate dive masters, excellent food.  The boat is well piloted by an experienced Captain who is also a diver.  I have nothing but good things to say about the crew.

You can get in up to 5 dives a day…2 morning dives, 2 afternoon dives and a night dive….every day, but the last, when there are but 2 morning dives, giving everyone sufficient off-gassing time before flying home.

Prior to the trip, I thought Saba would be the jewel of the trip (and, had we gone to the pinnacles, maybe it would have been) and while it was pretty great, I was blown away with the variety of seascapes and creatures in St. Kitts.  We dove a couple of wrecks, both fully overgrown with life, as well as sandy bottoms, sea grass, trenches and reefs that wind and turn and create incredible mazes where sensory overload is well assured.

If your goal is to dive, eat, sleep and repeat, I highly recommend Explorer Adventures and this itinerary is a great way to go. 

It is my intention to go to Turks & Caicos with Explorer Adventures in 2019 or 2020.  Anyone want to join?