Scuba Diving in the Caribbean for the NON Diver

by Calvin Crane


With the whole world at my fingertips (YES I know I am lucky) I keep coming back to the Caribbean for my travel. So I have to ask myself why I never get to Truk Lagoon, the Philippines nor back to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia? And let’s not forget the Red Sea as well– a world class dive destination.

The Caribbean for Diving doesn’t get the best diving in the world badge. But you typically dive for an hour and a half of the day then some more time on the boat and your back – but where are you back to. Not to mention 2 days of travel for me to get to the barrier reef (the great one as we have one in the Caribbean ;) )

So the argument is that it’s not just your holiday its also your families. Unless you are all nuts about diving then chances are they are not going to let you dive every day as tours run on a schedule as well. But my argument is not just about what can you do outside of your dive time ! In fact I proffer that the diving is actually very very good. Some of the target places to dive are:

• Tobago – Amazing drift diving is just the start of the variety.
• Bahamas – A great place to dive if you are a shark enthusiast.
• Tobago Cays (St Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Mexico (Cozumel)
• Barbados
• St Lucia
• Belize (Check out the blue hole)
• Roatan (Amazingly cheap place to learn to dive)
• Bonaire (dive with a pick up truck)
• Grenada – with the regions biggest wreck dive the Biannca C

I was fortunate to be stood knee deep with a rum punch in hand on one of Antigua’s best beaches and was chatting to a chap from LA. It was an eleven hour trek to Antigua – so it’s quicker to get there from the U.K. for some visitors but generally the North Americans (that includes you Canucks) can get to a range of islands easily. This is also defining the season to some extent as it gets cold up there the winter migration begins ! It happens to be outside of Hurricane season as well as that is tailing off after November. All the boats come out of the dry docks refurbished for the season to come.

If your not a diver already then you won’t have been spoilt and the amazing 30ft visibility in ‘winter’ will make you feel like you’re diving in an aquarium ! With the chance to see some amazing species of fishes like parrot fish, moray eels to turtles is really a special time.

If you are new to diving then why not visit Caribbean Diving and see their guide to learning to dive with PADI. It really is as easy as sinking and breathing..You will never be asked or tasked to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing.

It really is step at a time. Starting off with theory and shallow work in the pool or confined water (like a swimming pool).

If I have something to say about learning to dive is that I wished I had done it earlier !

Calvin Crane is a PADI divemaster who knows a lot about the Caribbean in general and loves nothing more than ‘harassing’ the underwater zoo.