June 25, 2004 Student Life
"Student Life" brings readers the best of student-produced
journalism at Utah State University. Featured items are written
by students for The Utah Statesman, the official student
newspaper of Utah Sate University, or The Hard News Café,
the online publication from the Department of Journalism and
Communication. Both publications are award winning and present
the talents of Utah State's journalists-in-training.
This week's piece is by writer Megan Smith from The Hard
News Cafe
Looking for an out-of-this-world
escape? Go diving
From the The
Hard News Cafe 6-14-04
 
 One
of the questions I hear when it comes to scuba diving is "Where
is the best place in the world to scuba dive?" That's like
asking a child to choose his or her favorite flavor of ice cream.
People who are avid scuba divers can't even begin to tell you
the best place to go. There are places they have visited multiple
times and have come to know and love, but it depends on what
you are looking for. Only you can decide where the best place
for you will be.
When you think of the world, it's a big place and to have to
choose one spot seems impossible.
Consider this: Water covers more than 70 percent of the earth's
surface. Out of all of the water on the earth 97 percent is
salt water. This means that you have to choose one place to
scuba dive in all of that water.
One factor in deciding the perfect place to visit is deciding
whether you would like to stay close to home or be a little
more daring and travel far away. The horrors of traveling might
have a heavy impact on what you choose. For some, life weighs
them down with jobs in which they are not allowed to travel
long distances. But what kind of dive you yearn for makes the
deciding factor. Whether it's coral reefs, marine life or wrecks,
there's a spot out there that's perfect for you.
"I want to choose the best place but I have no idea where
that is," Ryan Beecher, a junior in pre-med, said, "There
are way too many places to choose from when it comes to scuba
diving."
In order to choose the best place, you need to decide what
variety of diving you want to do and this will then help you
narrow it down to what body of water you want to explore. These
varieties include open-water, cave, wreck, deep, ice and night
diving.
Open water diving is the most common type. It is usually for
beginners and you have to be certified to go various depths
in the water. Open water divers usually will have the option
of going up or down as desired.
There are many places to go open water diving. If you are one
who would like to stay in North America, there are many spots
that suits open divers. According to the Travel Channel, the
best scuba diving spots in North America are Cabo San Lucas,
Mexico; British Virgin Islands; Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles;
U.S. Virgin Islands; Florida Keys; Turks and Caicos; Maui, Hawaii,
The Bahamas; Belize. The No. 1 pick is the Grand Cayman.
Sport Diver Magazine gives a list of the best and easiest escapes,
which are: Sunset House, Grand Cayman; Blue Water Divers, Bermuda;
the all-American getaway of St. Croix; Luna Beach Resort, Roatan;
Ocean Concepts, Oahu; Cozumel's Occidental Grand/Dive Palancar;
Pro dive, Fort Lauderdale and Ocean Divers, Key Largo.
"Sunset House at Grand Cayman is the best place to dive,"
said Kayla Hyde, a junior majoring in business management. "There
is a reef that is just off the island with warm, clear and current
free waters."
If you are one who likes to explore, then cave diving is for
you. Cave diving is a specialized activity that requires specific
training. It is performed in an area of confinement with no
natural light and is often dependent on guide lines to prevent
becoming lost. The path is defined and your only option is to
stay in that path. If you don't, this could turn into a disaster.
One of the most popular places to go cave diving is north central
Florida. Most of the world's cave divers learned there and return
often. Most of the systems are located in the Suwannee River
Valley. These include Telford Springs, Peacock Springs State
Park, Cow Spring, Little River, Devil's Eye, Manatee Spring,
and Jackson Blue.
Another popular place to cave dive is in Mexico. These areas
are located at the Yucatan Peninsula's Riviera Maya. This stretches
from just south of Playa del Carmen to Tulum, and a little inland.
This area has more than 100 cave entrances and miles of passageway.
This area, it's been said, is "breathtakingly beautiful."
Some sights include: Choc Mool, Taj Mahal, Minotauro, Dos Ojos,
Temple of Doom and Mayan Blue.
"There is nothing like cave diving," said Rebecca
Johnson, a senior graduating in marine biology. "It is
unbelievable."
If you like exploring caves, you will love wreck diving. Wreck
diving can be done in fresh water or salt water. Wrecks provide
protection, food and home for marine life so the diver can observe
a wide variety in a small area. But wrecks are often vaguely
seen below the intersection of two lines, so an error of a couple
of degrees in calculation can result in viewing nothing or loss
of air supply before seeing anything.
You must be careful with wrecks in the case of floating debris.
Some wreck dives that are worthwhile are based in Plymouth South
Devon, where you will have some of the best diving in the UK.
These include: James Eagan Lane, Rosehill and Persier.
According to Sport Diver Magazine, Bermuda has some of the
most desirable dive-adventure destinations in the world. Some
wrecks here are Blanche King, Caraquet, Constellation, Darlington,
Montana, and Xing Da.
Deep diving is most commonly associated with cave and wreck
dives because in most cases you must be experienced to dive
deeper in the water. They are for experienced divers and beginners
should refrain from them. The light is usually poor in a lot
of areas and air consumption is limited due to activity and
the amount of time spent at the bottom.
If you are looking for a rush, there is nothing like ice diving.
Ice diving is naturally going to be extremely cold. The water
isn't any colder than the lower temperature found in many lakes.
You must be adequately insulated before, during and after the
dive. It is very important to have the water end of the line
secured to the diver, not his equipment.
Line signals should be rehearsed and a safety man should be
stationed. For ice diving you will want to travel to the White
Sea in Russia. It is one of the most beautiful seas in northern
Russia. It is full of breathtaking landscapes and marine life.
This is one of the best places in the world to discover sea
ice diving.
Night dives can be done in all places of water as long as you
have sufficient and detailed planning. You must have dependable
light, careful compass adherence and depth control. You must
go along with the buddy system (which means that you shouldn't
dive alone, no matter the experience of the person). Night dives
are more dangerous because of the increased amount of marine-life
activity.
No matter what type of diving you enjoy, there will be a day
when you believe you have found your favorite place to dive.
This will be a place that is inspiring and will touch your sense
of exploration. You will discover things you never knew existed.
But just remember water covers more than 70 percent of the world,
so your options are limitless.
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