Favorite Non-Cruise Diving Location

Though we get asked often about our favorite diving ports, we have to confess and tell people about some really good diving we've done while not a cruise. We want to post it and explain our reasons for enjoying it so much in the hopes that somewhere out there we eventually find a cruise dive that offers similar opportunities. Drum roll please: our favorite non-cruise diving is in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas.

Reason #1) We had our own boat. By that I mean that we rented a boat. We could go wherever we chose. How did we know where to dive?
Reason #2) We got advice and maps from the dive shop where we rented our tanks. Advice and air was all we got from them. No flack, no safety talks, no delays.

Freedom for the day meant Grandma could go along for the boat ride. She read while we dove.Reason #3) The dive sites were safely situated and easy to find and access with a short boat ride. Reason #4) The coral was lush with giant swim thrus, and the fish populations were healthy.
Reason #5) There were sharks.
Reason #6) We made our own schedule. If we wanted to dive three times in one day we did, if we wanted to have lunch on a nearby beach we did.
Reason #7) No follow me dives.
Reason #8) It was AFFORDABLE. The boat rental was only $100 per day plus fuel; air was $6 per tank.
Reason #9) There were no snorkelers.
Reason #10) There were sharks.

Here's our daughter telling Grandma about the sharks.

We can't afford private charter prices in most cruise ports, but if dive operators offered a more private, more flexible dive plan it would often be snapped up by cruise divers. Everybody on board up for a third dive? Why not? What's the cost to the operator? In most ports, the boat is going to sit empty all afternoon anyway. Want to see where the locals dive instead of where the tourists dive? Want lunch on the beach? No problem mon. We have to pat Stuart Cove's on the back again here in respect to offering choices. Before each dive we've been on with them, they ask everybody on board if there's any particular dive site they want to see. We've only had that on RARE occasions with other operators.

If you make it to the Abacos, tell the sharks we miss them.

ed. note: Where are the pictures of the sharks you ask? This trip was pre-digital camera. We were still using our old Sea & Sea with film. We had the pics developed on the island, showed them to our friends who picked us up at DFW airport, then promptly left them behind in the hotel where we overnighted before the return trip. It was that experience more than any other that convinced us to explore underwater digital options.