trip reports

There were 10 of us at Riding Rock.  The water was surprisingly clear.

80-100 VIZ.  I cannot remember ever being in such beautiful water, so blue.

Also surprisingly was the water temperature. Minimum 76 degrees.  Average 79 degrees.  The majority of divers did bravely dive all the dives.  The last day, of course the water did get warmer. We were blown out on Thursday from a storm, but we were not totally disappointed. The rooms were very clean and quite roomy with Ocean Views and Balconies.

We had three amazing meals each day.  Breakfast and lunch were Buffets and dinners were sit down with great service.  Everyone was very pleased with the food plus excellent desserts for lunch and dinner.

On the last day after two morning dives a few people went on a two-hour tour of the Island and were quite pleased.

On Saturday, day of departure, we were fed breakfast, then they drove us to the airport to check in our luggage. We came back to Riding Rock for lunch.  Then we went back to the airport for our departure.  The airport was very close by.

This was a trip to remember.  The staff were  so pleasant.  There was a large bar with a lady named Peaches as the bar tender.  Tony and Bruce on the boat were excellent at taking care of us getting in and out of the water.  Betsy was our dive guide and made sure were we all accounted for.

Each night we had beautiful sunsets.

Waiting for our second morning dive

The gang

Beautiful blue water

There was 12 USA Divers on this trip. One lady from the NW was on the prior trip and liked it so much she decided to stay another week…  We flew out of Miami directly to Roatan (Honduras).

The water temperature was 84-86F. Visibility was 75-100’ (until silted up). I was in heaven. It was windy every day so donning your gear was not hot at all.  Most days there were chopping waves with a surface current.  Strange, once you reached the dive spots - no currents at all. The dive guides took our fins off in the water and several of us took off all our gear off before climbing back on the boat.  They were helpful; we dove off the boat - from the dive deck.

Most days we had 5 dives which included night dives. One time we lost a night dive due to traveling and one day dive lost due to travel.  We dove all the expected sites: Roatan, Utila and Cayos Cochinos; To all divers except me, there was a dive with chumming the sharks.

Laura and Rick were IRON DIVERS. Total of 25 dives.

Aggressor boats are known for excellent Chefs. Our Lady Chef, Jana was without a doubt the best we have ever had.  She had amazing desserts all made from scratch. So much food that myself and others were asking for half portions.

Friday afternoon all but 3 of us went to see Monkey, Sloths (in Danish they are called “lazy animals”), Parrots and Guinea Pigs.

Thank you all for a memorable diving trip.  See you all soon

Ronnie Farr

Trip Leader

PS – we are slowly adding all our trip photos to: https://usadiveclub.org/Photos (2025)

Philippines – we had 9 divers in Dumaguete for the first week – muck diving, finding interesting critters, with two trips to Apo Island - an old club favorite with Blue Water diving. We stayed at a new place – Salaya Beach Houses - with excellent service and excellent and plentiful food.

We went back to Cebu City – by Ferry and Vans – and boarded the Philippian Aggressor – and went out to sea for 10 days…

We did see some exceptional animals – new to some of us – Thresher Sharks, Whale Sharks, Schooling Sardines, Mandarin Fish, Giant (and tiny) Frogfish, Seahorses galore…

We had some weather issues – a little more, a little worse, than expected: There was the expected typhoon 5-600 miles North of us; its track brushed the Northern tip of the Philippines and then went to Hong Kong (luckily two days before our flight home). The new thing was that the low pressure behind the typhoon sucked in a monsoon and the weather got more windy and more cloudy than expected…

(As I got home – and I went outside in the brutal Florida sun – I got a new appreciation for “cloudy”). Anyway, our boat/captain found calmer waters within our target area where we could still dive. We did a few exploratory dives – and found –unexpectedly – a pygmy sea horse – at 60 feet – on a dive site - new to the boat

In a later Newsletter we will add more details – and pictures

Nils

Little Cayman Beach Resort
May 31 - June 7, 2025

Five divers traveled to Little Cayman Beach Resort on Saturday, May 31, for a week of valet diving. Four of us did three dives per day; two dives in the morning and one in the afternoon. The weather was pretty good the first two days. However, the wind picked up on the third morning and all dives were canceled after the first dive of the morning. The weather improved by mid-day the next day and we were able to do two dives in the afternoon. After that, we were able to do all of our planned dives. The seas were pretty bumpy on the resort's side of the island but calm on the other side where we could dive Bloody Bay Wall. The weather was never good enough for the dive shop to offer a night dive or a trip to Cayman Brac.

Little Cayman Beach Resort has always offered the best valet diving experience I have seen, and this year was no exception. The crew on our boat was experienced and extremely helpful. The food at the resort was excellent and the staff on land were as experienced and helpful as the boat crew. I was impressed that the restaurant staff remembered us from previous years. The rooms are spacious and well kept. The resort had presentations and games scheduled at the bar each evening. The presentations were interesting and educational.

The resort has gone to a great deal of effort to mitigate the various problems experienced by coral reefs in the Caribbean. One of the presentations informed us about their efforts to control the lionfish population around the island. Teams of divers have hunted and killed thousands of lionfish, with the result that I only saw one lionfish during my week of diving there.

Here is a picture Laura took of me approaching the last remaining pillar coral on Little Cayman. This one has regenerated after being knocked down by storms. Visibility was good to excellent for all of our dives.

20 lucky divers were on the BVI Aggressor.

This boat was very comfortable and spacious  Our chef was the best that I have ever had.  We celebrated two birthdays and the chef made amazing cakes for them. After each dive he had snacks available.

We dove from tenders.  They were a little crowded but we made do. The diving was not as we all remembered.  The coral and fish were not as abundant .  The water was warm, flat and no currents, which made it easy to dive back to our tenders. The Aggressor took us to a ship wreck that had pirates and a walking plank  We also saw three huge sharks that were made out of steel.

One day we snorkeled to the Baths. The water was very clear. Many climbed the rocks, while a few of us just sat in a nice clear pool of water.

After our great time on the Aggressor, we took a tour around the Island.  And of course sampled some rum. Several took rum home. We had lunch at a local restaurant that had strange food.  Some liked it, some did not.

Another amazing trip with the USA DIVE CLUB.

As we packed our dive gear, Hurricane Beryl threatened the Cayman Islands. Despite the looming storm, fifteen of us kept a close watch on its path and continued our preparations. Miraculously, the storm veered away from the Cayman Islands. With the airport open, planes flying, and calm seas, we departed without delay—most of us flying from Miami to Cayman Brac followed by a somewhat bumpy boat transfer to Little Cayman.

The weather on our first day was a bit unsettled, but by afternoon, we had sunshine and surprisingly good water visibility. The diving experience was superb; the reefs were vibrant and healthy. Little Cayman Beach Resort, tastefully renovated in recent years, did not disappoint.

Having dived around the world, we found ourselves appreciating the beauty of this nearby well-preserved marine park, one of the world's outstanding dive locations so accessible to Florida. The groupers remained tame, the swim-throughs and chimneys offered intriguing topography, and the underwater life—such as the schooling chub, the medium-sized injured turtle affectionately named Stubby, the elusive green moray eel, and the mesmerizing French angelfish—were part of a spectacular show.

We departed as a group of content and grateful divers, once again reminded of the wonders that we are so privileged to enjoy.

Our group of 21 USA Divers enjoyed the gorgeous teal blue water of Bonaire while at Divi Dive Resort.  As nature lovers we found delight in the great ocean views, beautiful landscaping, colorful butterflies and busy humming birds on the premises.  We had sunny weather, reasonable seas, and yummy breakfasts along with helpful and experienced boat crew who graciously let us have a significant say in our destinations, which was much appreciated. 

In the afternoon/ evening  we took advantage of our afternoon boat dive / shore dives on our own time schedule.  Some chose to relax around the pool while others did so at the beach front bar, the casino or on tours to see the salt flats, flamingos, caves and donkey preserves.  Short walks into town let us enjoy the the local restaurants.   Some favorite spots were the Umbrella, At Sea (best oysters ever), It Rains Fishes, Mezze, and C'est La Vie.

Little Cayman Beach Resort Trip Report
May 20-27, 2023

If I was writing an Ebay ad to sell this (slightly used) trip, here is what I would say.

• Sunny weather
• Light wind
• Flat seas
• 100 ft. visibility
• Great diving
• Helpful and experienced boat crew
• Large, comfortable dive boat
• Great food
• Pleasant rooms
• Swimming pool and bar when diving is done

And you can have all of that for six days of two dives in the morning and one dive in the afternoon (except Friday), plus one night dive. Really, we could not get over how well Nils picked the week for the Little Cayman trip this year.

Click here to view the picture album in Google Photos.

Indonesia: Raja Ampat to Triton Bay &

Triton Bay - Forgotten Islands – Banda Sea

 Damai I, Live aboard – 2 trips Mar 13-24; Mar 26-Apr 06

We were on two back-2-back liveaboards – 13 people each trip. 6 people started in Lembeh straits (Sands Resort). 4 people went home via Borneo for an Orangutan river cruise. 3 people stayed behind in Ambon for diving. Several people went to Bali for either land based touring and/or diving the East side Tulamben/Liberty Wreck. There should be several photo gallery folders coming.

We by and large saw all the stuff we came to see: Plenty of soft corals and hard corals; plenty of small schooling fish; all the big animals: Mantas (Ocean, Reef, Mobius), Sharks, even a hammerhead, snorkeled and dove with Whale sharks; Wobbegongs, Napoleons, Turtles, Cuddle Fish; There were also plenty of small stuff: (Ghost) Pipefish, Nudibranchs, Pygmy Seahorses and of course several species of “Nemo” …

Wayne Sullivan is one of our newest club members. He is also the owner of a 117 ft. yacht and likes to go diving with friends. His yacht has three bedrooms for six guests plus a master bedroom for Wayne's family. He joined our club so when openings come up on his dive trips, he can invite club members to join him for diving. That opportunity came in early April for Patrice Marker, Rob Myers, my wife Amy and me when Wayne invited us to join him in Turks and Caicos for a week of diving.

Wayne sailed the yacht from his Fort Lauderdale home to Providenciales and the four of us flew there to meet the yacht. Then we spent days diving around the Caicos Islands. Wayne provides tanks and weights. The yacht has a compressor so tanks can be refilled with air after each dive. Wayne moved the yacht to various locations and we set our own schedule for diving. The crew was extremely helpful, providing cooking (three meals each day plus snacks), cleaning, surface support for divers, and everything necessary in running a yacht. There is no charge to be a guest on Wayne's yacht. You may tip the crew and I am sure you will want to do that after seeing all they do.

Here are some pictures we took inside the yacht.