Diving in this region gives new meaning to the term diversity. Over the 10-day trip we swam over thickly covered sloping coral reefs, bobbed along sheer vertical walls covered with cup corals and nudibranchs and bisected with caves and swim-throughs; explored the cracks between giant boulders, rode the current over a rubble sea floor teeming with marine life, and swam around entire rocky islets covered with soft corals. Fish and invertebrate life range from tiny gobies, shrimp, nudibranchs, and crabs to giants like mantas and whale sharks, with everything in between. We were even visited by several minke whales during a surface interval one day. That's one of the great joys of diving the world's oceans; you just never know what you'll see.
The best time to dive here is during the dry season from November - March. In late January, we had sunny, 90 degree days with a warm breeze, and a few days that were calm and down right hot. Water temp is a very comfortable 82+ degrees, and with my old 3mm wetsuit, I was only chilled once. Most of the diving is done from two dinghies as the Ocean Rover moors away from the dive sites to avoid anchor damage. A few mooring buoys are available at the sites nearest the mainland. We only dove off the back of the boat on two occasions. Currents are the norm here, hence the wonderful abundance of marine life and coral reef growth. A few times they were troublesome, especially for us photographers trying to capture the moving scenery. This is not a trip for beginners. Divers here need to be very comfortable at all depths in all types of current and visibility conditions. The only disappointing thing about this trip (other than we didn't see any whale sharks) was the limited visibility at most of the dive sites, averaging 40 feet. Wide angle lenses were pretty much shelved after the first two days. Our manta sighting occurred in such murky water we each saw him at different times and no one was close enough to get a photo.
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