Caribbean for Macro? (not Cozumel)

Burned might not be quite the right word.   

In July 2020 was to go there for the grouper spawning at Fakarava as part of 10 day cruise to Rangiroa.  Add to the boat the interisland flights and 2 nights hotel at the end points, and 3 nights at Fakarava and (terrible move by my bookers), 10 dives paid for Prodive).   Of course it didn't happen.   One night hotel was not refundable, the rest is a mix of refunds and mostly credits.   

Air Tahiti gave me until the end of Sept to rebook the interisland flights, so I figured things would be in good shape by February this year.   Book another international flight, more hotels (made sure all cancelable), new flight for a few bucks more, and upgraded the Fakarava hotel.    Come January, this was a 'should we do it or not decision' which we were leaning against when the country closed it borders again.   This time Chase got the interisland flight refunded, but I still have 3 nights and 10 dives there, and a dive boat credit that will probably be pretty good, but makes me a bit nervous until I do as it's ~13k USD.  

United was (eventually) pretty good about refunds/credits in a way I was ok with, but on the first try, I had made the daring move to use French Bee for the return flight, because the days of the week United does didn't mesh well.   Here I got the ticket class that did allow for refunds, but FB decided it would not honor that, despite the contract and US law prohibiting such for cancelled flights.   They continued to sell such 'non refundable' tickets even while deny my request and the case I opened with the DOT.   Happily Chase would do a reversal even though it was ~9 months after the time of booking.  

To date I've only lost a little bit of money and so long as I can use the boat credits, I'll be at least even.   It's more the loss of the trips that hurt (like for all of us), and for now, I'd rather avoid any more and pick the spots with the most potential to succeed, or the ones that can be arranged on fairly short notice.  

Someday I'll make it to Fakarava and Rangiroa, but maybe I'll take baby steps and try to get to Moreea for whale season.   When pandemic considerations no longer apply, it's a very accessible location from California.  

Gulen in Norway is supposed to be a great macro destination, too, but obviously cold water. Maybe something to consider. Not been there myself, but it's high on my list.

@sinetwo

I know this introduces more complexity, but both my friends in Bali and the tourism minister have now said Bali is opening (for a limited set of tourists) in October. Both the US & the UK are on the list of countries that will be allowed. Entry will likely require a negative test and proof of vaccination,

There are 3 reasonably good flights from the UK (all involving 1 stop) - Turkish (through Istanbul) Singapore Air (through SIN), and Emirates (through DBX).

Bali's R0 number is now <1, and the they are close to crossing the 70% vaccination rate (a condition for opening their borders). 

The north coast of Bali has excellent macro - often overlooked because of travel time, etc. 

As an aside, we spent several weeks in the Maldives this summer - great diving, but almost no macro (handful of nudis, a few other critters in two weeks of diving) , but we were there for the big schools of fish, sharks, mantas, etc.

12 hours ago, oneyellowtang said:

@sinetwo

I know this introduces more complexity, but both my friends in Bali and the tourism minister have now said Bali is opening (for a limited set of tourists) in October. Both the US & the UK are on the list of countries that will be allowed. Entry will likely require a negative test and proof of vaccination,
 

Hey @oneyellowtang, yeah I just heard about that, that's also now an option, and Bali I know has tremendous macro, we've spent plenty of time in Tulamben  

Thanks for the heads up - we'll put it on our list of places to consider!

It seems like Cozumel is back on the list. So it's either Cozumel or Kenya now! Thanks for all the advice folks. 

When  are you looking  at going? Just asking because I'll be in Cancun with a few days in Cozumel, arriving 24th  November for 2 weeks. 

I normally go for private guiding but the costs there are silly, even if the actual dive prices are reasonable

Mike

Hey @pooley I'm likely to go to Kenya or Cozumel the 12-28th, so if I'm there lets go for a few dives?

Are you guys sure Bali is open to visitors from the US? We have been following the Bali story quite closely but keep seeing it is still a mandatory 5-day quarantine in Jakarta and not open to US but only to the 19 countries (China etc.)

Bill

Total u-turn, given the travel restrictions, I'm headed to Cozumel in November

Someone earlier posted about Roatan.  From experience, the south side of the island has better macro than the more visited West side.  

I vote Roatan, south side.  I've been there nine time now, partly because it is fairly easy to get to, partly for the great diving.  I stay at the Reef House Resort in Oak Ridge, which is about as far away from the crowded diving areas as you can get.  The diving is simply excellent.  Micky Chateris shoots down there one dive resort over, I think.   Lots of macro opportunities, so you need to be able to find stuff.  I go to the Reef House because the divemaster (David) is incredible at finding things.  I go in September because nobody else does and I end up with the dive boat to myself.

Lots of macro pics from there at my website (www.cjcphoto.net), all in chronological order.

Some macro opportunities in Barbados particularly at maycocks, lots of shrimps, flamingo tongues and see horses at most other sites 

I am with @Phxazcraig in voting for Roatan.  I just returned from there and had a great time shooting macro mostly.  I was at CoCo View Resort, which is where Mickey Charteris, who wrote the book "Caribbean Reef Life", has set up shop.  He is a great resource, as is Stacy Lewis, who manages CoCo View.  We found frogfish, blennies of various kinds, various tiny shrimp, crabs, etc etc, as well as quite a few seahorses and pipefish.