The Cayman Islands certainly offer diversity without a long trip from the states.

GRAND CAYMAN

Grand Cayman has beautiful beaches and probably the most topside activities or restaurants anyone would want. There is shopping, bars to hang out in, and live music. Cathy Church has a shop at Sunset House where you can often meet her and see her beautiful underwater photos from the area. The seven mile beach area is beautiful for walking and photo opportunities. You can even make a side trip to "Hell", a small area with black volcanic rocks, a few curio shops, and an actual post office you can send mail from with a postmark from Hell. For diving, the reefs are easy to reach from many dive operators and offer a diversity of schooling fish, sponges, turtles, rays, and even sharks. The Kittiwake wreck as well as other wrecks in the close vicinity add variety and interesting structure which I really enjoyed. We were lucky enough to see the tail end of silversides on the wreck of the Balboa right in the Harbor too. StingRay City on scuba with a small group was so much fun feeding the rays. You need to protect your fingers from the eager snappers though. Grand Cayman makes a good dive vacation, but for us it was a great stop with plenty of good diving over 3 days on the way home from Cayman Brac.

CAYMAN BRAC

Cayman Brac offered multiple relaxed dive spots on reefs all along the edge of the island. As a photographer, I never lacked for subjects both wide angle and macro and anything in between. Schools of bright snappers brightened the reefs among colorful sponges. Turtles munched on big sponges with no worries about divers hanging about. My favorite were the groupers who followed us like pets. It seems the dive guides hunt the lionfish and then feed the groupers, so they joined us right away each dive. My poker stick resembled the dive guides spears, so they followed me closely and would even "show" me where the lion fish were, confused when I didn't feed them. I quickly learned that if I poked at an area with my stick, the groupers would go right there, a great tool to get them to pose right where i wanted them in my reef scenes. The boat dives were offered mostly in the mornings, and we were on our own in the afternoons. A highlight dive is the Tibbets wreck with great structure and lots of life. The shore diving was really easy to access with actual ladders or stairs and even showers at some sites. We could easily get to reefs and wrecks by ourselves from shore and take as much time as our tanks allowed. The dive boat did make the excursion across to Little Cayman's Bloody Bay wall one day which is very achievable from Cayman Brac. The amazing strawberry sponges were in abundance there. They look dark brown without light but the first time my strobes lit one up I was amazed at the super bright rich red color. They became my favorite focus on the reef. I like the idea of being able to dive off both islands while staying on one.

It is easily possible to visit all 3 of the Cayman Islands in a single dive trip and be able to enjoy the diversity they provide.

Sea of Cortez is my go to destination for diving close to California where the water is warm and clear. The flight from Los Angeles to Los Cabos is just over 2 hours and easy to access. There are live-aboards and dive destinations both in southern Baja from Loreto to LaPaz to Cabo. I have been able to dive the full length of the Sea of Cortez on a live aboard and loved it all from the stark but beautiful landscape to the clear water filled with abundant sea life. The people of Southern Baja are friendly and welcoming, and the prices are very reasonable.

MIDRIFF ISLANDS

In the northern part of the Gulf, the Midriff Islands offer walls, multiple rocky area with myriad critters and sometimes encounters with Whale Sharks, Dolphins and other Big guys. The Diversity underwater is combined with beautiful deserted beaches and amazing sunsets.

LA PAZ

In the LaPaz area, an all time favorite is Los Islotes where playing with the sea lions is the norm. This dive consistently makes me smile and results in great photos to share later. In cruising the full Sea of Cortez, I found there was something to explore all along the way from macro critters in the rocks, jawfish coming up to peak at us, octopi, and all sorts of Angels, surgeonfish, and damsels.

CABO SAN LUCAS / CABO PULMO

The National Park along Baja's East Cape, just north of Cabo San Lucas is well worth time to visit and dive. Cabo Pulmo Parque Nacional has healthy coral reefs teeming with fish. Schools of puffers, groupers, grunts, snappers, and bright yellow porkfish punctuate the reef areas between healthy corals, fans, and all sorts of critters. The schools of jacks are amazing, you can descend right into the middle and they adjust to swim with you and around you by the thousands. I have been personally diving in Cabo Pulmo for over 5 years and it truly gets better with more and more fish each time I visit. I will continue to return to the Sea of Cortez as often as I can manage it.

I was able to travel to Fiji for the first time in May, 2013. We wanted to experience the different types of diving available in Fiji and were easily able to plan a trip accommodating 3 different areas. The people of Fiji were so welcoming all around, in airports, transportation, hotels and resorts and especially the dive masters. Although far from home in California, I never felt uneasy. We were able to coordinate a trip to include the Bequa shark adventure from Pacific Harbor, a week at Matava eco resort on Kadavu to dive the Astrolabe reef, and a week at Wananavu to dive the Bligh waters. ! This would be a wonderful destination for divers of any level as well as non divers to be welcomed by the Fijian people. The shark dive by BAD at Bequa was incredibly well run and lived up to the expectation to be close to big sharks and lots of sharks. The reef diving there at Cumbe reef was very pretty, but not especially colorful. For me, the time at Bequa should be for the shark dive and move on for other diving. We stayed at Matava on Kadavu which was a wonderful experience to begin to absorb the islands of Fiji rather than the city atmosphere around Pacific Harbor. This eco resort truly takes you away from day to day and offers a unique diving area. Diving the Astrolabe reef off Kadavu was large in scale with big, plentiful hard corals and the myriad life surrounding them. I really enjoyed exploring this area from the coral bommies literally covered in small life to the larger fish and clams among the more neutral hard corals. My favorite though, which would draw me back to Fiji is the Bligh waters. We stayed at Wananavu where it was a short boat trip out to the dive sites. The soft corals were truly amazing and the fish among them so bright. Purple and yellow corals were surrounded by orange and yellow, and purple fish! Each dive was a bit different but trulythe most colorful I have ever encountered. I felt like I was diving inside a kaleidoscope and am eager to return.

Matava is like a hidden gem. The staff walks out to greet you and you immediately feel incredibly welcome. Wading through shallow water on the path to and from the boats is part of the experience, but they help carry everything, and we are divers after all. Luxury is not an option, but a very good, comfortable atmosphere where you truly experience an island of Fiji is part of every day at Matava. The local school children arrived by boat one evening to share their songs and dances while the adults conducted a traditional Kava ceremony. It did not feel staged like others we had seen but a true celebration. The people at Matava made the islanders so welcome, they stayed singing, playing guitars, and enjoying Kava late into the night. This is definitely an eco resort and they do an amazing job with their own garden and well thought out conservation. Accommodating a gluten free diet was no problem for them and never felt like an imposition. This is not the place to go if you need to be constantly connected by internet or phones, but a place to be blissfully off the grid. The rooms are basic, but meet all your needs, especially after a day of diving. Wide decks look out to the water and the beds have graceful mosquito nets along with functional showers. Bugs were not a problem during our stay though we did see many land crabs in shells and coconut halves on the hike up to our room, Diving the great astrolabe reef from here was only a short ride on spacious comfortable boats with divemasters who live on the island and commute by kayak. The dives were in areas of abundant hard coral rather than soft, though both are there. The hard corals were large with lots fish big and small among them. The passes had more colorful soft coral which opened up in the change of the tides. We were able to see Mantas with the short excursion out to an area where I understand that is common there. The conditions inside the barrier reef walls were calm, though you could see the waves (surfable I understand) on the outer edge. Currents were variable in the passes, but negotiable. One area had the whole top of a reef section covered in a garden of anemones and clown fish. I could have stayed there all day watching and taking photos. Besides the many anemones and their buddies, I was thrilled to see many giant clams and the brightly colored sweetlips, I had only seen others photos of before. This is a location ideal for couples or friends who like a quiet pace and beautiful diving. The people were my favorite in my Fiji travels.