So divers inevitably debate which are the best dive sites in the world and usually the candidates are Red Sea, Bonaire, Cocos, Barrier reef and Galapagos etc... It would be easy to argue that anyone’s favorite site had its charms and that there is no right answer….but Truc Lagoon is just outrageously better. There are at least 5 wreck dives that are as good as any in the world…and then there are 40 more including submarines an airplanes all with in 30 minutes of the Blue Lagoon resort. There is a silly live aboard that putters around the lagoon. Why do that? Everything is right there. There are destroyers with machine guns mounted and merchant ships carrying tanks, and airplanes and gas masks covered in coral and surrounded by the occasional manta ray and shark.
There are not many fish because the locals have eaten everything in the lagoon. Blue Lagoon Resort serves fried chicken but no fish….arrrrrrgh.
The dives are between 30 feet and 200 feet and in calm, clear and warm water. Dozens of the best dives in the world. Maybe there are better individual sites…but there is no better destination.
Getting there is another story. The island of Chuuk is impossible to get to. You can connect through Guam…but guess what? Guam is impossible to get to. I was in Sydney and had to fly through Cairnes Australia…but who can get to Cairnes? So read about it as you wont be able to get there.
Yongala wreck - Great Barrier Reef
This wreck is often rated one of the best in the world and certainly it is a great big wreck surrounded by marine life but you cannot swim inside and it is hard to see much through the holes. For me, this re-affirms the Thistlegorm in the red sea as the greatest wreck dive in the world where swimming around inside reveals motorcycles, rifles and army boots with the same intense level of fish etc... Now for the death defying story.
Aquaman (aka the assassin) and I were at the Hayman Island resort where we dove the nice bait reef with the 20 meter swim through at the cathedral. The reef, at the southern tip was nice but not inspiring so we got a chopper and flew an hour north (near Townsville) to dive the Yongola. The dive shop is a converted shack out of Mad Max with an inflatable boat that gets dragged to the nearby ocean with a tractor. Since it got stuck in a swamp the day before, we took a death defying run along high tide in a jeep that came a centimeter from flipping over into the ocean which of course was great fun. Thereafter we set off to the wreck in our inflataraft to find whipping currents around the dive buoy.
We were with 6 dive instructors who jumped into the torrent and desperately flailed to cling to the boat line so as not to be swept off to fiji. One dive master immediately lost his snorkel in the chaos. I was the last one in and immediately started to drown in the torrent and the spaghetti like mass of tangled instructors. I did not know at the time that Aquaman had volunteered to open the air on my tank but only got half way. As I tried to suck air through the respirator I nearly suffocated in 3 inches of water.
Finally the hapless divemasters sank to the bottom... and I, assuming the tank was fine but I was disoriented descended out of the torrent 80 feet down to the peaceful wreck. Heaving and wheezing on the half closed respirator, I managed to burn 25% of the tank in 5 minutes. I signaled disaster to the team leader who swam over and looked at my gage which was jerking all over the place while I suffocated 80 feet from the surface. He put on the best look of horror one can with a mask clamped on your face and he swung around and opened the air and saed my life. I was shaken but not stirred and continued the dive although only for 28 minutes as my air had burned out. Later he said out of 700 Yongola dives that I was his closest near death experience of which I am quite proud.
It turns out during the torrent struggle that I kicked Aquamans belt off (which he miraculously caught) in an act of revenge prior to the suffocation. We went down again without incident and then headed back where the ship ran aground on a sand bar. The captain called abandon ship and we all jumped over and swam 200 yards to shore. After nearly flipping the SUV, drowning and abandoning ship, I deem this the most fun I ever had in one day and I will eagerly try to convince the murderous Aquaman to meet me in Yap Indonesia for another go.
The Best Golf Course on Earth
Most of the top 100 golf courses in the world are over-rated with the notable exception of Pine Valley (5/5). Every hole is so good that it is difficult to pick a "signature" hole. The mebers are even a bit self conscious about 10 which is a nice hole and 11 which is a phenomenal dog leg. OK..they are not as good as the other 16 holes but they are better than anything on the overrated Winged Foot 2/5. I played back to back with Shinnecock Hills 4/5 which after a pleasant fron tnine really turns up the heat on the back and the beautiful red grass contrasts with the green for a memorable experience.
Cape Kidnappers
Cape Kidnappers is outrageous. How could someone have thought this up? Holes have been laid out on fingers of rock that jut into the sea. One hole goes into a finger...another then gets you out. Two holes on the back nine are actually impossible. One hole called Infinity has a reasonable drive to the fairway followed by an impossible shot to a tennis racket green where anything short bounces on the neck and rolls off the side into 300 yard drops to death. If you hit the green, it will bounce off the back onto the next tee box and/ or into another suicidal fall off.
The next par 5 is 650 yards long and requires 4 perfectly straight shots. Any deviation? Instant death. The 1st three holes could be anyone's farm and other holes feel out of place but overall this is a seriously fun top 50 course never to be forgotten. For 18 holes of quality...head north to it's top ten sister Kuari cliffs.
Leopard Creek - South Africa
Most people go on a safari and then see what else to do when there. Maria and I did it the other way around. We flew to Kruger national park to play Leopard Creek 4/5 the #1 golf course in africa and the middle east (27 in the world) This course is on the edge of Kruger National Safari Park and is centered around a very cool creek that snakes around many holes and creates island style greens for #'s 9 and 18. This is a wonderful course that is quite civilised with afternoon tea served as a mandatory stop after 9 holes!
Nairn
This epic hole at Nairn (near Inverness) intersects a sweeping par 4 that rises from the sea and a plunging par 3 back into the sea. The four of us decided that should something befall is we should be buried at that point. The week after the trip...my cousin Dent...3rd from the left...returned home to discover he had bone cancer and died 15 months later. This inconceivable development for a wonderful. 44 year old family man tests one's belief in god, philosophy and life in general. I hope to return and spread his ashes in the future.
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